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Cornell University 
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 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://archive.org/details/cu31924028853020 
 
Cornell University Library 
 F 157L2 H31 
 
 Biographical history of Lancaster County 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 028 853 020 
 
A 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 LANCASTER COUNTY: 
 
 BEING A HISTORY OP 
 
 EAELT SETTLEES AJ^D EMIl^ENT MEH 
 OF THE COUNTY; 
 
 AS ALSO MUCH OTHBB 
 
 UNPUBLISHED HISTOEICAL INFORMATION, CHIEFLY 
 OF A LOCAL CHARACTER. 
 
 BY 
 
 ALEX. HAEEIS. 
 
 LANCASTER, ^PA.: 
 
 ELIAS BARe'& go. 
 
 1873. 
 
/\ ■2Z^d3 
 
 UNIVERSITY. 
 <^ LIBRAF 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, 
 
 By ELIAS BAKR & CO., 
 
 In tlie Office of tlie Librarian of Congress, at "Washington, D. C. 
 
 r 
 
 iSrj 
 
 H31 
 
 PEARSOL & GEIST, PRINTERS, 
 LANCASTER. PA 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A BiograpHoal History of Lancaster county is suoli a 
 one as has not heretofore been attempted to be executed in 
 our midst. That a very general desire existed amongst the 
 intelligent citizens of our county, that a work of this char- 
 acter should be produced, the undersigned has had, since the 
 undertaking of his enterprise, the most abundant evidence. 
 It was owing to this fact that he received the assistance, 
 from the announcement of his enterprise, of a number of 
 intelligent and leading men, who, busied themselves in the 
 collection of all the information in their power, in order to 
 aid him in the preparation of a history of personages whose 
 lives, acts and doings were worthy of being recorded, for 
 the interest of the present and future generations. 
 
 That his work will be entirely satisfactory to the people 
 of the county, he cannot have the presumption to anticipate, 
 for it is far from being what he himself would have 
 desired to render it. Instead of being a complete Biographi- 
 cal History of the county, he rather is disposed to regard it 
 as a fragmentary contribution to its history, of which the 
 collected facts may serve as material for a more systematic 
 and complete history at some future day. 
 
 The undersigned, in setting out with the proposal to pro- 
 duce a Biographical History, had nothing further in view, 
 save the presentation of brief sketches of the leading citi- 
 zens of the county, and this it will be perceived he has 
 chiefly kept in view. In this particular, he hopes to be ex- 
 cused when he says that, in his opinion, his work cannot but 
 prove acceptable- to a large class of our intelligent readers. 
 Surely an interest must be felt to know the history of those 
 citizens, born, reared, or who have lived in our midst, whose 
 works have enrolled them amongst the famed men of our 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 nation. Even of the lesser lights, whose rays were more cir- 
 cumscribed, it is also a matter of interest to have some 
 knowledge. Of- men who are the leading citizens of a com- 
 munity, we always feel an interest in knowing something as 
 to their history, and this is the main aim of the work now 
 presented to the people of our county. 
 
 As regards the history of early settlers, their descendants 
 must ever feel a lively interest in ascertaining all that they 
 may be able to learn of them. Although beyond the scope 
 of the work, as originally contemplated, yet in deference to 
 suggestions frequently made, the undersigned has incorpo- 
 rated several of the leading family histories, and such as, in 
 an especial manner, have contributed largely towards the 
 development of the county, and in rendering it "the garden 
 of America." Some other family histories were sought in 
 vain to be obtained, which would have given additional in- 
 terest to the production. Reasons, unnecessary to name, 
 thwarted the obtaining of several such family histories. 
 This, however, is the less to be regretted, as all this part of 
 the history was foreign to the original programme. Especial 
 anxiety, however, was felt to obtain family histories of tha,t 
 class of our people who have, up to a very recent period, 
 (and many of them yet), shunned all participation in politi- 
 cal life, and as a consequence not obtained that deserved 
 recognition to which their deserts entitled them. To have 
 given a history of every family in the county, volumes would 
 have been required instead of a work of the moderate com- 
 pass intended. As it is. the author has been compelled 
 to omit much other interesting matter, in order not to allow 
 the work to go beyond its proposed bulk. 
 
 Without here enumerating the names of the many gener- 
 ous and enterprising gentlemen who rendered cheerful as- 
 sistance in the collection and transmission of material for 
 the work, the undersigned now takes occasion to sincerely 
 thank such, one and all, for their efficient aid and services ; and 
 he will see to it that they each receive due credit in the work, 
 for the respective articles and biographies they may have 
 severally furnished him. 
 
 And in conclusion, the undersigned commits his work to 
 
PEEFACE. V 
 
 tlie judgment of the intelligent readers of Lancaster county, 
 simply as a contribution to local history; by no means 
 claiming it as anything save a coUeotion of plain sketches 
 that may prove, from the facts recorded, interesting to the 
 people of the county. As to its composition, he has not 
 sought to render it ornate, the generality of our readers pre- 
 ferring plain Anglo-Saxon to the most polished language. 
 That all will be pleased with his production, the undersigned 
 does not anticipate, nor does he hope to escape all adverse 
 criticism ; but he will be content if he shall be able to 
 satisfy the reasonable and reflecting, that he has produced a 
 work of moderate interest for his readers. Trusting that a 
 not too critical public may so view his effort, he submits 
 it in the hope that some one vastly more competent than 
 himself, may be incited to undertake a work that may ulti- 
 mate in a much more brilliant success than can be antici- 
 pated for the present humble production. 
 
 ALEXANDER HARRIS. 
 Lanoastee, October, 1872. 
 
BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 OF LAE'OASTEE COUNTT. 
 
 A. 
 
 AGNEW, Egbert, a physician of Sadsbury township. 
 He was elected a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1826 and 1827. His son, David H. Agnew, was born 
 in Sadsbury township, where he practiced medicine for a 
 number of years. He is now a distinguished professor of 
 surgery in the University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 ALBEIGHT, Jacob, was born June 26th, 1791, in Lan- 
 caster city, Pennsylvania. He received a fair education, 
 and when a young man, taught school for some time in the 
 old Lancaster Academy, in" North Queen street, between 
 Lemon and James streets. He was united in marriage with 
 Mrs. Susan Sherer, on the 25th of November, 1847. For some 
 years he was engaged with Dr. Benj. Sherer, in the forward- 
 ing and commission business. Mr. Albright was elected 
 Mayor of the city of Lancaster, in the year 1855, on the 
 ticket commonly known as the Know-Nothing ticket, and 
 held the office for one year. He was an official member of 
 the Moravian church, and also a member of the Masonic 
 Order. He was a man of quiet and retiring disposition, very 
 amiable and agreeable in his manners, and was highly re- 
 spected as a citizen. He died shortly after his retirement 
 from the Mayoralty, March 18th, 1856. 
 
 *ALBBIGHT, Eev. Jacob. The father of Eev. Jacob 
 Albright, (Albrecht in German), was John Albrecht, who emi- 
 grated from Germany to this country and settled in Douglas 
 *Oontril)uted by J. B. Good, esq. 
 
8 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 townsliip, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. His domicile 
 •was at or near a mountain ridge, known as Fuchsberg (Fox 
 Mountain), about ten miles southeast of Pottstown. In tbis 
 obscure spot bis son Jacob, the subject of this sketch, "was 
 born on May 1st, 1759. The house which sheltered his infant 
 head, and where be spent his childhood and youth, is still 
 standing; it is a one-story stone building, of solid but plain 
 architecture. 
 
 His parents were poor, and compelled to struggle hard to 
 provide for themselves and their children the necessaries of 
 life. The neighborhood, in its social, moral and religious as- 
 pects was then, and is now of such a nature, that one is forci- 
 bly reminded of the place where the founder of our religion 
 was brought up, and of which it was said, " Can there any 
 good thing come out of it ?" However, the poverty and pri- 
 vations of his youth, served as a rugged school to prepare him 
 for the severe and almost superhuman labors of his later years. 
 
 Like most men of his early surroundings, hardly anything 
 is known of his boyhood. His parents belonged to the Evan- 
 gelical Lutheran Church, whose minister baptized him in his 
 infancy, and gave him the usual catechetical instruction 
 when he arrived at the proper age. He also received such 
 instruction as the schools of his time afforded. Our benefi- 
 cent common school system had as yet no existence. In rude 
 log cabins, unworthy of the name of school-houses, the sim- 
 plest rudiments of education were imperfectly taught. Eev. 
 H. Harbaugh, in the Pennsylvania German vernacular, says 
 of these schools : 
 
 Inwemiig, um der Oife rum 
 
 Hooke die kleene Tscliaps, 
 Sie lei'iie artlicli hart, versohteh, 
 Uu wer net wees sei' A B — 
 
 Sei' Olire kriege Rapps. 
 
 Die arme Drep ! dort hocke se 
 
 In Misserie — jusclit denk ! 
 Es is kee' Wunner — nemm mei Wort — 
 Dass se so wenig lerne dort, 
 
 Uf selle hoclie Benk. 
 
 In one of these unpromising institutions, young Albright 
 acquired the art of reading and writing the German language, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 9 
 
 and also the first principles of Arithmetic. He never enjoyed 
 the advantages of an English education. Of the German, he 
 acquired a correct knowledge, by reading Luther's transla- 
 tion of the Bible, as also other books written in pure Ger- 
 man. Among the latter was a Commentary on the Bible, 
 which he valued very highly. 
 
 In person he was of medium stature, about five feet eight 
 inches in height. He had an aquiline nose, his mouth and chin 
 were exquisitely formed. His .eyes were blue, and very 
 bright, his hair was black and^his complexion fair. Though 
 in his temperament the sanguine and choleric dispositions 
 predominated, yet his bearing was always graceful and 
 dignified. About his person and dress, he was scrupulously 
 neat and precise. Some persons who knew him but im- 
 perfectly, thought he was proud ; those, however, who under- 
 stood his character better, knew him to be entirely innocent 
 of this charge. 
 
 In 1785, when about 25 years of age, he was married to 
 Miss Catharine Cope. Soo& after his marriage, he moved to 
 Lancaster county, and purchased a tract of land, eligibly loca- 
 ted near Frysville, in the present East Cocalico, but then Earl 
 township. Here, besides farming, he also carried on the brick 
 and tile business. At that time many of the dwellings in 
 Lancaster county were covered with tiles. Some of these 
 antique relics are still in existence. 
 
 In 1790 several of his children died of dysentery. At the 
 funeral of one of them, Eev. Anton Hautz, a minister of the 
 Oerman Keformed Church, preached a sermon which touched 
 Albright's heart. Of the state of his mind at this time, he 
 says : " In my early youth I had received catechetical in- 
 struction in the doctrines of the Christian religion. I did 
 not then comprehend the great truths I learned, and could 
 not appreciate them; but a feeling of reverence toward God 
 was implanted, which never left me. This feeling was very 
 undefined, but it induced me to regard every place where 
 •God was worshipped as sacred, and I could not despise or 
 persecute those persons who engaged in the worship of the 
 Most High, no matter to what sect they belonged. This re- 
 verence for the worship of God, induced me to frequently 
 
10 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 attend religions meetings, and to listen attentively to the ex- 
 hortations of the Ministers of the Gospel. * * * I be- 
 came frightened at myself, the judgments of God stood be- 
 fore my imagination, my spirit experienced a deep dejection, 
 and at last, on a certain day of July, in my thirty-second year, 
 it rose to such a degree that it bordered on despair. * * * 
 I fell upon my knees, tears of bitter repentance coursed 
 down my cheeks, and a long-continued, earnest and ardent 
 prayer for pardon and salvation, went up to the throne of the 
 Most High." In this state of mind he was met by a sincere, 
 warm-hearted Christian, named Adam Riegel, whose sympa- 
 thies at once entwined themselves around this sincere peni- 
 tent. It was in this man's house where they earnestly prayed 
 together, that Albright experienced the truth, that the Son of 
 Man has power on earth to forgive sins. Of this experience 
 Albright says : " All distress of ray heart vanished. The 
 peace of God filled my soal, and the Holy Spirit bore witness 
 with my Spirit, that I was a child of God." 
 
 At this period, the German ^hurches in Pennsylvania 
 were in a deplorable condition. German adventurers, whose 
 moral and literary attainments precluded their preferment at 
 home, hunted their fortunes in America, and presumed to 
 meddle with holy things among the rude and uhlettered col- 
 onists. Tradition has handed down plenty of anecdotes, 
 which plainly show the grotesqueness of manners and gen- 
 eral uncouthness of the clergy of these times. The old adago, 
 " Like priest like people," was fully illustrated in this in- 
 stance. The people were industrious and frugal, but never- 
 theless ignorant, coarse, intemperate and profane. Church 
 discipline, if such a thing was ever thought of, was exercised 
 with extreme laxity. 
 
 On this subject Albright says : " At this time I knew no 
 class of professing Christians that seemed more zealous unto 
 good works, and who had a better discipline than the Metho- 
 dists. For this reason I went with them and had opportunity 
 ■ to obtain great good and many blessings for my soul. As. 
 many things in their exercises were as yet not clear to my 
 mind, and were conducted in the English language, and as I 
 was not yet fully conversant with that language, I commenced 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 11 
 
 its study with great zeal, and soon was enabled to fully un- 
 derstand their book of discipline and their articles of faith, 
 which pleased nae very much. I sought to conduct myself 
 precisely according to their rules and regulations." 
 
 He joined a class that held their meetings in his neighbor- 
 hood. Mr. Isaac Davis, whose farm adjoined his own, being 
 their leader. 
 
 Albright's talents and zeal were so marked, that an Bxhort- 
 er's license was soon given to him ; and as there was at that 
 time considerable religious inquiry among his German neigh- 
 bors, opportunities frequently presented themselves to exer- 
 cise his gifts. 
 
 On this point Albright says : " I had no gift of eloquent 
 speech, and I must confess that I was herein less competent 
 than any other man who might have undertaken it." Com- 
 petent judges, however, assure us that Albright under-esti- 
 mated his powers, as humility was a marked feature of his 
 character. At this time he had no thoughts of regularly 
 preaching the Gospel, and he passed through great struggles 
 before he could make up his mind to take that step. He 
 clearly foresaw the labors, difiiculties and afflictions he would 
 have to endure. And then his keen sensitivness as to his 
 own ineificiency, weighed heavily on his soul. He hesitated 
 until the conviction of his divine call to the ministry became 
 irresistible, and he felt with St. Paul : " Wo is unto me if I 
 preach not the Gospel." He especially felt a deep solicitude 
 for his German countrymen, whose spiritual welfare lay near 
 his sympathetic heart. He soon became known in his neigh- 
 borhood as a very zealous worker. 
 
 As regards his relations to the Methodist B. .Church at 
 this juncture, it is difficult to arrive at a correct conclusion. 
 It is doubtless true that though some Methodist ministers 
 occasionally preached in German, there were none that ex- 
 clusively labored in that language. The impression seems 
 to have extensively prevailed,, that the German language 
 would soon die out on this continent, and that therefore it 
 was impolitic to employ German preachers. Albright, how- 
 ever, felt such a powerful internal call to labor among his 
 German brethren, that he could not remain silent or inactive, 
 
12 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 but continued zealously to labor in bis divine Master's cause. 
 
 At first bis success was but moderate. From 1796, wben 
 be first set out on bis mission, until 1803, wben tbe first Con- 
 ference was beld, tbe number of bis followers did not exceed 
 forty; and besides bim, tbere were only two preacbers, 
 namely, Eevs. Walter and Lieser. 
 
 Tbis slow increase was principally owing to tbe illiterate and 
 obscure cbaracter of tbe ministers engaged in tbe work, and 
 tbe powerful opposition and persecution wbicb was aroused 
 against tbem. Besides tbis, Albrigbt and bis coadjutors bad, 
 up to tbis time, confined tbemselves almost exclusively to 
 tbe counties of Bucks, Berks .and Nortbampton, empbatically 
 Albrigbt's bome ; and a greater tban be bad said before bim, 
 tbat "a propbet is not witbout bonor save in bis own coun- 
 try and in bis own bouse." Afterwards, wben tbe tbeatre of 
 tbeir operations was transferred to distant fields, wbose soil 
 per baps was more promising, tbeir labors yielded more abun- 
 dant fruit. 
 
 On September 15tb and 16tb, 1807, at Miiblbacb, Lebanon 
 county, Pennsylvania, tbey beld tbeir first regular annual 
 Conference. At tbis meeting five itinerant and tbree local 
 preacbers, and twenty official lay members, were present. 
 Here Albrigbt was elected Superintendent of tbe Society, and 
 by a resolution of tbe Conference, be was directed to prepare 
 rules of discipline for tbe government of tbe religious Society 
 tbus organized. Tbis, on account of bis declining bealtb and 
 early deatb, be was prevented from accomplisbing. Tbe dis- 
 cipline was afterwards prepared by Rev. G. Miller, in tbe 
 year 1809. Tbe membersbip at tbis time numbered two 
 bundred and twenty. 
 
 It was soon apparent tbat Albrigbt's bealtb was daily 
 failing ; but be still continued to travel and to labor as mucb 
 as bis impaired strengtb permitted bim to do. During tbe 
 winter be traveled witb tbe late Rev. J. Dreisbacb, wbo was 
 tben a young man, but wbo bas recently died at tbe ad- 
 vanced age of eigbty-two years. Tbeir circuit extended 
 partly over tbe counties of Daupbin, Lebanon, Lancaster, 
 Berks, Bucks, Montgomery, Nortbampton, Lebigb and 
 Scbuylkill. Tbey bad about tbirty appointments or places 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 13 
 
 to preach, of wliich some were from twenty to thirty miles 
 apart. 
 f It was during this season that the Society at Millersville, 
 Lancaster county, received great accessions in numbers, 
 among whom was John Erb, who afterwards became an 
 itinerant minister. 
 
 On Baster-day, 1808, a quarterly meeting was held at Al- 
 bany, Berks county, Pennsylvania, where Albright for the 
 last time, appointed his preachers to their several fields of 
 labor. He now began to sink rapidly. Incessant travel, 
 exposure to the inclemency of every season, the privations 
 incident to the itinerancy, and the almost superhuman labors 
 performed by him, had at last undermined his constitution 
 and broken down his health to such a degree that he was 
 compelled to return home. He was suffering with a pulmonary 
 affection, which, however, had now progressed so far that he 
 never reached his earthly home any more. He remained 
 with Christian friends at Miihlbach, Lebanon coumty, Penn- 
 sylvania, who kindly nursed him during a short illness, be- 
 ing confined to his bed for only a few days. He died on the 
 18th of May, 1808, in the fiftieth year of his age. His re- 
 mains were buried on the 20th, in a neighboring burying 
 ground, where, in commemoration of his death and burial, a 
 church has since been erected, which bears the name of 
 " Albright's Church." 
 
 Since his death, the religious Society founded by him has 
 enjoyed great prosperity. The number of regular or itiner- 
 ant ministers, exceeds«five hundred, and the lay membership 
 approaches to one hundred thousand. The Society supports 
 several institutions of learning ; their book concern is in a 
 flourishing condition ; and one of their papers, " Der Christ- 
 liche Botschafter," is the oldest German religious paper in 
 the country. They support promising missions in Germany 
 and Switzerland, which appear to be destined to exert a great 
 influence in the future. 
 
 AMWEG, John Michael, was a native of Prussia^ 
 who emigrated to this country and settled in Lancaster 
 county before the American revolution. He settled in 
 Oocalico, at a place near Eeinholdsville. He was a man of a 
 
14 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 good education, and pursued the calling of a school-master. 
 , Being industrious and economical, he soon acquired property 
 around him. He was the ancestor- of the family name in 
 this county. One of his sons was named Jacob, and his son 
 William, was the father of Jacob B., William S., and John M. 
 Amweg, members of the bar of Lancaster. Wm. Amweg 
 died in 1861. 
 
 ANDEESON, James, a citizen of Donegal township, who 
 resided near the borough of Marietta. He was a member of 
 the Legislature in the years 1776, 1778, 1779 and 1780. 
 
 ANDREWS, Hugh, a member of the Legislature in 1840 
 and 1841. 
 
 ARMSTEONGr, Andrew, a citizen of East Donegal 
 township. He was elected a member of the Legislature in 
 October, 1866, and served one session. He is a man of con- 
 siderable intellect and force of character, and entertains 
 very independent and decided opinions. He has been one 
 of the early and firm friends of the Eree School System. 
 
 ARMSTRONG-, Arthur, a painter of considerable repute; 
 many of whose paintings are yet preserved by citizens of 
 Lancaster. The following notice of Mr. Armstrong, by a 
 cotemporary, seems* to depict his artistic skill in its proper 
 light : " It does not require a connoisseur in the fine arts to 
 discover something remarkable in the style of Mr. Arm- 
 strong's painting; he leaves nothing in the dark for the 
 imagination to work out ; it is bold and distinct, and yet the 
 distance is kept with such a natural hsfrmony as to give it at 
 once that ease and softness essential to the art. The picture 
 {the one our cotemporary describes), is on a rich blue silk, 
 and is intended as a banner for the Washington Fire Com- 
 pany of Louisville, Kentucky. The back of the canvass re- 
 presents the Washington family, which is not a mere covering 
 of the bare material, but with a persevering assiduity the 
 artist has left nothing unfinished. The scene is under the 
 portico of the mansion at Mt. Vernon, and consists of the 
 domestic family circle. In the distance is seen the Potomac, 
 studded with sails. In short, the whole is beautifully worked 
 out and more worthy the gallery than the back of a banner. 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 15 
 
 This splendid piece of workmanship reflects a character of 
 no ordinary degree on its author, and it must be a source of 
 gratification to himself, as well as to his friends, that the 
 reputation he has gained by his late productions, secures for 
 him the patronage which his genius so richly merits. Mr. 
 Armstrong is an eminent artist, indeed." 
 
 ARMSTEONG, John, elected County Commissioner in 
 1869. 
 
 ARMSTEOKG, Thomas, a member of the Legislature in 
 1735 and 1736. 
 
 ASH, Phineas, elected County Commissioner in 1816. 
 ' ATLEB, John L., M. D., eldest son of Col. Wm. Pitt 
 Atlee, and grandson of the Hon. Wm. Aug. Atlee, was born 
 in Lancaster, November 2d, 1799. With the exception of 
 about one year, spent in Gray & Wiley's Academy, in 1813 
 and 1814, he received his preliminary education in his native 
 city, and entered the office of the late Samuel Humes, M. D., 
 in 1815. He graduated at the Universfty of Pennsylvania 
 in April, 1820, and from that time till the present, has prac- 
 ticed the various branches of his profession ih. Lancaster. 
 He took an active part in the organization of the Lancaster 
 City and County Medical Society, and has been twice elected 
 its President ; of the State Medical Society in 1848, of which 
 he was elected President, in 1857 ; and of the American 
 Medical Association, of which he was chosen one of the Vice 
 Presidents, in 1868. 
 
 At the union of Franklin and Marshall Colleges, he was 
 elected Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, and lectured 
 annually to the classes until within the last three years. 
 
 »He has always taken an interest in the subject of educa- 
 tion in his native city, and for more than forty years was a 
 member of the Lancaster City Sch»ol Board. As a member 
 of the medical profession, Dr. Atlee is a physician of rare 
 skill, extensive practice, and widely famed as one of the most 
 skillful surgeons of Pennsylvania. 
 
 ATLEB, Samuel J., was a colonel in the American revo- 
 lution, and one who did effective service in the emancipation 
 of the colonies from British rule. His father married Jane 
 
16 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBY 
 
 Alcock, maid of honor to the Queen of England ; and the 
 match being clandestine, they immediately sailed for America. 
 They had three children, William Augustus, Samuel John, 
 and Amelia. Samuel John was born in year 1739. Being 
 a youth of great ambition and daring, he, at the early age of 
 sixteen, obtained the command of a company in the provincial 
 service (war of 1755), ia the regiment under Col. Burd, and 
 was present at Braddock's defeat. During the continuance 
 of that war, it was his fate to be taken prisoner twice, once 
 by the Indians, and again by the French. He remained in 
 the service eleven years*. After the expiration of this ser- 
 vice, he read law, and was engaged in the pursuit of his pro- 
 fession until the breaking out of the revolution. He was 
 married to Sarah Eichardson, on the 19th of April, 1762. 
 
 At the commencement of hostilities with the mother 
 country. Captain Atlee, being one of two in the county of 
 Lancaster who had any knowledge of military tactics, under- 
 took the duties of the drill, in order to prepare his fellow- 
 citizens to breast the impending storm. His unremitting 
 attention was devoted to this object during the greater part 
 of the year 1775 ; and in the beginning of 1776, by virtue of 
 an Act of the General Assembly of March 5th of the same 
 year, he raised in the Pequea Valley and in Chester county, 
 the First Eegiment of State Infantry, of which he was ap- 
 pointed colonel. Although this regiment was called out 
 simply for the defence of the province, yet Col. Atlee and 
 his command voluntarily marched to New Jersey to cooperate 
 with the American army in that quarter. He achieved im- 
 perishable honors with his regiment at the battle of Long 
 Island,^ on which occasion he was taken prisoner, having 
 only a sergeant and sixteen men left, the rest having been 
 previously killed or taken prisoners. He suffered eighteen 
 months' imprisonment, part of it on board a prison ship. 
 
 'A very interesting account of the battle of Long Island, in which Col. 
 Atlee was prominent, may be found in the Life of President Reed, by 
 his grandson, Wm. B. Reed, Vol. I., p. 231-234. In the same volume 
 is also published an extract from Col. Atlee's journal, describing the 
 particulars of the battle in a spirited manner, Vol. I., p. 413. See also 
 in the Diary of the American Revolution, by Frank Moore, Vol. I., p. 
 297, in a foot-note, a sketch of Col. Atlee. 
 
OF LANCASTKB COUNTY. 17 
 
 During his imprisonment he lived for two weeks on chest- 
 nuts. The British gaolers were in the habit of cutting up 
 raw pork into small pieces and throwing them to the pri- 
 soners, calling "pig, pig." The prisoners were so near 
 starved, that they killed their dogs and ate them, and roasted 
 their leather breeches for food. 
 
 ^Col. Atlee was chosen a member of the Continental Con- 
 gress iHrl778, and held a seat in this body up to 1782. 
 
 In 1780 Col. Atlee was appointed by the Supreme Ex- 
 ecutive Council, Lieutenant of Lancaster county. In 1783 
 he was elected Councillor of Lancaster county, and on the- 
 21st of October of the same year he appeared in the 
 Supreme Executive Council, subscribed the required oath, 
 and took his seat as a member of the Board. He was one 
 "of the committee with Gen. Sullivan and Dr. Wither- 
 spoon, who were sent by Congress in January, 1781, tO' 
 endeavor to conciliate the mutineers of the Pennsylvania 
 Line. He was afterwards, in 1784, one of the Commission- 
 ers, on the part of Pennsylvania, who ratified the treaties of 
 Forts Stanwix and Mcintosh, with the deputies of the Six 
 Nations and the Wyandot and Delaware Indians. The 
 Commissioners each were allowed forty-five shillings per 
 diem for their services, the same as a delegate to Congress 
 at the time received.^ 
 
 'About the 20tli of January, 1779, he wrote to the Supreme Execu- 
 tive Council of the State, claiming to be appointed a Brigadier General. 
 The Council ordered that the same be transmitted to His Excellency, 
 General Washington, and his opinion requested thereon. In a letter of 
 General Washington to President Reed, dated February 9th, 1779, 
 (Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. VII, p. 181,) he considers the claim of Col. 
 Atlee to rank. He says he has a high opinion of his merits and abili- 
 ties as an officer', but he does not see that he can, at this time, be pro- 
 moted to the rank of Brigadier, as the State having only two Brigades 
 in the field, is entitled only to two Brigadiers — that Gen. Wayne was 
 one, and that Col. Morgan and Col. Irwin, being senior officers, have 
 superior pretensions to Col. Atlee. 
 
 ^In a letter of Col. Atlee to President Dickinson, dated Pequea, Lan- 
 caster county, November 18th, 1784, he mentions his arrival at his home, 
 and reports that part of their mission to the Northern tribes is satisfac- 
 torily concluded. He then claims that notwithstanding his absence in 
 discharging his duties as a Commissioner, he is entitled for two years 
 longer to a seat in the Council, and protests against the election of a 
 
 2 
 
^8 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 He was elected to the General Assembly of Pennsylvania 
 for the year 1782, and also for 1785 and 1786. 
 
 "Whilst Col. Atlee was attending as a Commissioner in the 
 ratification of the Indian treaty, he contracted a cold by lying 
 on the damp ground, from the effects of which he never re- 
 covered. In November, 1786, whilst walking in the streets 
 of Philadelphia, he was seized with a paroxysm of coughing, 
 ruptured a blood vessel, and shortly afterwards expired. 
 
 In personal appearance Col. Atlee was very handsome, 
 with a fresh and ruddy complexion, brown hair, blue eyes, 
 straight and portly, and very military in his carriage. 
 
 ,ATLEB, "Wm. Augustus, brother of the above, was 
 born at Philadelphia, July 1st, 1735. He moved to Lancas- 
 ter at an early day, and read law under the instruction of 
 Edward Shippen, esq. He was admitted to the bar, August ' 
 3rd, 1758, and soon became prominent in his profession as 
 one of the leading lawyers of his day. He was elected Chief 
 Burgess of the Borough of Lancaster, September 15th, 1770, 
 ito whiteh position he was thrice subsequently chosen, and 
 • .administered the duties of said office up to September, 1774. 
 Upon the breaking out of the American revolution, he became 
 an active and leading Whig, and in 1776 was chosen chairman 
 of- the Committee of Public Safety of Lancaster. He was 
 appointed August 16th, 1777, by the Supreme Executive 
 Council, second Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- 
 vania, his associates being Thomas McKean and John 
 Evans. During the years 1777 and 1778, he held the posi- 
 tion of Commissary of the British prisoners confined at 
 Lancaster. He was re-appointed Judge of the Supreme 
 Court, August 9th, 1784; and on the 17th of August, 1791, 
 
 Councillor from Lancaster county in his stead. TMs claim seems to 
 have been allowed, as Gtraydon, in the Memoir of his own Times, p. 
 384, congratulates himself upon having received the appointment of 
 Prothonotary of Dauphin county, in 1785, and goes on to say: ""The 
 Republican party possessed a majority in the Council, and Col. Atlee, 
 wTio belonged to it, was designated for the office. He vfas conspicuous as 
 a party man, and if I mistake not, was at the time a member of the 
 Legislature, and on the scale of services and character no one had bet- 
 ter claims. To keep out Atlee the Constitutionalists were disposed to 
 give then- votes to any one of his competitors. The President (Dickin- 
 son) had probably given a promise to Col. Atlee as well as myself." 
 
OF LANCASTEK COUNTY. 19 " 
 
 ke was appointed President Jadge of the district, composed 
 of tlie counties of Chester, Lancaster, York, and Dauphin, 
 which position he filled up to his death, September 9th, 
 179-3. As a member of the Supreme Bench of Pennsyl- 
 vania he rendered efficient service ; and it is somewhat note- 
 worthy, that a remarkable uniformity of opinion is observa- 
 ble in the proceedings of the Supreme Court at that early day. . 
 Lord Mansfield, speaking of Dallas' Eeports in 1791, used 
 the following language : " They do credit to the Court, the 
 bar and the reporter. They show readiness in practice, 
 liberality in principle, strong reason and legal learning." 
 
 In private life Judge Atlee was a man of easy and very 
 gentlemanly deportment, and noted for his high-toned in- 
 tegrity and strong adherence to his sense of right. 
 
 ATLBB, Wm. a., son of Dr. John L. Atlee, is a graduate 
 of Yale College, of the class of 1851, and a member of the 
 Lancaster bar, admitted in 1854. He was elected District 
 Attorney of Lancaster county, in 1865,. and in 1869 chosen 
 Mayor of the City of Lancaster, administering said of&ce for 
 two years. 
 
 B 
 
 BACHMAN, Christian, was for a long time cashier of 
 the old Lancaster Bank. He was appointed Prothono- 
 tary of Lancaster county in 1830. His son, Benjamin C. 
 Bachman, was President of the Lancaster Bank at the time 
 it failed, in 1856. 
 
 BACHMAN, Jacob, a member of the Legislature, in the 
 year 1823. 
 
 BAEE,- John, was the principal founder of the leading 
 German paper of Lancaster county, the Volksfrey,nd and 
 Beohachter. In 1817 he came in possession of the old 
 Volksfreund, founded in 1808, subsequently consolidated 
 therewith the Beohaotter, and made the paper a complete 
 business success. He managed the paper up to the period 
 of his death, November 6th, 1858. It is now conducted by 
 Eeuben A. and Christian E. Baer, under the firm name of 
 John Baer's Sons. 
 
■20 BIOGEAPHIOAL HISTORY 
 
 *BAILBY, Feancis, occupied an old house on the premises 
 of his father, in Sadsbury, which he used for a printing 
 office, and for some time he used the upper part of the 
 spring-house for that purpose. About the year 1800 he 
 erected a large stone printing office on the place, which is 
 standing at the present day, where the business was carried 
 on by him until about the year 1815. He was a zealous 
 advocate of American independence, and his name appears 
 very frequently in connection with the Freemavls Journal^ 
 throughout five volumes of the Colonial Eecords ; an order 
 was drawn in his favor on the Treasurer, December 2d, 
 1779, for the sum of £4,873 7s. 6d., the amount of his 
 account for printing work done for Council.^ It appears by 
 the records that he executed the public printing for Council 
 up to the year 1790. 
 
 An order was drawn in his favor on the 18th of August, 
 1779, for £5,000, to be forwarded for the purpose of pur- 
 chasing flour for the army ; and September 2d, 1780, an order 
 was drawn in his favor for $12,988, for sundry articles pur- 
 chased by him and delivered to Col. Eyan for the use of the 
 militia called into service.^ Large numbers of orders were 
 drawn in his favor at many different times for printing and 
 binding, for copies of the laws and constitutions of the 
 different States, for his Journal for the use of the members, 
 &c., and for printing done for the Comptroller General's 
 office, and for printing the tax lists and advertisements in 
 the Freeman! s Journal up to the year 1790.' He executed a 
 large portion of the State printing, at his office in Sadsbury 
 township, from the year 1790 until after the close of the 
 administration of Thomas M'Kean. The pamphlet laws 
 were printed at his office until the administration of Simon 
 Snyder, and within the recollection of our oldest inhabitants. 
 Francis Bailey was a worthy patriot of revolutionary times. 
 He was also a pious and religious man; and about the year 
 1788, beside Count Buelow and Eeichenbach, he and his 
 family were among the first in Lancaster county to receive 
 
 ■^Contributed by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. 
 'Col. Eec, Vol. XII., p. 188. ^Col. Rec., Vol. XII., p. 467. 
 
 sCol. Kec, Vol. XVI., p. 536. 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 21 
 
 the doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church.' When far 
 advanced in life, he removed with some of his family to the 
 city of Philadelphia, and his lands and residence were pur- 
 chased by Wm. Maxwell, the father of the present Eobert 
 and Eichard' Maxwell. 
 
 *BAILEY Francis, son of Eobert Bailey, was an active 
 young man at the time of the American revolution. He 
 learned the trade of a printer and worked a short time in Lan- 
 caster borough. He was appointed in 1777, by the Executive 
 Council, Coroner of Lancaster county. On the 8th of April, 
 1778, Francis Bailey and Captain Long were appointed to 
 bring seventeen of the leading Quakers in Pennsylvania (who 
 were arrested by order of Congress and supposed to be inimi- 
 cal to the American cause), and convey them to Winchester, 
 Virginia.^ They were also charged to bring the prisoners 
 home again. 
 
 'Bupp's History of Lancaster Co., p. 431. 
 
 "The following is a copy of the order of discharge : 
 
 Lancasteb, April 10th, 1778. 
 Executive Council to Fbancis Bailbtand Capt. Long, 1778. 
 
 Gentlemen : The enclosed resolves will show that you are appointed 
 and authorized to conduct the prisoners sent from this State from Vir- 
 . ginia, from Winchester, the place of their present confinement, to this 
 borough ; and on your arrival here, acquaint this Council thereof. Those 
 of them who are in health, you are to bring with you, treating them on 
 the road with the polite attention and care which is due to men who act 
 upon the purest motives, to gentlemen whose station in life entitles 
 them to respect, however they may differ in political sentiments from 
 those in whose power they are. You will please to give them every aid 
 in your power, by procuring the necessary means of traveling in wagons 
 or othei'wise, with such baggage as may be convenient for them on the 
 road. Your own prudence and good sense will direct you, in such inci- 
 dents as may turn up, in which the Council have no doubt but your 
 conduct will justify their confidence in you." 
 
 On the 37th of April, Messrs. Bailey and Long reported to the Execu- 
 tive Council, then sitting in Lancaster, that they had received the fol- 
 lowing persons from the jail in Winchester, Virginia, agreeably to the 
 orders of this Council, viz. : Israel Pemberton, James Pemberton, 
 John Pemberton, Henry Drinker, Samuel Pleasants, William Smith, 
 Edward Pennington, Thomas Wharton, Owen Jones, Charles Eddy, 
 Charles Gervis, Elijah Brown, Thomas Fisher, Samuel R. Fisher, and 
 Myers Fisher ; and that Thomas Gilpin and John Hunt were dead. 
 . *Contributed by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. 
 
22 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 *BAILEY EoBERT, one of the early settlers of Sadsbury 
 township. He purchased 300 acres of land in Sadsbury 
 township, on the road leading from the Gap to the copper 
 mines. At the time of the revolution, although advanced in 
 years, he was an early and influential advocate-of American 
 independence. He was, on the 15th of November, 1774, 
 elected by the citizens of Lancaster county one of the Com- 
 mittee authorized to be chosen by resolution of the Conti- 
 nental Congress, which Committee was authorized to watch 
 the conduct of all persons as regards their action and senti- 
 ments with reference to the pending difSculties between the 
 mother country and the colonies. He was also entrusted 
 with money by the Council of Safety, to distribute amongst 
 the needy associators of Lancaster county. 
 
 He erected the large and commodious residence now owned 
 and occupied by Eobert Maxwell, where he spent the bal- 
 ance of his useful life. 
 
 BAKER, John, was elected Recorder of Lancaster county, 
 in 1867. 
 
 BAKER, Rev. John C, son of Samuel R. and Elizabeth 
 Baker, was born in Philadelphia, ■ May 7th, 1792. Having 
 lost his father when a child of eighteen months old, he 
 was reared under the roof of his maternal grandfather. He 
 was delicate in constitution, but was strikingly precocious, 
 
 The case of the prisoners brought from Virginia, and now in this 
 borough, being considered thereupon, ordered that they be immediately 
 sent to Pottsgrove, in the county of Philadelphia, and there discharged 
 from confinement ; and that they be furnished with a copy of the order, 
 which shall be deemed a discharge. And that A. B., of the city of 
 Philadelphia, gentleman, one of the pijsoners referred to in the foregoing 
 order of Council, is hereby permitted, with his horses, servants and bag- 
 gage, to pass unmolested into the county of Philadelphia, agreeably to 
 the said order, which is to be respected as their discharge. Also a pass 
 to Philadelphia, for Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Pemberton, Mrs. Pleasants, and 
 Mrs. Drinker ; and for Israel Morris, who attended them, being re- 
 quested, was granted. And it is ordered that the whole expense of 
 arresting and confining the prisoners sent to Virginia, the expenses of 
 their journey, and all other incidental charges, be paid by the pris- 
 oners, and that an order be drawn on the Treasurer in favor of Mr. 
 Bailey and Captain Long, for the sum of one hundr-ed and fifty pounds, 
 for which they are to accoimt. 
 
 *Contributed by Isaac "Walker, of Sadsbui-y. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 23 
 
 and was regarded by all as a very thoughtful and conscien- 
 tious boy. He early evinced a fondness for reading, and 
 made more than ordinary progress in his studies. In 1802 
 lie was placed under instruction in Nazareth Hall, a seminary 
 of the Moravian church, in which institution he remained 
 five years. He early determined to study for the ministry, 
 though his friends had wished that he should succeed his 
 father in the mercantile business. After remaining a short 
 time in Philadelphia, he set out for Lebanon, Pa,, and began 
 the study of theology under Rev. Dr. Lochman. 
 
 In 1811 he was licensed by the Synod of Pennsylvania, 
 and immediately thereafter accepted a call as an assistant 
 minister of a German congregation in Philadelphia. In the 
 following year the church at Grermantown, Pa., having 
 become vacant, Mr. Baker was chosen as the pastor of this 
 church. His charge embraced Germantown, Whitemarsh, 
 Barren Hill, and several other smaller congregations. He 
 labored faithfully in this charge for the period of fifteen 
 years, and, in 1818, chiefly through his instrumentality, the 
 new church edifice was erected, a monument of his zeal and 
 enterprise. 
 
 In November, 1827, he received a call from the trustees, 
 elders, and wardens of Trinity Lutheran church of Lancas- 
 ter, Pa., which he accepted.' The principal motive in his 
 accepting this latter call, was the prospect of increased use- 
 fulness, and a more extended sphere for his pastoral 
 activity. He entered upon his duties, in this new position, 
 January 27th, 1828, delivering his introductory sermon in 
 German, and on the following Sunday, in English. On 
 February 17th, 1828, chiefly through his efforts, the Sunday 
 School of the church was organized. This school was 
 opened on the 9th of March, with 413 pupils and 63 
 teachers. Mr. Baker preached in both the German and Eng- 
 lish languages, in- both of which he was equally eloquent. 
 
 'The call extended to Mr. Baker was signed by the following names : 
 George Musser, President ; George King, Vice President ; Peter Protz- 
 man, Christian Swentzel, W. Hensel, G. L. Mayer, Adam Kelle*, 
 Joseph Hubley, George R. Krug, Jacob Snyder, Joseph Blandford, 
 Henry Eichholtz, David Lebkicher, John Yost, Christopher Hager, P. 
 D. Hubley, Christian Bachman, J. F. Heinitsh, Secretary. 
 
24 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 On November 1st, 1852, Dr. Baker tendered his uncondi- 
 tional resignation of his office of pastor of Trinity Lutheran 
 church, which, though with the greatest reluctance, was 
 accepted, and on the 30th of January, of the following year, 
 he preached his farewell sermon, in the presence of an 
 immense audience, and thus closed his twenty-five years of 
 pastoral labor in Lancaster. 
 
 He removed to Philadelphia, and took charge of St. 
 Luke's Evangelical Lutheran church, where he spent the 
 evening of his days in building up a new congregation in 
 the city of his birth. To this service he devoted himself 
 with all his youthful zeal, and labored with great faithful- 
 ness without compensation; and even contributing from his 
 ■own resources to the support of the church. In this charge 
 he labored like a faithful steward, until the Master called 
 him home to his reward. He died April 21st, 1859, and he 
 lies buried in Woodward Hill Cemetery, in Lancaster. 
 
 Dr. Baker was an earnest, enthusiastic and indefatigable 
 minister of the gospel. He could say, that "I must work 
 while it is day ; the night cometh when no man can work." 
 This was his motto, and faithfully was it followed. He was 
 unwearied in his varied ministrations, in his attentions to 
 the old and young, rich and poor, healthy and sick. In the 
 labors of the Sunday School he was ever faithful and 
 attentive. 
 
 Dr. Baker was familiar with both the English and German 
 theological works, and received from Lafayette College, in 
 1837, the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 
 
 He was an iniiuential member of the Lutheran Synod of 
 Pennsylvania, and for many years filled the office of Trea- 
 surer. He also presided as president over the deliberations 
 of that body. In Missionary operations he took a very 
 active part, and for many years prepared the annual report. 
 
 For a long period he was a leading and influential member 
 of the Lancaster School Board, and was a most regular and 
 welcome visitor in all the schools. 
 
 • His kindness of heart and simplicity of manners en- 
 deared him to all classes. He was, in short, a bright and 
 shining light upon Zion's walls, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 25 
 
 BALDWIN, J. C, was elected Clerk of Quarter Sessions 
 and Oyer and Terminer, in the year 1863. 
 
 BALDWIN, Egbert, was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in the years 1849 and 1850. He was also elected 
 to the State Senate in the year 1857. 
 
 BALMER, Daniel, for many years a magistrate of Lan- 
 caster county, resident at Blizabethtown. He was elected a 
 member of the Legislature in the year 1842. 
 
 BARBER, Robert, was a native of Yorkshire, England, 
 emigrated to America, and settled in Chester county, Penn- 
 sylvania. He was a Quaker by persuasion ; and either in 
 Chester or Philadelphia, married Hannah Tidmarsh, a lady 
 of the same religious principles as his own. Prior to coming 
 to America, he had followed a seafaring life and had been 
 captured and detained as a prisoner in Prance. He was an 
 energetic man, and in 1721 was appointed Coroner of Ches- 
 ter county. In company with John Wright and Samuel 
 Blunston, he purchased a large tract of land near where Co- 
 lumbia now stands. His tract of l^nd lay on the eastern bank 
 of the Susquehanna, and embraced one thousand acres; 
 bounded on the northwest by Chickies Hills, and to the 
 south by what was afterwards called Patton's Hill. He was 
 the first Sheriff of Lancaster county ; appointed October 4th, 
 1729. While Barber was Sheriff, owing to the belief that 
 somewhat prevailed at the time, that the seat of justice would 
 be established at Wright's Ferry (now Columbia), he built a 
 prison near his house. This prison was a strong log build- 
 ing, and was torn down not many years since. It was in 
 this prison that James Annesley, alias Lord Altham, was 
 confined when he ran away from his master. Robert Barber 
 had several children, the oldest of whom was killed by the 
 Indians near the site of Pittsburg. 
 
 BARE, Adam, was for many years an innkeeper, on the 
 New Holland pike, and also was engaged in agricultural 
 pursuits. He was one of the earliest and most influential 
 members of the Anti-Masonic party of the county. He 
 was elected Sheriff of Lancaster county in the year 1830. 
 He was, in 1834, elected one of the County Commissioners. 
 
26 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 *BAETO]Sr, Benjamin S., son of the Rev. Thomas Barton, 
 •was born in Lancaster, February 10th, 1766. His mother 
 was the sister of the celebrated philosopher, Eittenhouse. 
 The death of his parents occasioned his removal, in 1782, to 
 the family of a brother, in Philadelphia, where he spent 
 several years in the study of literature, the sciences, and 
 medicine. In 1786 he went to Great Britain, and prose- 
 cuted his medical studies at Edinburgh and London. He, 
 afterwards, visited Gottingen, and there obtained the degree 
 of Doctor of Medicine. On returning to Philadelphia, in 
 1789, he established himself as a physician in the city, and 
 his superior talents and education soon procured him com- 
 petent employment. He was; that year, appointed Professor 
 of Natural History and Botany, in the College of Philadel- 
 phia, and continued in that oifice on the incorporation of 
 the College with the University, in 1791. He was appointed 
 Professor of Materia Medica, on the resignation of Dr. 
 Grif&ths ; and, on the death of Dr. Eush, succeeded him in 
 the department of the Theory and Practice of Medicine. 
 He died December 19th, 1816. 
 
 Dr. Barton was highly distinguished by his talents and 
 professional attainments, and contributed much, by . his 
 lectures and writings, to the progress of natural science in 
 the United States. He published "Elements of Zoology 
 and Botany," in which he made respectable additions to the 
 zoological science of our country, and displayed a degree of 
 genius, diligence, learning, and zeal, in this pursuit, which 
 do honor to our republic, and which bid fair to place him 
 among the most accomplished and useful naturalists of his 
 time. In 1803 he published "Elements of Botany, or Out- 
 lines of the Natural History of Vegetables," &c. Dr. Barton 
 has the honor of being the first American who gave to his 
 country an elementary work on botany; and "if we may 
 judge," says Dr. Miller, in his ' Retrospect of the Eighteenth 
 Century,' "of the subsequent interest from the first fruits, it 
 will be rich, indeed. This work is illustrated by thirty 
 plates, and discovers an extent of learning, and an acuteness 
 and vigor of mind, and elegance and taste highly honorable 
 *Thatoher's Medical Biography. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 27 
 
 to the author. Of the thirty plates that accompany -thia 
 work, twenty-eight have claims to more or less originality, 
 and many of them are completely original. They are well 
 executed; and most of the subjects selected for delineation 
 are remarkable for their rarity and beauty, or some other 
 peculiarity of character. Every part of this work discovers 
 that the author has not been contented with compiling 
 the facts and opinions of his predecessors, but that he 
 accurately observed and thought for himself. He will, 
 therefore no doubt be pronounced, by the best judges, to 
 have presented his countrymen with the most instructive 
 work of this kind in the English language." 
 
 Dr. Barton published " Collections for an essay towards a 
 Materia Medica of the United States," which is the only 
 work, professedly, on the subject of which it treats, that 
 had at that time issued from the American press. In 1810 
 the author published a third edition of this very valuable 
 production. It is an original work, of great merit, and was 
 peculiarly acceptable to the public, as it brought into notice 
 numerous medical remedies, the production of our own soil, 
 whi-ch had' been entirely neglected, but which have since 
 augmented and enriched the American Materia Medica. In 
 1805 Dr. Barton commenced the publication of the " Medi- 
 cal and Physical Journal," to which he contributed many 
 valuable articles. 
 
 As a naturalist, the merits of Dr. Barton are of no com- 
 mon kind ; and he has deservedly received a large share of 
 praise in his own and in foreign countries, for his many and 
 successful exertions in enlarging the sphere of natural 
 knowledge. He published " Fragments of the Natura.I 
 History of Pennsylvania," an " Essay on the Fascinating 
 Power ascribed to Serpents," &c., and several memoirs on 
 particular specimens in zoology, in the " American Philo- 
 sophical Transactions." In his "Views of the Origin of the 
 Tribes and Nations of America," will be found vocabularies 
 of a number of Indian languages that were never before 
 committed to the press; comparing these with languages 
 more generally known, both on the Eastern and Western 
 continents; and thence deducing new evidence in support of 
 
28 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 the. opinion that the nations of America and those of Asia 
 have a common origin, and that all mankind are derived 
 from a single pair. His various works evince a closeness of 
 observation, an accuracy of inquiry, an extent of learning, 
 and a vigor and comprehensiveness of mind, which are 
 equally honorable to their possessor and to his country. It 
 is but just to observe, that American science and literature 
 are indebted to the indefatigable labors of him whose 
 memoirs are here presented.' 
 
 BAETON, George Washington, a grandson of Eev. 
 Thomas Barton, was born in Lancaster, Sept., 1807. When 
 a boy, he was very frolicsome and wild, and it was with 
 difSculty that his attention could be attracted with books. 
 His first instructor in the classics, was a Mr. Shiffer of Lan- 
 caster, but his truancy often prevented his appearance at 
 recitation time. After making some progress with this 
 teacher, even against his will, he was next sent to Nazareth, 
 a school of wide repute. His stay at this Seminary of learn- 
 ing was between two and three years. Upon his return he 
 entered a printing office, and began the learning of that 
 trade, as he was altogether averse to the professions. Soon 
 afterwards he went to Philadelphia, and meeting with his 
 cousin, Wm. 0. Barton, an eminent Professor of Botany in 
 the Jefferson College, he was by him induced to turn his 
 attention to the study of botany. He returned to Lancaster, 
 discontinued the printing business, and, for a time, pursued 
 with great zeal the new study. Shortly afterwards he con- 
 cluded to travel, and made several voyages to foreign coun- 
 tries. In one of these voyages he was shipwrecked on the 
 coast of Buenos Ayres; and having made his way to the 
 American Consul, he was furnished a passport, and sailed 
 for New York. At this time he was little, if anything, over 
 fifteen years of age. He afterwards made his way to Nash- 
 
 'In the year 1785, Messrs. Rittenliouse, Ellicott, Peters, and NeviU, 
 were appointed Commissioners to trace the meridian, northward, for the 
 western boundary of Pennsylvania, beginning at the S. E. corner of the 
 State. In tliis undertaking the services of Benjamin S. Barton were 
 enlisted, a youth then of but nineteen years of age, but whose scientific 
 acquirements, even at that early period of his life, had rendered a useful 
 associate of the Commissioners. — Life of Bittenhouse. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 29 
 
 viUe, Tennessee, when about seventeen, and remained in that 
 city about four years. During this time he was engaged in 
 a printing office. "While in this situation he contributed 
 several articles for the press, which drew the attention of 
 Felix Grundy, who offered to instruct him gratis in the study 
 of the law, as he perceived him to possess talents of a rare 
 order. Having at that time no taste for the legal profession, 
 he declined the liberal offer. Hearing of the death of his 
 mother, he concluded to return to Lancaster, and did so, 
 arriving at his home in the midst of the Jackson campaign 
 of 1828. After his return, he wrote some articles for the 
 newspapers, that caused quite a sensation ; and among the 
 rest drew the attention of James Buchanan. Mr. Buchanan 
 first met him at a barbecue at Cheves' woods, during a 
 political campaign, and was so delighted with the brilliancy 
 which his conversation displayed, that he invited him to call 
 and see him at his office. He did so, and the result was, that 
 he soon became a student of law in the office of Mr. Buchanan. 
 He was admitted to the bar in 1830. He began the practice 
 of the profession with great eclat, and astonished everybody 
 with the brilliancy of his declamation, which surpassed any- 
 thing that had ever before been heard at the Lancaster bar. 
 His smooth, graceful and polished oratory, is believed by 
 those who heard him, to have equaled the finest displays of 
 eloquence of the American Congress; and he is remembered 
 and constantly cited by the bar and people who heard him 
 as the finest declaimer who ever spoke before a Lancaster 
 jury. 
 
 After practicing law for some years, in Lancaster, with 
 great reputation, he was appointed District Attorney for 
 Philadelphia, where he removed, and was afterwards 
 appointed Judge of one of the courts, by Governor Porter. 
 He presided as Judge for three or four years. He subse- 
 quently practised in the profession, in the city of Philadel- 
 phia, for some time, and afterwards emigrated to California, 
 and located, as an entire stranger, in the city of San Fran- 
 cisco. An opportunity was but needed to introduce him on 
 the Pacific coast. He tendered his services to an undefended- 
 criminal, and the great brilliancy and ability displayed in 
 
30 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 this defence established him at once, and soon he was over-, 
 •whelmed with business. He took rank, therefore, as one of 
 the leading lawyers of San Francisco. But destiny reserved 
 but a brief glory for this Achilles of the bar, and death 
 removed the brilliant star of genius on the 25th of Decem- 
 ber, 1851. 
 
 BAETON, Matthias, was a son of Eev. Thomas Barton, 
 and was admitted to the bar in 1778. He was elected from 
 Lancaster county to the Legislature, in the years 1793, 1794 
 and 1795. In 1796 he was elected to the Senate of Penn- 
 sylvania, and reelected in 1800. 
 
 Mr. Barton was a man of superior culture, and possessed a 
 great fondness for natural history. In his travels through 
 Pennsylvania and other States, he made considerable collec- 
 tions of natural history ; and he noted, in an especial man- 
 ner, the habits of animals; in particular the viviparous quad- 
 rupeds, and also of birds and iishes. He was for many ye ars 
 engaged in collecting materials for a work " on the Instincts 
 and Manners of Animals.'' He also made a large collection 
 of the mineral productions of Pennsylvania. In his collec- 
 tion were many specimens of the ores and clays of his native 
 State. 
 
 Without the aid of a master, Mr. Barton excelled as a 
 painter and drawer of sketches from natiire. A considera- 
 ble portion of his leisure time was employed in painting 
 scenes from nature, and the animal productions of our coun- 
 try. Some of his drawings of birds and fishes of Pennsyl- 
 vania were acknowledged by competent judges to have been 
 amongst the most beautiful found in the department of 
 natural history. 
 
 Mr. Barton was a gentleman very amiable in his manners, 
 of unspotted private virtue, and whose charms in society 
 endeared him to all with whom he came in "contact. He was 
 a useful citizen, and ranked amongst the ablest men of Penn- 
 sylvania. He died January 11th, 1809, in the 4:7th year 
 of his age. 
 
 BAETOJST, Thomas, was born in Ireland, in the year 
 1730. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Shortly 
 after graduating, he came to America, and was for about 
 
OF LANOASTEB COUNTY. 31 
 
 two years engaged as an assistant teaclier in the academy at 
 Philadelphia. In 1755 he returned to England, bearing a 
 recommendation from the Professors of the College, and the 
 clergy of the Province of Pennsylvania, and with an earnest 
 petition from the inhabitants of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, 
 that he might be appointed their missionary. After the 
 requisite preliminaries he was ordained, and came back as 
 missionary for the counties of York and Cumberland. 
 
 He reached Philadelphia, about April 10th, 1755, and 
 immediately wrote to some of the leading men of his mission, 
 who caused a number of wagons to be sent for his effects. 
 He reached the field of his labors about the last of May, and 
 his first care was to make himself acquainted with the con- 
 dition and members of his three congregations, York, Carlisle 
 and Huntingdon. After he had caused wardens and vestry- 
 men to be established in the different congregations, these 
 met in convention, and it was agreed that he should officiate 
 three Sundays in six at Huntingdon, two at Carlisle, and one 
 at York. The labors devolved upon him in attending three 
 congregations, the extremes of which lay 148 miles apart, 
 can be easily conceived. Besides having learned that there 
 were within the limits of the mission, large numbers of the 
 communion of the Church of England, in Shippensburg, and 
 four or five other settlements, he determined to visit each of 
 these four times in the year, in order to prepare them for the 
 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and' to baptize their chil- 
 dren. 
 
 Scarcely had Mr. Barton commenced his labors, before his 
 attention was drawn to the wretched condition of the 
 Indians, some of whom resided at no great distance from the 
 seat of his labors ; and having heard that a number of them 
 had come down from the Ohio to Carlisle, to dispose of their 
 fur and deer-skins, he took occasion to go among them, and 
 endeavored to secure their good- will in the hope of making 
 himself useful to them. He invited them to church, and 
 such of them as had any knowledge of English, came and 
 seemed attentive. Subsequently, these brought their breth- 
 ren to shake hands with him ; and the result of the interview 
 was, that he had great hope of being able to bring them 
 
32 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 under the influence of Christianity. But just at this time, 
 tidings came that the forces under the command of General 
 Braddock had been defeated, as they were marching to 
 Fort Duquesne, (now Pittsburg); and this was soon suc- 
 ceeded by an alienation of the Indians, which put an end to 
 all hope of prosecuting, successfully, any missionary efforts 
 among them. 
 
 Mr. Barton now finding himself exposed to the incursions 
 of the French and Indians, was compelled to organize the 
 young men of his own congregations for defense against 
 their enemies ; and, such was his zeal and activity, that he 
 even put himself at their head, and marched either by night 
 or by day when there was an alarm. In 1758, the young 
 men within his mission offered to join the army if Mr. Barton 
 would accompany them ; whereupon he proposed himself to 
 Gen. 'Forbes, as chaplain of the troops, and his services were 
 thankfully accepted. He was, however, absent from his 
 ordinary duties but a short time, though it was long enough 
 to give him the opportunity of making the acquaintance of 
 "Washington, Mercer, and other distinguished officers of the 
 army. 
 
 It was during the time that Mr. Barton was engaged in 
 teaching in Philadelphia, in 1751, that he formed the ac- 
 quaintance of David Kittenhouse, then about 19 years of age. 
 A warm attachment sprang up between Mr. Barton and 
 Esther Eittenhouse, which, in 1753, resulted in their mar- 
 riage. It was chiefly through the instrumentality of Mr. 
 Barton, that the uncommon ability of David Eittenhouse 
 was first discovered, who afforded him every facility for 
 developing his genius, by procuring him books and asssisting 
 him in the study of the languages. The friendship thus early 
 cemented between the philosopher Eittenhouse and Mr. 
 Barton never ceased; even the unfortunate difference of 
 political opinion, as regarded the propriety of revolution, 
 never marred the kind feelings which the one entertained for 
 the other.i 
 
 In 1759, Mr. Barton was appointed rector of St. James' 
 
 •Would ttat such liberality and high toned feeling would become uni- 
 versal in the hearts of mankind. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 33 
 
 Clmreli, and missionary for the congregations of Pequea and 
 Caernarvon. This position he continued to fill for the space 
 of 20 years. In addition to these three charges, he officiated 
 occasionally at the churches of New London and "White 
 Clay creek — the one distant 35 miles, the other 50 miles 
 from his residence. So great was the amount of labor he 
 performed, and such the fatigue and exposure to which he 
 was subjected in his missionary excursions, that he became 
 sensible that his constitution was greatly impaired ; but he 
 still kept on laboring, to the extent of his ability ; and the 
 letters which from time time he wrote to the Society for 
 propagating the Gospel, show that he was resolved to per- 
 severe in his labors until his health should entirely fail, or 
 Providence should in some other way hedge up his path. 
 
 Mr. Barton had never lost, in any degree, his interest ia 
 the Indians ; and was actually planning an excursion of a 
 few months among them, in or about the year 1764, when 
 his hopes were again blasted by the breaking out of the 
 Indian war, which rendered any approach to them utterly 
 hopeless. 
 
 In 1770, Mr. Barton received the Honorary Degree of 
 Master of Arts, from King's College, New York. 
 
 As the dif&culties between England and the colonies 
 increased, Mr. Barton, on account of his suspected sympathy 
 for. the mother country, found his situation to become more 
 and more embarrassing. He still continued to pray for the 
 king, and this created so strong a feeling against him and his 
 congregation, that it resulted in his church being nailed shut, 
 and so remained till the close of the revolution.^ In a letter, 
 dated November 25th, 1776, he thus describes his situation: 
 " I have been obliged to shut up my churches to avoid the 
 fury of the populace, who would not suffer the liturgy to be 
 used, unless the collects and prayers for the King and royal 
 family were omitted, which neither my conscience nor the 
 declaration I made and subscribed when ordained, would 
 allow me to comply with; and, although I used every pru- 
 
 >At the breaking out of the American revolution, every Episcopal 
 church in Pennsylvania was closed.— Documentary History of State of 
 New York, Vol. IV, p. 241. 
 
 ■^ o 
 
S4 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 dent step to give no offense, even to those who usurped 
 authority and rule, and exercised the severest tyranny over 
 us, yet my life and property have been threatened, upon 
 mere suspicion of being unfriendly to what is called ' the 
 American cause.' Indeed, every clergyman of the church 
 of England, who dared to act upon proper principles, was 
 marked out for infamy and insult, in consequence of which 
 the missionaries, in particular, have suffered greatly. Some 
 of them have been dragged from their houses, assaulted with 
 stones and dirt, ducked in water, and obliged to fly for their 
 lives, driven from their habitations and families, laid under 
 arrest and imprisonment. I believe they were all, or at 
 least most of them, reduced to the same necessity with me, 
 of shutting up their churches. It is, however, a great plea- 
 sure to assure the venerable Society that, though^I have been 
 deprived of the satisfaction of discharging my public duties 
 to my congregations, I have endeavored, I trust not unsuc- 
 cessfully, to be beneficial to them in another way. I have 
 visited them from hour to hour, regularly instructed their 
 families, baptized and catechised their children, and per- 
 formed such other duties as atoned for my suspension from 
 public teaching." 
 
 Mr. Barton's connection with the congregation of St. 
 James, in Lancaster, ceased sometime in the year 1777, and 
 near the close of the following year he and his wife went to 
 New York, in pursuance of permission granted by the 
 government of Pennsylvania, under certain conditions, one 
 of which was, that he should not return again. His removal 
 to New York was occasioned by his refusal to take the oath 
 of allegiance to the American government, and a passport 
 was furnished him by the Supreme Executive Council, for 
 his banishment within the British lines. All his children, 
 excepting the oldest, remained in Pennsylvania. Eor nearly 
 two years he was not permitted to see his children. In 1779 
 his son returned from Europe, when David Eittenhouse, 
 Gol. Samuel J. Atlee, (formerly one of his parishioners), and 
 others, exerted their influence to obtain an interview 
 between the parents and children. In reply to a letter from 
 one of these friends, apprising him of his son's arrival home, 
 
OF LANCASTER COTTNTr. 35 
 
 after a long absence, dated January SOtli, 1779, Mr. Barton 
 tlius explains the scruples which actuated his conduct, and 
 reveals the sorrow which worked in the parental heart : 
 
 " I am just informed that my son has returned to his 
 native country, after an absence of between three and four 
 years. How melancholy and distressing is my situation ! 
 Separated from eight children, and three congregations, to 
 whom I am bound by duty, gratitude, and every tie of 
 affection ! A parent only knows a parent's woes ; and such 
 will feel for me. You are kind enough to tell me that my son 
 requests me to return to my parish. What he can mean by 
 this request, I am totally at a loss to understand. Could the 
 matter have been determined by my option, I should never 
 have left my parish for any prospect or preferment that 
 could offer. But no choice was left me, but either to take 
 the oath or to suffer a painful separation from my dearest 
 connections, as well as from a country which has always 
 liad, since I have known it, my predilections and best wishes ; 
 a country to which I can declare (with an appeal to heaven 
 for the truth of the declaration), I never did, or wished to 
 do, any act or thing prejudicial or injurious; and, though 
 my heart assures me that many conscientious and good men 
 have conformed to the test-act, yet my own conscience 
 always revolted at the abjuration part of it, and prevailed 
 with me to surrender every worldly consideration that 
 should come in competition or tempt me to a violation of 
 it. This, sir, was the only crime (if a crime it be) for which 
 I now suffer banishment from all that are most dear to me : 
 with an interdict "woi to return again.'" I cannot, therefore, 
 comprehend how I can, consistently, return before this 
 interdict is cancelled, or some assurance given me that I 
 may again unite and live quietly with my family, without 
 being subjected to an abjuration I cannot take. The proper 
 duties and profession of a minister of the Gospel should, in 
 my opinion, never lead him into the field of politics. In 
 conformity to this opinion, every man who knows me can tes- 
 tify, that I never degraded my profession by intermeddling, 
 directly or indirectly, in this present unhappy contest ; so that 
 iny own scruples would be a stricter tie upon me than any 
 
36 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 that could be made by oaths or tests. You will excuse my 
 troubling you on this subject, when I tell you that the kind 
 manner which you addressed me, has drawn it upon you." 
 
 In reply to another letter from Eittenhouse, he says : " To 
 see and be united with my children, is my earnest wish ; but 
 how that happy event is to be obtained, I know not ; if my 
 son should choose to come to Elizabethtown, perhaps I 
 might be indulged with a flag, to have an interview with 
 him there." This letter, written on the 15th of February, 1779, 
 in connection with the preceding extract, shows the motives 
 and emotions by which Mr. B. claimed to have been influ- 
 enced. To understand the motives which actuated the gov- 
 ernment in thus separating a father from his family, and a 
 preacher from his congregation, we will glance at a corre- 
 spondence then going on between Mr. Bryan, Vice Presi- 
 dent of the Council, and General Washington. From a let- 
 ter dated March 5th, 1779, Mr. Bryan writes thus: 
 
 " This board, ever watchful of the public^safety and happi- 
 ness, think it behooves them to communicate to you their 
 suspicion, that Mr. Paul Zantzinger, of the borough of Lan- 
 caster, in this State, merchant, who has lately gone hence for 
 camp, has a design of getting liberty to pass into New York. 
 For this purpose he will hold forth his desire to visit his 
 father-in-law, Eev. Thomas Barton, now in that city. "When 
 you know the character and conduct of this divine, your 
 Excellency will judge better of such a request. Mr. Barton 
 has long been a missionary stationed at Lancaster by the 
 society in England for propagating the Gospel. It is be- 
 lieved that he has been very instrumental in poisoning the 
 minds of his parishioners, who are generally of very dis- 
 affected principles, as to the present contest with Great 
 Britain. His late conduct in refusing to give the common 
 proofs of allegiance to this State and abjure the King of Great 
 Britain, and in taking the benefit of the indulgence of our 
 Legislature, which allowed him to sell his lands and retire, 
 as he said, to Europe; but above all, his acceptance of a 
 chaplaincy in a British regiment at New York (as is credi- 
 bly reported here), and thus actively joining the enemy, 
 confirm the worst ideas that have been entertained of this 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 37 
 
 gentleman. I would suggest, that Mr. Zantzinger is a 
 trader, wlio has never manifested much attention to the present 
 contest, and very likely to be drawn by interested views to a 
 mart where European merchandizes are sold at prices in- 
 viting to men who seek profit merely. 
 
 " Mr. Z. is probably accompanied by a son di Mr. Barton, 
 a young gentleman lately returned from England, where he 
 has been weaned of all fond attachment to that corrupted 
 country, and brought to see the happiness and independence 
 of North America in their proper light and connection. 
 Young Mr. Barton is a much clearer character with us than 
 his brother-in-law, and as such I venture to mention him." 
 To this General Washington replied, under date of March 
 10th, as follows : 
 
 " I am much obliged to you for the attention you dis- 
 cover to prevent any intercourse with the enemy, which 
 might be attended with doubtful circumstances. I had 
 taken my measures with the gentlemen who are the objects 
 of your information before I received your letter, and 
 restricted them to our own lines at Elizabethtown Point, 
 where they had liberty to see their friends if they could ob- 
 tain leave to come over. This I imagined a sufficient secu- 
 rity against any consequences which might be apprehended 
 from a more liberal indulgence." 
 
 This indulgence was not obtained until in April, 1780, 
 when, chiefly through the influence of President Reed, the 
 Council granted a passport, thus sanctioned by General 
 Washington ; in pursuance of which, Mr. Barton met his 
 family at Elizabethtown for the last time on earth. Of 
 course the meeting must have been as affecting as the circum- 
 stances connected with it were painful. After the interview, 
 he bade adieu to his children and returned to New York, 
 where he died on the 25th of the following month, in the 
 50th year of his age. His remains were interred in the 
 chancel of St. George's Chapel in that city. His wife 
 (formerly a Miss Thornbury), to whom he was married in 
 1776, survived him many years, much esteemed for her many 
 virtues, by Mr. Barton's descendants. His first wife (for- 
 merly Miss Ether Eittenhouse), now lies interred under what 
 
38 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOBT 
 
 is known as "the Coleman pew," in St. James' Episcopal 
 cliurcli, in this city.* 
 
 BAETON, Ehba, son of Wm. Barton, born at Lancaster, 
 was a leading physician of Philadelphia. He graduated with 
 distinction at the University of Pennsylvania, and soon 
 attained positten as a surgeon, excelling in the treatment of 
 difficult cases. His treatment of compound fracture of the 
 leg by bran dressing, is still followed in our large hospitals. 
 His name has been associated with a peculiar fracture of the 
 radius, involving the wrist joint, and with an ingenious ban- 
 dage for dressing a broken jaw. He was married to a daugh- 
 ter of the late Jacob Eidgway, of Philadelphia. Dr. Barton 
 died at his residence on South Broad street, Philadelphia, 
 January 1st, 1871. 
 
 BAETON, "William, the oldest son of Eev. Thomas Bar- 
 ton, was a man of solid ability and great energy of charac- 
 ter. In September, 1775, at the suggestion of his father, he 
 left America for England, bearing with him letters of recom- 
 mendation from Bishop Peters, and other persons. While 
 in EuEope, he laid the foundation of his education, and 
 otherwise advanced his literary interests, for which he 
 had a peculiar fondness. He left England in 1778, and re- 
 turned to America by way of Holland and the West Indies, 
 and landed at Baltimore, January 8th, 1779. On his pas- 
 sage from the West Indies to the continent, he assisted in 
 making prize of a British Privateer, which was brought to 
 Baltimore. Immediately upon landing, he took the oath of 
 fidelity and allegiance to the United States Government. 
 Upon his arrival' at Lancaster, he received a letter from 
 David Eittenhouse, dated January 24th, 1779, in which he 
 says : "I most sincerely congratulate you on your safe ar- 
 rival, and impatiently expect the pleasure of seeing you 
 here. I received yours from Baltimore, ten days after the 
 date, and immediately wrote to your father, supposing him 
 to be still in New York, though we cannot be certain as to 
 that matter." He was shortly afterwards admitted to the 
 Lancaster bar, and also chosen an officer of the militia of the 
 
 ■*Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit. Documentary History 
 of the State of New York, Vol. IV., pp. 239-340. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 3^ 
 
 'boroug'h of Lancaster. His advocacy of the cause of the 
 stniggling colonies was warm and enthusiastic. On the IStk 
 of August, 1789, he was nominated by President Washing- 
 ton, one of the judges of the Western Territory, and the 
 Senate ratified the nomination. He was afterwards (with 
 but two exceptions), unanimously recommended by the 
 Lancaster Bar, for the appointment to the President Judge- 
 ship of the district, composed of the counties of Lancaster, 
 Chester, York and Dauphin. In 1779, he was an ardent 
 Eepublican, and a staunch advocate of the election of 
 Thomas McKean, for Governor of Pennsylvania. Being a 
 finished scholar and a fine writer, he was, during that cam- 
 paign, the one generally selected to draft the Democratic 
 addresses, then a leading feature of political parties. He 
 was, in 1800, appointed Prothonotary of Lancaster county, 
 and this of&ce, together with the commission of Clerk of the 
 Orphans' Court, which he obtained in 1803, he held up to 
 1809, when he was succeeded by John Passmore. He after- 
 wards removed to Philadelphia, and was chosen Secretary to 
 the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. He 
 obtained from the University of Pennsylvania the honorary 
 title of Master of Arts. He is the author of a dissertation 
 on the Freedom of Navigation and Maritime Commerce, 
 and also of a biography of the Philosopher Eittenhoiise. 
 
 BAETON, William, was elected Clerk of the Quarter 
 Sessions and Oyer and Terminer, in the year 1869. 
 
 BAUMAISr, Benjamin, was appointed Eegister of Wills 
 of Lancaster county, in 1818. 
 
 BAUSMAN, Eev. B., D.D., son of John and Elizabeth 
 Bausman, was born in Lancaster township, Lancaster county, 
 Pa., January 28th, 1824. The days of his childhood and 
 youth were spent in the bosom of his parental home. As a 
 youth and young man, he was trained to farm work. In 
 early infancy, he was baptized by the Eev. John Henry 
 Hoffmeier. He was nurtured and brought up according to 
 the customs and faith of the Eeformed church. At the age 
 of eighteen he became a member of the (First) Eeformed 
 congregation of Lancaster. 
 
40 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 After enjoying the educational advantages then usual for 
 bdys of his age, he studied for several successive winters, 
 with the late Thomas Yearrel, in the old Quaker meeting 
 house, South Queen street (what has since become the Odd 
 Fellows' Hall). In the winter of 1846 he studied in the old 
 Franklin College, Lancaster. In the following May he 
 commenced his studies in Marshall College, Mercersburg, 
 Pa. He graduated in the college, and in 1852 completed 
 his course of study in the Theological Seminary of the same 
 place. In October, 1852, he was licensed to preach the 
 Gospel, at a meeting of the Synod of the Eeformed church, 
 held in Baltimore, Md. Several months later he was 
 ordained to the Gospel ministry, by the Susquehanna Classis, 
 and installed as pastor of the Eeformed church, at Lewis- 
 burg, Pa. 
 
 In April, 1856, his congregation gave him leave of 
 absence, in order to make a tour to Europe and the Bast. 
 On this tour he visited England, Scotland and Ireland, 
 traversed Europe three times, from the Northern Ocean to 
 the borders of Italy, spent two months in Berlin, visited 
 the leading cities of Italy, and tarried one month in Eome. 
 Thence he proceeded over Naples and Malta to Egypt, 
 visited Alexandria, Grand Cairo, the Pyramids, and the 
 country round about; he proceeded on his journey through 
 the Wilderness of Sinai, to Jerusalem. After visiting the 
 principal sacred places in Palestine, he returned to the 
 United States in the beginning of July, 1857. 
 
 In 1858, he was elected by the Synod of the Eeformed 
 church, associate editor of the Reformed Messenger, then 
 published at Chambersburg, Pa. Subsequently he was 
 promoted to the position of chief editor of this paper. In 
 1861 he resigned this position, and accepted a call from the 
 First Eeformed church, of Chambersburg, Pa. In 1863 he 
 became pastor of the First Eeformed church, of Eeading, 
 Pa., where he is still laboring. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1867, Dr. Bausman accepted the 
 editorship of the Guardian, a monthly magazine, founded 
 some twenty years ago, by the late Eev. Dr. H. Harbaugh, 
 which position he is still holding. 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 41 
 
 After his removal to Reading, Dr. Bausman felt the want 
 of a religious paper to suit the tastes and wants of the 
 Pennsylvania German class of Reformed people. In 1867 
 he commenced the publication of the Reformirte Hausfreund, 
 with the view of meeting this want. The object was to 
 publish a paper, written, as far as possible, in the simple, 
 transparent style of Luther and Claudius. It was, in a 
 measure, an experiment, and, as the result has shown, a 
 successful one. The Hausfreund still has its original editor. 
 It is an unique publication, but one that has many warm 
 friends and considerable influence. 
 
 Dr. Bausman is the author of a work, entitled "Sinai and 
 Zion, or a Pilgrimage through the Wilderness to the Land 
 of Promise," a volume of 543 pages, which has reached its 
 fifth edition. 
 
 He also edited HarhaugKs Harfe, a volume of poems in 
 the Pennsylvania German dialect, written by the late Dr. H. 
 Harbaugh. 
 
 At the commencement of Franklin and Marshall College, 
 held in June, 1871, the title of D.D. was conferred on him. 
 
 BAUSMAN, John, was born in 1780, in Freilaubersheim, 
 in the Palatinate, Germany. His parents were named 
 Henry and Barbara Bausman. He emigrated to America 
 in 1802, and settled in Lancaster county. In 1805 he 
 married Elizabeth Peters, and raised a numerous and very 
 respectable family. 
 
 BAUSMAN, William, was a Justice of the Peace, and 
 acted for many years as a scrivener in Lancaster. He was 
 elected County Commissioner in 1775. In 1777 he was 
 elected Burgess of Lancaster borough. On February 1st, 
 1809, he was appointed Recorder of Deeds of Lancaster 
 county. He owned considerable landed estate around Lan- 
 caster. 
 
 BAXTER, James, emigrated from Ireland, and located in 
 Bart township. He afterwards moved to Colerain. He was 
 elected a member of the Legislature in the years 1810 and 
 1811. He was a pure, honest and upright man, and had the 
 fullest confidence of his fellow citizens. 
 
42 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 BEATES, Rev. Wm., was born in Philadelphia, in the year 
 1777. He served an apprenticeship as a tobacconist, but 
 on arriving at the years of manhood, he became awakened 
 on the subject of religion and studied divinity. After taking 
 orders, he was stationed at Germantown, Pa., where he 
 remained a number of years. Upon the solicitation of 
 the people of Chestnut Hill, near Litiz, in this county, he 
 removed from Germantown, and took charge of the Chest- 
 nut Hill congregation. Here he continued to labor for 
 fiffeen years, with great diligence and zeal. He next 
 removed to Lancaster city, and finding the German Lutheran 
 congregati®n of Lancaster scattered and distracted by dissen- 
 sions, he at once set to work to reorganize and heal all the 
 differences existing in the congregation, and in this labor he 
 was entirely successful. He found the church groaning under 
 a load of debt, and no means at hand or prospect of its pay- 
 ment. He consented to serve the congregation as their 
 pastor for a stipulated salary. His salary, however, as soon 
 as he drew it, was immediately appropriated by him annually 
 to the liquidation of the debt on the church, and in this manner 
 did he serve his congregation until the whole indebtedness 
 was removed. Thus did this faithful and devoted minister 
 of Christ labor and toil, like his Master, virtually without 
 compensation, but in doing so he raised an imperishable 
 monument in the hearts of his people and of the community, 
 never to be forgotten. Such works as his deserve to be 
 recorded as memorials for all coming time. This genuine 
 servant of Christ was no wolf in sheep's clothing, and for 
 many years of his later life he bore in the community the 
 affectionate name of "Father Beates." Long may he be 
 remembered. He is gone, but his name is gratefully 
 remembered by many. 
 
 Father Beates died May 16th, 1867, in his 91st year. He 
 was blessed in the attainment of longer years than is usually 
 allotted to man; and he was doubly blessed in his removal 
 from earth, at a moment when, with sanctified mind, he was 
 piously engaged in the administration of the blessed sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's Supper to the members of his family. 
 At that moment the angel of peace beckoned the aged and 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTT. 43 
 
 faithful servant to come and sit down in the mansions of 
 bliss, and accept the crown of glory which his life of 
 humility and self-sacrifice on earth had merited. 
 
 BECK, John, was born June 16th, 1791, at Graceham, 
 Frederick county, Maryland. In his sixth year he came 
 with his parents to Pennsylvania, who located in the neigh- 
 borhood of Elizabethtown, Lancaster county, from whence 
 they moved, some years afterwards, to Lebanon county, in 
 the same State. In the district that his parents occupied, 
 there were no schools, and the subject of this notice was 
 sent to Nazareth Hall, in Northampton county. Pa., to 
 receive an education. 
 
 Upon the completion of his education he returned home, 
 and was, in accordance with the opinion of his father, (that 
 every boy should be taught a mechanical occupation,) 
 apprenticed in Litiz, in his 15th year, to learn the shoe- 
 making trade. In this avocation the next ten years of his 
 life were spent, as an apprentice and journeyman shoemaker. 
 On the 2nd of Jaauary, 1815, he began teaching school in 
 an old building that had been used as a blacksmith shop, 
 and with eminent success. He had now entered the career 
 for which nature had peculiarly fitted him. His efforts to 
 promote the interests of his pupils, and the progress they 
 made under his care, soon become noised abroad, and it was 
 not long till pupils began to come to him from a distance. 
 His reputation was established. Pupils entered his school 
 from all parts of Lancaster county, and scarce a State in the 
 Union but had its representatives in his academy. His 
 eminent success in this line, led to the establishment of his 
 large Educational Institute, in which several thousands of 
 boys have laid the foundation of their education, and where 
 students flocked for years from all parts of the United 
 States, Canada, and the West Indies. Among his numerous 
 pupils are men now engaged in various occupations, some as 
 mechanics, manufacturers, lawyers, clergymen and phy- 
 sicians, principals of academies, members of State Legisla- 
 tures and of the national Congress, and officers in the army 
 and navy. His pupils fill the pulpits of ten different 
 denominations. 
 
44 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 After the devotion of fifty years of his life to teaching, he 
 retired from his calling on the 31st day of May, 1865, and 
 now lives in easy and comfortable retirement. And though 
 retired, he is by no means idle, as he' is regularly in the 
 habit of visiting schools and witnessing the progress of 
 the pupils. He is, and has been for years, in the habit of 
 visiting schools and institutes of learning in different parts 
 of Lancaster and adjoining counties; and he annually 
 addresses, in his peregrinating tours, thousands of pupils. 
 His life has been one of great activity and usefulness. 
 
 BBNTZ, Christian, was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in the years 1845 and 1846. 
 
 BEISSEL, Conrad, was a native of Germany, and fled to 
 escape persecution in his own land. He arrived in America 
 about 1720, and settled at Mill Port, Lancaster county, in 
 1729, where he and a companion built themselves a house ; 
 they were soon afterwards joined by other early settlers. 
 Wholly intent upon seeking out the true obligation of the 
 word of God and the proper observance of the rites and 
 ceremonies it imposed, stripped of human authority, he 
 conceived that there was an error among the Dunkers as 
 regards the observance of the Sabbath — that it was the 
 Seventh day that was commanded by the Lord to be observed, 
 and that this day having been commanded and sanctified by 
 Jehovah, its observance, in the opinion of Beissel, was a 
 matter of perpetual obligation. No change, nor authority 
 for change, had ever been announced to man by any power 
 Buf&cient to set aside the solemn decree of the Almighty — a 
 decree which he regarded as sanctified to the end of time. 
 Beissel, therefore, felt it to be his duty to contend for the 
 observance of the Seventh day as the Sabbath, that 
 Christians are under obligation to keep sacred. 
 
 It was not long after 1723 that he published a tract, enter- 
 ing into a discussion of this point, which created some excite- 
 ment and disturbance in the Society at Mill Creek. Upon 
 this account Beissel retired from the settlement, and went 
 secretly to a cell on the banks of the Cocalico Creek, said to 
 have been previously occupied by one Mimelich, a hermit. 
 His place of retirement was for a long time unknown to the 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY, 45 
 
 people he had left, and when discovered, many of the Society 
 at Mill Creek, who had become convinced of the truth of 
 his proposition for the observance of the Sabbath, settled 
 around him in solitary cottages. They adopted the original 
 Sabbath, the Seventh day, for public worship, in the year 
 1728 ; and from that period, this day has continued to be 
 observed by their descendants. 
 
 ' When in the year 1732, the solitary life was changed into 
 a conventual one, and a monastic society was formed, the 
 title of Father (spirituaj father) was bestowed upon Beissel, 
 and his monastic name was Friedsam, and to this the breth- 
 ren afterwards added that of Gottrecht, implying therein 
 peaceable and godly. Beissel now devoted with great assid- 
 uity his whole time and attention to the spiritual advance- 
 ment of his flock ; the management of his secular affairs were 
 entirely entrusted to others. Thus unencumbered by tem- 
 poral concerns, he was enabled to consecrate his strength to 
 instructing his followers in the Word of life, and establish- 
 ing amongst them the gospel in all its truth and simplicity. 
 The titles of Father and Gottrecht were conferred upon him 
 by his followers, and were not presumptuous assumptions 
 on his part. 
 
 Morgan Edwards, in his " Materials towards a History of 
 the American Baptists," published in 1770, gives the follow- 
 ing character of Beissel : " He was very strict in his morals, 
 and practiced self-denial to an uncommon degree. Enthusi- 
 astic and whimsical he certainly was, but an apparent 
 devoutness and sincerity ran through all his oddities. He 
 was not an adept in any of the liberal arts and sciences, except 
 music, in which he excelled. He composed and set to music 
 (in three, four, six and eight parts), a folio volume of hymns, 
 and another of anthems. He published a dissertation on 
 the fall of man in the mysterious strain, and also a volume 
 of letters. He left behind him several books in manuscript, 
 curiously written and embellished." 
 
 Beissel wrote a book on Human Depravity, which is as 
 curious as it is ingenious. He enters into long disquisitions 
 on the nature of Adam and his capabilities before the fall; 
 explaining many things pertaining to the fall, and with it 
 
46 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 elucidating several parts of the Scriptures which -would 
 easily have escaped the attention of men of more profundity 
 of genius. His views are somewhat mysterious, yet deep 
 and ingenious^ but, in the present day, would be deemed 
 little more than refined speculations sublimated into visions. 
 Conrad Beissel died July 6th, 1768, aged 77 years and 4 
 months. 
 
 BETHEL, Samuel, was born in Columbia, Lancaster 
 county. Pa. He was a sister's son of Samuel Blunston. 
 Having lost his father when young, he, at the instance of 
 Dr. Kuhn, was sent to Philadelphia, where he received a 
 classical education, and graduated with the reputation of 
 being one of the best mathematicians of the country. He 
 was completely master of Euclid, and a case of his mathe- 
 matical instruments is yet preserved. He read law, and 
 was admitted to the bar in 1795. He inherited a large 
 quantity of real estate in Lancaster county, and the ground 
 upon which Bethelstown now stands, was his property. He 
 married Sarah, a daughter- of Gen. Edward Hand, of revolu- 
 tionary memory. He was elected twice to the Pennsylvania 
 Legislature, and served therein as a member during the 
 sessions of 1808 and 1809. He died in the year 1819, aged 
 about 48 years. He lies buried in the Brick Cemetery, in 
 Columbia. 
 
 BILLINGFELT, Esaias, was born January 11, 1827, at 
 Eeamstown, Lancaster county, of poor parentage. He was 
 left an orphan at an early age. He attended the public 
 schools of his native place, where he made such progress 
 that when twelve years of age he was occasionally employed 
 as an assistant teacher. He was, however, soon compelled 
 to devote his time, to hard labor to earn a subsistence. He 
 worked as a day laborer, and also learned the trade of a 
 hatter. From his sixteenth year he taught school almost 
 every winter until 1848. In the fall of the latter year he 
 entered the office of the late Peter Martin, where he studied 
 the art of surveying, and made himself familiar with scriven- 
 ing and conveyancing. In 1850 the village of Adamstown was 
 incorporated as a borough, and Mr. Billingfelt having pre- 
 viously moved to that place, he was in that year elected 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 47 
 
 Justice of tlie Peace, which position he held by repeated re- 
 elections until the year 1863. Meanwhile, in the year 1862, 
 he had been appointed Deputy United States Marshal for 
 Lancaster county. In the fall of 1863 Mr.Billingfelt was 
 elected to the House of Eepresentatives of Pennsylvania, 
 and was in the following year re-elected. His course in this 
 position was so satisfactory to his constituents, that he was, 
 in the fall of 1866, elected to the Senate of Pennsylvania, and 
 at the expiration of his term, in 1869, was re-elected. In 
 this capacity he served, during the session of 1870, as chair- 
 man of the Oommittee on Finance, and in 1872 he was 
 chairman of the Committees on Federal Eelations, Retrench- 
 ment and Reform, and also chairman of the Committee on 
 Constitutional Reform. 
 
 BLACK, James, was born in Lewisburg, Union county, 
 Pennsylvania, September 23rd, 1823. He removed with his 
 parents in 1835 to Lancaster city, which he has since made 
 his permanent home. After the attainment of the rudiments 
 of an English education, evincing a rare fondness for books, 
 he was sent by his parents to the Lewisburg Academy, where 
 he acquired a fair knowledge of the Latin and Greek lan- 
 guages. He next began the study of law in the ofi&ce of 
 James F. Linn, of Lewisburg, afterwards read with Wm. 
 B. Fordney, esq., of Lancaster, and was admitted to the 
 bar in 1846. 
 
 Early in life, conceiving a strong dislike to the fashionable 
 habit of dram-drinking, he joined a temperance organization 
 in 1840, of which cause he has proved himself one of the 
 most ardent and ef&cient advocates. Since the period of the 
 Maine prohibitory law movement, in 1851, Mr. Black has 
 acted conspicuously as a leading mover in the temperance 
 cause, and his name has become widely known as one of the 
 most sincere and enthusiastic champions of prohibition in 
 America. No State or national temperance movement of im- 
 portance from that period up to the present time has been 
 held, in which Mr. Black's name does not appear as a con- 
 spicuous participant. Always alive to the evils of intem- 
 perance, as they presented themselves to his mind, he has 
 ever worked with that glowing enthusiasm which heroism 
 
48 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 inspires. His is the ardor which the rack and the funeral 
 pile do not intimidate, and though by the unreflecting his zeal 
 may pass for fanaticism, in the eyes of others it is the index 
 of genuine nobility and true manhood. 
 
 In politics, Mr. Black was a Democrat until 1854, when 
 the question of slavery began to absorb all others. His 
 bitter hatred of southern slavery, then induced him to yield 
 his adhesion to the Republican party of the country, which 
 first unfurled its national banner in 1856. With this party 
 he has continued to act until a recent period. At the 
 National Prohibition Convention, held at Cincinnati, Febru- 
 ary 22nd, 1872, Mr. Black was nominated as the candidate of 
 the Temperance party for the office of President of the United 
 States, a marked tribute of respect for the ability and warmth 
 which he had displayed in his humanitarian efforts to elevate 
 his fellow men. 
 
 In sincerity, honesty and boldness of purpose, Mr. Black 
 ranks amongst the noblest of his kind, and though his en- 
 thusiasm may be criticised, his motives can not be im- 
 peached. 
 
 BLUNSTON, Samuel, a native of England, was one of 
 the early settlers of Columbia. He was a man of consider- 
 able means, and bought in 1728 five hundred acres of land, 
 that had been the year before taken up by Eobert Barber. 
 His first house was a log cabin, erected near the spot where 
 the present house of Samuel B. Heise now stands. He 
 imported the bricks from England that were used in the 
 erection of the present house of Mr. Heise, and some of the 
 bricks were used in the construction ot the wall of the 
 Brick Cemetery. He was an active, enterprising man, in 
 his day, and the citizens elected him a member of the State 
 Legislature for 1732. He was three times subsequently 
 elected, and served in that capacity during the sessions of 
 1741, 1742 and 1744. He served as a legislator, in all, four 
 sessions. A Scotch filtering stone, imported by him from 
 England, is yet preserved as a relic, by Mr. S. B. Heise, 
 Samuel Blunston was married, yet left no lineal descendants, 
 and his large estate was divided amongst his collateral heirs^ 
 He lies buried in the Brick Cemetery in Columbia. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 49 
 
 *BOBHM, Eev. Henry. His grandfather was born in 
 1693, and emigrated from the Palatinate to America in 
 1715. He was induced to this step by the glowing descrip- 
 tions given of this country by Martin Kendig, the head of 
 one of the seven families who liad settled in what is now 
 Lancaster county. He landed in Philadelphia, from thence 
 he went to Germantown, then to Lancaster, and finally 
 settled in Pequea, Lancaster county. Soon after his 
 arrival, he married a Miss Kendig, bought a farm, and built 
 himself a house. He was by trade a blacksmith, the first 
 in all that region. 
 
 Martin Boehm, the father of our subject, was born Novem- 
 ber 30, 1725, and married, in 1753, Eve Steiner, whose 
 ancestors were from Switzerland. Having inherited his 
 father's beautiful farm, in 1750 he built a house, in which 
 his children were all born. 
 
 Martin Boehm was first a Mennonite preacher, for that 
 was the religion of his fathers. He became conspicuous in 
 the movement which resulted in the organization of the 
 church of " The United Brethren in Christ." Martin Boehm 
 and Asbury were lifelong and fast friends. Asbury preached 
 Boehm's funeral sermon, at Boehm's chapel, April 5, 1812. 
 
 Henry Boehm, the subject of this memoir, was born in 
 the old homestead, in CQiifigtoga..(-now. Pequea) township, 
 June 8th, 1775. He was born nine years before the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal church, of which he is a member, was organized. 
 His memory recurs to the time when persons traveled to Fort 
 Pitt on pack horses. He had a common school education, 
 and the old school-house and the schoolmaster he reriiem- 
 bers distinctly. The teacher boarded from house to house. 
 His preceptor, being a fine German scholar, he acquired a 
 correct knowledge of this language. This, in after years, 
 was a great benefit to him when he preached in German, 
 for he was one of the first among the Methodists that 
 preached in that language. This he has done in fourteen 
 different States. 
 
 When, after an absence of many years, the aged patriarch 
 
 paid a visit to his native town, he inquired for his old school- 
 
 *Contributed by J. B, Good, esq. 
 
 4 
 
50 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 fellows, hoping to find one with whom he could converse 
 about by-gone days, but he inquired in vain. They were all 
 gone, and he found himself alone and lonely. Dilworth's 
 spelling book, from Avhich he learned English, and the knife 
 and fork he used when a little boy, have been preserved as 
 relics of his childhood. 
 
 His early advantages for religious instruction were good. 
 He was "brought up in the nurture and admonition of the 
 Lord." Morning and evening the old family bible was read 
 and prayer was offered. His mother, too, had much to do in 
 moulding his character and shaping his destiny. One evening 
 as he returned home, he heard a familar voice engaged in 
 prayer. He listened: it was his mother. Among other 
 things, she prayed for her children and mentioned Henry, her 
 youngest son. The mention of his name melted the heart 
 of the listener. Tears rolled down his cheek, and he felt 
 the importance of obeying God's command : " My son, give 
 me thine heart !" 
 
 In 1793 the entreaties and prayers of the father prevailed, 
 and the son's stubborn heart yielded, and he experienced, as 
 he always believed, the forgiveness and pardon of his sin. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born near what is known 
 as Boehm's chapel. It was the first Methodist house of 
 worship built in Lancaster county, about six miles south of 
 Lancaster city. This chapel was erected in 1791. It was 
 called "Boehm's chapel," because it was built on Boehm's 
 land; and the several Boehm families contributed much 
 towards its erection. There were great gatherings at 
 Boehm's chapel. The Bishops and distinguished lights of 
 Methodism found their way there, and preached the Word of 
 life. At quarterly meetings, the people came from Phila- 
 delphia and Maryland, and Boehm's chapel was a center of 
 influence. It is difficult now to estimate the position it 
 once occupied in Methodism. 
 
 In 1798, during a quarterly meeting held in this chapel, 
 the now venerable subject of this sketch was converted. 
 A few months before his probation expired, they appointed 
 him a class-leader, at Soudersburg. 
 
 In 1800 young Boehm attended the general Conference of 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTS. 51 
 
 tlie Methodist cturch, wMoli commenced its session on 
 Tuesday, May 6tli, at Baltimore. In the same year Boehm, 
 in company with Dr. Chandler, visited Cape Henlopen, and 
 here he saw the ocean for the first time, and having been 
 sick he tried sea bathing, from which he received great 
 benefit. When he returned home he found his father ready 
 to set out on a ministerial tour, and he accompanied him. 
 His father was then allied with the United Brethren. After 
 attending a Conference of this latter body, at which his 
 father was elected one of the Bishops, he nevertheless 
 resolved to travel as an itinerant Methodist minister, and in 
 the same year began his labors. 
 
 There was great political excitement at the time. Feder- 
 alism and Democracy ran high, and Jefferson and Adams 
 were talked about everywhere. The excitement separated 
 families, friends and church members. Boehm was urged 
 on all sides to join one political party or the other. 
 
 Bishop Asbury v.isited his circuit, and he went with 
 him to the Conference, which met in Philadelphia, on 
 Saturday, May 1st, 1802. At this Conference he was 
 appointed to Kent Circuit. This was the oldest circuit on 
 the Peninsula, being -formed in 1774. He traveled this cir- 
 cuit till August, when his presiding elder removed him to 
 Northampton Circuit, Pennsylvania, one embracing several 
 counties, besides Northampton, Montgomery, Berks and 
 others. 
 
 Another preaching place was at Smithfield, Northampton 
 county ; also at Bristol, on the banks of the Delaware, 20 
 miles from Philadelphia. 
 
 The Philadelphia Conference met at Duck Creek Cross 
 Eoads, now Smyrna, in May, 1803, in the Friends' Meeting 
 House, the Methodists using their own for divine worship. 
 During the session of the Conference Boehm, was appointed 
 to Bristol Circuit. 
 
 After this. Bishop Asbury visited and asked hitn to ac- 
 company him in his travels. They set out for the west, 
 and arrived in Somerset county. Here Boehm preached in 
 German. The Bishop said : ^ " Henry, you had better return 
 and preach to the Germans, and I will pursue my journey 
 
52 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 alone." Shortly after this he acquired the ability to preach 
 readily in English. 
 
 On October 22nd, the yearly meeting of the United Breth- 
 ren was held at his father's place. These meetings generally 
 lasted three days, and were seasons of great interest. He 
 says : " I had made an appointment to preach in the Court 
 House at Eeading, but the Commissioners refused to give 
 up the key, and a large number who were assembled were 
 disappointed. There was, in this town, a deep-rooted preju- 
 dice against the Methodists which continued for years. When 
 I passed through Eeading, in 1810, with Bishop Asbury, 
 the boys laughed at us and said: 'There go the Metho- 
 dist preachers.' They knew us by our garb, and perhaps 
 thought it no harm to ridicule us. In 1823, when on Lan- 
 caster circuit, I succeeded in planting Methodism in Eead- 
 ing, and formed the first class there, where I had been shut 
 out a score of years before. This I consider quite a triumph . 
 
 "Harrisburg was another of our preaching places. I was 
 in the neighborhood of where Harrisburg now stands in 1793. 
 It was then called Harris' Ferry, from John Harris, its 
 founder. In 1803 it was a small place, and Lancaster was 
 then the capital of Pennsylvania. 
 
 "Columbia was another of our preaching places. I was at 
 this spot in 1791, when it was called ' Wright's Ferry,' from 
 John Wright, a Quaker preacher, who came from England, 
 and was the original land proprietor. 
 
 "My presiding elder v/as James Smith, a native of Ireland. 
 We used to call him 'Big Jimmy,' to distinguish him from 
 two other James Smiths. I took a tour with him for 
 several days. He preached in English, and I immediately 
 translated his sermons into German. There was no other 
 way to get access to the people, many of them having never 
 heard a sermon in English." 
 
 The Philadelphia Conference of 1804 was held at Souders- 
 burg, commencing May 28th. The place was called Souders- 
 burg, from Benjamin and Jacob Souders, the proprietors. 
 They were both Methodists ; Benjamin being a local preacher. 
 Methodism was introduced h^re in 1791, and a house of 
 worship built in 1801. The Conference was held in a pri- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 53 
 
 vate room, at the house of Benjamin Souders, that the meet- 
 ing-house might be used for preaching. There were 120 
 preachers present, and Boehm exulted at the idea of a Meth- 
 odist Conference being held in his native county. 
 
 At this Conference he was appointed to Dauphin circuit. 
 
 On April 1st, 1805, he attended the Baltimore Conference 
 in Winchester, Virginiaj a place where Methodism had early 
 been introduced. 
 
 At this Conference there were seventy-four preachers 
 present and here Boehm, for the first time, saw Rev. William 
 Waters, the first American Methodist traveling preacher, 
 and also heard him preach. 
 
 The Philadelphia Conference met on May 1, 1805, in 
 Chestertown, Md., in the court house, that the meeting 
 house might be occupied for preaching. Uere Bishop What- 
 coat ordained seven deacons, among whom was Ilenry Boehm, 
 whose father was present, desirous to see his son invested 
 with full ministerial powers. 
 
 He was at this Conference appointed to St. Mary's Circuit. 
 In his travels in this circuit, he met Lorenzo Dow, who, he 
 says, was an irregular, eccentric and yet powerful preacher. 
 He heard him several years afterwards, in Camden, N. J., 
 where he appeared quite changed and shorn of his strength. 
 
 In 1807 he was, with Wra. Hunter, appointed to Penn- 
 sylvania Circuit, embracing that part of the State which 
 lies between the Delaware and Susquehanna Elvers. " It 
 was not," he says, " till 1807 that we got a permanent foot- 
 hold in Lancaster. It was very hard soil for Methodism. 
 Twice we made a beginning, but failed ; and for several years 
 the place was abandoned. We had no preaching there, only 
 an occasional sermon. The introduction of Methodism into 
 Lancaster was providential. The translation of the Metho- 
 dist discipline into German, had something to do with it. In 
 1807 I went to Lancaster to read the proof sheets of this 
 translation at the printers. After I had read them and Avas 
 about to return home, it commenced raining hard, and I put 
 up at a public house where I had often stopped. Annoyed 
 by the noise and confusion of the people, I left the public 
 house and took a walk through Lancaster, to while away the 
 
54 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 time. While going along the street, I met with a woman 
 who had been a member of the Methodist church, in Ger- 
 mantown. She told me there was a man by the name of 
 Philip Benedict, in Lancaster, who had been awakened at 
 a camp-meeting, and he and his wife were seeking the Lord; 
 and she advised me to call and see them, telling me where 
 they lived. I went to their house, pointed them to Jesus, 
 and prayed with them. As I was about leaving they said, 
 ' that we could have Methodist preaching in Lancaster.' 
 I told them they could have it. So I left an appointment 
 to preach at his house. It became a permanent preaching 
 place. In a little while I formed a class of six members; 
 Philip Benedict and his wife and four others. This was 
 the nucleus of the society, which remained permanent. I 
 am thankful that I had the honor of planting the tree of 
 Methodism in that city. Behold, how many links there are 
 in this singular chain ; how many small causes to bring such 
 results." 
 
 At the raquest of Bishop Asbury, and the Philadelphia 
 Conference, Boehm had the Methodist discipline translated 
 into German, in 1807. He employed Dr. Eomer, and aided 
 him in the translation. They frequently compared notes 
 and consulted about certain terms. Boehm employed Henry 
 and Benjamin Grimier, printers, in Lancaster, to print 1500 
 copies. The Germans had an idea that the Mothodists had 
 no discipline. This translation corrected the error. 
 
 At the Philadelphia Conference, held on the 20th of March, 
 1808, Boehm, with two colleagues, was appointed to his old 
 field of labor. 
 
 After this. Bishop Asbury again chose Boehm as his 
 traveling companion ; and he traveled with the latter 
 around a large diocese. 
 
 "The venerable Asbury says Boehm was sixty-three years 
 old when I began to travel with him. Having been greatlj'^ 
 exposed, he was feeble and suffered from many infirmities. 
 I traveled with him much longer than any of his other 
 companions, and hence survived them all many years.'' 
 
 He left the Bishop infirm at Brownsville, Pa., for a while, 
 and went to preach, or " fill his appointments," while the 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 55 
 
 family where he stayed took care of him. Boehm reached 
 Pittsburg, and preached in the court house to about a thous- 
 and people, who came to hear the Bishop, and saw but a 
 plain German youth from their own State. 
 
 After the Bishop had recovered his health, they started for 
 Ohio, preaching in various places. 
 
 In September 6th, 1808, having- spent some time in Cin- 
 cinnati, they left for Indiana Territory, then a vast wilder- 
 ness. At that time the Methodist church had but seven 
 Conferences. The Western Conference included all the vast 
 tract of country lying-west of the Alleghanies, as far as it 
 was settled, except Monongahela District, which belonged to 
 the Baltimore Conference. The Western Conference met 
 on October 1st, at Liberty Hill, Tennessee. Some of the 
 appointments made at this Conference embraced the terri- 
 tory of whole States. 
 
 The day after the Western Conference adjourned, Boehm, 
 in company with two Bishops, started for the South Carolina 
 Conference, which was to meet in Liberty chapel, Green 
 county, Georgia, on December 6th, 1808. 
 
 On November 23, 1808, Kembert's camp- meeting com- 
 menced, where Boehm for the first time saw the Southern 
 preachers, all of whom have passed away except. Pierce and 
 himself 
 
 On the 28th of November they started for Charleston, 
 where Boehm was delighted with the warm-hearted brethren 
 he met with; but he adds to his reflections, written many 
 years later: "It was a sad day for them when secession was 
 born, and they fired upon Fort Sumpter and the old time- 
 honored flag." 
 
 From here they went to Southern Conference, the two 
 Bishops riding in a chaise ; Boehm on horseback, as a kind 
 of body-guard. The Conference commenced Monday, Dec. 
 26th, 1808. Here Boehm witnessed the novelty of seeing a 
 camp-meeting held in winter, between Christmas and New 
 Year, where about a thousand people attended. 
 
 After the close of this Conference Boehm started for the 
 North; and towards the end of March, 1809, reached the 
 home of his parents again. 
 
56 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 On April 3, 1809, the Philadelphia Conference met in St. 
 George's, Philadelphia, Pa. Bishops McKendree and Asbury 
 were both present. Boehm says : " It may be asked to whom 
 I was amenable when I traveled with Bishop Asbury ?" I 
 answer, to the Philadelphia Conference. It may be asked, 
 who represented me, as I had no presiding elder. I answer, 
 Bishop Asbury. When the question was asked, " Is there 
 anything against Ilenry Boehm?" The Bishop was the only 
 person who could answer it, for he was the only one who 
 knew how I spent the year; and he Avould answer with great 
 gravity, "Nothing against Brother Boehm." It may be asked 
 how I was supported while I traveled with the Bishop ? I 
 answer, I received it from the different Conferences, as the 
 Bishops received their salaries. My salary was one hundred 
 dollars." 
 
 At the adjournment of the Conference, Bishop Asbury and 
 Boehm went through New Jersey to Long Branch, Staten 
 Island, and Blizabethtown. 
 
 On Monday, May 7th, 1809, they left Newark for the city 
 of New York; and in the evening, Boehm went for the first 
 time to the old church in John street, built by Philip Em- 
 bury, called "Wesley Chapel;" the first in the world named 
 after Wesley. 
 
 On May 10th the New York Conference commenced its 
 session in John street. There were 120 preachers present. 
 Bishops Asbury and McKendree were present. 
 
 June 16th, 1809, he, with Bishop Asbury, attended the 
 New England Conference at Monmouth, in Maine. After its 
 close, they traveled through northern New York ; and after- 
 wards entered Pennsylvania, reaching the Valley of Wyom- 
 ing, famed by Campbell. 
 
 Their appointments were generally sent forward, and in 
 consequence of heavy rains, swollen rivers and muddy roads, 
 they were eighty miles behind their Sabbath appointments. 
 The Bishop says : " Brother Boehm upset the sulky and 
 broke the shaft." 
 
 Erom what has been said, it is evident that the office of a. 
 Methodist Bishop, at the time we speak of, was no sinecure ; 
 and that Boehm, in accompanying him, had more to do than 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 67 
 
 play the fine gentleman. It was, indeed, toil, intense toil, as 
 much as body and soul could endure. During this tour 
 Boehm visited all the Methodist Conferences then in existence 
 in the United States, and preached the gospel in fifteen 
 States, and became acquainted with the great men of 
 Methodism in the ministry and laity. Bast, "West, North and 
 South. He says : " Never was a mariner after a perilous 
 voyage more rejoiced to get into harbor than we were to 
 reach the old family mansion of my father. We arrived 
 there on Friday, July 28, 1809 ; but both my parents were 
 from home; therefore, Mr. Asbury concluded to go right on, 
 while I went to a camp-meeting, near Morgantown, where 
 I met my parents, and they embraced me with joy. I had 
 been in seven different States, besides the Province of Maine, 
 since I saw them. At the camp-meeting I heard my father 
 preach in German. I preached immediately afterwards in 
 English." He now started to overtake Bishop Asbury, and 
 came up with him on August 8, 1809, at Fort Littleton. 
 Soon after, our subject and the Bishop directed their journey 
 westward, through Pittsburg to Cincinnati, where, on Sep- 
 tember 30, 1809, the "Western Conference commenced its 
 session, and from thence to Charleston, South Carolina, where 
 Conference commenced on December 23, 1809. 
 
 They next returned to Virginia. Of this journey Eev. 
 Boehm says : " My sufferings can never be told. The day 
 we rode to Petersburg, we stopped to rest in the woods, and 
 I lay down upon a log, for I was too weak to sit up. The 
 time came to start, and I told the Bishops (Bishop McKendree 
 had now rejoined us) to go, and leave me there. I felt as if 
 I would rather die on that log than go on. They lifted me 
 from the log on to my horse, and in this plight I rode to 
 Petersburg. "When we arrived there, about sundown, I was 
 so weak they had to lift me from my horse and carry me 
 into the house." 
 
 On the way south of "Washington, they met that peculiar 
 genius and unequaled orator, John Kandolph, of Eoanoke. He 
 was riding, and had his dogs with him in the carriage. His 
 complexion was very dark, and his eyes were black. They 
 reached Baltimore, and from here Boehm went to see his 
 
58'' BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 father, who returned with him to Baltimore to attend the 
 Conference. The elder Boehm preached in the Eev. Otter- 
 bein's church. He, Otterbein, and Asbury, were great 
 friends. Henry Boehm says: "This was my father's last 
 visit to Baltimore, his last interview with Otterbein, and the 
 last time he ever attended an annual Conference. From 
 Baltimore they went to the Philadelphia Conference, which 
 commenced its session April 18, 1810, at Easton, Md. 
 When the appointments were read off, they included the 
 following : ' Henry Boehm travels with Bishop Asbury.' 
 They now visited the Pittsfield (N. Y.) Conference, and from 
 there went to the New England and Genesee Conferences. 
 Boehm says of their journey from the Genesee Conference: 
 " We commenced our Southern and Western tour. Such a 
 doleful, fearful ride, few Bishops ever had ; and it was one 
 calculated to make the traveler rejoice when at the end of 
 his journey. Asbury, at that time, in consequence of infirmi- 
 ties, rode in a sulky, and I on horseback. Sometimes I 
 would ride before him, and then in the rear. We would 
 occasionally change when he was tired, or the roads very 
 rough." 
 
 Asbury, in his journal, says : " We must needs come the 
 Northumberland road ; it is an awful wilderness. Alas ! 
 read and prayed in the woods. I leave the rest to God. 
 In the last three days and a half we have ridden one hundred 
 and forty miles. What mountains, hills, rocks, roots ! 
 Brother Boehm was thrown from the sulky, but provi- 
 dentially not a bone was broken." 
 
 Again, Boehm says : " The road was so rough that Bishop 
 Asbury could not ride in the sulky ; it jolted and hurt him, 
 so he and I exchanged, and he rode my horse, and I in his 
 vehicle. If he had been thrown out as I was, he probably 
 would have been killed. No bone of mine was broken, and 
 yet the flesh was torn from my left leg so that I was a cripple 
 for months. I suffered more than if it had been broken. 
 Eidjfc on horseback with that poor leg, no language can 
 describe my suffering." 
 
 Boehm and the Bishop reached home again. Mr. Boehm 
 says: "After an absence of months I remained at home 
 
OP LANCASTEB COUNTY. ".59 
 
 one day and two nights, and the Bishop said, 'Henry, 
 we must move.' My father and sister, and many others, 
 went to Lancaster, where, on the 5th of August, we had a 
 great day. The Bishop even felt an interest in this place, 
 where we had such a hard time to obtain a foothold. He 
 preached morning and evening ; James Smith at three, and 
 I immediately after him in German. The Bishop rejoiced 
 to see such a comfortable house of worship here, and wrote : 
 ' After forty years' labor we have a neat little chapel of our 
 own.' ' Good-bye,' I said to my friends, and at noon on 
 Monday, we were at Columbia, where the Bishop preached. 
 I was lame, and the lameness was increasing, but I did not 
 mention it to my parents, lest they should urge me to gtay 
 at home, or worry about me when I was gone, therefore I 
 bore my sufferings in silence." 
 
 Their route now again went through Carlisle, Shippens- 
 burg, Chambersburg, Connellsville, Brownsville, to Pitts- 
 burg. From Pittsburg they went west, to Chilicothe and 
 Cincinnati, to the Western Conference, which was held in 
 Shelby county, Ky. From there they went south and 
 attended the South Carolina Conference. January 28th, 
 1811, they started to cross Cape Fear river, and narrowly 
 escaped losing their horses and lives. Boehm says : " Bishop 
 Asbury was much alarmed, far more so than I had ever 
 seen him. Our preservation and that of the horses was 
 providential." 
 
 They next attended the Virginia Conference, then the 
 Baltimore Conference, after which Boehm left the Bishop 
 and went home to see his parents, whom he found well. 
 Mr. Boehm, on this trip, preached in Lancaster. 
 
 After the sessions of the Philadelphia and New England 
 Conferences, Bishop Asbury and he made a visit to Canada. 
 Boehm says : " We crossed the St. Lawrence in romantic 
 style. We hired four Indians to paddle us over. They 
 lashed three canoes together and put our horses in them, 
 their fore-feet in one canoe and their hind-feet in another. 
 It was a singular load, three canoes, three passengers (the 
 Bishop, Smith and myself), three horses and four Indians. 
 They were to take us over for three dollars." 
 
60 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 From Canada they passed througli tlie Genesee country, and 
 tlien reached home, the elder Boehm and Asbury to meet 
 on earth for the last time. 
 
 On August 20th they started for the west and south ; 
 attended the Virginia Conference February 20th, 1812. 
 Afterwards, while attending the Baltimore Conference, 
 Bishop Asbury seemed to have a presentiment of the elder 
 Boehm's death, and they reached home and found the aged 
 patriarch no more. 
 
 Sunday, April 5th, Bishop Asbury preached his funeral 
 sermon at Boehm's Chapel, to an immense crowd. 
 
 On May 1st, 1812, they attended the General Conference 
 in the city of New York. This was the last General Confer- 
 ence Asbury attended. 
 
 Boehm soon afterwards ceased to travel with the Bishop. 
 The latter thus spoke of the connection with him in his 
 travels : "For five years he has been my constant compan- 
 ion. He served me as a son ; he served me as a brother ; 
 be served' me as a servant ; he served me as a slave." 
 
 Boehm was now appointed presiding elder of Schuylkill 
 district, embracing Boehm's Chapel, so that he might be 
 more with his widowed mother. 
 
 In 1815 he was appointed to Chesapeake district. On 
 July 4th he visited his mother, and Asbury met him there. 
 They went together to Lancaster, and there parted for the 
 last time. Asbury died at the house of George Arnold, of 
 Spottsylvania, Virginia, March 31st, 1816. 
 
 At the Philadelphia Conference, held April 18th, 1816, 
 Boehm was elected a delegate to the General Conference, 
 which met in Baltimore, May 1st, 1816. Bishop Asbury's 
 funeral service was here held, at which Boehm was one of 
 the mourners, and Bishop McKendree pronounced the funeral 
 oration. He left a will, of which Boehm was one of the 
 executors ; and now, for a long time, the only surviving one. 
 At the Conference held in Philadelphia, in April, 1817, 
 Boehm was appointed presiding elder of Chesapeake district. 
 He made several tours with Bishop McKendree, and also 
 with Bishop George. In 1819 he was appointed presiding 
 elder of the Delaware district. 
 
OF XANCASTEB COUNTY. 61 
 
 In April, 1821, Conference was lield at Milford, Delaware ; 
 and Boehm was married now and resided there. He was 
 reappointed to the same district. 
 
 In 1823 lie was on Lancaster circuit. His mother died 
 in November of that year, and was buried beside his father. 
 In 1826-7 he was on Strasburg district. For fourteen years 
 he was on circuits after he left the districts. He got a little 
 home on Staten Island, and took a supernumerary relation. 
 Here his wife died. He was a member of the General Con- 
 ference of 1832, and was present at the memorable Confer- 
 ence in 1844, when the church South seceded. He had 
 much to do in laying the foundation of German Methodism 
 in New York. In 1856 he visited Lancaster again, where 
 he was heartily welcomed by John Boehm's widow. He 
 spent several weeks in the vicinity in visiting old friends, 
 and preaching. He found Philip Benedict and his wife still 
 living, who are now both dead. They talked over the early 
 struggles and triumphs of Methodism in Lancaster. 
 
 He visited Boehm's Chapel, from whose windows he could 
 see the graves of his father and mother. The friends of his 
 youth were all gone. He visited the west again, and won- 
 dered at the changes since he had traveled there. In Day- 
 ton, in the publishing house of the " United Brethren in 
 Christ," he saw a portrait of his father. Here he also saw 
 an excellent likeness of Father Otterbein. 
 ■ He visited his relative, Samuel Binkley, who formerly 
 lived near his father. Here a cane was presented to him, 
 Avhich originally belonged to Otterbein, who gave it to 
 Asbury, and he gave it to the elder Boehm. After his 
 return home, he again went west and stayed a year in Cin. 
 cinnati, where he preached before Conference in Xenia, and 
 was present at the marriage of General Grant's sister in 
 Covington, Kentucky, to a German preacher stationed in 
 Cincinnati. 
 
 In 1864 he attended the General Conference in Philadel- 
 phia, and addressed it on the topics of the past and present. 
 He brought the tears to many eyes in recalling the hardships 
 he and many of the fathers endured. 
 
 During the last few years he has annually made a visit to 
 
62 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Lancaster, where lie still preaches the Gospel -whenever he 
 comes. His appearance is venerable and commanding, his 
 enunciation plain, distinct and deliberate. His memory is 
 very good, and anecdotes nearly a century old fall from his 
 lips with peculiar graog. 
 
 On October 1st, 1871, he was present by special invitation, 
 to lay the corner-stone of the new Methodist church in East 
 King street, Lancaster, where he expressed his gratification 
 in being able to behold the progress of the Methodist 
 churches from their early weakness and struggles to their 
 present position of influence in the community. 
 
 At the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church, held in May, 1872, at Brooklyn, New York, he was 
 present and addressed the assembled ministers, who heartily 
 welcomed the venerable veteran, and he left them carrying 
 with him their hearty congratulations and many good wishes 
 for his happiness in the deep shades of his far advanced life. 
 
 BOMBERGER, George H., was a soldier of the war of 
 1812, and marched to the defence of Baltimore in 1814. He 
 was, in 1822, appointed Deputy Marshal of the Eastern 
 District of Pennsylvania. In 1823 he was appointed Clerk 
 of the Orphans' Court. He was for many years one of the 
 leading conveyancers and scriveners of Lancaster. 
 
 His son. Dr. J. H. A. Bomberger, is President of Ursinus 
 College, Pennsylvania, and a theologian of wide reputation 
 in the Reformed church. He is also editor of the Reformed 
 Church Monthly, and the author of several theological works. 
 
 BOMBEEGER, Johk, was a merchant tailor of Lancas- 
 ter, and a man of considerable wealth and standing in the 
 community. He was elected County Commissioner in 1811, 
 and appointed Recorder in 1839. 
 
 *BOMBERGER. The Bomberger family of Lancaster 
 county, and in fact mostly all bearing this name in the 
 United States and Canadas, are descendants of Christian 
 Bomberger and Maria his wife, who emigrated from Eshel- 
 brun, Baden, and arrived in this county on the 12th of May, 
 1722. He took up and settled upon a tract of land in War- 
 *Contributed Iby I. F. Bomberger, of Litiz. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 63 
 
 wick township, whicli is now in possession of Christian 
 Bomberger, Jacob Bomberger, and Levi B. Brubaker. It 
 contained 548 acres, the patent of which is still preserved, 
 and bears date May 22nd, 1734:. 
 
 He had two sons, named John and Christian, and six 
 daughters. John's descendants were live sons, viz : Michael, 
 John, Christian, Joseph and Jacob. Of Michael, John and 
 Joseph, no record can be found. Jacob removed to Dauphin 
 county, and but one of his descendants, Jacob, who at present 
 resides in Harrisburg, is known to exist. Christian had 
 seven sons, viz: Joseph, David, Moses, Peter, Samuel, 
 Christian and John. Moses, Peter and John, had no children. 
 Joseph had two sons, one of which, Elias, removed to Vir- 
 ginia. Samuel and Christian went to Canada; and David 
 had two sons, viz : Isaac and Christian (Doctor). The 
 former had two sons, Cyrus and Isaac, both residing now in 
 Penn township ; and the latter, who is still living, has two 
 sons,' Isaac F. and Samuel G., all residing in Warwick 
 township. 
 
 Christian's descendants were five sons, viz : John, Chris- 
 tian, Jacob, Joseph and Abraham. Of Christian and Abra- 
 ham, no record is found. Jacob had no children ; Joseph 
 had three, Christian, Joseph and John ; and John had seven, 
 viz : Christian, John, Jacob, Joseph, Abram, Daniel and 
 Peter. John had two sons, Christian and Jacob, who live 
 upon the old homestead. Christian's descendants are in 
 Cumberland county. Jacob left but one descendant, Ilenry, 
 who resides in "Warwick. Peter's descendants are repre- 
 sented by his grandsons, John B., Elias, Martin B., Christ, 
 and Abram, of Manheim. Joseph, Abram and Daniel, have 
 left descendants in different parts of the county ; their exact 
 lineage cannot be traced. 
 
 BOWMAN, H. B., was born at Ephrata, Lancaster co., 
 Penna., in the year 180-i. He received a good English edu- 
 cation, graduated in the Pennsylvaaia Medical College, 
 Philadelphia, and practiced medicine in the village of Neffs- 
 ville, Lancaster county, until the autum of 1848, when he 
 was elected Eecorder of Deeds in and for Lancaster county, 
 the duties of which office he discharged during his official 
 
64 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBY 
 
 term with entire satisfaction. In 1856 lie started a woolen 
 mill at Neffsville. In 1862 he was elected a member of the 
 Legislature of Pennsylvania, and in 1863 was re-elected, 
 serving both terms to the satisfaction of his ■ constituents. 
 Dr. Bowman died July 21st, 1869. 
 
 BOWMAN, Joseph, was in 1854 elected Prothonotary of 
 Lancaster county. 
 
 *BOWMA]Sr, Samukl. The subject of this memoir is a 
 striking instance ef that noblest of all spectacles, a poor 
 and uninfluential young man, making his way in life and 
 struggling for intellectual improvement. When men born 
 to affluence, and aided by all the appliances of the best 
 academical training, succeed in acquiring knowledge, 
 become useful in their day and generation, and gain for 
 themselves position, and succeed in having their names 
 inscribed on the rolls of fame, we cannot withhold our 
 admiration and a just tribute of praise. What shall we say 
 then, when we behold a young man encumbered by all the 
 impediments that adverse circumstances can interpose, by 
 his energy and indomitable perseverance overcoming them 
 all and becoming a conspicuous and shining light, whose 
 benign influence extends beyond his immediate neighbor- 
 hood, and lasts long after his earthly career is terminated ? 
 
 It has been well s:iid, that where there are no examples of 
 excellence there will be no efforts to attain it. In this 
 instance we have a spirit who finds an ideal character of 
 excellence in the fertile resources of his own mind, and faith- 
 fully and to a considerable degree successfully struggles to 
 realize this soul-born ideal of perfection. Truly he, in 
 departing, left behind him 
 
 — " Footprints on tlie sands of time; 
 Footprints that perhaps another 
 Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 
 A forlorn and shipwi'ecked brother 
 Seeing, shall take heart again." 
 
 Our subject was born at Bowman's Mills, in Berks county, 
 Pennsylvania, on the first day of December, 1789. His father, 
 Christian Bauman, (as the name originally was- written in 
 ^Contributed by J. B. Good, esq. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 65 
 
 German), was a Swiss Mennonite, whose ancestors had 
 emigrated to America on account of the religious persecu- 
 tions that followed the revocation of the edict of Nantes by 
 Louis XIY. His mother was Nancy Huber, of whose rela- 
 tives a number are still living in this county. 
 
 Of his early years little is known except that his mother, 
 in his childhood, perceived that he was different from the 
 rest of her children, and, as it is said, in view of the approach 
 of her death, which occurred when he was still quite young, 
 was much concerned for him, not knowing whether his 
 peculiarities indicated mental vigor or imbecility. 
 
 As soon as he was sent to school, however, it became evi- 
 dent that he had a natural fondness for letters, and he soon 
 made such progress that he far outstripped all his school- 
 mates. 
 
 English schools had no existence in those days in the 
 neighborhood where young Bowman was born and raised. 
 In his father's family, and in the whole neighborhood for 
 many miles around, no other language than the Pennsyl- 
 vania German was in use. He, however, assiduously applied 
 himself to the study of the English language, and for this 
 purpose procured the best dictionaries that he could obtain, 
 and he soon gained considerable proficiency in the language. 
 
 After he had attended the schools in the neighborhood, 
 and having nearly attained the years of manhood, he 
 attended a school kept in the neighborhood of Churohtown, 
 Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he had the oppor- 
 tunity of conversing in English, with both teachers and 
 jDupils. 
 
 Here he studied surveying, which he afterwards so exten- 
 sively and successfully practiced for many years, and in 
 which he attained, perhaps, to as much skill and habitual 
 accuracy as any other surveyor in the State or elsewhere. 
 
 His clear head and logical mind were eminently fitted for 
 practical geometry. His love of justice and equity, and his 
 high character for honesty and uprightness of purpose, all 
 combined to make him afterwards the most successful 
 practical surveyor in the whole neighborhood for, many 
 miles around. 
 
66 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 About this time his taste for general literature commenced 
 to develop itself. From the time he had learned to read 
 he continued to manifest a remarkable love for books and a 
 taste for the beautiful. It is in regard to this feature of his 
 character that we have the greatest reason to admire this, 
 in many respects, extraordinary man. Surrounded by those 
 who had no literary taste at all ; the ignorant, the illiterate 
 and the bigoted, he not only acquired a just taste for ele- 
 gant literature, so that he enjoyed the best productions of 
 art, and the creations of the beautiful, especially in poetry, 
 but he also occasionally composed himself His style was 
 very nervous and clear ; his points made Avith much clear- 
 ness, force and precision. 
 
 In his library were found some of the best classical 
 authors in the English language, and he never bought books 
 for playthings or for show, but he used and studied them 
 till their contents became almost a part of himself. 
 
 It was thus that he acquired an almost inexhaustible fund 
 of illustrative anecdotes; and there was no one who knew 
 how to apply them in conversation more opportunely and 
 with finer effect than himself 
 
 Among other authors he used to read and admire, was 
 Pope's translation of the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer. 
 Boswell's life of Dr. Johnson he also enjoyed very much, on 
 account of the sterling character of the great moralist, 
 though he heartily despised the sycophantic biographer. 
 Among the German poets, he especially loved the witty and 
 sarcastic Langbein, whose lively verses he enjoyed with 
 exquisite delight. But he had a clear perception of the 
 excellent and beautiful, and he admired and prized it 
 wherever he found it in his extensive reading. 
 
 In 1815 he was married to Elizabeth Bauman, a distant 
 relative, an estimable lady, and one who was possessed of 
 considerable personal attractions. Of this marriage were 
 born several children, only one of whom (a daughter, 
 married to Mr. Isaac Sensenig), is living at this time. His 
 wife survived him a few years. 
 
 Eroin 1815 to 1820 he was, during the winter months, 
 engaged in teaching school. During the rest of his time he 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 67 
 
 followed surveying, scrivening, and sometimes ordinary, 
 labor. He never considered it beneath his dignity to perform,, 
 when necessary, any kind of honorable labor. 
 
 In teaching school he exercised a remarkable influence 
 over his pupils. He acquired a wonderful reputation 
 among his neighbors, on account of his great knowledge; for 
 they gazed, 
 
 " And still tliey gazed, and still the wonder grew, 
 That one small head could carry all he knew." 
 
 But he was especially famous for his success in keeping good 
 order and governing his school well. To this day there are 
 some of his pupils living, who, when talking about the degene- 
 racy of modern school government, will say: "It was not 
 thus in Sam Bowman's school." 
 
 In 1820 he built the first house in the place, which was 
 afterwards named after him, " Bowmansville." This place is 
 situated in the valley of the Muddy Creek, in Brecknock 
 township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, about four miles 
 from Bowman's mill, the place of his birth. 
 
 The house he built was arranged for keeping a country 
 store. Here he commenced the mercantile business imme- 
 diately after the building was finished. His means were 
 small, and he had, to a great extent, to begin his career upon 
 borrowed capital. But such were his industry, economy and 
 business qualifications, that he soon became a lender instead 
 of a borrower. His well-known character for honesty and 
 fair dealing, as well as his pleasing social qualities, attracted 
 crowds of customers. His store was resorted to far and near ; 
 and it is very remarkable that this man, so different in his 
 views, tastes and habits of thought from those by whom he 
 was surrounded, should yet have maintained their friendship, 
 confidence and esteem in a,n unusual degree. This fact alone 
 proves the high moral qualities of the man, and his unex- 
 ceptionable deportment towards all those with whom he 
 came in contact. 
 
 In the meantime he also followed the business of a sur* 
 veyor and conveyancer. He was soon appointed and com- 
 missioned a justice of the peace, in which office, however, 
 he did not act, except to take acknowledgments of deeds and 
 
68 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 other legal instruments of writing, of wHcli he prepared 
 great numbers. 
 
 On the first day of April, which is the general moving and 
 settlement day in Lancaster county, his store was the place 
 where the business of the whole neighborhood was trans- 
 acted. He had to perform not only the duties of a country 
 merchant, but also those of a scrivener, banker and legal 
 adviser. Indeed, his neighbors reposed so much confidence 
 in him, that he was frequently consulted on general matters 
 of private business, and his advice was considered so valua- 
 ble that it was almost invariably followed. 
 
 In 1840 a post-office was established at his store, and was 
 after him named " Bowmansville," and he was appointed post- 
 master, which position he held for a number of years, and 
 performed its duties to the general satisfaction of his neigh- 
 bors. 
 
 He never held any other office except the two mentioned, 
 justice of the peace and postmaster; and yet his influence 
 was greater than those of many men who have held promi- 
 nent positions in the gift of the .people. He never could 
 condescend to wallow in the mire of political scheming and 
 corruption. His nature was honest and straightforward, and 
 incapable of the mean actions and petty tricks of professional 
 politicians. 
 
 From what has been said above, it is evident that his life 
 was one of constant and unremitted labor, both of mind and 
 body. Being rather corpulent, as he advanced in life his 
 aversion to active out-door exercise increased, and the con- 
 sequence was that his physical constitution suffered, and he 
 was attacked with paralysis. His mental vigor also gradu- 
 ally declined, until he was forced to retire from active busi- 
 ness. The transition from constant activity to the confine- 
 ment of his room affected him unfavorably. His health con- 
 tinued to grow worse, until after a short confinement to his 
 bed he died, January 19th, 1857, at his home in Bowmans- 
 ville, surrounded by his family, and mourned by a large 
 number of friends and acquaintances. 
 
 It is very seldom that the death of a mere private citizen 
 occasions so great a void in the community as did that of 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 69 
 
 the subject of this sketch. His character was altogether 
 pure and his morals irreproachable. His word was never 
 doubted. His advice was doubly valuable, because it came 
 from one whose wisdom, honesty and integrity of purpose 
 were undoubted, quite above suspicion. To his unlettered 
 neighbors his knowledge and general intelligence were mat- 
 ters of wonder. He stood so much head and shoulders 
 above them all, that his attainments were by them supposed 
 to be almost infinite, and his judgment infallible. But he 
 was admired by others than his illiterate neighbors. Intelli- 
 gent strangers were often surprised to find a man of his 
 superior qualities in a locality where they had not supposed 
 that they should meet with any save the plain and simple. 
 
 In his business habits, he was very careful and methodical. 
 The deeds of conveyance and other instruments of writing 
 he prepared, and the drafts of the numerous surveys he 
 made, all attest the anxious care as well as consummate skill 
 with which he performed his work. He had a laudable 
 ambition to be esteemed a correct and competent business 
 man ; and all who knew him and had business transactions 
 with him can bear testimony to the ability and honesty with 
 which his affairs were conducted. 
 
 In his intercourse with his neighbors he was remarkably 
 genialand social. He seemed to forget his superiority when 
 he came in social contact with those around him, and in 
 every respect identified himself with them. 
 
 As regards his religious views and opinions, it is difficult 
 to faithfully portray them. The peculiar circumstances 
 which surrounded him in his early youth, had undoubtedly 
 much to do with his religious impressions. The religion of 
 his parents and relatives was clothed in anything but an 
 attractive garb. Dry dogmas, narrow, bigoted views, and 
 unenlightened sectarian zeal, were elements as unattractive 
 to his mind as could be well conceived. The natural con- 
 sequence was, that every thing bearing the name and 
 resemblance of religion, became odious to him. The active 
 energies of his mind soon raised doubts as to the truth of a 
 system whose aspect was so uninviting and whose spirit was 
 so uncongenial to his more refined nature. And, wlien 
 
70, BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 parental love and solicitude for Ms spiritual welfare brought 
 the strongest arguments they could command to bear upon 
 him, they were so absurdly conceived or so awkwardly 
 handled, that his clear head and subtle discrimination could, 
 not help but perceive their weakness and absurdity. The 
 inevitable consequence unfortunately was, that he took for 
 granted that these were the strongest arguments that could 
 be advanced in support of the truth of the Christian system, 
 and he became — a skeptic. In these doubts he became more 
 confirmed by reading various authors, such as Yolney and 
 others ; but such was his modesty and conscientious fear of 
 injuriously affecting others, that he never openly gave 
 utterance to his opinions. 
 
 These doubts cost him many sleepless nights, and they 
 followed him more or less from his youth through middle 
 life ; and it was only after his sun had crossed the meridian 
 and the lengthening shadows of the evening of life closed 
 around him, that his mind rested in peace upon the truths of 
 the gospel as revealed in the Bible, and died in full faith 
 and expectation of a glorious resurrection. 
 
 *BOWMAN, Eev. De. Samuel, was born in Wilkesbarre, 
 in the beautiful Wyoming Valley on the 21st of May, 1800. 
 His father was an officer in the Eevolutionary war, and 
 was an active participant in the battle of Lexington. Edu- 
 cated at an academy in his native place, the law had been 
 chosen as his profession, but he soon became a student of 
 divinity, having been brought under deep religious coiivic- 
 tion by the sudden death of his father , which resulted from 
 an accident. He was ordained in Philadelphia, August 25tli, 
 1823, and entered upon ministerial duty in this county ; in 
 the same year preaching his first sermons in Leacock and 
 Salisbury townships, where he remained about two years. 
 In 1825 he was stationed at Easton, but in the following 
 year he returned to his former charges in this county. In 
 1827 he accepted a call to the Eectorship of St. James' 
 church, in this city, one of the oldest Episcopal parishes in 
 the State. Of the acceptable manner in which he more than 
 discharged the responsible duties of this sacred station, we 
 *Fi-om the Lancaster Daily JSnening Express. 
 
OS" iiANCASTEE COUNTY. 71 
 
 are not confined in our searcli for testimony to that of his 
 own branch of the church ; nor indeed to the circle of pro- 
 fessing Christians of whatever denomination. Dr. Bowman 
 not only had the unlimited confidence of the members of his 
 own congregation, but his friends were legion amongst those of 
 no church connection. The characteristics Avhich so strongly 
 attached him to all who knew him, grew with his growth and 
 strengthened with his years. His attachment to his parish and 
 to the community was so deep, that he would never accept any 
 position which involved the necessity of abandoning Lan- 
 caster as his home. In 1845 he was, against his own incli- 
 nations, voted for as the candida,te of those in convention 
 who opposed Eev, Dr. Tyng for bishop, and was several 
 times elected by the clergy, but the laity refused to concur. 
 The contest was long and exciting, and Bishop Potter was 
 finally elected as a compromise candidate, much to Dr. 
 Bowman's gratification, who would have accepted the office 
 with much reluctance, if at all, for the reason above stated. 
 In 1848 he was elected bishop of the diocese of Indiana, 
 which he declined again, reiterating his desire to remain 
 with the flock between whom and himself there was such a 
 strong attachment. 
 
 With regard to the two parties which unfortunately exist 
 in the Episcopal church. Bishop Bowman was a conserva- 
 tive, even to the extent of ignoring the existence of what 
 are called " High" and " Low Church." It was only on the 
 Sunday night previous to his death, while walking home 
 with him from St. John's Free Church, where he preached 
 his last discourse, that he remarked that unrestrained party 
 spirit had brought the existing calamity upon our nation, 
 and' that if it were possible to destroy the church of Christ, 
 party spirit would be the instrumentality through which it 
 would be accomplished. He regarded party as the besetting 
 sin of both church and State. This, indeed, had been the 
 spirit of his earnest discourse, at. St. John's, that evening, 
 based upon the word of St. Paul, addressed to the church at 
 Corinth— "lor I am determined not to know any thing 
 among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." 
 
 And this was the spirit in which he accepted the office of 
 
72 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBY 
 
 Assistant Bishop, three years before. The convention failing 
 to make a choice between Dr. Vinton and himself, Dr. Bow- 
 man offered a resolution for a committee to report to the 
 convention a candidate, which he advocated with great 
 earnestness and ability, solemnly and emphatically with- 
 drawing his name from the nominations before the conven- 
 tion. He said God brought men together by ways unknown 
 to them. Ilis name had been placed there without any feel- 
 ing of ambition on his part. His great and only desire was, 
 that he might pass the rest of his days in the humble, yet 
 honorable, station of the ministry, to which he was so sincerely 
 attached. He expressed the hope that the carrying out of 
 this resolution would prove the breaking down of the parti- 
 tion that existed between some portions of the church, in 
 which church all should be of " One Lord, one Faith, and 
 one Baptism." Let the only strife be, he continued, as to 
 who shall expend most labor in the cause of God. Let us 
 no longer array ourselves under party leaders. Let our 
 only motto be, '■'■Pro Deo, pro ecclesia, et hominum salute I" 
 
 After the election of Dr. Bowman, he was introduced to 
 the convention, by a committee, as the Assistant Bishop. 
 He closed a feeling address with the " fervent hope that the 
 work which the convention had accomplished that day 
 would redound to the unity and advancement of the church, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 In 1861, on the occasion of his thirtieth anniversary as 
 Rector of St. James', Dr. Bowman thus alluded to the changes 
 that thirty years had made in the church and parish : " When 
 he preached his first sermon in St. James', the Episcopal 
 church in the United States had but 10 bishops, and 460 
 ministers ; now it embraces 89 bishops and 1836 ministers. 
 When he entered the parish of St. James' there were but 
 50 communicants, only 25 of whom remain, the rest having 
 fallen asleep. Now there are two hundred communicants. 
 During the period of his ministerial labors in the parish, he 
 had solemnized 221 marriages, 618 baptisms, and attended 
 378 funerals ; the rite of confirmation was also administered 
 to 270 persons. About 8 years ago a parochial school was 
 established, in which from 80 to 100 children have been con- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 73 
 
 tinually educated without drawing upon the public for aid. 
 An Orphan Asylum had been established during the same 
 period, affording a Christian home' to many helpless and 
 unprotected children. And more recently still, a 'Home' 
 for the aged and infirm, which had already accomplished 
 great good, and promises still more extended usefulness for 
 the future." The enlargement of St. James'' was referred to ; 
 and more recently, the establishment of a church (St. John's) 
 on the principle of free seats, which has already been paid 
 for, and which he hoped had a long career of usefulness 
 before it. These were charges which do not attract the gaze 
 and admiration of the world; indeed, it is too often the 
 destiny of those who labor in any good cause to have little 
 sympathy from the Avorld, but " God will not forget their 
 works and labor of love." 
 
 The death of Bishop Bowman occurred in this wise. He 
 had left home on a tour of western visitation in his official 
 capacity, and had taken the 6 a. m. train, on the Allegheny 
 Valley Eailroad, en route for Butler, where he had an ap- 
 pointment to administer the rite of confirmation on the fol- 
 lowing Sabbath. At Freeport, 24 miles from Pittsburg, he 
 proposed taking the stage to Butler. After proceeding 
 about 19 miles, the train was halted in consequence of a 
 bridge which had been injured by a late freshet, and a land- 
 slide nearly 2 miles beyond. Arrangements had been made 
 to convey the passengers over this part of the road in a 
 hand-car, a locomotive and a passenger car being in readi- 
 ness on the other side to carry them on. Several gentle- 
 men preferred walking, and among them Bishop Bowman. 
 
 The workmen having charge of the hand-car when return- 
 ing to the bridge, found the Bishop lying by the road-side, 
 having fallen upon his face as if seized with apoplexy. Ilis 
 face was buried in his hat, in which was his pocket handker- 
 chief, that he had saturated with water in a small stream a 
 few paces back, doubtless as a prevention against sun 
 stroke. 
 
 BOUDB, Samuel, a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1784, 1792 and 1796. He was a leading physician of 
 Lancaster. 
 7 
 
74 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 'BOUDE, Thomas, son of Samuel Boude, was a native 
 of Lancaster county. He served, ■with distinction, as a cap- 
 tain during tlie revolutionary war, at the close of which he 
 •received the brevet commission of Major. He was a mem- 
 ber of the Society of the Cincinnati. He lived at Columbia, 
 and was engaged in the lumber business for many years, 
 and was an active and energetic business man. He was a 
 prominent politician of the Federal party, and was elected a 
 member of the Legislature in the years 1794, 1795 and 
 1796. He also represented Lancaster county in the National 
 Congress from 1801 till 1803. He died October 24th, 1822, 
 in the 70th year of his age. 
 
 BOYD, S. W. P. was elected Sheriff of Lancaster county in 
 1860. His maternal grandfather, James Porter, was one of 
 the early settlers of Lancaster county. Nicholas Boyd, his 
 father, died December 22nd, 1840, aged 66 years. 
 
 BOYBE, Joseph, was elected County Commissioner in 
 1858. 
 
 BEADY, John, was elected Eecorder of Lancaster county 
 in the year 1851. 
 
 BEANDT, Daniel, was elected ©ne of the County Com- 
 missioners in 1855. 
 
 BEBCKBILL, Benjamin, was elected County Commis- 
 sioner in 1841. 
 
 BEECKBILL, John, was a citizen of Strasburg town- 
 ship, and was a member of the Legislature for the years 
 1790, 1791, and 1792. He was also a delegate to the con- 
 vention which amended the Constitution of Pennsylvania in 
 1789. 
 
 BEECKBILL, Ulrich, an early settler of Lancaster 
 county, and one of the compeers of Hans Herr and his com- 
 panions. He was a minister of the Mennonite faith. He was 
 accidentally killed October 19th, 1739, while driving his 
 
 'Thomas Bbude bought tlie wealtliy Stephen Smith (colored), of Phila- 
 delphia, when a boy of eight years of age, from the Cochrans, of Dau- 
 phin county. He raised him, and after he married, Jlr. Boude gave 
 him his freedom and furnished him means with Tvhicli to go into busi- 
 ness, and thus laid for him the foundation of his fortune. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 75 
 
 team on the Philadelpliia road. His descendants in Lancas- 
 ter are quite numerous. 
 
 BRENEMAN, Christian, a member of the Legislature 
 in 1814. 
 
 BRINTON, Ferree, was elected Assistant Judge of Lan- 
 caster county, in 1856. He was re-elected in 1861, and 
 served two terms with great satisfaction to his constituents. 
 As a judge he was very upright and conscientious, and dis- 
 charged his duties with great credit. A writer in the Daily 
 Evening Express said of Judge Brinton, that he " was a gen- 
 tleman in his manners and habits, and was the most intel- 
 lectual looking non law-judge that I ever saw on any bench, 
 and he had more mind and information than any non law- 
 judge I ever knew but one." 
 
 BRISBIN, Wm., a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1802, 1803 and 1804. 
 
 *BROOKS, Prof. Edward. It is yet too soon to write a 
 biography that shall do justice to Professor Edward Brooks, 
 for he is yet a young man, and has not reached the meridian 
 of his powers. Though he has already achieved much — ■ 
 more than enough to satisfy the ambition of most scholars 
 and thinkers — what he has done must be accepted, not as 
 the measure of his usefulness, but merely as a promise of 
 What he is yet to do. And yet, in a life so abundant in fruit 
 and so rich in promise, though it has numbered scarcely 
 more than half the years allotted to man, there must be 
 something worthy of being recorded for our interest and 
 instruction. But in attempting to write the biography of a 
 man of thought, this difficulty meets us at the threshold — 
 a lack of stirring events and striking incidents calculated to 
 awaken and keep alive the interest of the readers. His life 
 may have been one of incessant activity, and may have 
 achieved " victories no less renowned than war ;" but his 
 activity has not been that of the forum or the field, nor can 
 his victories be estimated by the number of guns captured 
 and enemies slain. His campaigns have been carried on in 
 the class-room and the study; his battles have been fought 
 
 *Contributed by Prof. J. Willis Westlake. 
 
76 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 and won, not with cannon balls and bombshells, but with 
 arguments and ideas. Hence the biographies of writers 
 and scholars are rarely popular, being mainly confined to 
 the " audience fit though few " of those who are engaged in 
 similar pursuits. This is to be regretted, for the temple of 
 a good man's character is his greatest work ; it is the 
 preacher's most effective sermon, the teacher's most useful 
 lesson. How many poor boys haye learned the lesson of 
 self-reliance from the life of Franklin, and of truthfulness 
 from that of Washington ! And if all the facts connected 
 with the life of the subject of this sketch could be placed 
 prominently before all the youth of our country, they 
 would do more good than all that he has said and written. 
 
 Edward Brooks was born at Stony Point, on the Hudson, 
 January 16th, 1831; and in this picturesque place, rendered 
 forever memorable by one of the daring exploits of " Mad 
 Anthony Wayne," he passed the first fifteen years of his 
 life. It is impossible to measure the effect of early influ- 
 ences, but there can be no doubt that the romantic beauty of 
 the scenery with which he was surrounded in his childhood, 
 operating upon a highly sensitive and finely organized mind, 
 powerfully contributed to the formation and development of 
 that fine poetic taste, that ardent love of the beautiful, for 
 which he is distinguished, and which adds such a charm to 
 his literary productions. 
 
 The means of education afforded him during these years 
 were very limited, being merely those furnished by the pub- 
 lic schools of the neighborhood ; but these he improved to 
 the utmost, surpassing all the other members of the school, 
 so that when, in 1846, he went with his parents to reside in 
 Sullivan county. New York, he already possessed a very good 
 elementary education, particularly excelling in mathematics 
 and literature. The region in which he now lived, being a 
 wild and sparsely populated one, had no public school for 
 him to attend, and as circumstances did not permit his goin"- 
 to an academy he applied himself with his accustomed en- 
 ergy to the learning of a trade, an undertaking which he 
 speedily and thoroughly accomplished. But while manual 
 pursuits thus claimed his attention, they by no means 
 
OF LANOASTEE COUNTY. 77 
 
 monopolized it, nor could they repress his soaring aspira- 
 tions. Though fully recognizing the dignity of honest labor, 
 yet he felt that there was- for him a higher plane of useful- 
 ness than that of the mechanic, and he spared no effort to 
 improve his talents and add to his acquirements. He read 
 and studied incesantly, making for himself a school-room of 
 field and forest, of shop and fireside, of every place to which 
 duty or pleasure called him. Thus he not only obtained a 
 mastery of the branches he had begun in the public schools, 
 but pushed on to higher attainments ; while he also improved 
 his taste and formed his style by making himself acquainted 
 with music and with the standard English authors. He 
 wrote with considerable facility both prose and verse; and it 
 may be worth while to mention here, that his first published 
 production was a little poem written at the age of fourteen, 
 and which, being too bashful to hand it to the printer, he 
 pushed under the printing office door. In common with 
 most successful literary men, he early formed a habit which 
 cannot be too highly recommended to young readers — that 
 of reading with pencil in hand, and of noting down for future 
 use the most important facts recorded and thoughts ex- 
 pressed or suggested by the author. 
 
 "As a pebble in the streamlet scant 
 Has turned the course of many a river ; 
 
 As a dew-drop on the infant plant 
 Has warped the giant oak forever" — 
 
 so an apparently trifling occurrence sometimes decides a 
 man's destiny. It was one of these momentous trifles that 
 turned his mind about this time in the direction of arith- 
 metical analysis, and thus gave him, to use his own words, 
 " the golden key that unlocks the various complex combina- 
 tions of numbers." The qualities of his mind were such that 
 he would in any case have become eminent in something 
 — perhaps in natural science, perhaps in music, perhaps in 
 poetry and general literature— but he would not probably 
 have become the distinguished mathematician that he is, had 
 he not received this mental impulse. This was nothing 
 more nor less than the perusal of Colburn's Mental Arith- 
 metic — a little book which revolutionized the study of the 
 
78 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 science of numbers in this country, and powerfully con- 
 tributed to the breaking up of the dull routine work of the 
 school-room, and the substitution of more rational and 
 normal methods of instruction. At the same time a power- 
 ful coordinate influence was exerted by the little treatise, 
 once so popular, entitled " Watts on the Mind." This he 
 read with the greatest interest, and from it were derived 
 those seed-truths of mental science which, taking root in the 
 fertile soil of his intellect, have developed into the ripened 
 grain of knowledge and brought forth a rich harvest of 
 thought. 
 
 His career as teacher had a very humble beginning ; his 
 first school being a singing-class, his first school-house a 
 barn. Subsequently, when about eighteen years of age, he 
 taught a school in the village of Cuddebackville, N. Y., 
 with excellent success, at a salary, at first, of eighteen dol- 
 lars a month and board. Here, for the first quarter, he had 
 an experience — sometimes pleasant, often ludicrous, but 
 always inconvenient — -of the "peripatetic" old fashion of 
 " boarding 'round." Having an agreeable tenor voice and 
 a pretty good knowledge of music, he introduced singing 
 into his school, and this greatly enhanced his success and 
 popularity as a teacher. At the end of the second quarter, 
 on account of the ill health of his father, he gave up his 
 school and went home. Here he remained a year, and then 
 left to attend the Liberty Normal Institute, under the charge 
 of Mr. Henry Stoddard (brother of Prof J. F. Stoddard), to 
 fit himself more fully for the work of teaching. In this 
 institution he greatly distinguished himself, both by his 
 scholarship and social qualities, and at the close of the 
 session was awarded the honor of the valedictory. And 
 thus closed his brief career as a pupil. Thenceforward, 
 though still a learner, a faithful and laborious student of the 
 writings of the wise and good of all ages, and especially of 
 the dual works of God, in nature and Revelation — he 
 devoted himself with all his energy to the work of teaching. 
 
 "We have dwelt at some length on the earlier and prepara- 
 tory portion of Prof. Brooks's life, for the encouragement of 
 the young into whose hands this book may fall; to show 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 79 
 
 what may be accomplished by industry and energy, in spite 
 of adverse circumstances, without the help, however valua- 
 ble, of academies and colleges, and independent of all the 
 advantages that wealth and station 'can bestow. It thus 
 appears that he is mainly self-educated ; and this, coupled 
 with the fact that he is thoroughly well-educated, is some- 
 thing of which he has abundant cause to be proud. Learn- 
 ing that is, as it were, thrust on one by rich and indulgent 
 friends, is not half so much valued, generally not half so 
 valuable, as that which is wrung from the reluctant hand 
 of adverse fate — sought for, sweat for, struggled for. 
 
 The subsequent events in Prof. Brooks's life we shall pass 
 over as rapidly as possible, in order to discuss, as fully as 
 space will allow, the qualities of mind and heart that 
 have rendered him so eminent. 
 
 On the completion of his course at the Institute mentioned 
 above, he taught for three years in a school of which Prof. 
 John F. Stoddard was principal, at Bethany, Wayne county, 
 Pennsylvania. Probably the most important, as it certainly 
 was the most interesting event of these three years, was the 
 formation of an intimate acquiantance with the pianist of 
 the institution, Miss Marie Dean, of North Stamford, Con- 
 necticut, who subsequently became his "true and honorable 
 wife," and who has thus far rendered his life as happy in his 
 private, as it has been useful in his public relations. lie 
 next taught for a year in the academy at Monticello, N. Y., 
 and then, in 1855, accepted a professorship in the Normal 
 School at Millersville, Lancaster county. Pa., where he has 
 ever since labored with distinguished success, and acquired 
 an influence as an educator second to none in the State. 
 In 1858 the trnstees of Union College conferred upon him 
 the well-merited degree of Master of Arts.. In 1866, on the 
 resignation of Prof. J. P. Wickersham, he was elected 
 Principal of the institution which he had so powerfully 
 contributed to build up ; and in this position he has shown 
 administrative abilities of a high order, combined with 
 broad and comprehensive views of the work of public edu- 
 cation and the adaptation of the normal schools to that work. 
 
 Here, amid his labors as a teacher, he has composed the 
 
80 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 works that have given*him a prominent place among Amer- 
 ican educational authors. They are, in fact, an outgrowth 
 of those labors ; being a successful attempt to present on 
 paper the philosophical methods of instruction employed 
 by him in the class-room with such excellent results. 
 
 Prof Brooks is known to the public at large chiefly as a 
 mathematician ; but his reputation does not in this respect 
 do him justice. To his friends he is known to be equally 
 thorough and original in other departments of knowledge. 
 He is no less a metaphysician than a mathematician ; and it 
 may safely be predicted that, if he lives to carry out his de- 
 signs, he will yet give to the world works which, if not more 
 useful, Avill contribute far more to the permanence and ex- 
 tension of his fame than anything he has yet published. 
 
 Published Works. — The works published by him to the 
 present time (May, 1873), are the following : 
 
 1. An Arithmetical Series, consisting of six books; a 
 Primary, an Elementary, a Mental and a Written Arithmetic, 
 together with two " Keys," each containing many valuable 
 exercises and suggestions, besides- the solutions to the 
 problems. 
 
 2. Geometry and Trigonometry. 
 
 3. Elementary Algebra — his latest publication. 
 
 The works named above, though unpretending and appar- 
 ently T^nimportant, are the result of much thought and labor. 
 They are not mere compilations, as are many text-books at 
 the present day, but bear on every page the stamp of origi- 
 nality; a statement that is abundantly attested by the fact 
 that other authors have extensively copied from them in the 
 revision of existing works on the same subjects, or in the 
 composition of new ones. In a subsequent part of this 
 sketch a few of their peculiar excellences will be briefly 
 pointed out. The influence that these books exert is incal- 
 culable, as they are used very extensively in Pennsylvania 
 and several other States, and are moulding the minds and 
 directing the thinking of hundreds of thousands of children. 
 
 Projected Works. — Prof. Brooks contemplates the publi- 
 cation, at no distant day, of several other works, some of 
 which are already composed, and require only revision and 
 
OF LANCASTER OOUHTTY. 81 
 
 arrangement to fit them for the printer. The list will 
 embrace, among others, the following : 
 
 1. Philosophy of Arithmetic. 
 
 2. Methods of Teaching Arithmetic. 
 
 3. A series of works on the Science of Education. 
 
 4. Educational Addresses. 
 
 6. The higher works required to complete his series of 
 mathematical text-books. 
 
 Several of his addresses have already been published, and 
 some of them, particularly the one entitled " The Spiritual 
 Element in Education," have been greatly admired, both on 
 account of their freshness and vigor of thought, and the 
 beauty and elegance of their style. 
 
 Peofkssional and Literary Characteristics. — Prof. 
 Brooks's public life presents itself to us in three aspects : 1. 
 Asa teacher; 2. As a lecturer '; 3. As an author; and we pro- 
 pose to examine briefly his characteristics in each of these 
 particulars, and discover, if possible, the secret of his re- 
 markable success. 
 
 As a Teacher: Of Prof. Brooks's wonderful success as a 
 teacher, not only in imparting knowledge, but in giving 
 power, the thousands of active and intelligent young men 
 and women who have enjoyed the benefit of his instructions, 
 are glad and grateful witnesses. This success is due to 
 several causes, of which the three following seem to us the 
 most prominent: 
 
 1. A perfect familiarity with whatever subject he attempts 
 to teach, rendering him to a great extent independent of the 
 text-book, and, indeed, superior to it. Thus his mind re- 
 sembles not a mere reservoir, but a living fountain, from 
 which streams of knowledge issue forth with all the freshness 
 and sparkle of originality. 
 
 2. Natural and philosophical methods of instruction. lie 
 is as thoroughly Pestalozzian as Pestalozzi himself, and as 
 analytic as Colburn ; and yet he can be deductive as well as 
 inductive, synthetic as well as analytic. He has the clear 
 insight that enables him to perfectly adapt his method to 
 the circumstances of each case. He does not drive pupils, 
 but leads them. He does not do away with the necessity of 
 
82 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 study and thought, but he makes study attractive, and 
 teaches how to think. He does not remove difficulties from 
 the learner's path, hut shows how to surmount them. Thus 
 the student, as he ascends the rugged " hill of science," is 
 forever tempted on by new beauties unfolding before 
 him ; like a traveler who, unmindful of the toil, climbs 
 some moss-grown precipice to pluck a rare and beautiful 
 flower that he sees smiling down upon him from its moun- 
 tain home. 
 
 3. The possession, in a remarkable degree, of what may 
 be called inspirational power, by which he is enabled to 
 enkindle the enthusiasm of his pupils, and invest the dryest 
 subject with living, interest. Part of this effect is doubtless 
 due to the fact that he is himself interested, both in the sub- 
 ject and in the class ; but much of it is due to what, for 
 want of a better name, we may call personal magnetism. He 
 not only interests his pupils in the subject, but in himself 
 personally, so that every one becomes a warm and life-long 
 friend. Thus he is enabled to influence their moral natures, 
 as well as their intellectual, and to awaken in them those 
 emotions, and instil those sentiments that tend to build up 
 a noble character' and render knowledge a blessing to its 
 possessor and to society. 
 
 As a Lecturer: The same qualities that make Prof. 
 Brooks a successful teacher, make him also a popular 
 lecturer. As an instructor at teachers' institutes he is un- 
 surpassed — never failing to interest his audience and to give 
 them practical and valuable ideas. An apparently dry sub- 
 ject like geometry, he can present so simply as to make it 
 comprehensible b}^ a child, and at the same time he can 
 clothe it with all the beauty and attractiveness of romance. 
 Shoiild the interest flag for a moment, he is ever ready to 
 revive it by a pertinent anecdote or a witty remark. Many 
 speakers will make an interesting lecture from which you 
 can get no definite result — nothing but a general impression ; 
 but Prof Brooks gives such a clear outline of his subject, 
 and states his points so strongly, as to enable the hearer not 
 only to apprehend but to retain what he says. His ascend- 
 ing the platform is always a signal for the sharpening of 
 
OF LANCASTER COUKTT. 83 
 
 pencils and opening of note-toots ; for all are sure that they 
 will hear something worthy of record. 
 
 As an Author: Since a person's oral instructions and 
 writings are merely different manifestations of the same mind, 
 it is impossible to describe his characteristics as a teacher 
 without at the same time indicating in a measure his charac- 
 teristics as a writer. Hence, some of the causes of Prof 
 Brooks's popularity and usefulness in the latter capacity, may 
 be inferred from what we have already said concerning his 
 labors in the class-room and on the platform. Nevertheless, 
 at the risk of some repetition, we shall endeavor to state 
 what appears to us to be the most important of these causes. 
 They are three in number : 
 
 1. An abundance of information — partly the fruit of his 
 own fertile and original mind, partly the result of patient 
 and extensive research. He always has something new and 
 striking to say on every subject of which he treats. 
 
 2. A logical arrangement of materials, based on a thorough 
 acquaintance both with the subjects themselves and with the 
 laws by which the mind acts in coming to a knowledge of 
 them. Having a clear perception of the uses and limitations 
 both of the inductive and the deductive methods of teaching, 
 he is able to employ both, as occasion demands, without 
 abusing either — always having reference both to the nature 
 of the subject and the degree of advancement of the learner. 
 
 3. A style which in scientific statement or discussion is • 
 clear, logical, and direct — the natural result of clear think- 
 ing; but which, when the nature of the subject allows, 
 abounds in illustration and imagery — the effect of an active 
 imagination and fine poetic feeling. 
 
 As shown above. Prof. Brooks's fame as an author chiefly 
 rests upon his mathematical text-books. It would be both 
 interesting and profitable to subject these to a critical exami- 
 nation, and to call attention to the many valuable additions 
 they have made to our stock of scientific knowledge ; but for 
 this work we have neither the requisite time nor ability. 
 We shall attempt nothing more than to state in general 
 terms a few of the features that establish their claim to 
 originality, and make them superior to all books that pro- 
 
84 BIOGBAPHICi.L HISTOBT 
 
 ceded them in the same field. Among these are: 1. Many- 
 improvements in old definitions, and several new ones ; 2. 
 Several new classes of problems ; 3. Many new solutions of 
 old problems ; 4. A simplification of the reasoning in arith- 
 metic, and a reduction of what- was awkward and illogical to 
 a simple, logical, and scientific method ; 5. Several new gen- 
 eralizations and classifications, such as the relations of frac- 
 tions, " composition" as a process correlative with factoring, 
 the classification of algebraic symbols, etc. The algebra is 
 a model of simplicity, conciseness, elegance, and logical 
 accuracy ; and the geometry is one of the most strikingly 
 original works on the subject ever published in this country. 
 In the latter, by a variation and simplification of the theorems 
 and demonstrations, the subject is presented in about half 
 the space usually devoted to it, without in the least impairing 
 the chain of logic. 
 
 One of Prof. Brooks's happiest and most original ideas, is 
 that presented in his " Philosophy of Arithmetic " — one of 
 his unpublished works.' He therein develops the science of 
 numbers from three fundamental processes — synthesis, 
 analysis, and comparison — thereby showing the error of 
 those who have held that the whole science of arithmetic is 
 contained in addition and subtraction; and also the mistake 
 of such logicians as Mansel, who claim that there is no 
 reasoning in pure arithmetic. 
 
 His miscellaneous productions, consisting of poems, 
 essays, and addresses on various subjects, though well 
 worthy of being put in book form, are scattered here and 
 there in newspapers and pamphlets, or hidden away in 
 neglected piles of manuscript. As shown above, he pos- 
 sesses invention, fancy, taste, a musical ear, power of ex- 
 pression — all the essential elements of a poet ; and at various 
 times he has sought recreation — nothing more — in poetical 
 composition. Perhaps his greatest hindrance to success in 
 this direction, is the consciousness that he is a teacher, the 
 tendency to be didactic. If he would, for once, sink the 
 
 'Portions of this -work -were published iu the Pennsylvania School 
 Journal in 1861 ; also in the Mathematical MontMy (since discontinued), 
 for March of the same year. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 85 
 
 pedagogue in the poet, and devote himself to a work of pure 
 imagination, he would undoubtedly produce poetry worthy 
 of his superior genius. 
 
 His little poem of five stanzas, entitled " Be a Woman," 
 published anonymously in 1857, has obtained considerable 
 popularity both in this country and England. It has been 
 printed in thousands of periodicals, and read by hundreds 
 of thousands of people. We quote the last stanza :' 
 
 "Be a, woman ! on to duty ! 
 
 Raise the world from all that's low ; 
 Place high in the social heaven 
 
 Virtue's fair and radiant bow ; 
 Lend thy influence to each eifort 
 
 That shall raise our nature human ; 
 Be not fashion's gilded lady, 
 
 Be a brave, whole-souled, true woman." 
 
 We cannot stop to examine his other miscellaneous writ- 
 ings, having already greatly exceeded the limits prescribed for 
 this sketch. They shall presently be allowed to speak for 
 themselves, as fully as they can do so in a few brief speci- 
 mens. But first let us see what conclusion we have arrived at. 
 
 The author's characteristics, as exhibited particularly in 
 his mathematical books — the only ones yet published — 
 have already been given. A wider survey, enables us to 
 give the following as a summary of his qualities of mind 
 and heart : A refined taste ; an active imagination ; great 
 logical acuteness, enabling him to detect the truth or falsity 
 of a proposition at a glance, and deduce results with ease 
 and certainty ; a profound and pervading sense of moral 
 obligation ; and a style which, despite a tendency to indulge 
 too much in epigrammatic and antithetical forms of expression 
 and an excess of rhetorical ornament, is clear, pure, strong, 
 and eminently pleasing and attractive. 
 
 The following extracts, culled almost at random, will 
 show his peculiarities of thought and expression much bet- 
 ter than any words of ours can do it ; and we are sure that 
 they will abundantly sustain the literary judgment pro- 
 nounced above : 
 
 'For the whole poem and its history,jsee Pennsylvania School Journal 
 tor August, 1871, quoted from the Lancaster Express. 
 
86 BIOGRAPHICAL HI3T0BY 
 
 " It is better to inspire the heart witli a noble sentiment than to teach 
 the mind a truth of science." 
 
 "I would rather live in the memory of grateful pupils than be 
 honored in song or story." 
 
 "The problem of life is filled with knowu and unknown quantities 
 which, when comi^ared, give an equation whose roots are determined 
 only in eternity." 
 
 "The Eesthetic nature is higher than the scientific ; art, therefore, it 
 would seem, should be placed above science. Science is the product of 
 mere intellect ; art involves and embodies both thought and feeling. 
 To write a poem, therefore, is better than to solve a problem ; a great 
 poet has a brighter fame than a great philosojiher. I would rather be 
 gentle Will Shakespeare, the author of Hamlet, than Sir Isaac Newton, 
 the author of the Principia. Hamlet will be enshrined in the heart of 
 mankind long after the Principia has ceased to be read or printed. * * 
 ^lusic aids in the work [assthetic culture] with its melodious voice. A 
 school song in the heart of a child will do as much for its character as a 
 fact in its memory, or a principle in its intellect. The cradle song that 
 fell from amother's lips becomes a sacred memory that inspires the life." 
 
 " Spiritual cultm-e demands the training of the moral nature. The 
 moral nature embraces the activity of our entire spiritual being. It 
 consists in the apprehension of the right, in the feeling of obligation to 
 do the right, and the consequent act of the will to carry out the spiritual 
 imperative. The aesthetic natiu-e is idea and feeling ; the moral nature 
 is idea, feeling, and volition. In mathematical phraseology, the aesthetic 
 nature equals the Reason plus the Sensibilities ; the ethical nature 
 equals the Reason jilus the Sensibilities plus the Will." 
 
 ' ' The cultvire of these three powers — Faith, Love, and Obedience — in 
 their relation to God, is religious culture. Faith in God, love to God, 
 and obedience to God, is religion. The relation is simple and logical. 
 Faith leads to love ; we must believe before we can love. Love leads to 
 obedience ; that obedience is the most willing and perfect which flows 
 from aflection. Faith, then, is the soil in which grows the tree of Love, 
 and Obedience is the ripened fruit. Let us plant the tree of Love in the 
 soil of Faith in God, and it will reward us with the golden fruit of per- 
 fect Obedience."' 
 
 "Life Is a product of three factors — nature, self, and destiny ; but the 
 central and controling influence is self, the imperial power of the free 
 spirit. 
 
 ' We shape ourselves, the joys or fears 
 Of which the coming years are made.' 
 
 All true success in life is organic, and follows the law of organic de- 
 velopment. Analyze any great character or achievement, and you will 
 find an idea at the centre — an idea which determined its growth, and 
 gave direction to its development. This is the universal law. The 
 
 1 It will be observed that the author comprehends all religious duties ia tliese three- 
 Faith, Love, Obedience ; a generalization which is philosophical, and, so far its we know, 
 original. 
 
OF LANCASTER COTTNTY. 87 
 
 ideal is the germ of tlie real. Development, everywhere throughout 
 God's universe, is the unfolding of a purpose. The acorn slumbering 
 in the soil through the gloom of winter, contains the plan of an oak, and 
 in the spring-time begins to develop the tree which shall live for a cen- 
 tury. The little plant, starting in the dark ground, travels all the way 
 up from a seed, with an idea in its head, unfolding it at the top into 
 blossom and fruit. ' ' 
 
 " Beauty, purity, and generosity may appear in the external act, 
 wliilst the motive prompting it may be mean, ignoble, and selfish. 
 Truth, purity, and all the noble traits of character, may be enshrined 
 within the soul, and the life be so unobtrusive that they may not mani- 
 fest themselves to the public gaze. When asked why Antipater was 
 not dressed in purple, Alexander replied : ' These men wear purple on 
 the outside, but Antipater is royal within. ' Character is being royal 
 within. It is a soul throbbing with generous feelings, with noble im- 
 pulses, a soul loyal to the claims of truth and virtue." 
 
 " Man must labor for his best achievements. The duty of industry 
 rests upon us as a responsibility from Heaven. The God who made us 
 is a ceaseless energy, a tireless activity, infinite in His doing as in His 
 being. There is no such thing as indolence in His wide universe. The 
 most jjeaceful place of the summer landscape is but a veil that covers the 
 incessant and tireless activities of leaf, and root, and sunshine, and dew. 
 And all this activity is not for the end of action. Nature aims at results ; 
 she energizes for products. The dew-drops of the summer night are the 
 tree-builders of the summer day ; and the sunshine of spring pours its 
 p-olden rays into the green leaf, that it may blush in the rose's petal, .or 
 glow in the summer harvest. " 
 
 The heart prompts us, and truth and justice compel us, in 
 closing this imperfect sketch, to say that Prof. Brooks him- 
 self, measured as God measures a man, by his soul, his 
 character, is better and greater than any of his works. For- 
 tunate in haviag had the benefit, in his childhood, of the 
 counsels and prayers of a wise father and a remarkably gen- 
 tle and intelligent mother, he has never departed from his 
 early lessons of morality and religion. Ilis sensibilities are 
 tender as a child's and strong as a man's; but the Avill com- 
 mands the feelings, and duty dominates the will. Having 
 perfect command of himself, he is therefore qualified to com- 
 mand others ; yet the rod of -authority was never wielded by 
 a gentler hand. Naturally of a quick temper, he seldom 
 manifests anger ; fond of ease and pleasure, he yet labors to 
 the full extent of physical endurance. Eapid in all his mo- 
 tions, mental and physical, he is never rash. Amid all his 
 multiplicity of duties — administrative and educational, public 
 
88 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBT 
 
 and private — there is no confusion, nothing hap-hazard. 
 Method is as prominent in his business as his books. His 
 power of mental concentration is prodigious, but it is fully 
 equaled by his persistence and energy. This is the great 
 secret of his success ; this is the golden key that has un- 
 locked for him the temples of Fortune and of Fame. 
 
 BBOWN, Jeremiah, sr., a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 1796, 1797, 1798, 1799 and 1800. 
 
 BKOWN, Jeremiah, jr., was born in the year 1776. lie 
 was elected to the Legislature in 1826. He represented 
 Lancaster county in Congress from 1841 to 1815. He was 
 the first Associate Judge elected by the people, in 1851. 
 
 BEOWN, William, a member of the Legislature for the 
 
 years 1776, 1778, 1779, 1781, 1782 and 1783. 
 
 *BEUBAKEE Family. John Brubaker emigrated to 
 this country, from Switzerland, in the year 1710, and settled 
 on the Little Conestoga, about two miles west of the city of 
 Lancaster, where Mr. Samuel Binkley's mill is now located ; 
 here Mr. Brubaker built the first grist mill in Lancaster 
 county. He had a large family, consisting of nine sons, viz : 
 John, Daniel, Peter, Abraham, David, Christian, Henry and 
 Jacob. Two of these sons, John and Daniel, settled in 
 Elizabeth township, near Hammer Creek; they married 
 sisters, daughters of Michael Tauner. Peter settled in 
 Eapho township. Abraham settled in Virginia. The rest 
 remained in their father's neighborhood. The above-named 
 John, jr., took the farm owned at the present time by one 
 of his lineal descendants, Jacob E. Brubaker. He, however, 
 before settling, paid a visit to Germany in the year 1750, 
 where he married Maria Newcomer, and returned with his 
 wife and cousin to America. His wife only lived thirty 
 weeks, Avhen she died. He then married his second wife, the 
 above Miss Tauner, and had a family of eleven children. I 
 shall speak only of John, the oldest, he being my direct 
 ancestor. He was born A. D. 1752, was married to Anna 
 Eby, and had a family of four children, viz : Two sons and 
 two daughters ; Anna, born 1753, Maria, born 1756. The 
 ■^Contributed by M. N. Brubaker. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 89 
 
 last mentioned was married to 'John Bear, from whom Mr. 
 Gabriel Bear, at Mount Joy, has descended. I shall speak 
 more fully of this family hereafter. The son, Jacob Bru- 
 baker, who was my great grandfather, was born A. D. 1758. 
 He married Miss Susanna Erb, in 1781, and raised a family 
 of seven children. He died of yellow fever, in 1793, con- 
 tracted while in Philadelphia, he being engaged in hauling 
 his grain and flour to that place during the prevalence of 
 that disease there. His young widow devoted her time and 
 energies nobly to her family. Previous to this time some 
 m^embers of the " Old Mennpnite " church settled in Canada ; 
 they had purchased a very large tract of land. After awhile 
 they found there was a mortgage on it of $30,000, which 
 would be foreclosed ; they became alarmed and sent a com- 
 mittee to Lancaster county to solicit aid from their brethren ; 
 after some labor they succeeded in raising the amount ; this 
 young widow contributed a large sum towards it. The 
 committee started back to Canada, through the wilderness, 
 with this money in gold and silver in their saddle-bags, 
 on their horses; they reached home safe and cancelled the 
 mortgage. These events transpired about the beginning 
 of the present century. Those men had nothing to give 
 for security but their word and honor, which they faith- 
 fully fulfilled. They surveyed the tract, 60,000 acres, 
 divided it into lots of from 500 to 1,000 acres, and sold 
 tickets to the parties who loaned them the money, held a 
 regular lottery, and so this widow drew a large tract of land, 
 in lieu of her claim against the committee. She traveled 
 out, on horseback, to see her land. In the year 1816 she 
 sent her youngest son, John, out to take charge of this land; 
 he married there and raised a numerous family, who still pos- 
 sess some of the land, which has become very valuable. The 
 widow, Susanna Brubaker, lived 51 years in widowhood, and 
 died in 1844, at an advanced age. This old lady traveled to 
 Canada twice on horseback; one day, while leading her 
 horse across the mountains, she came upon a large rattle- 
 'John Bear, spoken of before, was married to Miss Maria Brubaker, 
 A. r>. 1756, and these had a family of nine children, of whom Samuel was 
 married to Miss "Weaver. They had a family of eight children, of whom 
 Gabriel was the oldest son, who resides in Mt. Joy at the present time. 
 9 
 
90 BIOGEAPHIOAL HISTOEY 
 
 snake, which was lying across her path; she aimed a blow at 
 it with her walking-stick and killed it. Her oldest, son, 
 Jacob Brubaker, who was my grandfather, was born in 1782, 
 and was married to Miss Maria Eby. They started out in 
 life on the farm first spoken of; they had a family of nine 
 children, of which Sem, the oldest son, is my father, who 
 resides near Mount Joy at the present time. Jacob, the 
 youngest son, occupies the old mansion farm at the present 
 time, which has been handed down from generation to 
 generation for a period 160 years. The Brubakers in this 
 county and Canada have all descended from the same stock. 
 
 BEUBAKEE, George, was born April 24th, 1817, in 
 Leacock township, Lancaster county. On his father's side 
 he is of German descent, and of Scotch-Irish on that of his 
 mother. His early educational advantages were very limited, 
 the time of his pupilage in the common schools not having 
 exceeded eighteen months. At an early age he began teach- 
 ing school, and pursued this calling for nine consecutive 
 sessions, running through a period of the same number of 
 years. He was one of the first teachers in the county under 
 the free school system, of which he was one of the earliest 
 and warmest advocates. 
 
 In 1848 he was nominated and elected to the position of 
 Eegister of Wills of Lancaster county, by the Whig party, 
 and for the term of three years faithfully discharged the 
 duties of this office. In 1851 he commenced the study of law, 
 and in the year 1854 was admitted to the bar as a practising 
 attorney, which profession he has since followed with a very 
 considerable degree of success. 
 
 In 1868 he was nominated and elected to the office of 
 District Attorney by the Eepublican party. For four years 
 he held the office of Select Councilman in Lancaster city, 
 and was a prominent mover in the division of the city of 
 Lancaster into nine wards. 
 
 George Brubaker, as a business man, is keen and sagacious, 
 and as a citizen, kind, liberal and public spirited. 
 
 BEUSH, George Gamble, was born in Oxford township, 
 Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 10th of August, 1793. 
 He was apprenticed in 1809 to William Hensel, of Lancaster 
 
OF LANCASTER COUKTY. 91 
 
 city, to learn the carpenter business, and served four and a 
 half years in his employ. In 1814 he removed to Manor 
 township, Lancaster county, to a small village on the Sus- 
 quehanna river, -which had sprung up during the war of 
 1812-14. In this village he worked at his trade until 1820, 
 when he began the mercantile business. About this time a 
 post-office was established in Manor township, and he was 
 appointed Postmaster by President Monroe, and held this 
 position under the administrations of Monroe, Adams, Jack- 
 son and Van Buren. In 1827 the borough of Washington 
 was incorporated, and Mr. Brush was elected a member of 
 the first Town Council. On the adoption of the Common 
 School System by Manor township, he was elected a school 
 director for three successive terms. In 1841, having been 
 elected a justice of the peace, he resigned the Postmaster ship. 
 In 1846 he removed to a small farm in Manor township^ 
 where he has since continued to reside. In the fall of 1855 
 he was elected a member of the State Legislature, and served 
 as such during the session of 1856. On the chartering of the 
 Lanifester County Bank, in 1841, he was elected a member 
 of the first Board of Directors, and has served in that capacity 
 up to the present time. 
 
 BUCHAJSTAN, James, 15th President of the United States, 
 was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, April 23, 1791. 
 The place of his birth is situated about three miles from the 
 village of Mercersburg, and in the midst of a wild and ro- 
 mantic mountain gorge, which, with its beautiful scenery, 
 may have served to arouse in his youthful mind, sentiments 
 of lofty aspirations and fervent patriotism. His father, 
 James Buchanan, was a native of the county of Donegal, 
 Ireland, and was one of the early settlers of Franklin county, 
 having emigrated thither in the year 1783. His mother, 
 Elizabeth ^^peer,_was the daughter of a respectable farmer 
 of Adams county, Pennsylvania. His father was a man of 
 great enterprise~an^ industry, and speedily rose from the 
 condition of an humble emigrant to one of independence 
 and prominence in the community. The mother of Mr. 
 Buchanan was a woman of remarkable native intellect, and 
 although not possessed of more than an ordinary English 
 
92 BIOGEAPHIOAL HISTORY 
 
 education, yet she was distinguished for her masculine sense 
 and rare literary taste. The most striking passages in Pope, 
 Cowper, Milton and Shakespeare, she could repeat from 
 memory. 
 
 In 1798 the father of Mr. Buchanan removed with his 
 family to Mercersburg, and there the subject of our notice 
 received his first lessons in Greek and Latin. His more 
 than ordinary rapid progress in his studies, indicated to his 
 preceptors a mind of rare strength and vigor ; and his father, 
 accepting the suggestions of his teachers, determined to 
 afford him the advantages of a collegiate education. At the 
 age of fourteen, accordingly, he entered Dickinson College, 
 at Carlisle, then a Presbyterian institution, under the presi- 
 dency of Dr. Davidson. Here he at once took rank amongst 
 the most indefatigable students, and rapidly rose in the esti- 
 mation of his teachers as a young man of mark and great 
 promise. In the studies of his classes he outstripped all his 
 mates, and on no occasion was he found unprepared in his 
 recitations. Whilst always prepared with his lessons, he was 
 by no means what is known as a close student, but rather 
 ranked with those who indulged most freely in sport and 
 relaxation. His college tasks were no burden to him, being 
 acquired as if by intuition ; and his vigorous mind displayed 
 itself in every department. He enjoyed all the honors of the 
 literary society with which he was connected, and was pre- 
 sented by its unanimous vote to the faculty for the highest 
 collegiate honors. He graduated in 1809, at the age of 
 eighteen. 
 
 In December of the same year, he commenced the study 
 of law in the office of James Hopkins, Esq., of Lancaster, 
 then recognized as the leading lawyer of that bar. He was 
 admitted to the practice of the profession, November 17th, 
 1812, when but little over twenty-one years of age. From 
 the day of his admission a tide of success seemed to meet 
 him ; and until he retired from the profession his was a series 
 of successive triumphs. There, perhaps, was never an 
 instance of such a rapid rise in the legal profession as that 
 afforded in his case. When a lawyer of four years' standing, 
 he was selected to conduct, unaided by senior counsel, the 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 93 
 
 defense of a distinguished judge, who was tried on articles 
 of impeachment before the Senate of Pennsylvania. His 
 defense on this occasion was a masterly display of legal 
 acumen and forensic ability that at once gave him a State- 
 wide reputation, and ranked him as an intellect fit to cope 
 with the ablest men of the nation. His reputation was 
 fixed in that trial, and business poured in upon him with an 
 increasing flood. So successful was he in his legal business, 
 that by the time he was forty years of age, he had acquired 
 a sufficient independence that enabled him to retire from the 
 profession. During the tide of his practice his name occurs 
 oftener in the Reports of the State than that of any other 
 lawyer of his time. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan early displayed his patriotism and love of 
 country. During the progress of the war between Great 
 Britain and America, in 1812-14, the British had taken and 
 destroyed the public buildings at Washington. This act 
 aroused a feeling of indignation throughout the whole United 
 States. A public meeting was held at Lancaster in favor of 
 a vigorous prosecution of the war, which was addressed by 
 Mr. Buchanan, and he was the first to enroll his name as a 
 private soldier in a company raised upon the spot, and 
 which, commanded by Capt. Henry Shippen, marched to the 
 defence of Baltimore. In this company Mr. Buchanan served 
 until the same was honorably discharged. 
 
 He was, in October, 1814, elected a member of the lower 
 House of the State Legislature, and in that body maintained 
 the same fearless and patriotic course that distinguished him 
 throughout the war. When Philadelphia was threatened 
 with invasion, and the State was left to its own defence, he 
 urged upon the Legislature in the strongest manner, the 
 adoption of efficient measures of relief. The National Trea- 
 sury was at this time almost bankrupt, and on account of 
 the opposition which the war encountered in the. Eastern 
 States, on the part of the Federalists, (of which party Mr. 
 Buchanan was then a member), the soldiers in the public 
 service were with great difficulty paid. Being re-elected to 
 .the Legislature, in 1815, he ardently supported a bill appro- 
 priating the sum of $300,'" 00, as a loan to the United States, 
 
94 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 to pay the militia and volunteers of the "State in the govern- 
 ment service. 
 
 At this time Mr. Buchanan took ground against any 
 unjust discrimination against naturalized foreigners, as com- 
 pared with the native-born population, except that which 
 relates to the of&ce of the National Executive. The Gov- 
 ernors of Massachusetts and Connecticut had transmitted to 
 .the Governor of Pennsylvania certain resolutions, recom- 
 mending changes in the Federal Constitution, and among the 
 rest, one which should render naturalized foreigners ineligi- 
 ble to the Senate or House of Eepresentatives of the United 
 States. This proposition was strongly disapproved of by Mr. 
 Buchanan, and the position thus early assumed by him formed 
 one of his cardinal and life-long principles. It was during 
 the period of his second session in the Legislature, that he 
 became impressed with the danger, the inexpediency, and 
 the unconstitutionality of a United States Bank, an opinion 
 he ever afterwards steadfastly defended. 
 
 The next political step in the career of Mr. Buchanan, is 
 his election, in 1820, as a member of the lower House of 
 the National Congress, in which body he took his seat in 
 December, 1821. At the time he entered that body, an 
 array of talent was assembled that would grace the halls of 
 any nation. In the House were the distinguished names of 
 McDuf&e, Joel E. Poinsett, John Eandolph, Philip E. Bar- 
 bour, Andrew Stevenson, Louis McLane, and others equally 
 noted. In the Senate, Eufus King, Martin Van Buren, 
 Mahlon Dickinson, Samuel L. Southard, Nathaniel Macon, 
 Eichard M. Johnson, and others of equal ability were 
 assembled. Among this assemblage of noble Eomans, Mr. 
 Buchanan took rank at once as one of the most industrious 
 and indefatigable members of the House. He was always 
 in his seat, and generally participated in the discussions that 
 arose upon any important public question. His first elabo- 
 rate speech, delivered January 11th, 1822, was upon a bill 
 making appropriations to the military for deficiencies in the 
 Indian department. So ably did he defend the course of 
 Mr. Crawford, then Secretary of the Treasury, that the 
 National Intelligencer departed from its usual course and 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 95 
 
 gave a verbatim report of the speech. This speech at once 
 enrolled him amongst the ablest men of the House, gave 
 him a national reputation, and was an earnest of the future 
 distinction that awaited him. 
 
 While Mr. Buchanan was strict in the expenditure of the 
 national money, he was liberal where necessity was evident. 
 When soine members of Congress found fault with a bill 
 authorizing the relief of soldiers disabled in the revolu- 
 tionary war, he met the opposition with the remark, that 
 the amount proposed " was a scanty pittance for the war- 
 worn soldier," and that he was altogether disinclined to 
 • oppose a measure that patriotism so imperatively demanded. 
 Other things that early engaged his attention as a national 
 legislator, and upon which he made speeches, were the 
 Apportionment bill. Transactions in Florida, the Appropria- 
 tion bill, and the Bankrupt bill. The debate upon this 
 latter bill was long and animated, and one that called forth 
 the abilities of the House in a remarkable manner. Many 
 of the most distinguished members of that body were strong 
 advocates of the bill. Mr. Buchanan did not participate in 
 the discussion until near the close of the session, and just 
 before the bill came up for final reading. He then delivered, 
 March 12th, 1822, one of the most powerful and eloquent 
 speeches of the session, and in this took grounds against the 
 passage of so unjust a law, as he conceived. In this he said : 
 " We are now called upon to decide the fate of a measure of 
 awful importance. The most dreadful responsibility rests 
 upon us. We are not now to determine merely whether 
 a bankrupt law shall be extended to the trading classes of 
 the community, but whether it shall embrace every citizen 
 of the Union, and spread its demoralizing influence over the 
 whole surface of society." Immediately after this speech 
 the vote was taken and the bill was defeated. 
 
 The question of a tariff was a prominent one before the 
 Eighteenth Congress, and was championed by the dauntless 
 Clay, of Kentucky, who christened it with the captivating 
 name of the "American System." In the discussions on 
 this question, which took place in Congress, we find Mr. 
 Buchanan arrayed on the side of a protective policy, and 
 
Vb BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 giving utterance to sentiments that would not have met the 
 approbation of the partisans with whom he afterwards affili- 
 ated. We find him thus expressing himself : " But, after all, 
 Mr. Chairman, what do we ask by this bill for the manu- 
 facturers of iron ? Not a prohibitory law, as the gentle- 
 man from Massachusetts (Mr. Fuller) seems to suppose, 
 which will exclude foreign iron from our market. We wish 
 only to infuse into our own manufactures sufficient vigor to 
 enable them to struggle against foreign competition. Pro- 
 tection, not prohibition, is our object." Benton's Abridg- 
 ment of Debates, Vol. VII, p. 673. 
 
 In 1827 he again said : " Can any person really believe that 
 because I supported protection in 1824 I am bound to advo- 
 cate prohibition in 1827." Benton's Abridgment of Debates, 
 Vol. IX, p. 394. 
 
 In 1825, when the election of a President took place before 
 the lower House of Congress, Mr. Buchanan urged that it 
 should be conducted in the presence of the people, with the 
 galleries of the House open to the people, and not in secret con- 
 clave, as was urged by some members and Senators. He 
 was opposed to the Panama mission, a project that had been 
 conceived by Mr. Clay, and supported by his flowing elo- 
 quence. In the second session of the nineteenth Congress a 
 bill was introduced for the relief of the surviving officers of 
 the revolution, and this Mr. Buchanan sustained in a speech 
 of great eloquence and power, in which he triumphantly 
 vindicated the duty of government in providing for the 
 wants of its defenders. 
 
 About this time Mr. Buchanan took occasion to condemn,, 
 in Cong I ess, the attiring of our foreign ministers in a military 
 coat, covered with glittering gold lace, and decking them 
 with a chapeau and small sword. Thus early did he give 
 evidence of his republican sentiments ; and afterwards, 
 during his residence as Minister at the Court of St. James, 
 he appeared, like Dr. Franklin before him, in the simple and 
 unpretending garb of an American citizen. 
 
 In 1828 General Andrew Jackson was elected President 
 of the United States, and Mr. Buchanan aided in this result 
 to the extent of his ability. The majority of 50,000, which 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 97 
 
 Pennsylvania gave for Jackson, furnisHes evidence of the 
 efficiency of his support. He, himself, was re-elected to 
 Congress in the same campaign, and during the following 
 session was placed at the head of the Judiciary Committee, 
 a position that had been filled by Daniel Webster. One of 
 the most famed cases that had ever came before Congress, 
 the impeachment of J. H. Peck, Judge of the District Court 
 of the United States for Missouri, was one in the manage- 
 ment of which Mr. Buchanan acted a conspicuous part, and 
 secured himself a national reputation as a barrister of the 
 first order. He, with Henry P. Storrs, of New York, Geo. 
 McDuf&e, of South Carolina, Ambrose Spencer, of New 
 York, and Charles Wickliffe, of Kentucky, were chosen on 
 the part of the House, as managers to conduct the prosecu- 
 tion before the Senate. William Wirt and Jonathan Mere- 
 dith were for the defence. The trial was conducted on both 
 sides with distinguished ability, Mr. Buchanan closing the 
 case and confining himself to the legal and constitutional 
 questions involved. He, in a masterly manner, pointed out 
 the difference between the principles which govern English 
 courts and those which, under the Constitution, must govern 
 those of the United States. The Senate acquitted Judge 
 Peck by a vote of 22 to 21, but shortly afterwards an act 
 was passed obviating whatever technical objections stood in 
 the way of conviction, so that no judge afterwards ventured 
 to commit a similar offence. 
 
 On the 3rd of March, 1831, Mr. Buchanan voluntarily 
 retired from Congress, of which he had been a constant 
 member for ten years. He was soon afterwards selected, by 
 President Jackson, as minister to the Court of St. Peters- 
 burg. In this position he concluded the first commercial 
 treaty between the United States and Eussia, which secured 
 to our merchantmen and navigators important privileges in 
 the Baltic and Black seas. In 1833, upon his return from 
 Eussia, he was elected to a seat in the United States Senate, 
 taking his seat in that body December 15th, 1834. 
 
 The subject of negro slavery came before the Senate in 
 1835, from the reference, in the message of General Jackson, 
 in regard to the circulation through the United States mail, of 
 
98 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 incendiary publications designed to excite insurrection in 
 the Southern States, and upon memorials for the abolition 
 of slavery in the District of Columbia. This aspect of the 
 slavery question was a new one before Congress. How, 
 most judiciously to deal with it, was the question to be 
 decided. Mr. Buchanan saw, that if the question was 
 permitted to come constantly before Congress, it would keep 
 up throughout a never-ceasing agitation, which might, in 
 the end, endanger the stability and perpetuity of the Ameri- 
 can Union. He, therefore, conceived as the best method to 
 deal with it, that some legislation should be enacted that 
 might stifle the agitation in the bud and prevent the ques- 
 tion of slavery from being raised and discussed in that body. 
 He favored the receiving of the petitions or memorials for the 
 abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and then 
 declaring, after respectfully considering them, that Congress 
 had no power to legislate on the subject. " I repeat," said 
 he, "that I intended to make as strong a motion in this 
 case as the circumstances would justify. It is necessary 
 that we should use every constitutional effort to suppress 
 the agitation which now disturbs the land. This is neces- 
 sary as much for the happiness and future prospects of the 
 slave as for the security of the master. Before this storm 
 began to rise, the laws in regard to slaves had been really 
 ameliorated by the slaveholding States; they enjoyed many 
 privileges which were unknown in former times. In some of 
 the slave States prospective and gradual emancipation was 
 publicly and seriously discussed. But now, thanks to the 
 efforts of the abolitionists, the slaves have been deprived of 
 these privileges, and while the liberty of the Union is 
 endangered, their prospects of final emancipation is delayed 
 to an indefinite period. To leave this question where the 
 Constitution has left it, to the slaveholding States themselves, 
 is equally dictated hy a humane regard for the slaves as well 
 as for their masters." 
 
 About this time Texas was passing through its war of 
 independence, and Santa Anna, the President of Mexico, 
 was using all his efforts to reduce it again beneath his 
 authority. Mr. Buchanan sympathized, as an American, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 99 
 
 witli the struggling Texans, and urged its recognition on 
 the part of the United States as an independent government. 
 He afterwards favored the admission of Texas as one of the 
 States of the American Confederacy. 
 
 Towards the close of Gen. Jackson's administration, the 
 French indemnity question rose to one of the first magnitude. 
 The French Chamber of Deputies, by a majority of eight 
 votes, refused to sanction the recommendation of Louis 
 Philippe, who had advised the payment of the American 
 indemnity. This conduct on the part of the French, roused 
 Gen. Jackson to the highest pitch of intensity, and he there- 
 upon demanded an appropriation of $3,000,000 for the 
 increase of the navy and for the defence of the maritime 
 frontier. Mt. Buchanan supported the demand of the Presi- 
 dent in an able speech, and reviewed the whole ground of 
 difficulty batween France and the United States, and clearly 
 established, by the law of nations, the error into which the 
 French government had fallen ; and that the money being 
 justly owing to American citizens, it was incumbent upon 
 the government to see that they received their dues. The 
 decided stand taken by President Jackson on French affairs, 
 and the noble support accorded him by Mr. Buchanan and 
 other leading men of the nation, hastened the settlement of 
 the troublesome question. 
 
 One of the most important subjects that came before this 
 Congress, was the admission of Michigan and Arkansas into 
 the Union. The subject gave rise to much debate, in all of 
 which Mr. Buchanan bore a conspicuous and distinguished 
 part. It was objected to the admission of Michigan that 
 aliens had participated in the formation of the Constitution ; 
 but Mr. Buchanan took the ground that aliens who were 
 residents of the northwestern territory had a right, by vir- 
 tue of the ordinance of 1787, to exercise the elective franchise. 
 In this discussion Mr. Buchanan made use of the following 
 language : " Tlie older I grow, the more I am inclined to he 
 what is called a State-rights man. The peace and security of 
 of this Union depend upon giving to the Constitution a 
 literal and fair construction, such as would be placed upon 
 it by a plain and intelligent man, and not by ingenious 
 
100 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 constructions to increase the powers of this government, 
 and thereby diminish those of the States. The rights of 
 the States, reserved to them by that instrument, «ught ever 
 to be sacred. If, then, the Constitution leaves them to de- 
 cide according to their own discretion, unrestricted and 
 unlimited, who shall be electors, it follows as a necessary 
 consequence that they may, if they think proper, confer 
 upon resident aliens the right of voting." 
 
 Mr. Buchanan was early in his advocacy of specie pay- 
 ments by the general government, instead of depreciated 
 bank paper. In this he went hand-in-hand with Thomas H. 
 Benton, the Ajax of American Democracy. He depicted, 
 in forcible language, the evils that flow from the increase of 
 banking capital to the laboring man, and, indeed, to all 
 classes save the speculators. " Banks," he said, " could 
 make money plenty at one time and scarce at another ; at 
 one moment nominally raise the price of all property beyond 
 its real value, and- the next moment reduce it below that 
 standard, and thus prove most ruinous to the best interests 
 of the people. The increase of banking capital was calcu- 
 lated to transfer the wealth and property of the country 
 from the honest, industrious and unsuspecting classes of 
 society, into the hands of speculators, who knew when to 
 purchase and when to sell." 
 
 Upon the opening of the Twenty-fourth Congress, Decem- 
 ber 5th, 1836, Mr. Buchanan was chosen to the honorable 
 and responsible position of chairman of the Committee of 
 Foreign Eelations. The principal feature of this session 
 was the discussion of Mr. Benton's celebrated " Expunging 
 Eesolution," which the indomitable Senator from Missouri 
 had introduced, time after time, for the purpose of having 
 expunged from the journal of the Senate the stain which 
 had been affixed upon General Jackson, for his removal of 
 the deposits from the United States Bank. In this noble 
 effort he had the cooperation of Mr. Buchanan, who, in a 
 speech of masterly power, and of rich and graceful elo- 
 quence, defended the hero of Orleans from all unjust asper- 
 sion, and proved, by the most convincing logic, that an 
 imperative justice demanded of the American Senate that 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. lOl 
 
 it erase from its records tlie base brand of obloquy tbat had 
 been stamped upon the conduct of the National Executive. 
 His oration upon this occasion has always been considered 
 as one of the finest specimens of eloquence that was ever 
 witnessed upon the floor of the United States Senate. Im- 
 mediately after the delivery of Mr. Buchanan's speech, the 
 vote on the " Expunging Resolution " was taken, and the 
 odious record stricken from the journal of the Senate. 
 
 Martin Van Buren succeeded General Jackson as Presi- 
 dent, March 4th, 1837. It was a time of great financial 
 •distress; greater, if possible, than that of 1820-21, which 
 followed the war of 1812-14. The general flooding of the 
 country with excessive issues of paper currency had stimu- 
 lated one of those periods of general speculation which had 
 covered the land with universal desolation. The President 
 ■summoned an extra session of Congress, in order that 
 measures might be devised to remedy the pressure of the 
 financial crisis. Almost the first bill introduced was the " Sub - 
 Treasury Act." Mr. Buchanan favored the passage of the 
 bill in a speech of great power, and therein explained the 
 causes of the monetary embarrassment in a most profound 
 and statesmanlike manner, and presented a clear conception 
 of the power of the General Government in regard to the 
 question under consideration. His views upon this measure 
 were of the most matured character, and his clear exposi- 
 tion of the powers of government aided greatly in securing 
 the passage of the bill. 
 
 In the regular session of 1837, the relations of the Ameri- 
 can government with Mexico came under consideration. In. 
 the course of a debate upon this subject, Mr. Buchanan 
 traced the conduct of the Mexican government towards our 
 citizens, and showed that the American flag was no protec- 
 tion to them, and that after being insulted and robbed, no 
 satisfaction or apology was given. In reply to Mr. Clay, 
 who suggested that owing to our deranged state of the cur- 
 rency we had better avoid war, he indignantly replied : "If 
 the national honor demanded vindication, he would not be 
 deterred by any such consideration. He, for one, would not 
 consent to see American citizens plundered with impunity." 
 
102 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 The question of tlie preemption right of settlers came up 
 in the Senate about this time, and Mr. Buchanan defended 
 this righl, and was unwilling that any distinction should be 
 made between American settlers and those of foreign birth. 
 It was, as he conceived, a just right that should be accorded 
 to the hardy pioneers, whether native citizens or those who 
 braved tide and tempest, in order to seek a home in the 
 wilds of our western country. 
 
 Another important question arose under Yan Buren's 
 administration, in regard to the alleged interference of federal 
 of&cers in elections. A bill was introduced which proposed 
 penalties upon any officer of the United States government, 
 below the rank of a District Attorney, who should attempt 
 to persuade a citizen to vote for any person to be elector 
 of President and Vice President of the United States or for 
 other certain officers. This measure was opposed by Mr. 
 Buchanan with all the powers of his mind, and it was soon 
 thereafter abandoned. 
 
 The last Congress, under Mr. Van Buren's administration, 
 commenced its first session December 2nd, 1839. It proved 
 a very _ important session, as business of an interesting charac- 
 ter engaged the attention of Congress. On the bill intro- 
 duced by Silas Wright, of New York, " to more effectually 
 secure the public money in the hands of the officers and 
 agents of the government," long and violent discussion was 
 had. It was the call for marshaling the old warriors of 
 bank and anti-bank. The contest was again terrific and was 
 another Trojan struggle renewed. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan's speech on the Independent Treasury, of 
 the 22nd of January, 1840, was able, dignified and profound. 
 It is considered as containing the best synopsis of the science 
 of political economy, and the relation between capital and 
 labor that any American statesman had yet produced. At 
 least it had never been surpassed. At the period of the de- 
 livery of this speech, Mr. Buchanan had been familiar with 
 the working of the government for twenty years. He had 
 passed through financial revulsions before, and having 
 studied the effect of extravagant bank expansions, he was 
 able to place his finger upon the errors of the past, and like 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 103 
 
 a skillful mariner, direct how to avoid the shoals and quick- 
 sands that might lie in the future. It was out of this speech 
 of Mr. Buchanan's, on the Independent Treasury, that hia 
 enemies gathered material which served to fasten upon him 
 the charge of having advocated a reduction of the wages of 
 labor. No charge was ever more unjust. John Davis, Sen- 
 ator, of Massachusetts, was foremost amongst those who pur- 
 sued him with this accusation. The manner, however, in 
 which he defended himself from the justness of this charge, 
 upon the floor of the United States Senate, in reply to Sen- 
 ator Davis, and the rejoinders he administered to the latter, 
 are not yet forgotten by the older of our citizens. 
 
 The election of 1840 swept, as by a hurricane, the Demo- 
 pratic party from power. General Harrison was elected 
 President of the United States, and the Whig party had the 
 ascendancy in both houses of Congress. Almost immediately 
 after his election, the new President issued a proclamation 
 for Congress to meet in extra session, May 31st, 1841. Con- 
 gress met, but Harrison was already in his grave. The first 
 movement was the introduction of a bill for the repeal of 
 the Independent Treasury. Early in the same session Mr. 
 Clay presented his plan .of a "Fiscal Bank." The Demo- 
 cracy, though in the minority, fought the friends of the bank 
 again, but in vain would have been their resistance but for 
 the assistance of Vice President John Tyler, now President, 
 who came to their rescue. In opposition to Clay's "Fiscal 
 Bank," Mr. Buchanan made one of his great speeches, and 
 reiterated his constitutional objections to the establishment 
 of a National Bank. 
 
 The repeated vetoes of John Tyler of the favorite mea- 
 sures of the Whig party, so exasperated the leaders, that 
 Mr. Clay introduced a proposition to abolish the veto power, 
 conferred upon the President by the Constitution. On the 
 2nd of February, 1842, Mr. Buchanan made an elaborate 
 reply to Mr. Clay's proposition, reviewing our whole system 
 of government and showing the intimate relations existing^ 
 between its parts. This logical and profound speech mani- 
 fested on the part of Mr. Buchanan an accurate knowledge 
 of the fundamental laws and maxims of civil government. 
 
104 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 The most important feature of IVIr. Tyler's administration 
 consisted in the steps taken for the annexation of Texas. 
 As heretofore stated, Mr. Buchanan was one of the earliest 
 advocates of that measure. In his remarks upon this sub- 
 ject he said: " While the annexation of Texas would afford 
 that security to the Southern and Southwestern slave States 
 which they have a right to demand, it would, in some respects, 
 operate prejudicially upon their immediate pecuniary inte- 
 rests ; but to the Middle and Western, and more especially 
 to the New England States, it would be a source of unmixed 
 prosperity. It would extend their commerce, promote their 
 manufactures and increase their wealth. The New England 
 States resisted with all their power the acquisition of Louisi- 
 ana ; and I ask, what would those States have been at this 
 day without that territory ? They will also resist the an- 
 nexation of Texas with similar energy ; although, after it 
 has been acquired, it is they who will reap the chief pecuni- 
 ary advantages from the acquisition." The admission of 
 Texas was not consummated until after the election of James 
 K. Polk to the Presidency. 
 
 The election of 1844: again brought the Democratic party 
 into power. James K. Polk, as soon as he was inaugurated 
 President, selected for the responsible position of Secretary 
 of State, the man whose career we are sketching, James 
 Buchanan. So intimately connected were the actions of Mr. 
 Buchanan and the administration of President Polk, that full 
 justice could not be done the former otherwise than in a 
 complete history of that administration. He was the ac- 
 knowledged head of the Cabinet Council, and nothing of 
 importance was undertaken without his sanction being had 
 and approbation obtained. Of the many able State papers 
 of which he was author during his premiership, time and 
 space forbid our speaking. At the close of Mr. Polk's 
 administration, he retired to private life, at Wheatland. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan, although now basking in the shades of 
 rural life, was by no means an indifferent spectator of public 
 aifairs. He still continued to watch the current of political 
 opinions with the same eager eye as ever, and discussed 
 public questions with his friends with the same warmth as 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 105 
 
 in his younger years. After the passage of the compromise 
 measures of 1850, Mr. Buchanan was among the first to en- 
 dorse them, and to spread throughout Pennsylvania a pub- 
 lic sentiment in their favor. In a letter written by him 
 in November, 1850, to a public meeting in Philadelphia, he 
 expressed himself freely upon the compromise, and gave it 
 his full and unqualified approbation. 
 
 Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, was elected Presi- 
 dent of the United States in the autumn of 1852. Upon his 
 taking the presidential chair, in March following, one of his 
 first acts was the appointment of Mr. Buchanan as Minister 
 to England. One of the principal questions that engaged 
 his attention in London, was the Central American question, 
 which the Clayton-Bulwer treaty had complicated but not 
 settled. He was also one of the Ministers who conferred 
 together at Ostend, regarding the Island of Cuba, and the 
 result of the deliberations of which Conference has popu- 
 larly been known as the Ostend Manifesto. 
 
 The question of slavery was one which James Buchanan 
 ever viewed from a conservative stand-point. From the 
 time he first presented in Congress the petition from the 
 Cain quarterly meeting of Friends, till his death, he regarded 
 the subject of slavery as one over which the National Gov- 
 ernment had no legitimate control, viewing it as within the 
 sole jurisdiction of the States in which the institution had 
 existence. These views he proclaimed when he presented 
 in Congress the above petition to which allusion has been 
 made, and this conservative attitude he ever afterwards 
 maintained, and which was in unison with the sentiments of 
 the framers of the constitution and the principal statesmen 
 of the old Democratic and Whig parties. 
 
 Mr. Buchanan was one ®f those statesmen who regarded 
 the question of slavery as one that existed by virtue of 
 compromise, and he desired to see nothing done to violate 
 the compacts of faith that had been solemnly ratified between 
 the Northern and Southern sections of the Union. The 
 Compromise measures of 1850 had his hearty adhesion, as 
 in these he seemed to recognize the settlement of the only 
 question that could, perhaps for ages, jeopard the national 
 10 
 
106 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 integrity. With the greatest anxiety and dread, was it there- 
 fore that he heard, whilst in Europe, of the repeal of the 
 Missouri Compromise in 1854. In a letter written to a lead- 
 ing statesman of his party, about the time that the repeal 
 began to be mooted, he uttered solemn words of warning, 
 and strongly remonstrated against the abrogation of this 
 time-honored compact. He depicted in strong colors the 
 dangers that he apprehended would result, should this unwise 
 attempt be consummated. From an intimate knowledge of 
 the feelings of the people of the ISTorth, he predicted the 
 terrible storm that would be excited throughout the country 
 by such an opening up of the slavery agitation as this would 
 occasion. 
 
 But the admonitions of Mr. Buchanan were unheeded. 
 The Kansas-Nebraska act was passed by Congress on the 
 25th of May, and received the signature of President Pierce 
 on the 30th of the same month. The windows of slavery 
 agitation were thereby all opened, as he had predicted, and 
 the deluge that began to pour upon the land was frightful 
 and terriiic. The anti-slavery press of the Northern States 
 teemed full of abuse of the men who had dared in the glare 
 of the light and advancement of the nineteenth century, to 
 attempt to favor the cause of slavery ; for in no other aspect 
 could the action of the National Congress be viewed. It 
 seemed in their eyes an unholy effort to turn back the dial 
 of the age, and an effort to open up all the territory of the 
 west to the abomination of slavery. The storm of aboli- 
 tionism thus aroused, blew and gathered strength by dis- 
 tance, and the strong oaks of the Democratic party were 
 bending beneath its blasts. 
 
 In the midst of this vast hurricane of partisan fury, the 
 Democratic Convention assembled at Cincinnati in 1856, 
 and placed in nomination James Buchanan as their candidate 
 for the presidency. By skillful management, the old party 
 of Jefferson, in the face of all opposition was again victorious, 
 and its nominee, the subject of our notice, was elected. On 
 the 4th of March, 1857, he was inaugurated the 15th Pres- 
 ident of the United States. 
 
 After the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the Terri- 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 107 
 
 tory of Kansas became the battle-ground between the anti- 
 slavery and pro-slavery parties. Emigrants were hurried 
 into the territory by both parties, each aiming at gaining 
 the ascendancy within its borders ; the one party seeking to 
 make it a free and the other a slave State. The one per- 
 sistently contended that slavery was local in its character, and 
 therefore if a slaveholder brought his slaves with him these 
 became instantly free. The other, quite as strongly main- 
 tained that slavery was recognized by the constitution, and 
 therefore the owner of slaves had the same right to carry his 
 slaves with him into the territory as any other property. 
 Without this right the Southern people insisted that the 
 equality of the States would be destroyed, and they would 
 sink from the rank of equals to that of inferiors. In thia 
 view the pro-slavery party were sustained by the solemn 
 adjudication of the Supreme Court. They yielded acqui- 
 escence in the territorial government appointed over thera. 
 by Congress ; whereas, the anti-slavery party having held a 
 convention at Topeka, formed a State constitution and ap- 
 plied for admittance into the Unioa. They were, however, 
 rejected. The regular Territorial Legislature, on the 27th 
 of February, 1857, passed an act for the election of delegates 
 in June of that year to frame a State constitution. 
 
 This was the condition of affairs in Kansas when Mr. 
 Buchanan was inaugurated President, on the 4th of March, 
 1857. A majority of the pro-elavery delegates were elected in 
 June, 1857, because the anti-slavery party refused to parti- 
 cipate in the election. When the convention assembled, they 
 adopted what was known as the Lecompton Constitution ; 
 and as slavery was the main question at variance between 
 the parties, it was determined that this should be submitted 
 to a vote of the people of the State. It was so submitted 
 in December of that year, and the anti-slavery party, still 
 persisting in their refusal to vote, the result was 6226 votes 
 in favor of slavery, and but 569 against it. At the election 
 held on the first Monday in January, 1858, under the new 
 constitution, the anti-slavery party voting, a large majority 
 of the members of the Legislature elected, belonged to this 
 party. On the 30th of January, of the same year, the Le- 
 
108 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOEY" 
 
 compton Constitution was transmitted to Mr. Buchanan, as 
 the National Executive, from the president of the conven- 
 tion with the request that it be submitted to the considera- 
 tion of Congress. This was done in a message of the 2nd of 
 February, 1858, and therein President Buchanan recom- 
 mended the admission of Kansas as a State, under the Le- 
 ■compton Constitution. He said : " The people of Kansas have 
 in their own way and in strict accordance with the organic 
 act, framed a Constitution and State Grovernment ; have sub- 
 mitted the all-important question of slavery to the people, 
 and have elected a governor, a member to represent them in 
 Congress, members of the State Legislature and other State 
 officers. * * * For my own part, I am decidedly in 
 favor of its admission, and thus terminating the Kansas 
 question." 
 
 This message occasioned a long, exciting and violent 
 debate, in both Houses of Congress, between the slavery 
 and anti- slavery members, which lasted nearly three months. 
 It was but the reecho of the storm that was raging through- 
 out the land. Mr. Buchanan was bitterly denounced as 
 truckling to the slave power, and as lending the weight of 
 .his high office towards fixing upon the people of Kansas 
 the curse of slavery against their will. Members of Con- 
 gress were classified, during this controversy, as Lecompton 
 and anti-Lecompton, as they favored or opposed the admis- 
 sion of Kansas. A wing of his own party separated from 
 Mr. Buchanan on this point, and among these Stephen A. 
 Douglas, of Illinois. Kansas was not admitted under this 
 Lecompton Constitution, and was only admitted a short time 
 before the close of Mr. Buchanan's administration, with a 
 free constitution. 
 
 But events were gradually culminating during Mr. 
 Buchanan's administration towards a catastrophe of one 
 kind or another. The slavery question was now the one all 
 paramount. All other questions merged into insignificance, 
 and it is only in the light of the slavery agitation of the 
 period that his administration is estimated. No other act of 
 his as President is ever remembered, and from that stand- 
 point alone will he ever be judged. In the midst, however, of 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 109 
 
 tbe terrible commotion of the period, it soon became clear that, 
 even in the ranks of the Democratic party a schism, in fact^ 
 existed, and but time was required to develop it. This was- 
 also occasioned by the slavery question, and by many was 
 considered as occasioned by an effort to compromise on ther 
 question. Senator Douglas became prominent as the advo- 
 cate of what he chose to term squatter sovereignty, but. 
 which principle found no sanction in the decision of the 
 Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. His arguments- 
 were, however, very captivating and attractive, and he suc- 
 ceeded in carrying with him a large body of the Democratic: 
 party. To this interpretation of the Constitution the South- 
 ern people were almost equally hostile as towards the out- 
 and-out principles of the Eepublican party. They simply 
 regarded Senator Douglas as bidding for the Presidencj 
 before the abolition sentiment of the North, and therefore: 
 they bore him an unquenchable ill-will and steady oppo- 
 sition. 
 
 When the Democratic convention met at Charleston, in 
 April, 1860, it was not long till the want of harmony in the 
 party showed itself in the representative body. An attempt 
 was made to agree upon a platform of principles, but with- 
 out effect, and therefore the withdrawal of the delegates. 
 from the cotton States was the consequence of this disa- 
 greement. The convention adjourned to meet at Baltimore^ 
 in the hope of yet securing harmony in the actions of that 
 body. It re-assembled in June, at Baltimore, but without 
 any better success than at Charleston. The breach had 
 become too great and could not be remedied. Both wings of 
 the party nominated their candidates, Stephen A. Douglas- 
 being the nominee of the one, and John C. Breckinridge of 
 the other. The sympathies of Mr. Buchanan were with the 
 wing of the party that nominated Breckinridge, but no hopes-- 
 of success could be anticipated by either, aad the result waa 
 the election of Abraham Lincoln as President. 
 
 As soon as the election of Abraham Lincoln was made 
 known, the 'Southern people prepared to inaugurate the 
 movement of secession. The first to secede were the cotton 
 States, and on the 4th of March, 1861, these organized a 
 
110 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 government at Montgomery, Alabama, witli Jefferson Davis 
 as President. The people of the Southern States had long 
 harbored the belief that the Republican party alone would 
 be unable to prevent a dissolution of the Union, because 
 they did not believe that the Democrats of the North would 
 give their adhesion to the prosecution of a war for the resto- 
 ration of the Union. 
 
 It was one of the cardinal principles of the Democratic 
 party, that States could not be coerced^by the general gov- 
 ernment, and one which had been solemnly reiterated again 
 and again in its conventions, and they did not believe that 
 the party could go back of its pledges and resolutions. The 
 Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798, the one sketched 
 by Madison and the other by Jefferson, clearly denied the 
 ■coercion of States by the general government. These reso- 
 lutions had ever formed the political bible, as it were, of the 
 Democratic party. Jame Buchanan, however, better under- 
 stood the tone of the Northern people, and he frequently 
 assured the Southern leaders that the first gun fired upon 
 Fort Sumpter or Moultrie would heal all political divisions 
 in the Noith, and render it a unit in support of a war for 
 the preservation of the national integrity. He had mingled 
 so long in politics as to have discovered that the proajises 
 of most politicians are unreliable, and therefore was it that 
 he uttered his cautions to those who depended upon aid 
 from the Northern States. 
 
 As to the doctrine of coercion, he clearly laid down the 
 correct principle of the party in ^is last annual message to 
 Congress. In this he says : " The question fairly stated is : 
 has the constitution delegated to Congress the power to 
 coerce a State into submission, which is attempting to with- 
 draw or has actually withdrawn from the Confederacy ? If 
 answered in the affirmative, it must be on the principle that 
 power has been conferred upon Congress to make war against 
 a State. After much serious reflection, I have arrived at 
 the conclusion that no such power has been delegated to 
 ■Congress, or to any other department of the Federal Gov- 
 •ernment. It is manifest, upon an inspection of the consti- 
 lution, that this is not among the specific and enumerated 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. Ill 
 
 powers granted to Congress ; and it is equally apparent, that 
 its exercise is not ' necessary and proper for carrying into 
 execution ' any one of these powers. So far from this power 
 having been delegated to Congress, it was expressly refused 
 by the convention which framed the constitution. 
 
 " It appears from the proceedings of that body, that on 
 the 31st of May, 1787, the clause 'authorizing an exertion 
 of the force of the whole against a delinquent State ' came 
 up for consideration. Mr. Madison opposed it in a brief but 
 powerful speech, upon which I shall extract but a single 
 sentence. He observed : ' The use of force against a State 
 would look more like a declaration of war than an infliction 
 of punishment, and would, probably, be considered by the 
 party attacked as a dissolution of all previous compacts by 
 which it might be bound.' Upon his motion the clause was 
 unanimously postponed, and was never, I believe, again pre- 
 sented. Soon afterwards, on the 8th of June, 1787, when 
 incidentally adverting to the subject, he said: ' Any govern- 
 ment for the United States, formed upon the supposed prac- 
 ticability of using force against the unconstitutional pro- 
 ceedings of the States, would prove as visionary and falla- 
 cious as the government of Congress,' evidently meaning the 
 then existing Congress of the old Confederation." 
 
 The above was the old Democratic doctrine, and when he 
 had given utterance to it, if he believed it, he should have 
 maintained it. But so great at that time was the popular 
 clamor in favor of coercion, that in his special message to 
 Congress of the 8th of January, 1861, he attempts to evade 
 the above, and draws the distinction between coercing a 
 State and the individuals of the State. A weak distinction, 
 indeed. ' What is the State but the individuals who compose 
 it? If no authority was delegated to the general govern- 
 ment to coerce a State, whence is the authority derived to 
 coerce the individuals of the State, the very ones who form 
 a State? In this backing down of Mr. Buchanan from the 
 position first assumed by him, he exhibited a weakness 
 not creditable to one who filled the exalted position of 
 the Presidency of a nation. If his doctrine as regarded 
 coercion was true, it remained so, though all the North 
 
112 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 a 
 
 should declare the contrary. Then why not maintain it? 
 Though its maintenance should have been pronounced trea- 
 son, and death the penalty, he of all others should have 
 defended it. Many brave men before had suffered for opinion 
 sake, and did they sink in history on that account ? They 
 were only the more remembered and respected for their 
 heroism and staunch defence of principle. t 
 
 Mr. Buchanan repeatedly asked of Congress additional 
 authority to enable him to collect the duty in the Southern 
 ports, where all the federal officers had resigned, but to this 
 Congress gave no attention. At least the additional authority 
 was not granted. His condition as President at that time 
 was a very trying and perplexing one. Elected as a Demo- 
 crat, upon principles that always gave satisfaction to the 
 people of the Southern States, it is not to be supposed that 
 he would desire to 'fight with the South the battle of the 
 Eepublican party. The genuine' Democratic party and the 
 South had no quarrel; and James Buchanan, belonging to 
 that school, had none either. Should he provoke a war with 
 the South during the remnant of his term of office ? Surely 
 not.. He and his party had done all in their power to avert 
 the calamity then coming upon the country, and were able 
 still to settle the troubles if they had the power. But that 
 had passed from their hands, and it was the new power that - 
 the South designed to resist. Not the nation did they mean 
 to resist, but simply the power of the Republican party. 
 
 It is no wonder, therefore, if James Buchanan would feel 
 a pleasure in being relieved from an office at a time of such 
 embarrassment. He is said to have remarked to the new 
 President: "If you, sir, feel as happy in entering upon the 
 office of President as I do in retiring therefrom, then you are 
 a happy man to-day." 
 
 After the 4th of March, 1861, James Buchanan returned 
 to Lancaster, where he met with a reception befitting his 
 rank and condition, and upon this occasion made his last 
 public address to his fellow-citizens of Lancaster. He re- 
 viewed the condition of public affairs at some length, and 
 returned, in conclusion, his warmest thanks for the honors 
 his countrymen had showered upon him. The remainder of 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 113 
 
 his days lie passed at his residence, called " Wheatland" near 
 Lancaster. During tlie years he lived in retirement he was 
 frequently visited by his Democratic friends, whom he ever 
 received with great cordiality and friendship. After his 
 retirement he prepared a history of his administration, but 
 did not publish the same until the close of the rebellion. 
 It is entitled, "Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the 
 Eebellion." In this he essays the task of defending the 
 policy he maintained, especially as regards the slavery ques- 
 tion and the rebellion consequent upon its agitation. Of 
 the rectitude of his conduct as regards his attitude on the 
 slavery question, he was ever firmly convinced. In the 
 presence of some friends, after his return from Washington, 
 and after the inauguration of war, he remarked: "Well, 
 gentlemen, I am fully convinced that the American people 
 will yet justify me for the attitude I have maintained as re- 
 gards the slavery question." Mr. Buchanan enjoyed his 
 usual good health for several years. Even his last illness 
 was short. He died June 1, 1868. His funeral Was the 
 largest ever seen in Lancaster. 
 
 A sketch of the distinguished subject of our notice' would 
 be imperfect unless he would be delineated according to his 
 deserts. As a statesman there is no doubt that Mr. Bu- 
 chanan is deserving of ranking amongst the ablest to whom 
 America has given birth. The great secret of his success as 
 a statesman, was his sagacity to discover the political current 
 before he too fully committed himself It was this same 
 trait, however, on the other hand, that has occasioned him 
 more abuse than all else. This was his characteristic timid- 
 ity, for there is no use in concealing the fact, that Mr. Bu- 
 chanan was timid to a fault. He was not the bold man who 
 would advance his opinions, let them be popular or other- 
 wise. Had he been a man of that boldness, it is scarcely 
 probable that he would ever have filled the presidential 
 chair ; or if he had filled it, his action as President would 
 have commanded more respect than it did. 
 
 In private life, even so exceedingly reticent was Mr. Bu- 
 chanan at all times during the rebellion, that his opinion 
 could not be elicited at any time as to the results of the war. 
 
114 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 When an opinion was sought of him, he would usually 
 give an evasive reply, and left it only to be guessed what his 
 real opinion was, and it is doubtful even if his most con- 
 fidential friends knew whether he favored the prosecution of 
 the war for the restoration of the Union or not. If his sen- 
 timents were the same as most of the leading Democrats of 
 his school, he could not have favored what he must have re- 
 garded as a violation of the Federal Coastitution. Yet if 
 such were his opinions, he chose to conceal them; for other- 
 wise in the inflamed condition of Northern sentiment dur- 
 ing the war, he felt that his person and property would have 
 been in jeopardy. Indeed, frequent threats were made 
 against his life, but these were ever regarded as the tempo- 
 rary ebullition of passion that would soon subside. Many 
 were the letters he received denouncing him and threatening 
 vengeance upon his head, but to none of them did he ever 
 give any heed. They may, however, have somewhat more 
 firmly sealed his lips during the rebellion, as during all this 
 period he seemed to be particularly close-mouthed. The 
 great fault of Mr. Bachanan was his extreme timidity, which 
 did not permit him to do sometimes what he desired to do. 
 
 As a citizen, Mr. Buchanan had no superiors. He was 
 kind-hearted, generous and humane, and a worthy object 
 would never escape his recognition. He was not one of 
 those who blindly became attached to friends, but he had a 
 universal and sympathetic feeling for mankind. He was 
 regarded by many as cold and phlegmatic, and that he had 
 no regard for friends or enemies. Such was not James 
 Buchanan. Many found fault with him because they had 
 not at his hands received such favors as they had hoped. 
 It was not in his power to favor all his friends, but he did 
 all in that way that he possibly could'; and that he could 
 have done vastly more would have been a great pleasure to 
 him. That he was entirely blameless in all his actions could 
 not be expected. He was human and liable to err, as all are ; 
 but that his faults were many, none will contend. He was 
 perfectly honest and upright in all his actions and deal- 
 ings, and in these particulars he is worthy of imitation by all. 
 But few men live a more irreproachable life than Mr. Bu- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 115 
 
 hcanan. He was highly esteemed by men, of all parties, and 
 none were so hardy as not to concede him honesty of pur- 
 pose. 
 
 As a lawyer, he ranked amongst the ablest of the whole 
 eoTintryl; and when engaged in the practice he read little 
 but the books pertaining to his profession. He never was 
 a man of great miscellaneous reading, and save law and politics 
 his knowledge was limited. His extensive intercourse with 
 leading minds and his residences in Europe, had given him 
 a very general information upon all current topics, but he 
 was in no sense either a scholar or a student. His know- 
 ledge, which was very considerable, was more what might 
 be called picked-up, than acquired by dint of his own read- 
 ing. He was an American, fully imbued with American 
 ideas, and he cared little for knowing that which he could 
 not turn to practical account. Indeed, he made no preten- 
 sions to scholarship or profundity. He therefore knew 
 nothing of many matters that engage the attention of stu- 
 dents who are such from choice. His opinions upon no 
 point except law and politics are therefore to be estimated. He 
 knew much of the world, and for an American, as its society 
 is now constituted, he was the inan for the times. 
 
 Had he been the stern and outspoken advocate of princi- 
 ple at all times, he would have been left in inglorious obscur- 
 ity, and would perhaps never have been heard of save in his 
 own county, or at most his State, as a sound, able lawyer. 
 He is simply the production of American life and customs ; 
 and what he might have been under another form of govern- 
 ment we have no means of estimating. He, however, must 
 remain the type of American statesmen, and other times 
 and regulations, perhaps another form of government, will 
 be required to develop a very different one. That Mr. 
 Buchanan had the ability to achieve distinction in anj^ pur- 
 suit, and under any form of government, is readily conceded. 
 His ability was of the very first order, at least in the depart- 
 ment of statesmanship. 
 
 BUCHANAN, John, was elected a County Commissioner 
 in 1824. 
 
 BUCKLEY, Daniel, was an iron-master of Lancaster 
 
116 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 county. He was a member of the Legislature in the years 
 1794, 1798, 1799 and 1800. He is one of the ancestors of 
 Clement B. Grubb, iron-master, of this city. 
 
 BUEEOWES, Thomas H., was born in Strasburg, Lan- 
 caster county, Pa., November 16th, 1805. He received a 
 liberal education at Quebec and Trinity College, Dublin, 
 Ireland, where his parents resided for some years. Although 
 never matriculated as a regular student of Trinity College, 
 yet he acquired a sound knowledge of the Latin and the 
 French languages, considerable acquaintance with the Greek, 
 and the rudiments of the German. He acquired, however, 
 besides the mere education of a collegiate routine, an enlarged 
 view of the world, and those habits of self reliance which 
 became to him of more importance than the most scholarly 
 attainments could otherwise have been to him. He became 
 better prepared for the stern battle of American life less by 
 contact with books than by observation of life, from his 
 travels and intercourse with society. Upon returning to 
 Pennsylvania, he chose the law for his profession, and 
 entered, as a student, the office of Amos Ellmaker, of Lan- 
 caster, a lawyer of liberal scholarship and of the highest 
 standing at the bar. After reading two and a half years 
 with Mr. Ellmaker, he entered, in 1829, the Yale College 
 Law School, and pursued his legal studies in this institution 
 for some time, and was in the autumn of 1829 admitted to 
 the bar of Lancaster county, and soon after began the prac- 
 tice of law. Being in easy circumstances he did not devote 
 himself to the practice of the profession with that zeal and 
 energy that others of less means are necessitated to employ ; 
 but he soon became somewhat active in politics, and in 
 October, 1831, was returned from Lancaster ceunty as a 
 member of the Pennsylvania House of Eepresentatives, and 
 was reelected in 1832. While a member of the Legislature, 
 owing to his party being in the minority, he did not attain 
 any leading distinction ; nor did he seek to render himself 
 particularly conspicuous, but was amongst the most regular 
 in his attendance at his post of duty. Upon the ascent of 
 his party to power in the election of Joseph Eitner, as Gov- 
 ernor of Pennsylvania, in 1835, he was called upon to fill 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 117 
 
 the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth/ to which 
 
 'The State of Pennsylvania, in 1838, was upon the verge of civil con- 
 vulsion, brought about by a dispute that arose in the city of Philadel- 
 phia as regards the election returns of certain aspirants for legislative 
 honors. One party claimed certain members as legally chosen, and their 
 opponents insisted that the opposing candidates had been elected. Two 
 sets of conflicting returns had been made out, and one of these had re- 
 ceived the sanction of the Secretary of the Commonwealth and was trans- 
 mitted to the proper officer. - When, therefore, the House of Represen- 
 tatives met at Harrisburg, at 11 o'clock, December 4th, 1838, the Clerk 
 of the old House of Representatives began reading the returns of election 
 for members which had been furnished him by Mr. Burrowes, Secretary 
 of the Commonwealth. As soon as he had reached the returns of the 
 county of Philadelphia, a Mr. Pray (one of the contesting members for 
 the county), arose and handed the Clerk another return, and desired it 
 to be read. Mr. T. S. Smith, another member from Philadelphia, pro- 
 tested against the reading of this return as being illegal and void, and 
 not properly before the House. After some discu.ssion, both returns 
 were allowed to be read, and then the returns for the rest of the State 
 were read without objection. The contestant members from Philadel- 
 phia of the opposing political factions being admitted, each party now 
 proceeded to elect a Speaker, the Whigs choosing Thomas S. Cunning- 
 ham, of Mercer ; and the Democrats, James Hopkins, of Washing-ton. 
 After order became restored, each Speaker proceeded to qualify the ' 
 member of his own party. After the members of each party had been 
 sworn in, each adjourned to meet the next day. 
 
 The Senate was called to order at 8 o'clock, in the midst of much dis- 
 order, and after a parlimentary display of partisan tactics, Charles B. 
 Penrose was elected Speaker of the Senate. The public excitement by this 
 time had become intense, owing to a popular impression that a design 
 had been concocted to defeat the election of those fairly entitled to seats 
 in the Legislature. The mass of spectators seemed to believe that the 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth had been tampered with, and that his 
 return was made in the interest of the party with which he was known 
 to be in sympathy. 
 
 A Mr. Brown, from Philadelphia, attempted to speak and was called to 
 order as not being a member of the Senate. This excited the populace, 
 and the shout was raised — "hear him," "Brown," "Brown," "you 
 shall hear Brown, ' ' and similar outbursts of excitement now rent the halls. 
 All at this moment became excitement and confusion, and a Mr. Rodgers, 
 a member of the Senate, rose and moved that Mr. Brown be permitted to 
 address the Senate. Brown now addressed the Senate, and aU the while the 
 tumult was increasing, when Mr. Pem-ose feeling himself unable to pre- 
 serve order, yielded the chair to Mr. Rodgers and made his escape. 
 Violent threats were now freely made against Thaddeus Stevens, Pen- 
 rose and Burrowes, and these gentlemen retired from the assemblage 
 and left their opponents in possession of the field. 
 
 The same day. Governor Ritner issued his proclamation, calling upon 
 
118 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 the Superintendency of Common, Schools was then, ex officio, 
 attached. From this time Mr. Burrowes made the work of 
 popular education a subject of the most careful study, and 
 prepared a revised school bill, which was adopted by the 
 Legislature in 1836, and from that time, with great energy, 
 devoted himself to the execution of the law. The years of 
 1837 and 1838 were periods of much activity in the educa- 
 tional life of Mr. Burrowes. In 1837 he published a plan 
 and drawing for the improvement of school houses and 
 furniture, which was widely used, and which was the first 
 effort of the kind in the State, if not in the Union. In 
 1839, upon the retirement of Joseph Eitner from the office 
 of Governor, and the coming into power of a different 
 administration, the Superintendency of Common Schools 
 passed into other hands, and Mr. Burrowes returned to 
 Lancaster and devoted the nest seven years of his life to 
 agricultural pursuits, on a farm which he owned near the 
 city of Lancaster. He had always been attached, and in 
 his youth somewhat enured to rural affairs, yet he lacked 
 that financial fitness necessary to render the pursuit of hus- 
 
 the civil authorities ' ' to exert themselves to restore order to the utmost 
 of their povrer, " and calling upon the military force of the common- 
 wealth to hold themselves "in instant readiness to repair to the seat of 
 government ; and upon all good citizens to aid in crushing the lavyless 
 mob, and in reinstating the supremacy of the law. ' ' 
 
 In a day or two, numbers of armed military companies arrived from 
 different sections of the State, and order was speedily restored. 
 
 The Senate and the two Houses of Representatives continued to as- 
 semble, but without an adjustment of the difficulty being yet effected. 
 
 In the meanwhile three members of the Cunningham House of Repre- 
 sentatives came into the Hopkins House and took their seats, and 
 desired to be qualified as members of that body. These gentlemen, 
 Messrs. Butler and Sturdivant, of Luzerne, and Montelius, of Union, 
 were sworn and took their seats, and this gave the Hopkins party a legal 
 quorum of the whole number of Representatives. 
 
 Mr. Micheler, a "Whig Senator from Northampton, on the 35th of 
 December offered a resolution to recognize the Hopkins House of Repre- 
 sentatives as containing a quorum of the legally returned members, and 
 this resolution was adopted by 17 voting in the afBrmative and 16 in the 
 negative. Several "Whig Senators favored the resolution, and thus the 
 difficulty terminated which for a time threatened to drench the land in 
 blood. This period of excitement and tumult has ever since been 
 popularly known as the "Buckshot War." 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 119" 
 
 "bandry a profitable one. Owing to pecuniary losses, wbich 
 he about this time sustained, he was compelled to dispose of 
 his farm, and in 1845 he again returned to his profession, in 
 the city of Lancaster. Immediately afterwards he com- 
 menced a series of papers, in the Lancaster Intelligencer, on 
 the nature, defects and improvement of the Common School 
 System of the State. These being over his own signature, 
 were made more elaborate than newspaper communication a 
 usually are, and went into considerable detail. These arti- 
 cles attracted considerable attention, and were copied or 
 otherwise noticed by papers in different parts of the State, 
 and aided in uniting and directing the public sentiment, then 
 beginning to manifest itself in favor of. school improvement. 
 
 At the convention of the friends of Education, held at 
 Harrisburg in January, 1850, Mr. Burrowes was chosen 
 temporary President, and acted as chairman of the com- 
 mittee "to consider and report the best means for invigorat- 
 ing the general superintendence of the Common School 
 System, harmonizing its local operations, and spreading the- 
 knowledge of its true nature and benefits, its progress and 
 necessities." In the report submitted by him on that occa- 
 sion, Mr. B. recommended the establishment of a separate 
 State department of education, and the publication of a 
 monthly educational State journal for the dissemination of 
 matters pertaining to the interests of education amongst the 
 friends of the cause in all parts of the Commonwealth. His 
 views met the unanimous endorsement of the convention 
 upon this occasion. 
 
 In 1851, a number of teachers, of Lancaster, having met 
 in convention, in the city of Lancaster, chose Mr. Burrowes 
 as their chairman, and measures were adopted for the pro- 
 motion of a permanent educational association in the county. 
 On this occasion Mr. Burrowes delivered an elaborate address 
 upon the condition of the school system and the duties of 
 teachers, which was printed and largely distributed. At 
 this meeting a resolution was adopted authorizing the Presi- 
 dent to commence the publication of "a monthly paper de- 
 voted exclusively to the spread of information relative to 
 education." This was the origin of the Pennsylvania School 
 
120 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Journal, a work that until recently occupied much of the 
 time and attention of Mr. Burrowes, and one that has exer- 
 cised a very important influence upon the educational affairs 
 of the State. By the act of 1855, the Pennsylvania School 
 Journal was made the organ of the school department, and 
 one copy directed to be sent, at the expense of the State, to 
 each school district. In 1854 Mr. Burrowes prepared for 
 the State, descriptive matter for "Pennsylvania School 
 Architecture," a volume of 276 pages. After having written 
 all the important school bills that passed the Legislature 
 after 1836, he crowned this eminent service to the State in 
 1857, by drafting the Normal School law, which is regarded 
 by its friends as being unsurpassed by any legislation on this 
 subject, either in Europe or America. In February, 1858, 
 the subject of this notice had the honor of being elected 
 Mayor of the city of Lancaster, the duties of which ofB.ce he 
 discharged for one year. In 1860 he was again called upon 
 to administer the school system of the State ; and in 1864 
 was appointed by Grovernor Curtin Superintendent of Sol- 
 diers' Orphans' Schools, and established these institutions in 
 diiferent parts of the State. In 1869 he was elected Presi- 
 dent of the Agricultural College, located in Centre county, a 
 position he held until his death. In the latter part Of the year 
 1870 he sold and disposed of his interest in the Pennsylvania 
 School Journal, to J. P. Wickersham and J. P. McCaskey. 
 To Mr. Burrowes belongs, we think, fairly, the honor of 
 being entitled the father of the Pennsylvania Free School 
 System. He did more to place it upon a permanent basis 
 than any other citizen of the State, and the present shape 
 that it has been made to occupy is chiefly to be attributed 
 to his studious care and indefatigable management. He 
 was also the author of the " Pennsylvania State Book," a 
 work of much research. Mr. Burrowes died March 25th, 
 1871. 
 
 BUYERS, John, a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1825, 1826 and 1827. 
 
OF LANCASTEE COtTNTT. 121 
 
 c. 
 
 CALDWELL, Andrew* was born in Scotland, and emi- 
 grated to this country prior to the year 1718. He 
 obtained a warrant for 285 acres of land, which lies on the 
 old Philadelphia road, near the line between Leacock and 
 Salisbury. He was united in marriage in the year 1718 
 with Ann Stewart. He was a worthy member of the Pres- 
 byterian church. It was partly owing to his exertions and , 
 assistance that the old Presbyterian meeting-house was first 
 established at Pequea, about the year 1730. He departed 
 this life in the year 1752, and was buried at that place. 
 
 *CALDWBLL, Andrew, his son, was born in the year 
 1722, and was joined in marriage with Isabella Andrews, in 
 the year 1747, and died in the year 1768. 
 
 *OALDWELL, Andrew, his grandson, was born in the 
 year 1748, and in the year 1744fwas united in marriage with 
 Ann Buyers, of Salisbury. He died in the year 1825, aged 
 77 years. His great grandsons, Andrew and William Cald- 
 well, of Salisbury, (who are now far advanced in years), still 
 hold the property. He built the first public house on the 
 old Philadelphia road, called the Hat Tavern, which is 
 standing as a private residence to the present day. 
 
 CALDWELL, James A., was engaged in the slate quar- 
 rying business, at Peach Bottom. He was elected a mem- 
 ber of the State Senate in the year 1837. The senatorial 
 district was at that time composed of the counties of Lancas- 
 ter and York. 
 
 CALDWELL, James, a citizen of Bart township, and a 
 member of the Legislature for the years 1819 and 1828. 
 
 *CALDWELL, Eey. David, D.D., son of Andrew and 
 Ann Caldwell, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylva- 
 nia, in the year 1725. He studied with a Mr. Smith, some- 
 where in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, who kept a classi- 
 cal school, (and who was probably the father of the Rev. 
 Samuel Stanhope Smith, D.D., afterwards President of the 
 
 *Contributed by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. 
 11 
 
122 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 College of New Jersey) ; and for the purpose of accomplisli- 
 ing his object, in the pursuit of knowledge, and in order to 
 complete his studies, which he pursued with much avidity, 
 he relinquished to his younger brothers all claim to any share 
 in his father's estate, on condition that they would furnish 
 him the means to carry him through college, with which 
 proposition they readily complied. 
 
 In contemplating the character and tracing the progress 
 of any man who has filled a large share in the public eye, 
 and for a time swayed the destinies of millions, or who 
 has in a more silent and unobtrusiye way exerted a salutary 
 and permanent influence over mankind, we feel some grati- 
 fication in knowing by what reasons he was led to pursue 
 the course which he did, or take any important step in that 
 direction; but in this case we are left to mere conjecture, 
 from which no certain conclusions can be drawn, nor any 
 confirmation of principles derived ; but it seems probable 
 that about this time he made a profession of religion. He 
 graduated at the College of New Jersey, in the year 1761, 
 at the age of thirty-six years, and was ordained a minister 
 of the Gospel, at Princeton, the year following, and in the 
 year 1765 was appointed by the Presbytery of Philadelphia 
 to labor as a missionary in the churches of North Carolina, 
 including those of which he soon afterwards became pastor. 
 In visiting the counties lying between the Yadkin and 
 Catawba rivers, as well as in Guilford, he found many from 
 Lancaster county, whom he had known in his youth, and 
 while there he formed, or rather renewed, an acquaintance 
 with Eachel, the third daughter of the Eev. Alexander 
 Craighead, of Mecklenburg, whom he had known in her 
 childhood, in Lancaster county, and they were united in 
 marriage in the year 1766, which had an important bearing 
 on his comfort and usefulness through subsequent life, with 
 whom he lived until his death, and by whom he had eight 
 sons and one daughter, who lived to maturity, and survived 
 him, (besides three or four who died in their infancy), five- 
 being born within the sp.-ice of two years. During the 
 Eevolutionary war, part of which time her husband had to 
 conceal himself to save his life, which had been imperiled 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 123 
 
 by the sermons he had preached advocating the Eevolution 
 and encouraging the men of his congregations to volunteer 
 in the service of their country. His wife was turned out 
 of the house while it was occupied by British ofBicers, and 
 her only habitation, with her infants, was an old smoke- 
 house, with nothing whatever to subsist upon except a few 
 dried apples and dried peaches, which were found among the 
 rubbish ; and in this suffering condition she was treated with 
 great severity and indignity by the inferior officers, until 
 after the battle of Guilford Court-house. 
 
 He had been installed pastor of the churches at Buffalo 
 and Alamance, long before the war, and in that station he 
 labored for about sixty years; and in the meantime ho 
 labored on his plantation, and ditched amd drained the 
 swamps and low lands on his farm with his own hands. 
 The people of his congregations, at the time of their organi- 
 zation, were mostly from his own county of Lancaster, and 
 had removed there before him ; many of them had known 
 him from his childhood ; they had been taught at the same 
 school and worshipped at the same sanctuary. 
 
 A company had been formed in Lancaster and Chester 
 counties, called the Nottingham Company, which sent out 
 their agents and purchased a large area of land, in what is 
 now Guilford county, near the waters of Buffalo and Eeedy 
 Fork; and when they were making their arrangements to 
 change their residence, (which was about the time he com- 
 menced his education), they made a conditional agreement 
 with him that, if Providence permitted, when he obtained 
 license to preach, he would come out and be their preacher. 
 In connection with the ministry, he established a classical 
 school, and being a thorough scholar himself, many of his 
 scholars became eminent as statesmen, lawyers, judges, 
 physicians and ministers of the Gospel ; five of his scholars 
 became Governors of different States, many more became 
 members of Congress, and more than forty ministers were 
 educated, in whole or in part, at his school, which served 
 the Carolinas for many years both before and after the Eevo- 
 lution, as an Academy, College and Theological Seminary. 
 He took an active and leading part in the great struggle for 
 
124 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 American Independence, and had to undergo great hard- 
 ships, suffering and imprisonment, while the British army 
 was encamped on his plantation, under Cornwallis. 
 
 Among the many incidents which have been recorded of 
 this remarkable man, and the many anecdotes which ^ave 
 been told concerning him, we may, perhaps, find room for 
 this one, lor the purpose of illustrating the character of the 
 man, and which called for the exercise of his different quali- 
 ties. About the time that Cornwallis' army was at one side 
 of his place and General Greene's forces were passing on the 
 other side, two of the enemy came to the house of his brother, 
 Alexander Caldwell, (who was absent with Greene's army), 
 on a foraging excursion, in the evening about dusk ; the 
 one an officer and the other a common soldier, who com- 
 menced acting very rudely, seizing whatever they could 
 carry away, ordering their suppers, &c. Mrs. Alexander 
 Caldwell immediately sent over a messenger, requesting the 
 advice of the Rev. Doctor, who sent her back word that she 
 must treat them politely and furnish them the best supper 
 her house could afford, only she must be careful to take 
 notice where they put, their guns, and set the table in the 
 other end of the house ; and in the meantime, he would go 
 over and conceal himself behind a certain haystack. While 
 the men were in the other end of the house, demolish- 
 ing the viands on the table, without fearing any danger, he 
 went quietly into the other apartment, took up one of their 
 guns, which was loaded, and stepping to the door of the room 
 in which they were so comfortably employed, and present- 
 ing arms, told them at the same time that if they attempted 
 to resist or make their escape, that their lives would be for- 
 feited. As neither of them cared to die just at the time, 
 they surrendered at discretion, and he marched them over to 
 his own house, where he detained them over night, and in the 
 morning put them on their parole, by making them take a 
 solemn oath on the family Bible that they would not again 
 take up arms against the United States, nor in any way as- 
 sist the British or the Tories, which promise they kept hon- 
 orably, and returned to him on the day appointed. After 
 the war was over, he was chosen a member of the conven- 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 125 
 
 tion which adopted the Federal Constitution, and also a 
 member of the convention which framed the Constitution of 
 the State of North Carolina ; and when the Synod of the 
 Carolinas held its first meeting, which was held at Centre 
 church, in the year 1778, a committee was appointed, con- 
 sisting of five ministers and five elders, for the purpose of 
 addressing a circular letter to the churches under the care of 
 the Synod, and of this committee the Kev. Dr. Caldwell was 
 appointed chairman. He continued to preach in his congre- 
 gations until the year 1820, and lived until the 25th of 
 August, 1824, when he bid adieu to earth in the one hun- 
 dredth year of his age. 
 
 CAMERON, James, a brother of Simon Cameron, was 
 born in Maytown, Lancaster county. He was for a time a 
 partner in the Lycoming Gazette, and in the year 1829 
 obtained control of the Lancaster Sentinel. In 1839 he was 
 appointed Superintendent of Motive Power on the Columbia 
 Eailroad, in room of Andrew Mehaffey. He was in 1843 
 appointed Deputy Attorney General of the Mayor's Court, 
 in room of S. Humes Porter, resigned. Through various and 
 successive steps, he worked his way in life from orphanage 
 and poverty up to distinction and position in society. He 
 held the position of colonel in the late civil war, and was 
 killed at the first battle of Bull Run. A correspondent, 
 speaking of the repulse of the Union army at Bull Run says : 
 "Col. Cameron, who had repeatedly rallied his men, seemed 
 paralyzed at this new reverse; he dropped his sword from 
 his hand and looked a moment at the retreating mass. Some 
 of his men still fired, and when one of his lieutenants came 
 forward for orders about the wounded soldiers, he turned 
 suddenly towards him, faced the battery, and at the same 
 instant a minie bullet pierced his breast. He fell without 
 a groan. After his fall, the rout became complete, and 
 night saw the disheartened army in full retreat toward Fort 
 Corcoran. 
 
 CAMERON, Simon, was born March 8th, 1799, at May- 
 town, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He traces his descent 
 on the paternal side, from the Camerons of Scotland, who 
 shared their fortunes with the unfortunate Charles Edward, 
 
126 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 whose star of hope sunk on the field of Culloden. Donald 
 Cameron, his great grandfather, was a participant in that 
 memorable battle, and having escaped the carnage, made his 
 way to America, arriving about 1745-6. He afterwards 
 fought under the gallant Wolfe upon the heights of Abraham. 
 On his maternal side, Simon Cameron is descended from 
 Conrad Pfoutz, one of those sturdy German Protestants 
 whose faith no terrors could conquer. An exile from his 
 native land for conscience' sake, he sought the western wilds, 
 and was for a time the companion of that famed Indian 
 fighter, Capt. Samuel Brady, the history of whose life is more 
 captivating than romance. 
 
 When the subject of our sketch was about nine years of 
 age, his parents removed from Lancaster to Northumberland 
 county, and his father dying soon after, he was early cast 
 upon his own exertions. Having an unquenchable fondness 
 for books, young Cameron was able to perceive no other 
 means so likely to satiate his appetite as a printing ofiice, it 
 seeming to him the chief centre of thought in the community 
 in which destiny had fixed his lot. He therefore entered, 
 in 1815, as an apprentice to the printing business in the 
 town of Sunbury, where he continued until 1817. His em- 
 ployer at this time proving unfortunate in a financial aspect, 
 his office was closed, and our apprentice, now being out of 
 employment, was compelled to seek a situation elsewhere. 
 He accordingly made his way, on foot, to Harrisburg, 
 and after considerable disappointment was received as an 
 apprentice in the office of James Peacock, of that place. 
 
 On attaining his majority he located at Doylestown, Penn- 
 sylvania, and in January, 1821, began the publication of the 
 Bucks County Messenger. As editor of this paper he evinced 
 a breadth of information which, in view of his limited advan- 
 tages, seemed astonishing. In March of the same year he 
 entered into partnership with the publisher of the Doylestown 
 Democrat, and the firm merged their papers into the Bucks 
 County Democrat, whose publication they continued till the 
 close of the year 1821, when the paper was sold to Gen. W. 
 T. Eogers. Cameron started for Harrisburg, and again 
 obtained employment as a journeyman printer, and the fol- 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 127 
 
 lowing year we find him in the employ of Messrs. Gales & 
 Seaton, publishers of the National Intelligencer, at Washing- 
 ton, D. G. 
 
 In 1823 Simon Cameron returned to his native State, and 
 was married to Miss Brua, of Harrisburg. In the same 
 year he became one of the publishers of the Reporter, a 
 Democratic paper printed at Harrisburg. He was also 
 elected State printer, and received from Governor Shulze 
 the appointment of Adj utant General of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The poor printer was now become a man of mark. His 
 official and business connections introduced him to the lead- 
 ing men of the State, and he soon came to be recognized as 
 one of the shrewdest business men of the whole country. 
 His utilitarian character now unfolded itself, and shortly 
 afterwards he obtained a leading position in the financial 
 institutions with which he was connected." 
 
 He early became conspicuous in the public improvement 
 enterprises of the State ; and the projection of the Harrisburg, 
 Mt. Joy and Lancaster Eailroad, is the excogitation of his 
 brain. His energy and ability vastly contributed towards 
 the completion of this public enterprise. In recognition of 
 his efficiency in this particular, he was chosen President of 
 the road. The Lebanon Valley Eailroad was another mon- 
 ument of his sagacity and foresight. The Northern Central 
 Eailroad, from Harrisburg to Sunbury, was another of his 
 developed conceptions, which, with the Tide Water Canal 
 and other improvements, are sufficient to give him a front 
 rank amongst the useful and enterprising citizens of the 
 commonwealth. 
 
 In 1845, after the inauguration of James K. Polk, the 
 position of Secretary of State was tendered to James 
 Buchanan, then one of the United State Senators from Penn- 
 sylvania in Congress. A successor was to be chosen to 
 fill Buchanan's place in the Senate. Simon Cameron was 
 the man who, at this time, in recognized sympathy with the 
 Democratic party, was selected for this position as the repre- 
 sentative of the wing of the party which favored the policy 
 of a protective tariff. George W. Woodward was, however, 
 the caucus nominee of the Democrats ; this party being at 
 
128 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 the time strongly in the majority. The Whigs consented 
 to unite their strength upon Cameron, because of his known 
 tariff sympathies. By the union, therefore, of the Whigs 
 and a part of the Democrats, the subject of our sketch, was 
 elected to the United States Senate. 
 
 In 1857 General Cameron was again a candidate for th© 
 United States Senate, and succeeded in being elected over 
 John W. Forney, then universally conceded as one of the 
 shrewdest Democratic politicians in Pennsylvania. 
 
 Upon the election of Abraham Lincoln, in the year 1860, 
 the distant sound of an approaching storm became instantly 
 audible in the southern horizon. As soon as the new Presi- 
 ident assumed the helm of state, on the Ith of March, 1861, 
 and began to look around him for those in whom he should 
 repose his counsels in the troubled state of the nation, he 
 tendered the port-folio of the war department to the subject 
 of our sketch. General Cameron became Secretary of War 
 at a period when all the signs of the times indicated an un- 
 precedented hurricane upon the American continent. It 
 came with the bombardment of Fort Sumpter, on the morn- 
 ing of the 12th of April, 1861, and immediately the bugle- 
 blasts of war arose, both North and South, and the period' 
 which followed required of the War Secretary a coolness, 
 sagacity and vigor of will, that the exigencies of the nation 
 had never before demanded. General Cameron at once 
 evinced his appreciation of the magnitude of the difELculties 
 to be encountered, and showed a determination of resistance 
 that the crisis required. In accordance with his plans, an army 
 was soon organized, and the ISTorthern States were placed uport 
 a military footing that amply shielded and assured the per- 
 petuity of the Federal Union. The position was, however, a 
 perplexing one for even the steadiest nerves, and our Secre- 
 tary retired from the post in January, 1862, and was ap- 
 pointed to the important diplomatic position of Minister to 
 Eussia. 
 
 In 1867 General Cameron was, for the third time, elected 
 to the United States Senate, a position he still continues to 
 fill. 
 
 As a politician, General Cameron ranks as one of the most 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 129 
 
 shrewd and sagacious in the United States ; and for years 
 has been recognized as exerting a powerful influence in the 
 political machinery of the nation. His devotion to his 
 friends knows no bounds; and hence, in a great measure, 
 flows his great strength as a leader in the workings of poli- 
 tics. From this cause is it that he has been able to attach 
 to his interests men of both political parties; and those en- 
 rolling themselves under his standard are not forgotten 
 when victory perches upon his banners. 
 
 CAEPBNTBE, Abeaham, was a citizen of Strasburg 
 township, and an influential and leading man of his time. 
 He was a farmer. He was a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1795, 1796 and 1797. He 
 was elected a member of the State Senate in the year 1798. 
 He died March 4th, 1815, in the 57th year of his age. 
 
 CAEPBNTBE, Charles, was a member of the Legisla- 
 ture in the years 1842 and 1843. 
 
 CAEPBNTBE, Christian, was elected Sheriff of Lan- 
 caster county in 1799. He was the father of William Car- 
 penter, late Prothonotary of the county, who was elected 
 in 1857. Wm. Carpenter has for many years been the lead- 
 ing scrivener and conveyancer of Lancaster city. 
 
 CAEPBNTBE, Edward, was born in Lancaster county, 
 and emigrated to the northwestern territory about the year 
 1800. In 1802 he was chosen a member of the Ohio Con- 
 vention that framed the State Constitution. Afterwards he 
 was appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of 
 Fairfield county, Ohio, and held this position for several 
 years. He filled many minor positions, and all with great 
 acceptability. He died March 20th, 1822, in the 79th year 
 of his age. 
 
 CAEPBNTBE, Bmanuel, was a member of the Legisla- 
 ture in the years 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1759, 1760, 1761, 
 1762, 1763, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770 and 
 1771. He was for many years a Justice of the Peace, and 
 President of the Justices' County Court, a position he held 
 up to his death, in 1780. He was the grandfather of 
 Bmanuel C. Eeigart. The following shows the manner ia 
 
130 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 whicli his public services were appreciated by his fellow- 
 citizens : 
 
 To Emanuel Carpenter, esq., late one of tJte Representatives in the As- 
 
 semMy for the County of Lancaster : 
 
 Sib : The burgesses, assistants, &c., of the borough of Lancaster 
 met this day, at the request of a number of the reputable inhabitants 
 of the borough, and being sensible of your services as one of the Repre- 
 sentatives for the county of Lancaster in the General Assembly of the 
 Province, these seventeen years past, have directed that the thanks of 
 the corporation be offered to you, with the assurance of their approba- 
 tion of your steady and uniform conduct in that station. And, as you 
 have declined serving your country in that capacity, I am charged to 
 mention, that it is the earnest wish of the inhabitants of Lancaster that 
 you may be continued in the commission of the peace and a judge in 
 our county, where you have so long presided, and deservedly acquired 
 and supported the character of an upright and impartial magistrate, &c. 
 
 By order of the Burgesses and Assistants. 
 
 [Signed,] Caspbe Shaffneb, Town Clerk. 
 
 Lancaster, October 3, 1772. 
 
 CAEPBNTEE, Emanuel, jr., was a member of the Legis- 
 lature in the years 1777, 1780, 1784, 1785 and 1786. 
 
 CAEPBNTEE, Henby, a Commissioner of Lancaster 
 county, elected in 1823. 
 
 CAEPBNTEE, Dr. Henry, was a leading and prominent 
 physician of Lancaster county. He lived near Lampeter, 
 and established a large botanical garden, into which he in- 
 troduced a fine assortment of rare and costly plants that were 
 exotics in this section of country. 
 
 CAEPBNTEE, Dr. Henry, was born December 10th, 
 1819, in Lancaster, in the same house he now occupies. His 
 father was named Henry, and he is thei great] grandson of 
 Heinrich Zimmerman (Carpenter), the first founder of the 
 numerous Carpenter family in Lancaster county. His edu- 
 cation was obtained in the select schools of the city, and 
 afterwards he went to the Lancaster County Academy. He 
 read medicine in the office of Dr. Samuel Humes, and began 
 the practice of medicine in March, 1841. He immediately 
 obtained a handsome practice in the profession. He was one 
 of the founders of the Lancaster County Medical Society, in 
 1844, and its first Secretary, a position he held for several 
 years. In 1855 he was elected President of the Society. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 131 
 
 He has been Secretary and Yice President of tlie State 
 Medical Society, and is now one of the Board of Censors for 
 the Eastern district of Pennsylvania. He was President of 
 the Select Branch of City Councils for nearly twenty years, 
 and has been an active and influential memberof the Lan- 
 caster School Board for about sixteen years. Por many years 
 he has served as one of the directors of the Lancaster Gas 
 Compaxty, and also of the Lancaster County Insurance Com- 
 pany. He has, for a long time, been a director of the Cone- 
 stoga Steam Mills Company, and since their sale, in 1857, 
 one of the principal owners. He was one of the' firm that 
 built No. 4 cotton mill. He was one of the originators of 
 the Conestoga Turnpike Company, and its President since 
 the organization. 
 
 He is one of the principal physicians of the city of Lan- 
 caster, and enjoys a large and very lucrative practice. He 
 •was the chosen physician of the late James Buchanan, 
 Thaddeus Stevens, Col. Eeah Prazer, and others of our lead- 
 ing citizens. 
 
 CARPENTBE, Jacob, a member of the Legislature for 
 the years 1765, 1766, 1767, 1769, 1772 and 1781. 
 
 CARPENTER, Jacob, was elected three times Treasurer 
 of Pennsylvania. He was appointed January 13th, 1800, 
 by Governor McKean, Clerk of the Orphans' Court of Lan- 
 caster county. He died February 13th, 1803, in the 36th 
 year of his age. 
 
 CARPENTER, Joel, a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1814 and 1815. 
 
 CARPENTER, Dr. John, also a leading physician of the 
 county. He lived near Earlville, and his services in his 
 professional line were sought for by persons from a great 
 distance. He lies buried in the old Carpenter graveyard, 
 near Earlville. 
 
 CARPENTER, Michael, son of Samuel Carpenter, was 
 born September 22nd, 1796, in Warwick township, Lancas- 
 ter county, Pennsylvania. He removed with his father to 
 Lancaster, in 1807, and learned the business of a turner. 
 Becoming involved in speculative enterprises in which he 
 
132 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 met with heavy losses, he turned his attention to the writing 
 of deeds and other instruments of legal transactions ; in a 
 word, he became a scrivener. In this career he seemed to 
 have found the business for which he was best fitted ; and in 
 the year 1843 he was elected Mayor of the city of Lancas- 
 ter, and by successive reelections continued to fill this office 
 up to 1852. 
 
 In stature, unlike his father, he was not corpulent, but 
 rather of a spare build. He was of a feeble rather than of a 
 robust constitution. In disposition he was kind and gentle, 
 yet grave and serene in his demeanor. He was a man of 
 a high order of integrity and moral worth, and a devoted 
 and humble Christian, He was of industrious and steady 
 habits, and devoted himself sedulously and constantly to 
 business iintil overtaken by disease (pulmonary consump- 
 tion), which caused his death, August 5th, 1861. ^ 
 
 CARPENTBE, Samuel, was born November 11th, 1765, 
 in Lancaster county Pennsylvania. He was brought up to 
 the business of agriculture, which he followed for many 
 years, and up to April 1807, when he removed to Lancaster 
 for the purpose of having better opportunities for the edu- 
 cation of his children. Here he engaged for some years in 
 the business of inn-keeping ; Lancaster at the time being the 
 seat of the State government, and a great resort for strangers 
 from all parts of the Statf^. He was appointed an Alder- 
 man, and not long thereafter was elected Mayor of the city of 
 Lancaster, a position to which he was frequently reelected. 
 
 In appearance he was not tall, but of medium height and 
 quite corpulent. He made an excellent magistrate, being 
 possessed of strong native sense, and a clear understanding 
 of right and wrong. His opinions of law were remarkably 
 accurate. In conversation he was affable and exceedingly 
 friendly, and he enjoyed the high esteem of all who knew 
 him. 
 
 CAKTBR, Richard, was one of the early settlers of 
 "Warwick township. He was a native of Warwickshire^ 
 England, and emigrated to Lancaster county at an early day.. 
 It was through his influence that Warwick township was 
 named in honor of his native county in England. He died 
 
OF LANCASTBK COUNTT. 133 
 
 July 9tli, 1750, aged 81 years. He lies buried at the Union 
 Meeting House, in Warwick township. 
 
 CASSBL Family. The first family of Cassels emigrated 
 to this country, from Hesse Cassel, Germany, about the 
 year 1680, and settled at Germantown, near Philadelphia, 
 then a small town ; at this place the Mennonites, of which 
 the Cassel family were members, had a church and regular 
 preaching. An incident occurred about this period going to 
 show, in a very striking manner, the simplicity of the church 
 at this lime. A letter came from Europe to the Oassels that a 
 large legacy was left them by the death of a relative, amount- 
 ing to nearly a million of dollars, and that they should 
 send out and get the treasure. A church council was called 
 and the matter freely discussed, when it was decided by a 
 unanimous vote not to receive the money, as it would have 
 a tendency to make them proud. Simplicity of manner, 
 plainness of dress, frugality, honesty and economy were some 
 of the characteristics of this people. Abraham Cassel, with 
 an elder brother, heard that there was fine land in Lancaster 
 county, and about the year 1760 these two emigrated to this 
 county and located near Sporting Hill, in Eapho township, 
 then a wild wilderness. Their fortune consisted of a good 
 axe, strong consti;ution, and a firm and determined purpose. 
 Trees were soon felled to the ground, and a log house erected 
 on the banks of the Back run, where there was a good 
 meadow, well adapted for grazing and raising stock. Here 
 Abraham Cassel, the second, was born'; and on the 18th of 
 April, 1775, was married to Esther Weiss, and from this 
 union the following children were born : Henry Cassel, 
 March 12th, 1776 ; Maria Cassel, December 13th, 1779 ; 
 Abraham Cassel, December lith, 1782. 
 
 Henry Cassel, the oldest son, located at Marietta, where 
 he was one of the leading men, and greatly instrumental in 
 building up that town. He was President of the old Marietta 
 Bank. He built the house now occupied by Mr. Watt, then 
 one of the most costly buildings in the county. He had three 
 children ; the youngest, A. N. Cassel, who was a member of 
 the Legislature in the years 1838 and 1839, and is now one 
 of the wealthiest and most honored citizens of Marietta. 
 
134 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 Maria, the second child, was married to a man named 
 Kauffman, and located near Manheim, in Penn township; 
 they had two children. Abraham, the only son, has been 
 one of the leading rr.en of the county for many years. 
 
 Abraham Cassel, the youngest of these three children, 
 owned and conducted a farm in Eapho township, the old 
 homestead. He was a man of very marked character, and a 
 sound and practical thinker. He served in several public 
 positions, and was a director of the poor of Lancaster county. 
 His family consisted of three sons and two daughters. The 
 oldest son, Dr. John H. Cassel, studied medicine with Dr. 
 "Washington L. Atlee, and afterwards located at Pittsburg, 
 wbere he was highly respected. Emanuel Cassel, the second 
 son, is a farmer and resides near Mt. Joy, greatly esteemed by 
 his neighbors for his generosity and kindness of heart. The 
 only living daughter is Hetty Ann, married to John K. Barr. 
 They reside near Salunga. Jacob E. Cassel, the youngest 
 son, was born January 22nd, 1822. He was elected a mem- 
 ber of the Legislature in October, 1859. Upon the break- 
 ing out of the rebellion he enlisted as a private in Ham- 
 bright's 79th regiment, P. V., but arriving in camp, he was 
 appointed to the position of Quartermaster, which he held 
 up to October 9th, 1862, when he was captured by the 
 enemy. Upon his release, infirm health induced him to 
 retire from the army. 
 
 CASSIDY, Dr. Patrick, was born September 22d, 1810, 
 in Butler county, Ohio, where his early life was passed. 
 While a young man, he spent some time engaged in teach- 
 ing school. In 1835 he removed to the city of Lancaster, 
 and soon entered upon the practice of his profession. He 
 long maintained the rank of one of the most skillful physi- 
 cians of the county of Lancaster. During all his lifetime he 
 was a student, and ever awake to all discoveries and im- 
 provement in the science of medicine. He kept himself in- 
 formed as to the invention of new surgical instruments a3 
 they made their appearance, or to any new methodjof treat- 
 ing disease which promised more effectually to relieve suffer- 
 ing or preserve life, thus proving a true physician instead of 
 a mere fossil in the profession. " The older I grow," he once 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 13& 
 
 remarked, " the less medicine I prescribe. I have long made 
 it the careful rule of my practice, to give absolutely as little 
 medicine as possible." 
 
 Dr. Oassidy was one of the most efficient and active mem- 
 bers of the School Board of Lancaster city, and he spent 
 considerable sums of money in the purchase of books on. 
 the art and science of teaching. He labored in this sphere 
 out of an abiding love for the system of popular education. 
 He was the Republican candidate for Mnyor of the city of 
 Lancaster, in 1862 and 1863, but owing to the popularity of 
 his competitot, was defeated. He died in the year 1864. 
 
 CHAMBEES, Stephen, was a leading lawyer in his day, 
 and was admitted to the bar in 1780. He was a delegate to 
 the convention in 1787, which ratified, on the part of Penn- 
 sylvania, the Federal Constitution. He was killed in a duel 
 which he fought with Dr. Eeger. 
 
 CHAMPNEYS, Benjamin, was born in Cumberland 
 county, in New Jersey. His ancestors came up the Dela- 
 ware before Penn's Charter, with John Fenwick, the grantee 
 of the province of West New Jersey, and landed at Salem. 
 Oae of these ancestors, Edward Champneys, was Fenwiok's 
 son-in-law, and aided William Penn in establishing a proper 
 and just government, and was instrumental in settling a 
 controversy between the proprietary and Byllinge, who had 
 a large interest in the lands of the province. The father of 
 Benjamin Champneys, an only son, spent his early life and 
 was educated in Philadelphia, graduated at the University, 
 and sailed from that port in the "Philadelphia" as a surgeon, 
 under Commodore Stephen Decatur. 
 
 The subject of this notice was placed under a tutor at nine 
 years of age, and remained under instruction for several 
 years; subsequently, he entered the Sophomore class at 
 Princeton, where he remained till the decease of his father. 
 He then entered the office of Chief Justice Ewing, of New 
 Jersey, and remained there for six months ; and at the sug- 
 gestion of his guardian. Colonel Potter, of Philadelphia, he 
 removed to Lancaster. He became ar law student of George 
 B. Porter, esq., and, after three years of study, was admitted to 
 the bar. He soon established himself in his profession and 
 
136 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 secured for himself a lucrative practice. In the autumn of 
 1825 he was nominated by the Democratic party and elected 
 a member of the House of Eepresentatives. He was again 
 elected in the year 1828, and discharged the duties of both 
 sessions with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his 
 constituents. 
 
 In 1839 he was appointed by Governor Porter, President 
 Judge of the Courts of Lancaster county, and discharged the 
 duties of this office for three years and a half. While yet 
 judge, he was nominated by the Democratic Convention of 
 Lancaster county for the office of State Senator, and there- 
 upon tendered his resignation of the President Judgeship, to 
 take effect before the election. He was elected Senator in 
 1842, and served the usual term of three years. Before the 
 expiration of his Senatorial term, he was appointed Attorney 
 General of the Commonwealth, by Governor Shunk, and 
 held this office until the decease of the Governor. 
 
 Benjamin Champneys acted with the Democratic party up 
 to the breaking out of the Southern rebellion, when he 
 ranged himself on the side of those who favored a vigorous 
 prosecution of the war for the suppression of the rebellien, 
 and thus became identified with the Eepublican party, with 
 which he afterwards acted. In 1862 he was nominated 
 by the Eepublican party and elected to the House of 
 Eepresentatives, and in 1863 was nominated and elected to 
 to the State Senate. He discharged the duties of these posi- 
 tions with a conscientious regard for what, in his opinion, 
 duty required of him. Since the termination of his official 
 career as a State Senator, he was engaged in no active 
 business. 
 
 Benjamin Champneys long ranked as one of the leading 
 lawyers of the Lancaster bar, and for many years the amount 
 of legal business transacted by him was, perhaps, surpassed 
 by no member of the bar in the county. He, indeed, ranked 
 amongst the ablest of his profession in Pennsylvania. He 
 died August 9th, 1871, aged 71 years. 
 
 CLAEK, Beige, a native of the county of Derry, Ireland, 
 emigrated to America and first settled in New Castle, Dela- 
 ware. He moved thence to Leacock, Lancaster county, and 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 137 
 
 afterwards to East Donegal. He was elected a member of 
 the Legislature in the year 1794. He died in 1819. 
 
 CLARK, RoBEET, a member of the Legislature in the 
 year 1784. 
 
 CLAEK, Thomas, an Associate Judge of Lancaster county, 
 appointed in 1813. 
 
 CLARKSON, Rev. Joseph, was born in Philadelphia, 
 and was the son of Dr. Gerardus Clarkson, a prominent 
 physician of that city, and an influential member o£ the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church. During the early part of the 
 revolutionary war'Mr. Clarkson attended a classical school, 
 then of great repute, kept by Dr. Robert Smith, a Presbyterian 
 clergyman, in Lancaster coanty, Pa. He graduated at the 
 University of Pennsylvania in 1782, and received the degree 
 of Master of Arts from the College of New Jersey, 1785. 
 
 Having studied for the ministry he was admitted to' Dea- 
 con's Orders in 1789, being the first ordained by Bishop 
 White after his return from England, whither he had gone 
 for consecration. During that year he acted as Secretary to 
 the House of Bishops and began his ministry in Philadelphia, 
 removing thence in about three years to Wilmington, Dela- 
 ware, where he officiated in the Old Swede's Church until 
 1799. In April of that year he accepted a call to St. James' 
 Church, Lancaster, Pa., where he remained until the time of 
 his death, January 25, 1830. He was a man well beloved by 
 his parishioners, and had during his long life a very peaceful 
 ministry. His remains lie in St. James' churchyard. 
 
 *CLEMSON FAMILY. The Clemson family were amongst 
 the most worthy pioneers who opened up the wilderness 
 north of the Gap mountain and the valley of the Pequea, 
 (now Salisbury township), and they were also among the most 
 eminent members of the Society of Friends, at the time that 
 the old Sadsbury meeting was first established, in the year 
 1724. 
 
 James Clemson, the first, emigrated from Birmingham, 
 England, near the close of the seventeenth century, having 
 embraced the doctrines of the Friends. He purchased 636 
 acres of land in the valley of the Pequea, on which he 
 
 *Coutributed by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. 
 12 
 
138 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 settled. His warrant bears date the 18th of May, 1716, 
 He left three sons and three daughters, viz : James, John 
 and Thomas ; Hannah, (married to Joseph Hajnes), Mary, 
 (married to Henry Gest), and Eebecca Clemson. He died in 
 the year 1730, and his lands were divided among his sons. 
 James Clemson, the second, piirchased 200 acres of his 
 father's tract, from his brothers and sisters, in the year 1731, 
 on which he erected a three-storied stone dwelling house, 
 lately occupied by his great great grandson, Davis Clemson,. 
 now deceased, and which is the oldest residence nov^ stand- 
 ing in Salisbury township. He was for many years a public 
 speaker and a worthy member of society, andhis name fre- 
 quently appears on the records of Sadsbury meeting. In the 
 year 1740 James Clemson and Anthony Shaw were appointed 
 representatives from Sadsbury, to represent that monthly 
 meeting in the quarterly meeting of Friends, at Old Chester. 
 His son, James Clemson, the third, was born in Lancaster 
 county, in the year 1727, and in 1719 was joined in marriage 
 with Margaret, daughter of Stephen Heard, of Sadsbury. 
 He was an early advocate of American independence, and was 
 commissioned a Justice of the Peace before the Eevolution. 
 He was elected a delegate to a general county convention 
 in the year 1774, to take into consideration the resolves of 
 the Continental Congress, and the question being put, for or 
 against resistance to British tyranny, James Clemson, John 
 "Whitehill, of Leacock, and Eobert Bailey, of Sadsbury, 
 voted in the affirmative. On the 5th of January, 1775, he 
 was elected to represent Lancaster county in the Provincial 
 Convention, at Philadelphia. He was also appointed on the 
 committee of observation and inspection for Lancaster, for 
 the year 1775.* 
 
 He was a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania in 
 the years 1777, 1778 and 1779. He was appointed and 
 commissioned a Justice of the Peace and of the Common. 
 Pleas, in and for the county of Lancaster, upon a return 
 made according to law, from the district composed of the 
 townships of Sadsbury and Salisbury, in said county, in 1790. 
 He had two sons, James and John, and seven daughters, all 
 *Kupp's History of Lancaster county, pp. 384 and 389. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 139 
 
 of wlioin were intermarried into the most wealtliy and 
 respectable families of the county. His son, James Olem- 
 son, the fourth, served for many years as Justice of, the 
 Peace in Salisbury ; also, his grandson, the late well-known 
 and highly respected James Clemson, esq., the fifth, served 
 in the same capacity. It was an old saying, that "the 
 Clemsons always keep one squire in the family." His great 
 grandson, James Clemson, the sixth, is now an extensive 
 cattle dealer in the city of Philadelphia, and his descendants 
 in the county are both numerous and respectable, and 
 among their number we find the McCauleys, the McCaus- 
 lands, the Samples, the Ski Irs', the Ellmakers, the Hender- 
 sons, the Buckleys, the Watsons, of Donegal ; the Patters ons, 
 of Mount Joy; the McNeils, and the Buyers, of Salisbury; 
 Isaac Atlee, the son of Col. Atlee ; the Whitehills, the Bakers, 
 and many of the most respectable families in Lancaster and 
 Chester counties. Thomas Clemson. (or William), the grand- 
 son of John Clemson, (and brother of the Eev. Baker 
 Clemson), was an eminent chemist, and was married to 
 a daughter of the distinguished statesman John C. Calhoun, of 
 South Carolina. Davis Clemson, the grandson of Judge Clem- 
 son, until his death occupied the old homestead, which was 
 erected by his great great grandfather, about the year 1735. 
 CLINTON, Joseph, was born February 18th, 1800, in 
 Lampeter township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. His 
 father was of English descent, and his mother of German. 
 His education was very limited indeed, he having picked up 
 by degrees all the information by means of which he has 
 been enabled to pass through life. He first learned the hat- 
 ting business in Lancaster, and worked at the same for near 
 forty years. During part of this time he lived at New Hol- 
 land and thence moved to Elizabethtown, Lancaster county, 
 Pennsylvania. On the 20th of December, 1824, he married 
 Parmelia, daughter of John and Margaret Diffenderffer, of 
 New Holland. In the fall of 1854 he was elected to the 
 office of Clerk of the Orphans' Court, and discharged the 
 duties of the same for three years. He was, in 1850, ap- 
 pointed Deputy Marshal for taking the census of part of 
 Lancaster county. 
 
140 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 COOHRAlSr, Richard E., M. D., was born at Bohemia 
 Manor, near Middletown, New Castle county, Delaware, on 
 the 9th day of September, A. D. 1785. His father, de- 
 scended of Scotch-Irish stock from the north of Ireland, was 
 a farmer and land-owner in comfortable circumstances. The 
 son, after passing his earlier years engaged in agricultural 
 pursuits on his father's farm, obtained an education, includ- 
 ing an acquaintance with the Latin and Greek languages, at 
 an academy at Newark, Delaware ; and choosing the medi- 
 cal profession as his pursuit in life, took his degree as doctor 
 of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, from a board 
 ■of professors, including Rush, Wistar, Dorsey, Physick and 
 other distinguished men, in the year 1810 or 1811. He 
 commenced practice at Middletown, Delaware ; but having 
 married in May, 1812, moved to Wilmington, Delaware, in 
 1813, .and there engaged in mercantile pursuits, during the 
 then pending war with Great Britain, during which he vol- 
 unteered in the military service on the approach of the foe. 
 In 1817, after his father's death, he became the owner of part 
 of his landed estate, and removed to his place, called Somer- 
 ton, near Middletown, where he resumed and continued the 
 practice of his profession until May, 1824. In the meantime 
 he took an active part in political life, on the side of the old 
 Democratic party, and besides other mere local positions, 
 was twice, in the years 1822 and 1823, elected a member of 
 the House of ReiDresentatives of his native State. In May, 
 1824, he removed with his family to Columbia, Lancaster 
 county, and there continued in an almost unbroken prosecu- 
 tion of professional labor during the remainder of his life. 
 .In 1836 he was nominated and elected a Representative del- 
 egate from the county, to the convention called to propose 
 amendments to the constitution of the State, and attended 
 the sessions of that body at Harrisburg and Philadelphia in 
 1837-38. Besides other duties, he discharged those of chair- 
 man of the committee to revise and adjust the several sec- 
 tions of the constitution after the amendments had been 
 agreed upon. His life was closed on the 1st day of Septem- 
 ber, 1854, when he had nearly attained the 69th year of his 
 age, by an attack of the disease called Asiatic Cholera, which 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 141 
 
 at the time raged in that borough, and of which he was one 
 of the earliest victims, as he had visited professionally and 
 with characteristic fearlessness and devotion the first suffer- 
 ers. He was a ruling elder, and in that character attended 
 many of the judicatories of the Presbyterian church, whose 
 communion he had joined before he left his native State, and 
 remained in until death. 
 
 COCHEAN, Lieutenant Richard E., Je., was the third 
 son of Eichard E. Cochran, M. D., and was born on the 16th 
 day of November, 1817, at Somerton, New Castle county, 
 Delaware. His boyhood and youth passed quietly, and in 
 atttendance upon school in his father's family, in Delaware, 
 and after his removal at Columbia, until the year 1838, when 
 he sought and obtained a commission as Second Lieutenant 
 in the army of the United States, and was assigned to the 
 fourth regiment of infantry. In this service he was ordered 
 first to Florida, and afterwards to the western border in 
 Arkansas, and the territory partly now within the State of 
 Kansas, and among the Indian tribes. When the war with' 
 Mexico commenced, in 1846, he joined with his regiment the 
 forces under the command of General Zachary Taylor, in 
 Texas. Qn their march to the Rio Grande, he took part in 
 the battle at Palo Alto, on the 8th of May, 1846, and was 
 slain the next day in the battle of Eesaca de la Palma, 
 sword in hand entering the captured entrenchments of the 
 defeated Mexicans. His body was first interred near the 
 scene of his death, but was afterwards brought home by his 
 father and brothers, and placed for final interment in the 
 cemetery at Columbia, attended by a large military and 
 civic procession. A monument was erected over his grave 
 by the citizens of the town, who honored his patriotism and 
 courage, and remembered his kind and genial conduct and 
 disposition while his early years were passed in their midst. 
 He was married and left a widow and'daughter to survive him. 
 
 COCHEAN, Theodore D., was the fourth son of Eichard 
 E. Cochran, M. D., and was born at Somerton, Delaware, on 
 the 18th day of January, 1821. Brought by his father to 
 Columbia, he passed his boyhood and youth there, going to 
 school and obtaining a knowledge of the art of printing. 
 
142 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 In 1840 he became and continued to be for some time, the 
 editor of the Old Ouard, then published at Lancaster, and 
 then and afterwards wrote largely for the newspaper press, 
 especially the Columbia Spy and York Republican. In 1847, 
 the country being then engaged in war with Mexico, he en- 
 tered the military service and received a commission as 
 Lieutenant in the regular line, being attached to the regi- 
 ment known as Yoltiguers. He marched from Vera Cruz 
 in the force commanded by General Cadwallader, taking 
 part in all its contests and in the subsequent battles around 
 Mexico, conspicuously those of Molino del Eey and Chapul- 
 tepec. He remained there in the service until the forces of 
 the United States were withdrawn from Mexico at the declar- 
 ation of peace, and the regiment was disbanded. Previously 
 to that time, his fellow citizens of Lancaster county elected 
 him one of their representatives in the State Legislature, in 
 which he served them during the sessions of 1844 and 1845. 
 He was residing at York when the Southern rebellion broke 
 t)ut in 1861, and, although still suffering from the effects of 
 hurts and disease incurred in the Mexican war, he com- 
 menced at an early day to raise a company, which he com- 
 manded in a three months tour of duty, and after .its close 
 took a commission in a regiment of regular forces, but was 
 compelled by ill health to retire from the service. After a 
 lingering and painful illness he died at the residence of his 
 oldest brother, Thomas B. Cochran, at York, on the 26th day 
 of July, 1863, and his body is interred in Prospect Hill 
 Cemetery, adjoining that borough. 
 
 COLEMAN, Edward, son of Eobert Coleman, was one 
 of the wealthiest and most enterprising citizens of Lancaster 
 in his day, and it was chiefly owing to his enterprise that the 
 Conestoga navigation was made a success. He stood high 
 amongst his fellow citizens, and was honored with numerous 
 public trusts. He was elected a member of the Legislature 
 in the years 1818 and 1819. In 1820 he was chosen to a seat 
 in the State Senate of Pennsylvania, and reelected to a 
 second term in the same body. A public dinner was given 
 him by the citizens in 1827, before his departure for Europe 
 in that year. 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 143 
 
 COLEMAN, Egbert, emigrated from Ireland and came to 
 Lancaster county, and found employment with Peter Grtibb, 
 the proprietor of Hopewell forge. The following incident in- 
 troduced him, as the story goes, to Grubb's favorable notice : 
 One of his fellow employees desiring an order to be written, 
 asked Coleman to write it, and when Grubb saw the order 
 he inquired who wrote it, and being told that it was a man 
 by the name of Coleman, he immediately sent for him and 
 ordered him to be entered as his book-keeper at £100 per 
 year, Pennsylvania currency. Afterwards, when the Eliza- 
 beth furnace was sold as the property of Baron Steigel, and 
 was carried on by a company, Coleman was employed as its 
 manager. It was not long till he obtained a share in the 
 furnace, and finally came to possess the whole interest of the 
 same. He became in short, by his energy and perseverance, 
 the most successful iron-master in Lancaster county; and to 
 untiring industry and judicious management, he united the 
 utmost probity and regularity in his dealings. To him is 
 Lancaster county chiefly indebted for the celebrity it ac- 
 quired from the number and magnitude of its iron works 
 and the excellence of its manufacture. He married a daugh- 
 ter of Eobert Old. He was elected a member of the Legisla- 
 ture in 1783, and was one of the associate judges of Lancas- 
 ter county for about 20 years. 
 
 COATES, Kersey, son of Lindley Coates, was for some 
 time a teacher in the Lancaster high school, afterwards 
 studied law with Hon. Thaddeus Stevens. He moved west 
 about 1856, was Colonel of the 77th regiment of Missouri 
 militia during the rebellion, and was afterwards elected 
 President of the Missouri Eiver, Fort Scott and Gulf Eail- 
 road. He now resides in Kansas City, Missouri. 
 
 COATES, Lindley, was born in Cain township, Chester 
 county. Pa., March 3d, 1794. He married Deborah Sim- 
 mons, and removed to Sadsbury township, Lancaster county, 
 in the spring of 1820. Lindley Coates was one of nature's 
 noblemen. He was possessed of remarkable natural talents, 
 was an able debater, and a bold and fearless advocate in the 
 cause of the emancipation of the Southern slaves. He was 
 appointed a manager for Lancaster county at the first organi- 
 
144 BTOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 zation of tlie Anti-slavery Society, in Philadelphia, Decem- 
 ber 5th, 1833. He was chosen a member of the Eeform 
 Convention of Pennsylvania which was held in 1838. He 
 died June 3d, 1856. 
 
 COLLINS, Cornelius, one of the early setlers of Cole- 
 rain township, emigrated from Ireland, and took up land in 
 both Colerain and Drumore townships. He was a farmer 
 and a member of the Associate Eeformed Church. 
 
 COLLINS, Cornelius, son of James Collins, was born 
 July 14th, 1795. He has always been engaged in the avoca- 
 tion of his forefathers, that of agriculture. He was a Direc- 
 tor of the Poor during the years 1831, 1832 and 1833. He 
 has been an elder and trustee of the Middle Octoraro church 
 for upwards of forty-five years. He was, without any solici- 
 tation on his part, elected to the Legislature in 1836, and 
 reelected in ] 837 as a member of the old Whig party. He 
 has never been an aspirant for public positions. 
 
 Mr. Collins belonged to the old style of politicians, being 
 nominated as a candidate for the Legislature whilst follow- 
 ing his plow. He is in his sentiments entirely liberal 
 and charitable, and has never been known to attempt to dic- 
 tate to men under his control for whom they shall vote. He 
 always permits men to exercise their own judgment. As a 
 man^he is honest and upright, and has ever maintained an 
 irreproachable reputation. 
 
 COLLINS, James, son of Cornelius Collins, was born in 
 Colerain township, and was for a time a private in the 
 American army during the Revolution. He was an intelli- 
 gent, enterprising and influential citizen, and an elder of the 
 Associate Eeformed Church, at Octoraro. 
 
 COLLINS, Orestes, appointed President Judge of the 
 several courts of Lancaster county, in 1836. 
 
 COLLINS, Thomas C, also son of James Collins, is a 
 farmer and an active and influential man in his locality. He 
 was elected County Auditor, and was, in 1863, elected one 
 of the Commissioners of Lancaster county. 
 
 'COPE, Caleb, was born in Chester county, Pa., in the 
 
 'Major Andre (then Captain Andre) was captured at St. John's, 
 Upper Canada, on the 3d of November, 1775, by General Montgomery, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 145 
 
 year 1736, and removed -when a young man to the borough 
 of Lancaster, where he became an influential and leading 
 citizen. He was one of the first surveyors and regulators 
 of the streets appointed for the borough of Lancaster, in 
 1774. In September of the same year he was elected second 
 Burgess of the borough, and reelected to the same position 
 in the year 1775. He died in Philadelphia, May 80th, 1824. 
 
 CONYNGHAM, Eedmond, was a native of the city of 
 Philadelphia, and was a graduate of Princeton College, New 
 Jersey. He inherited from his paternal grandfather an estate 
 of £2,000 per annum, in the county of Donegal, Ireland, 
 where he spent several years of his early life. Whilst in 
 Ireland he was the companion of Cur ran, Grattan, and 
 other bright intellects of Hibernian soil. Amongst the most 
 and with other British officers sent to Lancaster, Pa., as a prisoner of 
 war. Caleb Cope, being a member of the Society of Friends, a non- 
 combatant, was not of those who were fierce in their resistance to the 
 pretensions of the Britisli Crown. Public feeUng being greatly inflamed 
 against the prisoners, and the landlords of the boroirgh refusing to 
 entertain them, Mr. Cope extended the prisoners the hospitalities of his 
 house. This act required no small degree of moral courage upon the 
 part of Mr. Cope ; and, as a consequence, so embittered the citizens 
 against him that they beat in the windows of his dwelling, which, in 
 the disturbance, accidentally caught fire and was burned. In after years 
 the citizens of Lancaster liberally assisted the unfortunate owner in the 
 reerection of his dwelling. 
 
 Major Andre was a skillful painter, and had a great taste for the fine 
 arts. His manners were gentlemanly, and his education and accom- 
 plishments procui-ed him admittance to the social gatherings of the elite 
 of Lancaster of that day. Under his instructions the celebrated Dr. 
 Benjamin S. Barton, then a youth, received his first lessons in the art of 
 sketching, and he became no mean draughtsman. His descendants yet 
 preserve specimens of Andre's skill, some of which are of singular merit. 
 One of Mr. Cope's sons had a strong natural taste for painting, and he 
 soon became a favorite of Andre's ; so much so that he constantly 
 pressed the father to place the lad in his charge, and sufier him to be 
 brought up to the art. On one occasion he urged that he was anxious 
 to go back to England, but could not do so without a reasonable excuse 
 for quitting the army ; that he had now an offer to purchase his com- 
 mission ; and that with this boy to look after, a fair pretext for returning 
 home would be afforded. But the father was inflexible, and in March, 
 1776, the master and pupil were separated, the former being sent to 
 Carlisle. A correspondence was, however, kept up between Mr. Cope 
 and himself for some time. — Record of the Gope Family, pp. 33-3. Life 
 of Andre, by Sergeant, p. 89. 
 
146 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 brilliant of these was his cousin, Wm. Conyngham Plunket, 
 afterwards Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and who was named 
 after Mr. Conyngham's grandfather. 
 
 Mr. Conyngham liyed some years in Luzerne county, 
 and whilst a citizen of that county had the honor to repre- 
 sent it for some time in the Legislature. He removed to 
 Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he spent the balance 
 of his days. He was married to a daughter of Jasper 
 Yeates, Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He 
 died June 16th, 1846, in the 65th year of his age. 
 
 Mr. Conyngham was a great reader, a finished scholar, 
 and evinced an especial fondness for antiquarian research ; 
 his contributions to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
 and to the American Philosophical Society, of both of which 
 he was a member, rank him as an explorer of no ordi- 
 nary measure. His papers are valuable contributions to 
 the historical and philosophical domain of our literature. 
 He wrote much on the early history of Pennsylvania, and 
 the aborigines of Lancaster county. His death was an- 
 nounced in the rooms of the American Philosophical Society 
 by Bishop Potter, who pronounced an eloquent eulogium 
 upon the deceased, and a resolution was passed requesting 
 the Bishop, at a future day, to deliver an address before 
 them on his life and character. 
 
 In his deportment Mr. Conyngham was an entire gentle- 
 man, and exceedingly interesting and entertaining as a social 
 companion. He was the warm friend of all public enter- 
 prises looking towards the melioration and advancement of 
 society. In worthy young men he always took great 
 interest, and especially in those preparing themselves for 
 the christian ministry. He was a great friend of Sabbath 
 schools. As a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, 
 he was frequently a lay delegate to its Diocesan conven- 
 tions. The church in Paradise, this county, is in a good 
 degree a monument of his liberality and zeal. 
 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Conyngham, wife of the above, and a 
 lady of great benevolence, survived her husband many years. 
 She died August 3rd, 1867, at the advanced age of 90 years. 
 
 COOKE, Samuel, a member of the Legislature in the years 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 147 
 
 1801, 1802 and 1803. He was a citizen of Donegal town- 
 ship, and died March 6th, 1804. He was an early aboli- 
 tionist, as the following from his will indicates : "/iSem — Hav- 
 ing hired out my black man Bob to Samuel Evans, it is my 
 will that immediately on the expiration of the term for which 
 he is hired, he, the said Bob, shall be set free. Item — It is 
 my will that within one month after my decease, my negro 
 Tim shall be set free. And likewise it is my will that my 
 negroes and slaves not yet 24 years of age, shall upon their 
 and each of their attaining to that age be set free." 
 
 COWDEN, James, was a member of the Legislature in 
 1780. 
 
 COWDEN, James B., was a member of the Legislature in 
 1853. 
 
 *COOPE R, Calvin, emigrated from Birmingham, England, 
 about the year 1730, and located in Sadsbury township. He 
 purchased the land from Thomas Moore, on which the town 
 of Christiana^ is built, in the year 1734, (being a part of the 
 
 ^Christiana Biot Case. — In September, 1851, was enacted within the 
 limits of Lancaster county a tragedy that attained a national celebrity ; 
 and this owing to the antagonistic sentiments that prevailed through- 
 out the country on the subject of African slavery, as it existed in the 
 southern section of the American Union. At the time of the formation 
 of the constitution, in 1787, slavery existed in all the States of the Con- 
 federation, save one ; and yet so considerable an opposition displayed 
 itself towards the institution, that a compromise of coruflicting opinions 
 on this question was found necessary in order to induce all the States 
 that had boriie the banner of independence through the revolution, to 
 adopt the Federal Union. This compromise was effected, and slavery 
 was permitted to exist in the several States, subject to their laws ; and 
 the Northern States, soon enacted laws for the manumission of the slaves 
 within their borders. Slave labor in the Southern States being con- 
 sidered profitable, especially with the increasing demand for cotton, 
 these . States clung to an institution that swelled the coffers of the 
 wealthy and aJforded them all the pleasures that life could covet. The 
 Southern States became, tlierefore, the advocates of slavery, and the 
 Northern, its opponents. 
 
 With the growth of the United States, and the march of liberal ideas 
 throughout the civilized world, the opijosition to slavery continued to 
 increase in the Nortliern States, and at the time of tlie admission of 
 Missouri into the Union, so intense became the feeling tliat was en- 
 gendered between the two sections, that another compromise was needed 
 to prevent the disruption of the Federal bonds of nationality. Appa- 
 *Contributed by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. 
 
148 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 land confirmed to Philip Powell in the year 1702), and the 
 following year, 1735, he erected a falling mill on the Octo- 
 raro, between Christiana and the residence of Cyrus Brinton. 
 The machinery for the mill he brought with him from Eng- 
 
 rent harmony between the North and South again unfurled its standard 
 over the broad domain of the American Union ; but the seeds of oppo- 
 sition to the institution of slavery were already sown and germinated, 
 and time alone was required to produce the fruit. The efforts that had 
 been made by Clarkson and his compeers in England, to induce the 
 British government to put an end to the slave trade, had the effect to 
 arouse the public mind of the educated world to the enormities and 
 abuses of an institution that, in its best guise, had a revolting aspect. 
 The British government emancipated, in the year 1834, their slaves ia 
 the West India Colonies, and this event sent its effect across the waters, 
 and speedily numerous societies were organized, whose object was the 
 suppression of slavery in the American' Union. 
 
 Among the foremost (if not the very first), who arrayed themselves 
 against the institution of slavery, were the Quakers, a pious and esti- 
 mable class of Christians, whose virtues adorn the annals of history. 
 The founder of our State, William Penn, in common with many other 
 members of his society, was led to believe that the holding of human 
 beings in slavery was sinful, and in his will he emancipated all Ms slaves, 
 and to some of them he gave tracts of land in addition to their freedom. 
 As early as 1688 a company of German Quakers emigrated from the 
 fatherland, settled at Germanto-svn and took a decided stand against 
 slavery. They revolted at the idea of good men buying and selling 
 human flesh, as it were. Faithful to their convictions, they published 
 an address to the society in the same year, and from that time forth 
 these devoted followers of William Ames, their leader, who came over 
 with them from the Palatinate, bore an uncompromising testimony 
 against slavery. The subject was annually agitated in the society, and 
 gradually gained strength until the year 1754, when we find Benjamin 
 Lay, Anthony Benezet, John Woolman and Ralph Sandiford laboring 
 in the work of emancipation, the last of whom freed his slaves in the 
 year 1733. In the year 1774 it was made a breach of the disciipline and 
 a dishonorable offence for members to hold slaves. It was also counseled 
 against hiring slaves or serving as executors or administrators to estates 
 in possession of slaves. Thus early do we find this body of Christians 
 (the Quakers) far in advance of others in their opposition to human 
 slavery. 
 
 Upon the organization of the anti-slavery societies throughout the 
 northern States, it was to be expected that the Quakers should figure 
 prominently in these efforts to abolish slavery. All that the Quakers 
 and the other anti-slavery organizations could effect, was to keep up an 
 agitation of the slavery question, and thus endeavor . to educate the 
 pubUc conscience up to their principles. In this they were in a very 
 great degree successful. Their opinions entered others of the American 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 149 
 
 land. In the year 1746 he purchased a large tract of land 
 in the valley, from James Musgrove, being part of the land 
 which had been sold by the Proprietaries' commissioners of 
 property, to John, the father of James Musgrove, in the year 
 
 churches, and divisions of the same followed, marked by the Mason aud 
 Dixon boundary. The American Union, in the eyes of many of the 
 leading statesmen of the nation, was again rocking in the throes of 
 disunion or civil convulsion, aud another compromise, headed by Clay 
 and Webster, was sanctioned by the national Congress, in 1850, which 
 made it the duty of the Northern States to surrender fugitive slaves to 
 masters where the proper legal demand was made for them. Against 
 the compromise of 1850, and especially against the fugitive slave 
 law, the northern conscience at length fully revolted. Slavery being 
 regarded as a sin by a large portion of the intelligent citizens of the 
 North, that they should be compelled to render aid in capturing the 
 fleeing fugitive from labor, was altogether incompatible with their sense 
 of duty. In their view they would rather bear the penalty of the law 
 than aid in its execution. No law could justly, as they believed, compel 
 them to violate conscience. 
 
 . In no section of the whole North was there a more determined feeling 
 of opposition or disinclination to the execution of the fugitive slave 
 law, than in the eastern part of Lancaster county, where the citizens 
 were mostly either Quakers or their descendants. For years fugitive 
 slaves had found amongst the people of Sadsbury aud Salisbury town- 
 ships kind treatment, and quite a colony of them had become congrega- 
 ted and settled in the vicinity of Christiana. It was natural to suppose 
 that the fleeing fugitive would direct his steps to a retreat amongst the 
 friends of his liberty, rather than amongst those who were ready to 
 surrender him for pelf or out of hatred towards his race. 
 
 Some of the slaves of Edward Gorsuch, of Maryland, had made their , 
 escape to the eastern part of Lancaster county, andwere living amongst 
 others of their race in that section. On the 9th of September, 1851, 
 Edward D. Ingraham, Commissioner of the United States, issued his 
 warrant to Henry H. Kline, an officer appointed by him under the fugi- 
 tive slave law of the 13th of September, 1850. The warrant so issued, 
 commanded the officer to apprehend Josh Hammond and three other 
 fugitive slaves, the property of Edward Gorsuch, and which slaves had 
 escaped from Maryland, and were then in Lancaster county. The fact 
 of the issuing of the said writ became known to a colored tavern-keeper in 
 Philadelphia, by the name oY Samuel Williams, who, with another 
 colored man, preceded the official party to the neighborhood where the 
 slaves resided, and where the arrests were to have been made, and gave 
 ilotioe that they were coming to execute the writs and reclaim the fugi- 
 tive property. 
 
 The capturing party consisted of Deputy Marshal KUne, Edward 
 Gorsuch, the owner of the fugitive slaves, Dickinson, a son of Mr. Gor- 
 such, Dr. Thomas Pearce, a nephevr, and Joshua Gorsuch, besides two 
 
150 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 1713. The citizens of Sadsbury having petitioned for a 
 division of the township in 1743, the Court appointed Calvin 
 Cooper, George Leonard, sr., James Wilson, Samuel Eamsey, 
 Eobert Wilson and James Miller, to divide the same. The 
 
 neighbors of Edward Gorsuch, all of whom came to assist in making 
 capture of the fugitives. They started from Philadelphia for the place 
 ■where the fugitives were believed to be living, as soon as the warrant 
 was issued, and taking diiferent modes of conveyance. The party arrived 
 at Christiana early on the morning of September 11th, and having se- 
 cured the service of one acquainted with the locality, set out on hunt of 
 the fugitives, and when they had neared a house kept by a negro named 
 Parker, about three miles from Christiana, they espied one of the slaxes 
 coming down the lane from Parker's house. As soon as the slave saw 
 them he retreated and fled to the house, pursued by the party, but he 
 succeeded in eluding their grasp. From the information that had been 
 given by the negro, Williams, it was soon perceived that the negroes of 
 the neighborhood were upon the lookout, and as the party was approach- 
 ing the house, a horn was distinctly heard, as a supposed signal for the 
 assembling of the negroes. The slave that had been first seen made his 
 way up stairs, and the party in search of him immediately surrounded 
 the house, so as to prevent escape. Edward Gorsuch, the owner of the 
 fugitive, and the Deputy JIarshal, now entered the house, and de- 
 manded of the blacks that they surrender, which they refused, and began 
 loading their guns, showing the utmost detennination of resistance. 
 Mr. Gorsuch told them if they would come down and surrender them- 
 selves, he would overlook the past; but the reply came from the negTOes 
 that "they could only be taken over their dead bodies." The Marshal 
 read his warrant, and was proceeding to ascend the stairs when he was 
 struck by a sharp instrument and compelled to desist from this attempt. 
 He read his warrant the second and third time, and advised the negroes 
 of the peril of resisting the authority of the government, and gave them 
 fifteen minutes time to consider whether or not they would surrender. 
 Edward Gorsuch had in the meantime stepped outside of the house 
 and called to his slave, and endeavored to persuade him to surrender 
 himself and submit peaceably to his authority, and while doing so was 
 shot at by one of the negroes from a wrudow, but the shot failed to take 
 effect, the aim being too high. 
 
 During this "period, two white men, named Castner Hanway and 
 Elijah Lewis, suddenly appeared upon tlie ground. This was seen to 
 have the effect of inspiring enthusiasm into the negroes in the house, 
 who immediately set up a cheering. By this time a large number of 
 negroes had made their appearance armed with double barreled guns, 
 pistols, corn-cutters, scythes and clubs. The organization had been com- 
 plete, and as soon as the horn was sounded, as above indicated, the 
 negroes assembled from all directions. 
 
 The Marshal now approached Castner Hanway, one of the white 
 men, who was upon horse-back, and asked of him that he render assist- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 151 
 
 division was ordered, and the eastern part called Bart, and 
 the western retained the old name, Sadsbury. 
 
 Calvin Cooper was elected a member of the Provincial 
 Assembly for six consecutive years, from' 1749 till 1755. 
 
 ance in making the arrest. Hanway demanded of him his authority, 
 and the Marshal read him his warrant. Hanway then told him that 
 he would meet with difficulty in making the arrest, and advised him to 
 desist from the attempt. At the time the Marshal read his warrant, 
 Lewis, the other white man, was also present, but neither he nor Han- 
 way felt themselves bound to obey a mandate against the execution of 
 which their consciences revolted, and they chose rather to endure the 
 consequences of refusal. Besides, an attempt, at this time, to execute 
 the law seemed hazardous and likely to be attended with fatal conse- 
 quences. By this time the number of negroes that had arrived has been 
 estimated at from 75 to 100, all armed and evincing the most determined 
 spirit of resistance. To the demand of the Marshal, of Hanway, to assist 
 in making the arrest he remarked, "I will have nothing to do with it." 
 
 The negroes in the house, seeing their friends in such abundance, 
 sallied out, and raising a shout, surrounded Edward Gorsuch and his 
 companions, and iired upon them. Edward Gorsuch fell, and his son, 
 Dickinson, running to his assistance, was also shot in the breast and 
 lungs and fell to the ground. Dr. Pearce was likewise shot in several 
 places, but succeeded in making his escape. Deputy Marshal Kline, 
 Joshua Gorsuch and the other two individuals. Nelson and Hutchins, 
 who accompanied the capturing party, all made their escape, speedily, 
 as best they could. Edward Gorsuch was mutilated by the negroes, his 
 pockets rifled of about |300, and left lying dead where he fell. His son, 
 Dickinson, was rescued from death through the influence of an old 
 colored man, who begged of the murderers to spare his life, and he was 
 shortly afterwards removed by some white persons, who visited the 
 scene, to the house of Levi Pownall, where he lay a considerable time 
 before he could be removed. 
 
 As soon as the news of this occurrence reached Lancaster, John L. 
 Thompson, then District Attorney, and J. Franklin Reigart, an alder- 
 man, accompanied by some of the most resolute citizens, repaired at 
 once to Christiana, and after taking certain legal steps proceeded to 
 arrest the blacks. Nine of them were taken in less than two hours. 
 Castner Hanway and Elijah Lewis, hearing of the warrants, surren- 
 dered themselves without resistance. All were committed by Alderman 
 Reigart, and conveyed to the Lancaster jail. The United States Mar- 
 shal, the United States District Attorney, and the Commissioner, with a 
 strong force of marines, and a detachment of the Philadelphia police, 
 arrived shortly afterwards at Christiana and lent their aid in making 
 arrests of suspected parties. Both parties proceeded to make arrests, 
 and in a short time every section of country was pretty well scoured. A 
 large number of additional prisoners were brought in, and among them 
 two whites, a man named Scarlet, and the other Hood. 
 
152 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 The citizens of Lancaster county petitioned the Legisla- 
 ture for the passage of an act that would cause the removal 
 of the French refugees from Nova Scotia, who had been 
 thrown upon them by the English government. An act was 
 
 A difficulty was like to have occurred between the State and the 
 United States authority, as to which the prisoners should be awarded. 
 Mr. Thompson contended that the prisoners had been guilty of the 
 highest crime known to the law of Pennsylvania, willful and deliberate 
 murder, and that as this had occurred in Lancaster county, the prisoners 
 should be taken to Lancaster for trial. District Attorney Ashmead, on 
 the contrary, insisted that the prisoners had been guilty of treason, in 
 levying war against the United States authorities. In this he was sus- 
 tained by the Commissioner, E. D. Ingraham, and finally a compromise 
 was effected, by which each party was allowed to dispose of its own 
 arrests. 
 
 On Monday, November 24th, 1851, the trial of Oastner Hanway for 
 treason, was commenced in the United States Circuit Court before Judges 
 Grier and Kane. The counsel who appeared for the United States, were 
 United States District Attorney John W. Ashmead, James R. Ludlow 
 and George R. Ashmead ; Robert J. Brent and James Cooper for Mary- 
 land. The counsel for Castner Hanway, were John M. Read, Thaddeus 
 Stevens, Joseph J. Lewis and Theodore Cuyler. The trial lasted fifteen 
 days and was conducted with masterly ability by the legal gentlemen, 
 both for the prosecution and defense. The jury after retiring from the 
 box, returned after an absen-oe of ten minutes, with a verdict of "not 
 guilty." 
 
 Caster Hanway and Elijah Lewis were brought to Lancaster to an- 
 swer any charge that might be preferred against them. An indictment 
 was laid before the grand jury for murder, but the jury ignored the bill 
 and thus ended the Christiana riot case. 
 
 The Christiana riot case is an illustration of an attempt to execute an 
 unpopular law, an undertaking that usually proves abortive. Conscience 
 rules supreme in the actions of men, and the law must succumb. With 
 whom lies the blame in such cases ? In the present instance both par- 
 ties, the slave owners and the fugitives with their friends, had apparent 
 justice on their side. The one owned his property by virtue of law and 
 his education told him he was in the line of his duty in seeking to re- 
 claim it. On the other hand, the instinctive law of Uberty induced the 
 fugitives to seek for it and even fight in its defense ; and the friends of 
 the fugitives sympathized with them in their contest for liberty. We 
 can, therefore, condemn neither party, and must be allowed to say that 
 what may be wrong in one, in another is the contrary, and therefore, 
 can see no other mle of rectitude in life than to obey conscience and if 
 sincerely followed, though it be pei-verted, we are justified. This safe 
 rule would estabUsh charity, toleration and free opinion, unite mankind 
 in a universal brotherhood, where free thought and free speech would 
 crown the highest aspirations of man. 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 15S 
 
 passed Maroli 5tli, 1756, and Calvia Cooper, James Webb, 
 and Samuel Lefevre were appointed to carry its provisions 
 into execution. The act empowered and required them or 
 their survivors, that within twenty days from the passage of 
 the act, they should order and appoint the disposition of the 
 inhabitants of IN ova Scotia, imported and permitted to be 
 landed, in such manner and proportions as to them shall ap- 
 pear most equitable under certain limitations, having regard 
 to such lands and plantations, or other employments as they 
 might procure for them towards maintaining themselves and 
 their families, and thereby relieving the province from the 
 heavy charge of supporting them. 
 
 Calvin Cooper was appointed one of the " Justices of the 
 Peace for Lancaster county, which of&ce he held with satis- 
 faction to the public for many years. His descendants be- 
 came numerous and respectable, and while some of them 
 settled along the valley, and about Cooperville, others set- 
 tled at Lampeter and at the borough of Columbia ; and the 
 Coopers residing there at the present day, are among his de- 
 scendants. He was a valuable member in unity with the 
 Society of Friends, and undoubtedly a worthy and servicea- 
 ble man in the community. He was the grandfather of the 
 late well-known and highly respected Jeremiah Cooper, of 
 Sadsbury, who erected a large woolen factory in the valley, 
 below Cooperville, about the year 1825. The present 
 Coopers of Sadsbury, Bart, Lampeter and Columbia, are his 
 descendants of the 5th, 6th and 7th generations. He de- 
 parted this life near the close of the Revolutionary war, 
 aged about eighty years. 
 
 CRAIG, John, was a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1782, 1783 and 1784. 
 
 CRAIG, RoBBET, was a member of the Legislature in 1784-. 
 He was also a Commissioner of Lancaster county in 1778. 
 
 CRUMBAUGH, Rev. J. C, was born in Frederick county, 
 Maryland. He received his education in the Pennsylvania 
 College, at Gettysburg, and graduated in 1851 with the 
 highest honors of his class. He came to Lancaster and 
 studied theology under the Rev. Dr. John C. Baker, and at 
 the same time served as Principal of the Lancaster High 
 13 
 
154: BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 School. He was licensed to preacli by the Pennsylvania 
 Synod in 1853, and shortly afterwards he was elected pastor 
 of the new St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church.' With 
 constantly declining health he continued to serve this con- 
 gregation up to March 19th, 1857, when he resigned, and 
 accepted the ofiice of County Superintendent of Common 
 Schools. It had been the hope of his friends that this 
 new position affording him more out-door exercise, might 
 restore his health, but in this they were disappointed. He 
 died of consumption January 18th, 1859, at the early age 
 of 28. As a student in college, he maintained a reputation 
 for talent of the first order, standing ever at the head of 
 his classes, and carrying away the honors over his mates. 
 As principal of the ' Lancaster High School, he was a model 
 for imitation, being able to maintain the most excellent 
 discipline and order in the class and study rooms; and as a 
 clergyman, he had the unbounded confidence and friendship 
 of his whole congregation and of the community at large. 
 
 CUNNINGHAM, Jajies, was a member of the Legisla- 
 ture in the years 1779, 1788, 1789 and 1790. 
 
 'In the fall of 1851 a number of tlie young members of Trinity 
 Lutheran Church, of which the Rev. .John C. Baker was pastor, held a 
 social gathering and conversed concerning the propriety of opening a 
 mission school in the northwestern part of the city, and it was resolved 
 to make the attempt, provided they could obtain the sanction of the 
 vestry to their undertaking. This consent having been obtained, March, 
 
 1852, a Sunday-school, called the Lutheran, was organized with twenty- 
 two pupils, J. C. Crumbaugh being its superintendent. 
 
 With the resignation of Rev. John C. Baker as the pastor of Trinity 
 Lutheran church, in January, 1853, the friends of a new church began 
 to consult among themselves, and a meeting was held on the 2nd of 
 April of that year, when it was resolved by those present to constitute 
 themselves the nucleus of a new Lutheran church. On the 18th of May 
 following, a committee was appointed to draft a constitution and by- 
 laws, and another to solicit subscriptions for the erection of a church 
 edifice. On the 15th of June, on motion of G. M. Zahm, the church 
 ■was unanimously named "St. John's Evangehoal Lutheran Church." 
 The small congregation generally worshiped in Fulton HaU or the 
 lecture room of the Moravian church. On the 9th of October, 
 
 1853, the corner-stone of the new edifice was laid. Revs. Harbaugh, 
 Kurtz and Krotel officiating. On the 24th of December fallowing, the 
 entire building having been completed, the consecration took place. 
 The edifice cost over |20,000. 
 
OF LANCASTER OOUNTT. 155 
 
 B. 
 
 DAELINGTON, Edward C, became a partner in Decem- 
 ber, 1841, with E. W. Middleton, in the publication of 
 tbe Examiner and Herald.'^ Shortly after this, Middleton 
 withdrew from the firm, and Mr. Darlington continued the 
 publication of the paper up to October 20th, 1858. During 
 Mr. Darlington's, connection with, the paper, it was regarded 
 as the organ of what was known as the Silver Grey Whigs ^ 
 of Lancaster county. Mr. Darlington was elected to the 
 State Senate, in 1851. 
 
 Mr. Darlington was a man quite retiring in his disposition, 
 a great reader, and a writer who wielded the editorial pen 
 with considerable ability. 
 
 ■ The Lancaster Examiner was started in the spring of 1830, by- 
 Samuel Wagner, who continued its publication until June, 1834. 
 Wagner sold out his interest to George W. Hamersly and Luther 
 Eichards, who united it with the Herald. These continued the publi- 
 cation, under the new title, until December, 1838, and then sold their 
 interest to K. W. Middleton. On the 8th of December, E. C. Darling- 
 ton became a partner of Middleton ; but on the 22nd of the same month 
 the latter retired, leaving Darlington sole owner and proprietor of the 
 paper, which he continued to be until October 20th, 1858, when he sold 
 out his interest to John A. Hiestand, John P. Huber and Francis 
 Heckert. This latter firm was dissolved November 4th, 1863, by the 
 death of Huber, one of its members. On the 9th of February, 1863, 
 the interest of Huber was purchased by Edwin M. Khne, and the 
 style of the firm became J. A. Hiestand & Co. On the 1st of January, 
 1864, T. B. & J. J. Cochran sold out the Lancaster Union to J. A. 
 Hiestand & Co., and from that date the latter firm began issuing the 
 Eaaminer semi- weekly, which has been continued up to this time. May 
 1st, 1864, Mr. Heckert's interest in the paper passed to John I. Hart- 
 man, and the firm was named Hiestand, Kline & Hartman. On May 
 1st, 1868, Mr. Hartman withdrew, and the paper is now published by 
 Hiestand & Kline. 
 
 ' After the adoption of the compromise measures of 1850, during the 
 administration of Millard Fillmore, the Whig party divided into two 
 branches ; those who favored the compromises and those opposed to 
 them. In Lancaster county, the friends of the administration or of the 
 compromise measures, received the name of Silver Qreys, who were 
 advocates of the policy of President Fillmore as regards the com- 
 promise measures on the slavery question. Isaac E. Hiester was at 
 once regarded as the leader of the Silver Greys, and with him acted 
 
156 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 DA VIES, Edward, was elected a member of the Legisla- 
 ture in the years 1834 and 1835. He represented Lancaster 
 county in Congress from 1837 till 1811. 
 
 DEBEING, Henry, a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1788 and 1789. 
 
 DENUES, Charles, was born August 28th, 1823, in 
 York county, Pennsylvania. In 1835 he removed, with his 
 parents, to Lancaster, and was apprenticed to the turning 
 and powder-horn making business ; but the uncon geniality 
 of his master caused our subject to shorten the term of his 
 apprenticeship. When about seventeen years of age, acting 
 on an occasion as cannonier for the Washington Artillery, 
 he lost his right hand from the accidental discharge of the 
 cannon. Being thus disabled for manual pursuits, he now 
 turned his attention to the obtaining of an education, and 
 having made some advance, in the year 1842 he began the 
 
 Thomas E. Franklin, esq., Edward C. Darlington, WiUiam W. 
 Brown, esq., Jolm Sheafler, of Manheim, James M. Hopkins, of Dru- 
 more, John Steger, of New Holland, Michael Shirk, of West Cooalico, 
 Samuel Worth, of Martio, John J. Evans, of Little Britain, and R. A. 
 Evans, of Lancaster. The other wing of the party was headed by 
 Thaddeus Stevens, Dr. Esaias Kinzer, George Brubaker, Peter Johns, 
 David Bair, O. J. Dickey, George Ford, Alexander H. Hood, Samuel 
 Eberly, and Hiram Erb, of Clay, Anthony E, Roberts, Frederick E. 
 Hoflfman, and Frederick Smith, of Conoy. 
 
 In the Whig convention of 18.ll, the Silver Grey wing carried off the 
 victory, nominating all the candidates for ofiice except Esaias Kinzer, 
 who, by a faithful canvass before the convention, had secured enough 
 votes to nominate him to the State Senate, along with E. 0. Darlington. 
 The defeat of the Anti-slavery Whigs, was regarded as owing to the 
 infbience of the Exa7niner and Herald; and as a counterpoise to this 
 paper, it was resolved to start a paper in their interest. Edward 
 MoPherson, of Adams county, was sent for, and he began the publica- 
 tion of the Independent WMg, devoted to the advocacy of Anti- 
 slavery principles. In 1852 the Silver Greys were again successful, elect- 
 ing Isaac E. Hiester to Congress. 
 
 At the National Convention held at Baltimore in 18.52, the Silver 
 Grey element of the country supported Millard Fillmore for Presi- 
 dent ; the distinctive New England element voted for Webster ; 
 and the Anti-slavery Whigs united upon General Scott and he was 
 nominated. Scott having been so disastrously defeated in the canvass 
 for President, the old Whig party began rapidly to decline. In 
 1853 the Native American party that had maintained a feeble exist- 
 ence in the large cities, began to revive under the name of Know 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 157 
 
 study of law with Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, and was admitted 
 to the bar in 1844. He practiced for a time in Lancaster, a 
 short period in York, Pa., and afterwards removed to Wis- 
 consin, in which place he was attacked with disease, and 
 returned home in 1848. 
 
 He now began teaching school, a career he followed, at 
 different places, for a number of years. He was principal 
 of the Millersville graded school for nine years. 
 
 In 1859 he entered upon the study of theology, and having 
 preached his trial sermon, served as a supply to a congrega- 
 tion at Columbia. 
 
 In 1862 he raised a company for the Union army, and 
 was commissioned captain, August 12th, 1862. His com- 
 pany was .assigned as part of the 135th regiment of Penn- 
 sylvania volunteers, under Col. Porter. He, with his men, 
 protected two of the Union batteries at the battle of Grey's 
 Earm. He participated with his company in the famed 
 
 Nothings ; and lodges were organized throughout the country, which 
 were filled chiefly by recruits from the old Whig party. In 1854 there 
 were, therefore, three tickets in the field in Lancaster county, the Demo- 
 cratic, the Know Nothing, and the Whig. 
 
 The party manipulations in the Know Nothing lodges were conducted 
 in secret. In the nominations made in the county convention of the old 
 effete Whig party, the best men in their ranks were selected as their 
 standard toearers, and in the election which followed, some of those 
 elected were Democrats, some Know Nothings and other Whigs. An- 
 thony E. Roberts was elected to Congress on the Know Nothing ticket. 
 The disintegration of the Whig party by 1855 was complete, and in that 
 year the whole Know Nothing ticket in the county was elected. The 
 Whigs remained at that time but a very feeble minority. About this 
 period the Democratic party in Congress repealed the Missouri Compro- 
 mise, and this had the effect of attracting into the Know Nothing ranks 
 most of the anti-slavery element of the country. ; and inasmuch as the secret 
 oath-bound dogmas of the party were offensive to many of the recruits 
 from the Democratic and Whig ranks, and the main principle now be- 
 ing hostility to slavery, the party re-moulded itself into an open organ- 
 ization, under the name of Republicans. A few of the old Whigs of 
 Lancaster county feeling themselves entirely out-genei'aled in the new 
 construction of parties, and out of an unwillingness to acknowledge the 
 leadership of their opponents, attached themselves to the Democratic 
 party, and thenceforth acted in its ranks. The great mass, however, of 
 the old Silver Grey Whigs united their political destinies to the Anti- 
 slavery wing under whatever name it called itself, and from that time 
 Lancaster county has been overwhelmingly Republican. 
 
i58 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 conflict of Chancellorsville, after which they were mustered 
 out of service, in May, 1863. 
 
 Having returned home, he taught school again in the 
 winter of 1863-4. In October, 1864, he was elected to the 
 Pennsylvania Legislature, and reelected in 1865. During 
 his last session he acted as chairman of the military com- 
 mittee. In the spring of 1866 he again began the practice 
 of the law in Lancaster, which he yet continues. On Janu- 
 ary 1st, 1867, he was appointed Notary Public, and re- 
 appointed January 12th, 1870. 
 
 DICKEY, 0. J., was born in Beaver county, Pennsylva- 
 nia, April 6th, 1823. His father, John Dickey, was a lead- 
 ing politician in the western part of the State, and at one 
 time a member of the board of Canal Commissioners, and 
 represented his district in the State Senate, also in Con- 
 gress, and was marshal of the western district of Pennsylva- 
 nia at the time of his death. The subject of our notice re- 
 ceived his education at the Beaver Academy and at Dickin- 
 son College, Carlisle, passing through the junior class of the 
 latter institution. Having closed his classic career one year 
 short of graduation, he entered as a student in the law of&ce 
 of James Allison, esq., one of the old leading lawyers of- 
 Beaver (the father of the present Kegister of the Treasury),, 
 and was admitted a member of the Beaver bar. Designing 
 Lancaster as the place where he should locate for the prac- 
 tice of the profession, he came in 1846, with a letter of in- 
 troduction to Mr. Stevens, who kindly received him and 
 proffered to him the use of his office. Mr. Stevens having 
 by intuition, as it were, perceived that our young barrister 
 was made of solid material, employed him from the start at 
 a fixed salary to attend to certain parts of his business. Mr. 
 Dickey was thus afforded an excellent opportunity of becom- 
 ing acquainted with the practical business of the profession, 
 and rapidly did he profit with these advantages,. This was 
 an instance of a rare mind meeting with rare opportunities. 
 His progress in business was a very rapid and successful 
 one. After a few years of steady and gradual rise in his 
 profession, he, at the instance of his benefactor, became a 
 partner with the latter, as to all the current business which 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 159 
 
 presented itself, save where Mr. Stevens was himself specially 
 employed. This partnership continued up till the year 1857, 
 when he found it necessary from the press of business to 
 open an oflBce of his own. 
 
 In the fall of 1856 he was elected District Attorney of 
 Lancaster county, an of&ce he filled with great credit and 
 ability. After opening a separate of&oe of his own, he still 
 continued to have charge of all Mr. Stevens' business when 
 the latter was absent or unable to attend to the same. 
 
 In the year 1857 Mr. Dickey chose to himself a partner 
 for life, in the person of Miss Elizabeth Shenk, of Lancaster. 
 
 Upon the death of Mr. Stevens, in 1868, Mr. Dickey was 
 nominated and elected to fill his unexpired term in Congress, 
 as well as for the subseq^uent term of two years ; and in 
 1870, after a warm and spirited contest, he was again nom- 
 inated by his party by an overwhelming majority, over J. P. 
 Wickersham, and again elected to Congress. 
 
 As a lawyer, Mr. Dickey ranks amongst the first practi- 
 tioners of the Lancaster bar ; his business being perhaps as 
 lucrative as any that could be named. He is well read in 
 his profession, and in the trial of a cause he has no superior. 
 His arguments before a jury are sound, logical and convinc- 
 ing ; and he is able to bring out of his case all that is in it. 
 
 As a politician, he has but few equals, having a strength 
 with the masses that few possess. Born to rule, he enters 
 an assemblage of tumultuous partisans and contending polit- 
 ical aspirants, and organization follows his word and opposi- 
 tion retires. As by a word, he carries with him the meeting, 
 and the result crowns his banner. He is dexterous in his 
 manipulations, active in circumventing his enemies, and 
 always present in the midst of the political battle, saying in 
 essence to his political friends, "follow me." His word has a 
 charm in it, and he generally leads to victory. 
 
 As a man, Mr. Dickey is high-toned and honorable, 
 and his word on any occasion is as good as his bond. He is 
 exceedingly liberal in his opinions, never permitting differ- 
 ence of sentiment to alter his conduct or feeling towards a 
 personal friend. In this particular, he is exemplary. He 
 was one of those of enlarged views who, during the dark days 
 
160 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 of the rebellion (wlien partisan hate was visible all around), 
 could accord to individuals of different opinion from his 
 own, the same honesty of sentiment as he himself entertained. 
 
 Mr. Dickey is not what might be called a fluent declaimer, 
 but his speeches have the ring of energy, ability and force. 
 His political harangues will, however, excite more applause 
 and enthusiasm than will follow the outbursts of a more 
 impassioned and eloquent orator. "His manner of speaking 
 is rather better adapted for juridical than partisan purposes. 
 His strength as a politician lies in his great organizing abil- 
 ity rather than in his oratorical. Since the demise of his 
 great precursor in Congress, he is, perhaps, the leading 
 thinker of his party in Lancaster county. 
 
 DICKINSON, Joseph C, a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 1846 and 1847. He was one of the first who 
 erected permanent buildings in Christiana. 
 
 *DICKINSON, Joseph, emigrated to this country from 
 Cumberland, England, by way of Ireland, about the year 
 1725. The ship on which he came a passenger having 
 struck upon a rock, causing it to leak so rapidly that it was 
 impossible to keep the vessel afloat, and was about given up 
 as lost, and the passengers were preparing to meet their fate, 
 when Joseph Dickinson volunteered to go down under the 
 water, on the outside of the ship, and stop the leak, which 
 hazardous undertaking he accomplished by inserting pieces 
 of dried beef in the crevices. He was united in marriage 
 with Elizabeth, daughter of Guyon Miller, of Ksnnett, 
 Chester county, in the year 1732, when he removed and 
 settled near the Pequea creek, in Salisbury township. He 
 had two sons, Joseph and Gains, and seven daughters. His 
 son, Gaius, and his grandson, Joseph, continued to reside on 
 the property, while his son Joseph purchased land and resided 
 in Sadsbury. 
 
 Joseph C. Dickinson, Moses Pownall and Joseph D. Pow- 
 nall, of Sadsbury, and Joseph Hood, of Bart, who were mem- 
 bers of the Legislature at different times, were the great grand- 
 sons of Joseph Dickinson; also, Jacob T. Gest and Isaac 
 Walker, of Sadsbury. Anna Dickinson, of Philadelphia, and 
 *Coiitrib«tecl by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 161 
 
 Mary Louisa Walker, late of Bichmond, Ya., but now Mary 
 Louisa Eoberts, of Robertson couaty, Texas, are botli the 
 great grand-daughters of his son, Graius Dickinson. He was 
 a man well educated, and was an esteemed and valuable 
 member of the denomination of Friends. His great grand- 
 sons, James and Lewis Dickinson, still reside on the property 
 in Salisbury ; and J. D. G. Pownall, one of his descendants 
 of the fifth generation, holds the property in Sadsbury. 
 
 DIFFBNDERFFER, and a companion by the name of 
 Stone, were the two first settlers who took up the land upon 
 which New Holland is built, and for a mile around it. They 
 were natives of Germany, and came to New Holland in 1728. 
 David Difienderffer, a son of the first settler, became early 
 identified, with the American patriots in their struggle for 
 independence. He entered the army, and served with credit 
 for several years, bearing his part in several of the hard- 
 fought battles of revolutionary history. He died in New 
 Holland in 1846, at a very advanced age. His descendants 
 are numerous. Dr. W. L. Diffenderffer is one of his grand- 
 sons. 
 
 DILLER, Adam, was elected sheriff of Lancaster county 
 in 1827. 
 
 DILLER, Roland, is a native of Lancaster, and a man of 
 great activity and business perseverance. His educational 
 facilities were superior to the great majority of the young 
 men of his time whose lives were designed for active em- 
 ployments. He engaged in the mercantile business for some 
 time ; but, upon the death of his uncle, Frederick Seger, who 
 was a conveyancer, he abandoned merchandising and took 
 up conveyancing, a business he has followed ever since. He 
 has also connected with scrivening that of surveying. 
 
 Upon the organization of the anti-Masonic party, Mr. 
 Diller was amongst the most prominent and active in that 
 movement. He contributed actively towards the establish- 
 ment of the first anti-Masonic paper in the county, and in all 
 the political movements of his party he has ever maintained 
 a leading position. He for many years acted as a magistrate 
 of the county, and perhaps no man ever filled that ofiice who 
 seemed, by intuition, to comprehend the intricacies of law 
 
162 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 better than the subject of this notice. One knowing Mr. 
 Diller intimately, uses this language of him : " The cast of 
 his mind is eminently legal, and had he read law regularly, 
 and practiced the profession, he would have become one of 
 the best jurists our county ever produced." 
 
 He has for years been the legal adviser of his fellow-citizens 
 in and around New Holland, and his advice is anxiously 
 sought in all matters of business where a knowledge of law 
 is required. Mr. Diller has always been a great reader, and 
 his library is said to be one of the best, if not the very best, 
 in Lancaster county. He possessed the basis, beyond all 
 question, for extraordinary achievements, and but an arena 
 was wanting to have rendered him one of the most conspicu- 
 ous men of the nation. He has been frequently mentioned 
 for Congress; but he rather chose a life of retirement than 
 one that brought with it great sacrifices and responsibilities. 
 His wonderful methodical arrangement, if nothing else, dis- 
 plays a mind of no ordinary compass, and this characteristic 
 has been observed in all his business transactions. He pos- 
 sesses complete files of most of the papers he has ever re- 
 ceived. Some years since he donated some of these to the 
 Lancaster Athenasum. 
 
 DILLBE, Solomon, a brother of the above, was a mem- 
 ber of the Legislature in 1836 and 1837. 
 
 ^DIXON, William, was the principal founder of the Lan- 
 caster Intelligencer, which was started by him and his brother 
 Eobert, in the year 1799. The paper was issued regularly 
 as a Eepublican (Democratic) organ by Dixon uatil his death 
 in 1823. William Dixon was several times elected Treasurer 
 of Lancaster county. He was a man of great popularity and 
 sterling principle. 
 
 ' "William Dixon was, in February, 1806, found guilty of libel on Gov- 
 ernor McKean, in that lie charged the Govei'nor with having made 
 corrupt overtures to Henry Wertz, a Senator from Bedford county. On 
 account of the contradictory statements made by Wertz, before the trial 
 came off, he was not called as a witness ; and, although Dixon proved 
 substantially all he had charged in his paper, yet he was found guilty, 
 rrnder the law of libel as it then existed. He was sentenced, by Judges 
 Henry and Coleman, to three months' imprisonment in the county jail, 
 and to pay |500 as a fine to the Commonwealth, and the costs of prose- 
 cution. He was committed in accordance with the sentence. The fine 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 163 
 
 DONEE, John, was born January 8th, 1818, in Lampeter 
 (now East Lampeter) township, Lancaster county. Pa. His 
 parents were of French descent, and in their religious faith, 
 members of the old Mennonite church. His education was 
 such as the schools of his neighborhood afforded, and he has 
 been all his lifetime engaged in agricultural pursuits. After 
 his marriage he removed to Manor township, where he yet 
 resides. He was elected and served as a director of the 
 Lancaster County Bank for a number of years. In 1860 Mr. 
 Doner was elected a Commissioner of Lancaster county, and 
 served through perhaps the most critical period of the 
 county's history, the beginning and the greater period of 
 the rebellion. It was a period that devolved upon the Board 
 of Commissioners a weight of responsibility that never before 
 had required to be assumed by any Board since the organi- 
 zation of the county. Mr. Doner, as one of the Board during 
 
 and costs were promptly paid by his political friends, and he was daily 
 visited by members of the Legislature and citizens of the highest stand- 
 ing, all regarding him simply as the victim of political persecution. 
 
 A number of Democratic citizens gave Mr. Dixon a supper in his 
 place of confinement, which was handsomely illuminated on the occa- 
 sion. Major John Light, and Joseph Lefevre, (afterwards a member of 
 Congress), acted as president and vice president, and numerous toasts 
 were drank in honor of Dixon in his captivity. 
 
 Mrs. Dixon, wife of William Dixon, evinced great heroism during the 
 imprisonment of her husband, and refused to ask his release of 
 Governor McKean. When certain influential friends volunteered to 
 accompany her to the Governor and endeavor to obtain a pardon, she 
 replied, "For your friendship, and the offer of your company and inter- 
 cession, gentlemen, I sincerely thank you ; but my husband has com- 
 mitted no crime. Why ask forgiveness ? A separation from the hus- 
 band of my bosom is afflicting, but to supplicate the oppressor (who has 
 torn him from my side) would be base servility." 
 
 Dixon's imprisonment was denounced by the whole Republican press 
 of the day. A meeting of the leading Republicans of the borough of 
 Lancaster was held at the house of John Whiteside, and an address was 
 issued suggesting the propriety of changing the day of the county 
 meeting from Wednesday, May 14th, till Saturday, the 17th, in honor 
 of.it being the day when Dixon's term of imprisonment will have 
 expired. As he wiU leave the prison about 13 o'clock, the address urged 
 that the Republicans meet at Whiteside's tavern, at 11 o'clock, in order 
 to give Dixon a fitting reception upon his leaving the prison. On the 
 day of his release, accordingly, a large meeting of Republicans met 
 Dixon at he prison and escorted him to his house. 
 
164 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 that period, faittifully and efficiently discharged the duties 
 devolved upon him, and to the entire satisfaction of his con- 
 stituents. Mr. Doner is at present engaged in agricultural 
 pursuits. 
 
 DOUGLASS, John, a member of the Legislature in 1756, 
 1761, 1762 and 1763. 
 
 DOWNING, William, a member of the Legislature in 
 1771. 
 
 DUOHMAN, Jacob, elected CouHty Commissioner in 1820. 
 
 DUCHMAN, Col. John H., was a prominent citizen of 
 Lancaster city for many years. He was, by occupation, in 
 his younger years, a hatter, and carried on this business for 
 years. He kept for a number of years the Leopard hotel, 
 in Bast King street. Early in life he became captivated 
 with military glory and volunteered in the war of 1812-14. 
 He served as iirst Lieutenant of the old Lancaster Fencibles, 
 then under command of Capt. John K. Findley, which was 
 famed for its admirable discipline, and which was disbanded 
 about the breaking out of the Mexican war. Some years 
 after this Col. Duchman raised a new company, also named 
 the Fencibles, of which he was elected .Captain. It was this 
 company which escorted James Buchanan to Washington in 
 March, 1857, at the time he was inaugurated President of 
 the United States. This company remained in existence up 
 to the breaking out of the rebellion in 1861, and became 
 Company F of the 1st Pennsylvania regiment. Owing to 
 ill health, Capt. Duchman was unable to march with his 
 company, and 1st Lieutenant Bmlen Franklin succeeded to 
 the command. For some years he was clerk in the Lancaster 
 bank. During James Buchanan's administration he held a 
 position in the custom house in Philadelphia. Shortly after 
 the breaking out of the rebellion he raised a company for 
 the 79th Eegiment, P. V. of which he was chosen Lieutenant 
 Colonel. 
 
 On account of advanced age and the rigors of the field, he 
 was compelled to retire from active service after having 
 served about one year. He died October 8th, 1866, in the 
 70th year of his age. 
 
 DUCHMAN, William, elected Eecorder in 1845. 
 
OF LANOASTEE COUNTY. 165 
 
 *DUFFIBLD, George, was the third son of George and 
 Margaret Duffield, who emigrated from Ireland in 1730 and 
 settled in Pequea, Lancaster county. They were descended 
 from Huguenot ancestry, their forefathers having escaped from 
 France on account of religious persecution and settled in 
 England, and afterwards passed over into the north of Ire- 
 land. The name was originally du Fielde, but became an- 
 glicised after the family had settled in England. 
 
 The subject of this notice was born October 7th, 1732. 
 He received his academical education at Newark, Delaware, 
 where afterwards he of&ciated as Tutor. He graduated at 
 Nassau Hall, joined the church under the care of Eev. 
 Robert Smith, of Pequea, and shortly afterwards commenced 
 the study of theology under his supervision. He was licensed 
 to preach the gospel by the Presbytery of New Castle, March 
 11th, 1756. He received a call from the united churches of 
 Carlisle, Big Spring and Monohan (now called Dillstown), 
 and was ordained at Carlisle, September 25th, 1761. 
 
 During the pendency of his ordination and settlement at 
 Carlisle, he was married March 5th, 1759, to Margaret Arm- 
 strong, sister of General John Armstrong, of Revolutionary 
 memory. By this marriage he had four children. His 
 youngest son, George, was for many years connected as 
 Register and Comptroller General, with the administration of 
 the State of Pennsylvania under Governor Thomas McKean. 
 
 At the time of his settlement in Carlisle and the united 
 congregations, each ten miles distant from the borough, the 
 Indians were numerous in the vicinity and often made hostile 
 demonstrations, which required the body of the male mem- 
 bers to arm themselves in self defense. In all these dangers he 
 participated, cheerfully accompanying his flock to the camp, 
 to administer to them there the consolations of religion. The 
 church at Monohan was in such an exposed situation, that as 
 a protection during the hours of worship, fortifications were 
 thrown around it ; behind which, while those stationed on 
 the ramparts kept watch, the congregation might, without 
 distraction or fear, engage in the worship of God. His deep 
 interest in and sympathy with a population thus periled and 
 *Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. 3. 
 
166 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 suffering on the frontiers, rendered him, throughout the 
 whole of that region, exceedingly popular. So strong was 
 the attachment for him, that in all perilous adventures, 
 especially during the Revolutionary struggle, the men who 
 had to take up arms for their homes, their liberties and their 
 lives, always welcomed his visits in the camp with the most 
 cordial good-will. 
 
 Mr. Duffield was a bold and zealous assertor of the rights 
 of conscience, an earnest and powerful advocate of civil and 
 religious liberty. During the pendency of those measures 
 which were maturing the Declaration of Independence, 
 while the prospects of the colonies seemed most gloomy, his 
 preaching contributed greatly to encourage and animate the 
 friends of liberty. He was not in the habit of writing out 
 his discourses in full; but, having made a skeleton, and ar- 
 ranged his thoughts, awaited the inspiration of the occasion 
 for the filling up. Several of these unfinished discourses which 
 remain, breathe a spirit of the most pure and lofty patriot- 
 ism, and withal are strikingly prophetic of the religious 
 scenes which were to open out of all that darkness in which 
 the country was then enveloped. 
 
 During his ministry at Carlisle, he was twice earnestly 
 called by the Second Presbyterian church of Philadelphia, 
 then worshipping at the northwest corner of Arch and Third 
 streets, to become their pastor ; and the commissioners with 
 great zeal prosecuted their call before the Presbytery. Both 
 the Presbytery and himself, however, judged that his pres- 
 ence at Carlisle was of more importance at that time than at 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 In the year 1766 Mr. Duffield was deputed by the Synod, 
 in connection with the Eev. Charles Beatty, to make a mis- 
 sionary tour and visit the families that had made their way 
 along the great valley that stretches through Pennsylvania, 
 Maryland and Virginia. The object of this mission was to 
 administer the offices of religion to those families which had 
 settled in what is now Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and 
 through the range of country where Greencastle, Hagers- 
 town and other villages now stand, as far as the Potomac, 
 with a view to the organization of churches. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 167 
 
 Some time after this, Mr. Duffield was called to the Third 
 Presbyterian church in Philadelghia, where he oi&ciated dur- 
 ing the sessions of the Colonial Congress, anterior to and 
 during the Eevolutionary struggle. That church had been 
 originally a branch of the First Presbyterian church, under 
 the care of the Eev. Dr. Swing. A controversy arose be- 
 tween them and the parent church, relative to their indepen- 
 dence. Both the Presbytery and Mr. Duffield judged that 
 it was his duty to accept the call and remove to Philadelphia. 
 The circumstances under which he was translated to that 
 charge, in connection with the old feuds that had divided the 
 church, produced obstacles in the way of his labors at the 
 commencement of his ministry. He was greatly admired as 
 a preacher, and was recognized as a bold, animated and de- 
 cided Whig, resolutely contending against the encroachments 
 on civil and religious liberty made by the government of 
 Great Britain. On an occasion shortly after his appearance 
 in Philadelphia, the large church edifice, then standing on 
 the corner of Third and Pine streets, which the First church 
 claimed to have under its control, was closed and barred 
 against his entrance, by their order, notwithstanding an ap- 
 pointment had been made for his preaching in it for the con- 
 gregation accustomed to worship there, and by their direc- 
 tion. The house was opened by the officers of the Third . 
 church, and Mr. Duffield was assisted through the throng 
 that had assembled to hear him, and introduced through a 
 window. News of the people assembling on Sabbath even- 
 ing spread, and application was made to Mr. J. Bryant, the 
 King's magistrate, to quell what was called a riot. The 
 magistrate proceeded to the spot, and, shortly after the com- 
 mencement of public worship, pressed his way into the aisle of 
 the church, before the pulpit, (on the very spot where after- 
 wards Mr. Duffield's remains were interred, and where they 
 yet sleep, and in the name of the King, read the riot act and 
 required the people to disperse. The congregation was com- 
 posed of zealous Whigs, who could not endure Tory influ- 
 ence or authority. The principal officer of the congregation, 
 a Mr. Knox, rose and ordered the magistrate to desist. He 
 refused and went on with his reading. A second time the 
 
168 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 zealous champion of liberty, in hearing of all the congrega- 
 tion, with loud voice, demanded that the magistrate cease 
 from disturbing the worship of God. He still refused ; when, 
 without further ado, he seized the magistrate, who was a 
 small man, and lifting him up carried him through the crowd 
 out of the house, and ordered him to begone, and not come 
 back there to disturb the worship of God. The magistrate 
 bowed to the stern assertor of popular liberty, and Mr. 
 Diiffield went on with his preaching. But the next day he 
 was arrested and brought before the Mayor's Court, and was 
 required to plead to the charge of aiding and abetting a 
 riot, and give bail for his appearance for trial. He politely 
 and respectfully refused to put in any plea or give the bail, 
 averring, that as a minister of Christ, he was performing the 
 duties of his office and was no way accessory to a riot, of 
 the existence of which there was no proof. The Mayor said 
 that such a procedure would greatly embarrass the Court, 
 who would be compelled to send him to prison if he did not 
 plead and offer bail. His brother, Samuel Duffield, M. D., 
 or other of his friends whomsoever he might name, would 
 be accepted by him as bail. He still, with the utmost cour- 
 tesy, declined. After some entreaty, the Mayor offered him- 
 self to behis bail, not wishing to commit him to prison. He 
 cordially thanked his Honor for his unmerited kindness, but 
 protested that he stood on the ground of principle, and that 
 he was called, in the providence of God, to assert the rights 
 and liberty of a minister of Christ, and of a worshiping as- 
 sembly, and denied the legitimate interference and cogni- 
 zance of the King's government in such matters. The Mayor 
 delayed for several days deciding in the case, and requesting 
 him to take the matter into consideration, suffered him to 
 withdraw to his own house, under the assurance that he must 
 again appear before the Court and give his definite answer. 
 The occasion and procedure were productive of great excite- 
 ment. The news that the King's government was going to 
 put Mr. Duffield in prison, spread through the city and into 
 the country, until it reached the region where he had for- 
 merly lived. Here the excitement became so great that the 
 volunteer forces, to whom he was well-known, and by whom 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY., 16& 
 
 he was much beloved, assembled, and resolved to hold them- 
 selves in readiness to march, though distant a hundred miles 
 or more, to the city of Philadelphia, if he should be impris- 
 oned, and set him at liberty in opposition to the King's gov- 
 ernment. The occasion and opportunity for their valor 
 were never afforded ; for he was never again brought before 
 the Mayor's Court. He was allowed to pursue his minis- 
 terial duties unmolested, and the First Church settled their 
 matters with the branch, and recognized their right to call 
 the minister of their choice without dictation or control. 
 
 Attempts, however, were made to prevent his introduc- 
 tion into the Presbytery to which the First Church and their 
 pastor belonged. He insisted on his right, according to the 
 social compact, to be received by them, refusing to com- 
 mence his ministry in Philadelphia with allowed imputa- 
 tions of his character and orthodoxy. Eventually, when he: 
 had been so received, that his presence might not molest 
 men who did not sympathize with him in ecclesiastical mat- 
 ters, he voluntarily applied for and received a dismission to 
 the other Presbytery, with whose members he had more 
 especial affinity. 
 
 During a part of the sessions of the Colonial Congress he 
 was employed, with the Eev. Mr. (afterwards Bishop) White, 
 as chaplain to that body. John Adams attended regularly 
 OH his ministry, and communed with his church during the 
 sitting of Congress in Philadelphia. 
 
 Mr. Duffield was eminently a man of devotional feelings 
 and habits, and was instrumental in establishing the first 
 prayer-meeting in any Presbyterian church in Philadelphia. 
 So much did he value prayer, and so important did he feel it to 
 be to excite and encourage the men that had left their homes 
 and periled their lives in the cause of freedom, to look to 
 God and put their trust in Him, that he would occasionally, 
 in the darkest hours of the Revolution, leave his charge and 
 repair to the camp, where the fathers and sons of many of 
 his flock were gathered, and minister to them in the public 
 preaching of the Word, and in personal converse. 
 
 When the enemy were lying on Staten Island, and the 
 American troops were on the opposite side of the Sound, on 
 14 
 
170 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 a Sabbath day he preached to a portion of the soldiers 
 gathered into an orchard, having ascended into the forks of 
 a tree for his pulpit. The noise of their singing arrested the 
 enemy's attention, who directed several cannon shot to be 
 fired toward the spot whence it proceeded. As the shot 
 •came rushing through the trees, he suggested that they 
 -should retire behind a hillock, and not remote from the spot 
 where they were, which was done under the enemy's fire, 
 without injury, and there they finished their religious exer- 
 cises. He was with the army in their battles and retreat 
 through Jersey, during that dark and nearly hopeless period 
 of the Revolution, and was almost the very last man that 
 crossed the bridge over the stream immediately south of 
 Trenton, before it was cut down by order of the American 
 general. For this preservation he was indebted to a Quaker 
 friend, whom he had essentially aided in his hour of trial — 
 though of politics opposed to his own — and whose deliver- 
 ance he had been the means of securing. The British officers 
 had put a price upon his head, and were particularly anxious 
 to destroy him, because of the influence he exerted among 
 the soldiers of the American army. After the retreat from 
 Princeton, he had retired to a private house in Trenton to 
 seek repose, and was not aware that the American army had 
 taken up their line of march and had nearly all crossed the 
 bridge, until his Quaker friend, having ascertained that he 
 was in the town, sought him out and gave him the alarm, just 
 in time for him to escape before the bridge was destroyed 
 by the retreating army of Washington. 
 
 He continued the pastor of the Third Presbyterian church 
 until the day of his death, and was greatly respected and 
 beloved by them. He received the degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity from Yale College, in 1785. He died in Philadel- 
 phia, among the people of his charge, February 2nd, 1790, 
 aged 57 years. 
 
 DUFFIBLD, Ekv. George, was born in the village of 
 Strasburg, Lancaster county, July 4th, 1794. His father, 
 also named George, was a merchant, and for nine years 
 Eegister and Comptroller General, under Governor McKean. 
 His grandfather, also bearing the same name, was chaplain 
 
OF LANOASTEE COUNTY. 171 
 
 of tlie Old Continental Congress, an honor he held in con- 
 nection with Bishop White. 
 
 The subject of this notice graduated at the early age of 
 sixteen years, at the University of Pennsylvania, then under 
 the Presidency of S. McDowell, LL.D., He read theology, 
 and was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Philadel- 
 phia, on the 20th of April, 1815. He immediately there- 
 upon entered upon the duties of his profession, in which he 
 faithfully continued to labor up to the day of his death. In 
 1817 he married, in New York city, Miss Isabella Bethune, 
 a daughter of the well-known merchant, and sister of the 
 Eev. George W. Bethune, D.D. In 1837 he was called to the 
 Broadway Tabernacle as the successor of the Eev. Charles 
 Gr. Finney. In 1838 he was called to the First Presbyterian 
 congregation of Detroit, a position he at once accepted, and 
 continued as the sole pastor thereof until April 27th, 1865, 
 when the Eev. N. S. McCorkle was installed as associate 
 pastor. The subject of this notice was honored with the 
 title of Doctor of Divinity by the University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Dr. Duffield was very regular and assiduous in his clerical 
 ministrations, preaching regularly to his congregation, except 
 when temporarily disabled, up to the period of his death. 
 Even during the cholera epidemic of 1849, he steadily stood 
 his post, and being severely 'prostrated by the malady, and 
 from the effects of a chronic disease to which he had long 
 been subject, he, at the earnest solicitation of his friends, 
 accepted a leave of absence and went abroad for a year, and 
 then returned completely restored to health. 
 
 In his own denomination. Dr. DufBield's learning and 
 ability made him one of its most eminent divines. He ranked 
 in the same category with Drs. Lyman Beecher, Albert 
 Barnes, S. H. Cox, Bethune, Spring, and Sprague. His in- 
 fluence was long exerted and will be permanent. He died 
 at Detroit, June 26th, 1868. 
 
 DUNLAP, John M., is a native of Lancaster county, and 
 a practicing physician in the borough of Manheim. He set 
 out in life as a teacher of a subscription school, but soon 
 after abandoned this for the study of medicine. He entered, 
 as a student of medicine, the ofice of Dr. F. S. Burrowes, 
 
172 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 of Lancaster city, and graduated at the Jefferson Medical 
 College, in 1845. He ckose the borough of Manheim for 
 the practice of his profession, and he was not long in estab- 
 lishing himself in a lucrative business, in which he is yet 
 steadily engaged. In 1863 he was nominated a,nd elected 
 a State Senator, a position he filled by a courteous and close 
 attention to the duties of the office. 
 
 DYSAET, James, was elected' Clerk of the Orphans' 
 Court in 1851. 
 
 E. 
 
 EBEEMAN, Jacob, son of John Eberman, was elected 
 County Treasurer in 1803. He was also elected Direc- 
 tor of the Poor, a position he held for three years. He was 
 commissioned by Governor McKean, a Justice of the Peace, 
 but never acted in that capacity. He was a land agent for 
 many years, and was instrumental in this line in securing 
 and effecting land titles for the owners of property while the 
 land office was located at Lancaster. 
 
 ^ EBEKMAN, Johk, was a clock-maker of Lancaster, and 
 the manufacturer of the first town clock in Lancaster, and 
 which is yet in existence. 
 
 EBEEMAN, John, a brother of Jacob Eberman, was 
 cashier of one of the old Lancaster banks for thirty years. 
 
 EBEEMAN, Peter G., son of Jacob Eberman, above 
 named, held the office of Commissioners' Clerk for a period 
 of upwards of a quarter of a century and until within the 
 last five years. He is an Alderman of Lancaster City. 
 
 'The old town clock was made and put up by John Eberman In the 
 old Court House, in 1786, at a cost of £550. About the year 1796 a new 
 steeple was added to the building, the clock taken down and new hands 
 Xiut thereon, which were considerably larger than the old ones, improve- 
 ments much commended at the time. It was on this occasion that 
 Jacob Eberman, son of John Eberman, lost his hand. The clock was 
 put up on a cold day of February, and his hand being numbed with the 
 cold, was accidentally caught between the large wheel and pinion when, 
 the works were in motion, and the fingers literally ground off. 
 
OF LANOASTEE COUNTY. 173 
 
 EBERLB, De. John, was born in Manor township, Lan- 
 caster county, in January, 1788. His father was a black- 
 smith, and designed his son to follow the same occupation, 
 but his nature, fitted for another career, prompted him to 
 make exertions to have his life directed in a different chan- 
 nel. Without more than the ordinary education of the 
 schools of his district, he began the study of medicine under 
 the direction of Dr. Abraham Carpenter, of Lancaster ; after- 
 wards he read with Dr. Olapp, in Philadelphia, and graduated 
 Doctor of Medicine, at the University of Pennsylvania, in 
 1809. The subject of his inaugural address was animal 
 heat. He entered upon the practice of medicine first in 
 Manheim, Lancaster county, and after a few years removed 
 to Lancaster city, where, a short time afterwards, he accepted 
 a commission as surgeon to the Lancaster militia, and was 
 present at the battle of Baltimore, in 1814. Whilst in 
 Lancaster he became, for a short period, the editor of a poli- 
 tical paper during a stirring gubernatorial election, and was 
 thereby seduced into the meshes of of&ce-hunters and un- 
 principled demagogues, and led into other kinds of practice, 
 that for a season threatened him with entire ruin. In this 
 way he lost all his practice as a physician in Lancaster, and 
 was obliged to select a new location for the pursuit of his 
 profession, and for this he determined upon the city of 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 In 1815 he began the practice of his profession in this 
 new location, where considerable time is usually required 
 to establish an extensive business. Not long after this he 
 wrote some articles which attracted marked attention, and 
 he was thus induced, shortly afterwards, to essay the edi- 
 torial management of a medical journal. In 1818 the 
 American Medical Recorder made its debut, under the editor- 
 ship of John Bberle, M. D., as a quarterly, and was ably sus- 
 tained by men who were willing to furnish him their contri- 
 butions without any pecuniary reward. To the establish- 
 ment of this journal Dr. Bberle greatly owed his subsequent 
 advancement and reputation ; he was soon thereafter elected 
 a member of the Linnsean Society of Philadelphia, and in 
 1822 the Berlin Medical Chirurgical. Society ■ enrolled his 
 
174 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 name in their list of foreign members. In 1825 he was 
 elected a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 He was active in promoting the interests of the Jefferson 
 Medical College, and may be regarded as one of its most 
 efficient founders. After the establishment of this institu- 
 tion he was appointed professor of the practice of Physic, 
 in 1825, and in 1830 was transferred to the chair of Materia 
 Medica, in the same college. He was lecturer, also, on 
 obstetrics. In the fall of 1831 he removed with his family 
 to Cincinnati, and was elected Professor of Materia Medica 
 in the Ohio Medical College. In the changes which neces- 
 sarily occurred on this occasion, he was called upon to 
 resume the branch he had formerly taught in Jefferson Col- 
 lege, and the practice of medicine again came within the 
 immediate duty of his professional chair. He continued to 
 discharge this responsible trust until 1837, when he was 
 induced, from many circumstances, once more to change the 
 the scene of his labors, and he removed to Lexington, Ky., 
 The professorship of the practice of medicine was now ten- 
 dered to him in the medical department of the Transylvania 
 University. He died shortly after his installment in this 
 institution, at Lexington, February 2nd, 1888. 
 
 Besides his labors as editor of the Medical Recorder, he is- 
 the author of several distinct treatises which will long render 
 his name familiar to the medical student. In 1822 his trea- 
 tise on Therapeutics came before the public, one which was 
 conceded not only in this country, but in distant lands, 
 to be the very best work on the subject ever issued from 
 the American press. As evidence of the high esteem placed 
 upon it, the work was translated into several foreign lan- 
 guages, and has been quoted with marked approbation ever 
 since. No American work on Therapeutics has ever yet 
 been published so full of originality and real excellence. In 
 1830 appeared his practice of Physic, in 2 vols, octavo, a 
 deservedly popular work, and since often re-printed. It was 
 the only Philadelphia issue on practical medicine that had 
 ever appeared, professing to be original to a great extent,, 
 and not a mere re-print of a foreign work with the addition. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 175 
 
 of a few brief notes. This, like his Therapeutics, found its 
 way into all the respectable libraries of the profession, and 
 was made a text-book in various colleges. In 1833 he issued 
 the first edition of his treatise on the Diseases of Children, a 
 ■work of considerable merit, and one which met with a fair 
 sale. 
 
 The life of Dr. ^Bberle was chiefly appropriated to the 
 advancement of the profession he had selected as the busi- 
 ness of his existence. His knowledge was the result of great 
 individual effort, often under the most discouraging and 
 adverse circumstances ; and, nevertheless, it was various and 
 extensive. To modern science, he added a familiar acquaint- 
 ance with Hippocratic medicine, and his regard for the 
 ancients led him to estimate somewhat unduly their merits. 
 That he labored not in vain, may be inferred from the 
 extensive circulation of his writings, and the estimation in 
 which they are generally held both by the students of sci- 
 ence and by men of clinical experience. 
 
 Dr. Alban Goldsmith, who was for five years a colleague 
 of Dr. Eberle in the Medical College of Ohio, in a letter to 
 Dr. Francis, of New York, thus writes of his lamented friend : 
 "In a wide survey of medical men with whom I have had 
 intercourse, I have rarely encountered one who possessed a 
 larger share of professional knowledge in the several branches 
 of healing than Dr. Eberle. To great extent of inf rmation 
 he united a kind and courteous demeanor, and was never 
 obtrusive in enforcing his practical opinions, except when 
 they were assailed by ignorance and unwarrantable assur- 
 ance. During *he period that we labored together, he was 
 a constant and indefatigable student, taking a wide survey 
 of the philosophy of medicine. His lectures were always of 
 a practical nature, and his hospital clinics filled with the 
 most valuable facts, the result of careful observation. His 
 deportment towards the junior members of the profession 
 was universally kind and parental, and he was always ready 
 to offer them aid in their inquiries. He was totally free 
 from all professional envy, and his intercourse with his col- 
 leagues was characterized by the strictest laws of etiquette. 
 Medicines or money were dispensed by him with like liberal- 
 
176 BIOGHAPHIOAL HISTORY 
 
 ity to remove the sufferings and alleviate the calamities of 
 the poor. In short, he was liberal to a fault and often care- 
 less of his own proper interests. He deserves to be recorded 
 as a successful pioneer in the valuable corps who have pro- 
 moted the diffusion of real science in the great west, and his 
 medical writings I think, may be justly estimated as having 
 added to the claims which indigenous literature and science 
 have upon the Confederation of the American Medical Fac- 
 
 xilty." 
 
 His remains, after being for a time deposited in Lexington, 
 were transferred to the Episcopal Cemetery in Cincinnati, 
 where a monument marks their final resting spot. 
 
 EBERLY, Samuel, elected Eecorder in 1839. He is 
 the father of Adam J. Eberly, esq. 
 
 EBY FAMILY. This family is an old and numerous 
 one; its members being scattered over different parts of 
 Pennsylvania, the adjoining States of New York and Mary- 
 land, and likewise reside in Canada and the west. 
 
 A perfect list of the individual members could not easily 
 be had. Neither can all of the existing branches be traced 
 to the parent stem. 
 
 The ancestor who first came to America, and from whom the 
 greater part of the family has sprung, was named Theodorus. 
 
 Theodorus, a Swiss by birth, and a Mennonite in faith, 
 left his native country on account of religious persecution, 
 and resided for awhile in the " Palatinate" or " Pfaltz," an 
 old division in Germany, whose chief towns were Manheim, 
 Heidelberg, Simmern and Zwei Brucken. 
 
 "When William Penn, by his agents, offered free homes to 
 persons of all religious denominations, Theodorus emigrated 
 to America and settled on Mill Creek, Lancaster county, at 
 a place lately known as Poland's mill, situated south of New 
 Hollai-d, and near the line of Earl stiid Leacock townships. 
 
 It is said he had five or six sons in his family, skilled in 
 the various mechanical arts; so that with their assistance he 
 built a mill, and erected such other buildings as were needed, 
 without employing persons outside of his family, except for 
 the purpose of burning charcoal to supply the smith forge, 
 which they did not themselves sufficiently understand. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 177 
 
 The place of Theodorus' birth cannot now be definitely 
 ascertained, there being no record in existence showing the 
 fact. Family tradition has it, that he came from Canton 
 " Schweitz," and must therefore have been of a race of hardy 
 mountaineers. 
 
 The date of his arrival in Pennsylvania, is fixed by the 
 Colonial Eecords, in 1715. And in the same year appears 
 the names of Jacob Hochstetter, Jacob Kreider, Johannes 
 Shenk and others. Five years later, in 1720, the family 
 received an addition by emigration, in the person of Peter 
 Eby, said to have been a relative of Theodorus ; and still 
 another much later, whose kinship, however, was never rec- 
 ognized. 
 
 In 1728, it appears that two persons were naturalized un- 
 der the name of " Abye." These may have been sons of 
 either Theodorus or Peter, and their names erroneously 
 spelled by the government agent. It is to be observed 
 that the descendants of Theodorus have always scrupulously 
 adhered to the literal translation of the name, while some 
 of the others have adopted the pronunciation of the German 
 into the English, and wrote themselves " Baby." So far as 
 can be judged from the oldest known members, they must 
 originally have been an active, quick-tempered, brown-eyed, 
 dark-haired family. 
 
 The name of only one of the sons of Theodorus is now 
 certainly known, which was Christian. 
 
 Cheistian married a Mayer, and settled on Hammer 
 Creek, in Elizabeth township, about three miles north of 
 Litiz. He died in 1756. His wife died in 1787. They left 
 a family of ten children as follows : Christian, Johannes, Bar- 
 bara, married to Jacob Hershey, Peter, Anna, married to 
 Christian Stauffer, Andrew, George, Elizabeth, married to 
 Jacob Hershej'', Samuel, and Michael. 
 
 His oldest son. Christian Eby, who married Catharine 
 Bricker, retained the mansion place on Hammer Creek, 
 which he greatly improved by building a new stone dwell- 
 ing house, the date of which is 1754, a large barn, and a new 
 mill and a dwelling house and barn for his son John. 
 
 He was a large, well-proportioned and athletic man, re- 
 
178 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 taining unusual health and vigor of both body and mind, 
 up to the time of his death. He was elder in the Mennonite 
 church, and wore a long beard, which in his later years had 
 turned white. Eegular stated Mennonite meetings were 
 held at his house, until a building for that special purpose 
 was erected in the neighborhood. 
 
 He lived during the Revolutionary war, and foraging 
 parties carried off some of his horses and cattle, as also 
 large quantities of flour and grain out of his mill. On one 
 occasion his wife's pewter dishes and spoons, and an oven 
 full of newly baked bread and pies shared the same fate. 
 
 During the winter in which the American army was en- 
 camped at Valley Forge, a number of disabled soldiers were 
 quartered in the old Lutheran church, near Brickerville, 
 and were supplied weekly with milk and other necessaries 
 from his and other neighboring farms. 
 
 He died in 1807. His wife, who is said to have been an 
 amiable and greatly esteemed person, surviving him several 
 years. He left eleven children, as follows : 1. Elizabeth, 
 wife of Joseph Bucher, resided near Litiz, and left descend- 
 ants. 2. Christian, who resided on the home-place. 3. 
 Peter, who moved to Pequea valley, and afterwards became 
 a Mennonite Bishop. 4. John, who lived at the mill, adjoin- 
 ing the old place. 5. Andrew, who died, middle-aged, leav- 
 ing several children, that afterwards moved to the west. 6. 
 Catharine, wife of Abraham Burkholder, resided in Earl 
 township. 7. Barbara, wife of Joseph Snyder, moved to 
 Canada. 8. Anna, wife of Jacob Wissler, resided in Clay 
 township. 9. George. 10. Benjamin, who moved to Canada, 
 was made a minister in the Mennonite church, and succeeded 
 his brother Peter as Bishop of the Mennonites in Canada. 
 11. Maria, wife of Jacob Brubacher, resided in Elizabeth 
 township. 
 
 CHRiSTiAisr Eby, son of Christian the second, was married 
 to a Hershey, and left the following children : 1. Catharine, 
 died unmarried. 2. Elizabeth, wife of David Gingrich, re- 
 sided in Lancaster county. Left eight children, among whom 
 are Samuel, Christian, and John, who follow farming, and 
 are useful citizens ; the latter being an active school director, 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 179 
 
 and treasurer of the board of Bast Hempfield. 3. Anna, 
 "wife of Samuel Nissley, residing in Rapho towuship, had a 
 family of qhildren. 4. Maria, wife of Peter Bby, resided in 
 Penn township, and left two sons, Seth. and Joel. 5. Barbara, 
 wife of Abraham Reist, resided in Penn township, and had a 
 family of children. 6. Eev. Benjamin, served as a minister 
 among the Mennonites for many years, up to the time of his 
 death. Retained the old mansion place, at Hammer creek, 
 the greater portion of his life, and afterwards moved to 
 Washington county, Maryland, where he died. He left four 
 sons and one daughter, all residing out of the county. 7; 
 Christian resided in East Hempfield township, and left three 
 children. Panny died unmarried;. Ann, wife of John Ging- 
 rich, and Elizabeth, wife of Abm. Eohrer, both residing in 
 Hempfield township. 8. Sem resides in Leacock township, 
 follows farming, a worthy man, and father of a numerous 
 family. 9. Susan, wife of Henry Stauffer, resides in Rapho 
 township, and has two sons and two daughters. 
 
 Petee Eby, married to Margaret Hess, moved to Salis- 
 bury township, near the Gap, in 1791, and followed farming 
 when his time was not taken up by his duties as a minister 
 of the gospel or bishop in the Mennonite church. He was 
 ordained a minister in 1800, and the second among his de- 
 nomination in that neighborhood. Up to 1814 he preached 
 in private houses; then a school-house was erected, and 
 afterwards a meeting-house for that special purpose. 
 
 This member of the family deserves more than a passing 
 notice. His fame as a preacher was widely known, and 
 served to fill the houses to their utmost capacity wherever 
 he was known to officiate. 
 
 The ministers in the Macnonite church are not educated 
 for the pulpit, nor adopt the ministry as a profession ; they 
 are chosen by lot, whenever a position is to be filled, from a 
 small number of the congregation considered most worthy. 
 
 Several ministers usually reside convenient to a particular 
 meeting-house, where they are expected to ofiiciate upon all 
 ordinary occasions. On communion days, and other special 
 occasions, a Bishop is required to be present. The bishops 
 have also certain districts allotted to each, and the privilege 
 
180 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 of presiding amongst them is generally accorded to the 
 senior in office, or the most eminent in abilities. This posi- 
 tion Peter held for many years, up to the time of his death; 
 and his authority also extended over the church in Canada, 
 until he was succeeded there by his younger brother, 
 Benjamin. 
 
 To form some idea of his powers as an orator, it is neces- 
 sary to state that the principal sermon in the Mennonite 
 churches was always prefaced by an introductory discourse 
 from one of the younger ministers present ; and that on 
 communion day, the subject invariably used to be Bible 
 history, from Adam down, bringing out the prominent 
 events and prophecies pointing to the new dispensation. 
 The introductory discourse generally brought it down to the 
 time of Ivoah and Isaac, when it would be taken up by the 
 Bishop and continued to the birth of Christ, His ministry on 
 earth, and His final suffering and death. Old as the story 
 had become, the audience never tired listening to it from the 
 eloquent lips of Peter. When he slowly arose, all noise 
 subsided into an almost painful expectation. Then he would 
 break the silence with a kind and fatherly greeting to his 
 hearers, and glide gently into the course marked out for 
 himself. Proceeding step by step, describing, explaining, 
 illustrating and sustaining his points as he went along, with 
 copious quotations from the Scriptutes, for all of which he 
 drew upon his extraordinary memory, he would gradually 
 warm up in his theme, and, when under full sway, his dis- 
 course moved along like a deep, clear stream, rolling ocean - 
 ward, without a break or ripple, grand, majestic, and irre- 
 sistible. His powers, however, were brought out most fully 
 when he came to portray the acts and sufferings of his 
 Master during his last few days upon earth. The scene in 
 Oethsemane ; the sleeping disciples ; the noise and tumult 
 breaking upon the stillness of the night, when the armed 
 men came to take Him ; the doings before the Jewish and 
 Roman tribunals ; the embarrassment of Pontius Pilate, and 
 his fruitless devices to save Jesus ; the message sent him by 
 his wife ; his last resort, when he gave the Jews to choose 
 between Jesus and Barabbas, and the cries of the infuriated 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 181 
 
 multitude that pronounced his condemnation. Then the 
 sorrowful train moving up Calvary ; the preparation to carry 
 the fearful sentence into execution ; and lastly, the finishing 
 act in the sublime drama ; the Saviour of mankind nailed 
 between heaven and earth, His side pierced, and yet, with 
 parched lips, in the agonies of death, crying to the 'Father 
 to forgive ; the darkening of the heavens, the quaking of 
 the earth, and the elements bearing witness, in thunders and 
 lightnings, to the divinity of Him that was suffering. All 
 this he would portray in a manner so vivid that the speaker 
 would be forgotten in the subject. Then, as his voice, sup- 
 pressed by emotion, and sinking into silence, would allow 
 the attention of his hearers to return to the speaker, he 
 would stand before them, tears streaming down his cheeks, 
 his countenance glowing, and his raised hands directing the 
 penitent sinner, as it were, to the foot of a visible cross. 
 
 His preaching was altogether extemporaneous, and its effect 
 upon an audience great. And yet he was not a sensational 
 preacher ; he addressed the judgment as well as the feelings, 
 and his discourses abounded in arguments and reasonings 
 that were listened to with admiration by the most polemical 
 or logical. So much was this the case, that it frequently 
 happened, that strangers hearing him for the first time, 
 although otherwise informed, would not be convinced that 
 he was not a person regularly educated and trained for the 
 ministry. 
 
 His personal appearance also was greatly in his favor, be- 
 ing somewhat above medium height, well proportioned and 
 fleshy, with a high, square, even forehead, a finely formed 
 face, that had it not indicated quite as much force, might have 
 been called classic ; a deportment easy, grave and dignified. 
 An acquaintance of his, who had heard some of the most 
 noted orators of the state and nation, in and out of the pul- 
 pit, gave it as his opinion, that for none of them, it seemed, 
 had nature done so much towards making the " Orator," as 
 for this grand old servant of the church. 
 
 In the councils over which he presided as Bishop, his 
 voice was equally potent. His clear intellect enabled him 
 to probe difficulties to the bottom ; and his impartial decis- 
 
182 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ions pronounced without fear or favor, were acknowledged 
 to be just, and rarely appealed from. 
 
 He died April 6tli, 1843, in the 78th year of his age. His 
 family consisted of nine children who arrived to adult age ; 
 the names of only three were furnished the author, viz.: 
 Peter, Christian and Henry, and one of the daughters, mar- 
 ried to a Stauffer. 
 
 John Eby resided at the mill adjoining the old mansion 
 place, and was a quiet, unobtrusive, but prominent man in 
 the community in which he lived. A miller and a farmer by 
 occupation, he dealt extensively in produce, which he had 
 transported to Newport and Philadelphia, keeping a team of 
 his own for that purpose, and also employing teams of his 
 neighbors when they could be spared from the farms. 
 
 He was a promoter of improvements. In the day of turn- 
 pikes he served as a director ; had roads laid out ; one to 
 open communication between the town of Manheim and the 
 Bphrata turnpike, at Durlaoh, and one from his place to 
 Brickerville, besides others. The first school-house in the 
 neighborhood was built on his farm, at his own private 
 expense, where the youth of the neighborhood were educated 
 by teachers procured by him. 
 
 It was mostly through his influence that the Mennonites 
 of Lancaster county purchased a large tract of land in 
 Canada, to assist their distressed brethren in that part of the 
 world, and which subsequently became the home of many 
 of their descendants. He left eight children, viz : 1. Catha- 
 rine, wife of John Hostetter, who resided in Manor township, 
 her family consisting of seven children, John, Blias, Jonas, 
 Abraham D., Martha, Mary and Catharine. 2. Jonas, mar- 
 ried to Fanny Nissley, resides in West Hempfield township ; 
 family consisted of six children, who arrived to adult age, 
 John N., Elias, (now a school director of Eapho), Samuel N., 
 Simon J., Henry TST., and Fanny. 3. Mary, wife of Jacob 
 Yundt, resided formerly in Elizabeth township, but moved 
 to Neipersville, Illinois ; family consisting of seven children. 
 4. Eebecca, wife of John Bomberger, resided near Manheim 
 borough, and left three children, Martha, Christian and Sem. 
 6. Blias resided at the mill in Elizabeth township, followed 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 183 
 
 farming and milling ; was elected sheriff of Lancaster county 
 in 1861, serving three years ; died September, 1862, in the 
 57th year of his age. Left three children, Simon P., a prac- 
 ticing attorney in Lancaster city; Mary, and Eliza. 6. 
 Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Eisser, resided in West Hemp- 
 field township, now in Mt. Joy borough. Her family con- 
 sisted of seven children, Ann, wife of Jacob K. Nissley, 
 Mary, Levi, Jonas, Reuben, Samuel and Joseph. 7. Levi 
 resided in Eapho township ; followed farming, and left five 
 daughters, Mary, Sarah, Fanny, Fianna and Eebecca. 8. 
 Anna, wife of Eev. Samuel Hershey, resides near Manheim 
 borough. Her family consists of four children, viz: Levi, 
 Henry, Mary and Anna. 
 
 Catharine Burkholder had a son by the name of Chris- 
 tian. He married Veronica Groff, who resided in West Earl 
 township. 
 
 Her grandchildren are: 1st, Seth, moved to Whiteside 
 county, Illinois. 2. Christiana, late wife of John B. Sen- 
 senig, resided in Earl township. 3. Elias, moved to White- 
 side county, Illinois. 4. Ezra, resides in West Earl town- 
 ship, is a justice of the peace, surveyor and scrivener. 5. 
 Catharine, wife of John Martin, resides in West Earl town- 
 ship. 6. Menno, resides in West Earl township. 7. FranceSj 
 wife of Adam Myers, resides in Upper Leacock township. 
 8. Maria. 9. Groff. 10. Ann. These three reside in West 
 Earl township. 11. Christian, deceased. 12. Peter, moved 
 to Whiteside county, Illinois. 
 
 Anna Wisler's Family. 1. Andrew, moved to Michi- 
 gan. 2. Jacob, resided in Clay township, farmer left four 
 children. 3. Christian, resided in Clay township, followed 
 milling, left four children. 4. Martha, wife of Jacob Lan- 
 dis, resided in Ephrata township, left three children. 5. 
 Ezra, resides in Clay township, follows farming, family con- 
 sisting of two sons. 6. Mary, wife of Levi Brb, moved to 
 Canada, and now resides in Shenandoah county, Virginia, 
 family consisting of two daughters. 7. John, moved to 
 Canada, and afterwards to Shenandoah county, Virginia, 
 where he was engaged in the iron business, and died leaving 
 six children. 8. Samuel, resided in Canada, engaged in the 
 
184 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOBY 
 
 milling and manufacturing business, left family of some five 
 children. 9. Levi, resides on the old Wissler family man- 
 sion in Clay township, one of the first places settled in ' that 
 neighborhood, and originally owned by a person named 
 Groff. 
 
 Eev. Benjamin" Bby, who succeeded his brother Peter as 
 presiding Bishop of the Mennonites in Canada, was married 
 to an Erb, and left a family of eleven children, one of whom 
 also became a minister of the Gospel. 
 
 He moved to Canada in and settled where Berlin, the county 
 town of Waterloo county now stands ; but which was at 
 was at that time an unbroken forest. He died in a few years 
 ago. His farm, like many others in that county, afterwards 
 settled upon by Lancaster county people, was a part of the 
 large tract purchased by the Mennonites, as mentioned in the 
 notice of his elder brother John. 
 
 Two of his sons became printers, and for many years pub- 
 lished a newspaper, as also hymn books and other religious 
 works. The latter being done under the supervision of their 
 father. 
 
 Maeia Brdbaker's Family. 1. Sam, resides in Eapho 
 township; has two sons. Martin IST. is a justice of the 
 peace, and follows surveying and scrivening. Rev. Jacob 
 N. follows farming, and is a minister, of much promise, in 
 the Mennonite church. 2. Henry B. resides in Elizabeth 
 township, and is the present owner of the old Bby mansion 
 place, on Hammer creek, follows farming and has a family. 
 3. Isaac, resides in Eapho, and is a farmer. 4. Jacob E., 
 resides on the old Brubaker mansion place, in Elizabeth 
 township, and follows farming. 5. Maria, wife of John 
 
 Eeist, resides in Penn township. 6. , wife of Jacob 
 
 Brubaker, resides in Lancaster township. 7. Anna, wife of 
 Eev. Horst, resides near Manheim borough. 
 
 There was a Christian Bby, who resided near ISTefisville, 
 and died in 1867, near Brickerville. He was a descendant 
 of Theodoras by another branch. Left nine children : John, 
 resides in Cumberland county ; Eliza, wife of Abm. Metzler; 
 Christian, resides in Conestoga Centre ; Mary, wife of Erhard 
 Lutz ; Anna, wife of Elias Barr, resides in Lancaster city 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 185 
 
 Benjamin moved to Ohio ; Lydia, wife of E. Pfautz ; Ephraim 
 0., resides near Brickerville ; Catharine, wife of Daniel Flory. 
 
 There was an Bphraim Eby, who lived near Elizabethtown, 
 a much esteemed man. He had seven children ; Jacob, mer- 
 chant and banker, resides in Harrisburg ; Ephraim, merchant, 
 resides in Philadelphia ; Mrs. Grove, of Columbia, and Mrs. 
 Weaver, of Lancaster city. Three dead. A third brother, 
 Jacob, resides in Ohio. 
 
 There was a Jacob Eby, a cousin of the elder Christian, 
 who settled on a farm on Hammer creek, Elizabeth town- 
 ship, now owned by Jacob E. Hess. He left three sons ; 
 Abraham married, but had no children ; Peter, who lived 
 a hermit (Einsiedler), in a pleasant little home in Elizabeth 
 township; died in 1836, leaving a will, by which he directed 
 all his estate and property, of which he possessed a consid- 
 erable amount, to be distributed in flour among the deserv- 
 ing poor, irrespective of age, sex, natiou, color, or religion. 
 This was faithfully carried out by his executors, such dis- 
 tribution being made gradually, and lasting three or four 
 years ; two wagon loads were sent to Lancaster city, and there 
 distributed from the hardware store of Geo. Louis Mayer. 
 He also wrote and published a small religious work, most 
 copies of which were either sold or distributed after his death. 
 
 The other son, Abraham, left four children, viz : Abraham, 
 Peter, John and Jonas. Of these the first named lived in 
 East Cocalico township, and had eight children. The second 
 lived near Manheim borough, and had two sons ; the third 
 left one son in Iowa, and the last named resided nea r Shoe- 
 neck, and left one daughter, wife of Henry B. Brb. 
 
 There was a Peter Eby who settled in Upper Leacock 
 township, and married a Eoland. His family consisted of 
 eight children: Peter, Samuel, Henry, John, David, Chris- 
 tian, Andrew, Ann, wife of Abm. Wenger. The two oldest, 
 Peter and Samuel, served in the Ee volution ary war, under 
 Capt. Eoland, and were present in the American army when 
 the British took New York, in 1776. Samuel afterwards 
 married and resided in Leacock township, and followed farm- 
 ing. He left four children, Samuel, Jonas, Barbara, wife of 
 Wm. Good; Elizabeth, wife of John Good. 
 15 
 
186 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 His son, Jonas Bby, married a Line, and his family con- 
 sists of three children, viz: Samuel Bby, a justice of the 
 peace, surveyor and scrivener, and banker, residing in Eliza- 
 bethtown; Isaac, and Lavina, wife of Martin Leber. 
 
 There was also Isaac Bby, of Leacock township, father of 
 Major Christian Eby, who at one time was the owner of 
 Eoland's mill, where Theodorus settled, and adjoining which 
 some of his descendants still live. 
 
 Jacob S. Bby, who resides on a farm in Upper Leacock 
 township, that has been in the name for about a century, is 
 the son of Jacob, and a grandson of Daniel Bby. 
 
 Moses and Joel Bby, of Intercourse, are said to be of the 
 same branch as Jacob S. Bby, although they write their 
 names Baby: 
 
 There was also Christian Bby, of Eapho township, lately 
 deceased, who followed farming and milling, and who left a 
 family of well-doing children, among whom are Jacob and 
 George. 
 
 The only descendants of Samuel Bby, who lived about 
 two miles south of Manheim, are a daughter, married to 
 Henry Kurtz, of Mt. Joy borough, and a daughter married 
 to Eberly, of Clay township. 
 
 BCKMAN, John, a metnber of the Legislature in 1794. 
 BDIE, John, elected State Senator in 1792. 
 EDWAEDS, Thos., a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1729, 1730, 1731, 1732, 1735, 1736 and 1739. 
 
 EHLEE, John, elected sheriff of Lancaster county in 1842. 
 
 EHEBNFEIED, Joseph, was born in the city of Mayence, 
 in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, on the 25th of December, 
 1783. His parents were members of the Eoman Catholic 
 faith, and designed him for the priesthood, and sent him to 
 school to be educated for this purpose. At the age of nine- 
 teen he left his native country, and emigrated to America 
 about 1802. He began his career in this country as a 
 school teacher, in 1803, in the "Grove School House," in 
 Bast Donegal township, Lancaster county. Not long after 
 this period Mr. Bhrenfried received the situation of transla- 
 tor and book-keeper in Albright's printing establishment in 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 187 
 
 the city of Lancaster, where he acquired a practical know- 
 ledge of the " art preservative of all arts ;" and in 1808, in 
 connection with William Hamilton, he established the 
 Yolksfreund, a German paper, which he disposed of to John 
 Baer, in 1817, by whose sons the paper yet continues to be 
 published. He continued in the establishment of Mr. Baer 
 as editor, translator and compositor for twenty years, during 
 which time he translated into German " Buck's Theological 
 Dictionary," and published in German the works of Dietrich 
 Phillips; wrote and published in German " Bhrenfried's Col- 
 loquial Phrases," besides a number of other works. . 
 
 About 1837 he made two visits to his native country, and 
 after his return he removed to Harrisburg, the capital of the 
 State, and published the Vaterland's Waechter ; and during 
 the administration of Governor Eitner, he held the office of 
 German State printer. He subsequently established the 
 Friedensboten, a German newspaper, at Allentown, Pa., which 
 he disposed of sonde time thereafter, and accepted the of&ce 
 of Deputy Eegister of Wills, of Lancaster county, in 1845, 
 which he filled until the autumn of 1860, performing the 
 duties thereof entirely to the satisfaction of his superior 
 officer and the community at large, and retiring only at the 
 dictation of age and increasing infirmity. 
 
 In 1809 Mr. Ehrenfried married Mrs. Ann Smith, formerly 
 Miss Ann Hubley, a daughter of Bernard Hubley, esq., of 
 Lancaster city, and had celebrated both his silver and his 
 golden wedding days, an event that happens to so few in pro- 
 portion to the number of marriages. About the year 1816 
 he became a receiver of the doctrines of the New Church 
 (Swedenborgian), through the instrumentality of Professor 
 Frederick Damish, a Saxon music teacher, a congenial and 
 intimate friend. In 1835 or 1836 he became connected with 
 the "Lancaster New Jerusalem Society," and held the office 
 of president for twenty years. In the welfare of his church 
 Mr. Ehrenfried always manifested a deep interest, as did he 
 also in that of the church at large. He was cotemporary 
 with Damish, Young, Girling, and Keefer. 
 
 Mr. Ehrenfried died March 6th, 1862, in the 79th year of 
 his age. In his conduct and deportment he was one of the 
 
188 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 meekest of men, was most highly esteemed hj all classes of 
 citizens, and we hazard the assertion that he died without 
 an enemy. He was an industrious and working man, and 
 in addition to his usual vocation did much in compiling 
 and translating from the English into the German language. 
 Only a short time before his death he was engaged in the 
 translation of Noble's Lectures, for the Monatschrift. 
 
 The following, as illustrative of his entire rectitude of 
 principle, deserves to be recorded. Having proved unfor- 
 tunate, he became involved in debt, and all his property 
 passed from his hands. After living in Harrisburg and 
 having regained a footing, he visited Lancaster and gave 
 public announcement in the papers, that he would meet his 
 creditors on a certain day, and pay them his indebtedness, 
 at a place specified. He met his creditors, according to 
 announcement, and paid all his debts, great and small, and 
 from that day forth acted upon the scriptural injunction, 
 " Owe no man anything." 
 
 EICHHOLTZ, Henry, was, in September, 1818, appointed 
 Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of the Lancaster district , 
 in the room of John Hoff, deceased. 
 
 EICHHOLTZ, Jacob, was born in the borough of Lancas- 
 ter, in the year 1776, and shortly after the declaration of 
 American Independence. He, in after years, congratulated 
 himself in having the fortune to be born an American instead 
 of a British subject. His parents were of German ancestry, 
 and having a large family, were not in circumstances to 
 afford the subject of our notice more than a limited English 
 education. His father and three of his brothers bore arms 
 in the struggle of the American Colonies for independence. 
 At the early age of seven years, he showed signs of that 
 inborn trait which, in after-life, enrolled him as a painter of 
 wide repute, and rendered him a marked nian in his day. 
 It was as a child up in his father's garret with a piece of red 
 chalk, that he was in the habit of delineating the infantile 
 specimens of his art upon the walls; but his father was 
 unable to appreciate the budding genius, and little heeded 
 these monitions of superior intellect. Besides a few lessons 
 obtained from a sign painter, young Eichholtz received 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 189 
 
 no instruction in that art for the knowledge of which his 
 whole sonl was aspiring; and he, in after years, was in 
 the habit of remarking the intense agony that seized him 
 when the sad tale of the sign painter's suicide was brought 
 to his ears, occasioned by unrequited love. All the bright 
 hopes that had dawned upon his youthful vision seemed 
 in this occurrence as buried forever. Sadness for a time 
 seated itself upon the throne of his spiritual existence, and 
 but blank grief seemed to be invited in the prospect of his 
 future career. The instruction in painting he had already 
 received was but as nothing, but the little seed had been 
 sown in a fertile soil. 
 
 He was next apprenticed by his father to learn the cop- 
 persmith business, and whilst engaged in this business, his 
 predilection was still showing itself in the sketches of his 
 fellow apprentices pictured on the walls of the shop with 
 charcoal. After the expiration of his apprenticeship, he 
 began business as a coppersmith upon his own account; but 
 ever and continually the ruling passion of his inner life was 
 manifesting itself. Chance, as it were, brought a painter to 
 Lancaster, and this formed a pivot of his after career. He 
 now had an opportunity to gather from this painter all the 
 information of which he was in possession as regards the art 
 •of his aspirations. Prior to this period, he says : " I had 
 made some rude efforts, with terrible success, having noth- 
 ing more than a boot-jack for a palette, and anything in the 
 shape of a brush, for at that time brushes were not to be had 
 even in Philadelphia. At length I was fortunate enough 
 to get a few half- worn brushes from Sully, when on the eve 
 of his departure for England. This was a great feast for 
 me, and enabled me to go on until others were to be had." 
 
 Having by this time a fari-.ily of several children, he 
 hesitated the abandonment of the coppersmith business for 
 that of painting, not being fully convinced of the pecuniary 
 result that might follow such a step. To attempt to support 
 his family by painting, seemed hazardous, and his prudent 
 nature forbade a doubtful enterprise. He therefore still car- 
 ried on the business of his trade, and alternated his time be- 
 tween coppersmithing and painting. The specimens of his 
 
190 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 skill as a painter went forth, and his reputation steadily 
 grew. His shop became the resort of the fashionable and 
 wealthy. It was no unusual thing for him to be called out 
 of his shop to see a fair lady who desired her picture painted. 
 The coppersmith immediately became the face painter. At 
 length his patronage in the career of his choice enabled him 
 to abandon the coppersmith business and devote all his time 
 to painting. His fame as a painter spread, and he was called 
 upon by the highest magnates of America to have their 
 likenesses painted. Among others he painted a portrait of 
 Nicholas Biddle, President of the United States Bank. 
 
 He was now urged by a friend, who appreciated his 
 superior abilities, to visit Boston, then the seat of the Ameri- 
 can fine arts. He resolved to act upon this suggestion. He 
 visited Boston, and was accorded a handsome reception by 
 gentlemen who were able to appreciate his skill. He took 
 with him a specimen of his workmanship, and called upoH 
 the eminent painter, Stuart. Of this interview, Eichholtz 
 says : " Here I had a fiery trial to undergo. My picture was 
 placed alongside of the best of his hand, and that lesson I 
 considered the best I had ever received. The comparison 
 was, I thought, enough ; and if I had vanity before I went, 
 it all left me before my return." Stuart, however, assured 
 him that he should not be discouraged, and that the speci- 
 men of his skill warranted his perseverance. 
 
 Upon his return, finding his native town too small to sup- 
 port a painter, he removed to Philadelphia, where, by an 
 incessant practice of ten years and constant employment, he 
 gathered a competence, and afterwards returned to his native 
 town. He died May 11th, 1842. 
 
 The following is a copy of Sully's account of his first 
 meeting with Mr. Eichholtz : 
 
 "When Governor Snyder was elected I was employed by Mr. Binns 
 to go on to Lancaster and paint a portrait of the new chief magistrate 
 of the State. Eichholtz was then employing all his leisure hours, stolen 
 from the manufacturing of tin kettles and coflfee-pans, in painting ; his 
 attempts were hideous. He kindly offered me the use of his painting 
 room, which I readily accepted, and gave him, during my stay in Lan- 
 caster, all the professional information I could impart, (in that interim 
 he had visited and copied Stuart). I was much surprised and gratified. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 191 
 
 I have no doubt that Eichholtz would have made a flrst-rate painter, 
 had he begun early in life, with the usual advantages. 
 
 In my intercourse with Eichholtz I have admired in him a man of 
 frank, simple and unpretending manners, whose conversation marked 
 his good sense, and whose conduct evinced that propriety which has led 
 to his success and ultimate independence. Mr. T. B. Freeman informs 
 me that, in 1831, he saw at Harrisburg a portrait, by Eichholtz, which 
 excited his curiosity ; and going to Lancaster, called upon him and 
 invited him to Philadelphia, where the first portrait he painted was 
 Freeman's, and soon afterwards Commodore Gales." Bunlap's History 
 of the Arts of Design, Vol. II, p. 338. 
 
 EICHHOLTZ, Leonard, was an innkeeper, and kept the 
 tavern with the sign of the " Ball's Head." He was father 
 of Jacob Eichholtz, the painter, and died April 26th, 1817, 
 in the 67th year of his age. He had been for many years an 
 elder of Trinity Lutheran church, and a highly esteemed 
 and respected citizen. 
 
 ELLMAKER, Amos, son of Nathaniel Bllmaker, was born 
 February 2nd, 1787, in New Holland, Lancaster county, Pa. 
 Giving early indications of marked ability, his father deter- 
 mined upon giving him a first-class education, and for this 
 purpose sent him to Yale College, where he finished his col- 
 legiate career ; afterwards he completed his law studies at 
 the celebrated law school, under Judge Reeves, at Litch- 
 field, Connecticut. 
 
 He began the practice of his profession at Harrisburg, 
 and was not long in establishing himself in his profession. 
 In 1816 he married Mary R., daughter of Thomas Elder, 
 esq., of that place. He was an ofl&cer in the army that 
 marched from Pennsylvania to the defence of Baltimore, in 
 the war of 1812. He was appointed Prosecuting Attorney for 
 Dauphin county, and was elected three times from the same 
 county a member of the House of Representatives. In 1814 
 he was elected a member of Congress, but declined to take 
 his seat, having been appointed President Judge of the dis- 
 trict composed of the counties of Dauphin, Lebanon and 
 Schuylkill. He resigned his judgeship and was appointed 
 Attorney- General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 
 which position he also resigned, and afterwards, in 1821, 
 removed to Lancaster, where he began the practice of his 
 profession. Here, as a lawyer, he met with extraordinary 
 
192 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 success, and retired from his labors in independence. He 
 was tlie candidate of the Anti-Masonic party for Vice Presi- 
 dent of the United States, in 1832. In 1834 he received the 
 next highest vote to James Buchanan for United States. 
 Senator, when the latter was elected. He died November 
 28th, 1851. 
 
 Amos Ellmaker possessed, in a considerable degree, the 
 particular characteristics of his father. He was no courier 
 of popular favor, but on many occasions, when proffered, 
 he refused to accept distinguished stations. Upon the acces- 
 sion of James Monroe to the Presidency, Mr. Ellmaker was 
 tendered the appointment of Secretary of War, a post for 
 which he was admirably qualified, but which he promptly 
 declined, notwithstanding the urgent solicitations of his 
 friends to accept the same. He preferred the quiet enjoy- 
 ments of private life to all the pomp and consequence of 
 official position. 
 
 Mr. Ellmaker possessed, in an eminent degree, those 
 characteristics that go to make up the soul of a great man. 
 In addition to a vast fund of information on all subjects, he 
 possessed a lively, social disposition, that made his. presence 
 pleasing to all; and no one had more of that elevation of 
 mind and generosity of soul which distinguish men of rare 
 endowments, than he. 
 
 In all the relations and positions of life, he was a model 
 worthy of imitation. He was distinguished for great cour- 
 tesy to the younger members of the profession, and was 
 ready at all times to take by the hand young men struggling 
 to rise by their own industry and merits. As a lawyer, he 
 always advised the settlement of differences by amicable 
 adjustment, without resort to legal means; and many there 
 are who, having taken his advice, escaped the costs and har- 
 assing attendance upon courts from protracted and ruinous 
 law-suits. As counsel, his effort always was to have the 
 parties to settle their differences among themselves, -although 
 such advice was against his interest as an attorney. But he 
 took it be his duty to guard the interests of his client, 
 and not look upon him as a bird caught in a snare to be 
 plucked. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 193 
 
 * 
 
 He entertained the highest regard for strict integrity, and 
 no one devoid of this trait of character could secure his con- 
 
 , fidence or friendship. His associates must be free even from, 
 the suspicion of a lack of principle. He regarded honesty 
 as the foundation of human excellence, but with those lacking 
 this ingredient of character, he chose to have little inter- 
 course, as they were unable to command his esteem. 
 
 He took a lively interest in all the political movements of 
 the day ; and although not conspicuous as a politician, yet 
 his views and opinions had great weight in controling the 
 course of public affairs. Indeed, his sentiments in all the 
 movements of the Anti-Masonic and Whig parties were 
 anxiously sought for and highly respected. His judgment 
 was rarely at fault, and his inflexible honesty and steadiness 
 of purpose caused his counsels always to be regarded as 
 wisdom. He continued to enjoy the esteem and high con- 
 sideration of his numerous friends unimpaired until his death. 
 Nathaniel Ellmaker, esq., son of Amos Bllmaker, has for 
 many years been one of the leading lawyers of Lancaster. 
 His Orphans' Court business is, perhaps, the largest of any 
 lawyer at. the Lancaster bar. 
 
 ELLMAKEE, Leonard, emigrated from Germany and 
 settled in Earl township, in 1726. His son, Nathaniel Ell- 
 maker, was elected a member of the Pennsylvania State Sen- 
 ate in 1796. He was noted for his indomitable persever- 
 ance, independence, integrity and love of truth, and bore the 
 reputation of being a man of considerable ability. 
 
 ENGrLE, Henry M., a leading farmer and fruit grower of 
 East Donegal township, Lancaster county. He was , one of 
 the first in the county who began fruit growing as a busi- 
 ness pursuit. He was elected President of the Agricultural 
 and Horticultural Society, in January, 1869, a position he 
 has held by annual reelections up to the present time. He 
 was elected a member of the Legislature in 1870, receiving 
 the support of both political parties. Mr. Bngle bears an 
 
 . unimpeachable reputation for honesty, entertains no politi- 
 cal aspirations, and became a candidate for of&ce, on the 
 
 , occasion above referred to, simply in deference to the wishes 
 of friends. 
 
194 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOBT . 
 
 *EEB FAMILY. Nicholas Brb, the first known ancestor 
 of this name, came to America with his family in the year 
 1722. He was a Swiss by birth, and, it is said, his father 
 desired him to become a Catholic priest, but he joined the 
 Mennonites and left his native country on account of religious 
 persecutions. He resided for some time, before emigrating 
 to this country, at a place called "Wester Walter Hoff." 
 Where this place of temporary residence was located, is not 
 known. In all probability it must have been a farm on the 
 outposts of some province in Germany that had dangerous 
 neighbors, and the time must have been somewhat turbu- 
 lent, as it is known that he lived under the promised protec- 
 tion of his Lord or Superior, and in case of an unexpected 
 attack, it had been agreed that he should give notice by 
 firing a gun. It is also related that, either to try. the effi- 
 ciency of the signal or the faithfulness of his landlord, he 
 fired the gun, and in a short time had the satisfaction of see- 
 ing his protector, with his retainers, coming to his assistance 
 as fast as horses could bring them. 
 
 He settled on Hammer creek, in Warwick township, near 
 where the mill, lately owned by David Brb, one of his 
 descendants, now stands. He was a farmer by occupation. 
 He had a family of five children — four sons and one daugh- 
 ter ; the latter married to a Johns. 
 
 John, eldest son of Nicholas Brb, came to America with his 
 father, married a Johns from Leacock township, lived for 
 some time with his father, but subsequently moved near to 
 Manheim, where he died. His children were : Jacob, John, 
 Christian, Daniel, Peter and Magdalena. 
 
 Nicholas Erb, second son of Nicholas Brb. 
 
 Christian Erb, third son of Nicholas Brb. 
 
 Jacob Brb, a prominent clergyman in the United Brethren 
 congregation, stationed at the Otterbein church, in Balti- 
 more, and frequently presiding elder, is a descendant of either 
 Nicholas or Christian. 
 
 Jacob Erb, fourth son of Nicholas Erb, resided on Ham- 
 mer creek, in Warwick township, where Brb's mill now 
 stands. He was a leading man among the (rerman popula- 
 *Contributed by Levi Reist, esq., of "Warwick. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 195 
 
 tion ia the nortliern part of this county from 1760 to 1790. 
 He was a member of the Legislature when it sat in Phila- 
 delphia in 1787, 1788, 1789, and 1790. He had two sons, 
 John and Christian. 
 
 Magdalena Erb, daughter of Nicholas Brb, married to a 
 Johns, of Leacock township. 
 
 Jacob Erb, son of John, and a grandson of Nicholas Erb, 
 resided near the Mouth of Cocalico creek ; had three sons, 
 John, David and Emanuel. The two former settled in York 
 county, Pennsylvania, and Emanuel kept the homestead. 
 He had one son, Jacob, who still owns the home place, to- 
 gether with some five or six hundred acres of land in War- 
 wick and West. Earl townships, and is extensively engaged 
 in farming and stock-raising. 
 
 John Erb, son of John and grandson of Nicholas Erb, had 
 one son also named John, who settled in Conoy township, 
 from whence he moved to Linn county, Indiana, with all 
 of his family except Christian S., who now resides in Gonoy ; 
 a business man, justice of the peace, and bank director. 
 
 Christian Brb, son of John and grandson of Nicholas Erb, 
 born February 6th, 1755, died August 1st, 1812, resided in 
 W arwick township, about one mile north of Litiz ; and was 
 married to Anna Bomberger, born February 8th, 1752, died 
 September 17th, 1823. She is reputed to have been a stately 
 and prim old lady, who, being a Mennonite, wore her dresses 
 plain, but of rich materials, with a snowy kerchief and cap. 
 She was well versed in the Scriptures. They had two sons : 
 Christian and Jacob, between whom their father's place was 
 divided— and a daughter, married to Henry Hostetter, who 
 moved to Hanover, York county, Pennsylvania. Christian, 
 the eldest son, moved to the neighborhood of Dayton, Ohio» 
 having sold his part of the farm. 
 
 Jacob Erb, the younger son of Christian, and great grand- 
 son of Nicholas Erb, born March 7th, 1781, resided the 
 greater part of his life on the old farm, subsequently moved 
 with his son Henry to Penn township, and afterwards into 
 Manheim township, about one mile north of Lancaster, where 
 he died. He was an active business man in the earlier part 
 of his life and carried on farming and distilling. He was 
 
196 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 married to Elizabeth Becker, wlio, dying young, left him a 
 family of seven small children to raise, which parental duty 
 he performed in the most commendable manner, never marry- 
 ing the second time. He no doubt inherited his mother's 
 taste as to dress, and was known as " gentleman Erb." He 
 became a member of the Legislature in 1833-34 and 1834- 
 55, serving two terms. He was elected on the Anti-Masonic 
 ticket, but declined to follow the ultra men of that party in 
 their extreme measures (of whom Thaddeus Stevens, at that 
 time also in the House, was one), and became classed with 
 those calling themselves National men. His children were 
 Ann, married to Christian Kaufifman, moved to Ohio, who 
 had four sons in the Union army. Henry, married to Eliz- 
 abeth Spickler, now living in Manheim township with his 
 son-in-law, Jacob Myer. Sarah, married to Joseph Bomber- 
 ger, lives in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and whose 
 son, Jacob Bomberger, was a member of the Legislature 
 from that county in 1872. Eliza, married to Blias Eby, ex- 
 sheriflf. Catharine, married to David Witwer, moved to 
 Eranklin county. Levi, married to Mary Trissler, now re- 
 siding at Columbia furnace ; Virginia, and Mary, married to 
 Elias Bomberger, living in Maryland. 
 
 Daniel Erb, son of John, and grandson of Nicholas Erb, 
 had four .sons : John, Joseph, Daniel and Jacob. The first 
 named was a minister of the old Mennonite persuasion, and 
 moved many years ago to Cumberland county. Joseph had 
 one son, Daniel S., who resides in Penn township, and fol- 
 lows farming. Daniel has three sons, David W., Daniel W., 
 and John. The old home place that has been in the family 
 for over a century, is owned by Daniel W . ; and Israel G. 
 Erb, esq., a rising young man in the neighborhood, is the 
 son of David W. 
 
 Peter Erb, son of John, and grandson of Nicholas Erb, 
 had four sons: Isaac, Jacob, Christian, and another who- 
 moved to Canada. Isaac had three sons : Henry, Samuel and 
 Isaac, who live in Lebanon county. 
 
 Magdalena Erb, daughter of John, and grand-daughter of 
 Nicholas Erb, married a man named Gingrich, whose family 
 moved to Erie county. Pa. 
 
OF LAHrCASTEE COUNTY. 197 
 
 John Erb, son of Jacob, and grandson of Nicholas Erb^ 
 had several sons ; one of them, named after himself, who 
 lived in Elizabeth township, near Durlach, was a miller and 
 farmer, and kept the tavern where, for many years, the 
 elections were held ; was a prominent politician from 1825 
 to 1840 ; filled the office of County Commissioner from 1833 
 to 1836, where his economical management of county affairs 
 made him popular. He was also a candidate for sheriff in 
 1833 on the same ticket with Gen. David Miller. He had 
 four children : Hiram, now residing in Lebanon county ; 
 John B., residing in Litiz ; Henry B., residing near Schoeneck; 
 and a daughter, married to Geo. Steinmetz, residing on the 
 old place, now in Clay township. His sons are all intelligent 
 and well to do men; John B. follows surveying and 
 scrivening, and served many years as a justice of the peace 
 while living in Clay township. 
 
 ESHLEMAN, David G., was born and raised in Stras- 
 burg township,^ Lancaster county. He graduated at Dick- 
 inson College, Carlisle, in the year 1840. He entered, as a 
 student of law, the of&ce of John E. Montgomery, esq., and 
 was admitted as a member of the bar in 1842. After coming 
 to the bar he was not long in establishing himself in his 
 
 '■Strasburg township was established before or about the time of thg 
 creation of the county of Lancaster. As it was established, it included 
 the township of Paradise, which has since been cut off. The part that 
 still retains the original name was settled chiefly by Swiss Mennonites, 
 who emigrated by way of Holland, from 1710 to 1725. The descendants 
 of the early settlers are still to be found in the township, such as the 
 Herrs, Groffs, Eshlemans, Brenemans, Neffs, Lefevres, Kendigs, Brack- 
 biUs, Brubakers, Buckwalters, Leamans, Howrys, Millers, Lantzs, Hos- 
 tetters, Myers, &c., &c. 
 
 The buildings and improvements of all new communities seem to 
 pass through formations similar to the geological primary, secondary, 
 and tertiary, before they become permanent. In this county we have 
 pretty generally reached the tertiary period. Many buildings of the 
 secondary period remain, however, and occasionally we find remaining 
 one of the primary period. Of this class there are several of minor 
 importance in the township of Strasburg, three of which are deserving 
 of notice. 
 
 One of them, perhaps the oldest large house in the county, is situate 
 about a mile east of the borough of Strasburg, and in the occupancy of 
 Dr. Abraham Bshleman. The old portion of the house was finished in 
 the first decade of the last century, and the " new end " was finished ia 
 
198 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 profession, to the duties of whicli he has applied himself 
 with great assiduity up to the present time. He was one of 
 the representatives from Lancaster county, in the Legisla- 
 ture, during the sessions of 18i8 and 1849. 
 
 Mr. Bshleman has always been a close and industrious 
 student, and he justly ranks amongst the best read members 
 of the Lancaster bar. His mind is of a juridical cast, and 
 his opinions upon critical points of law are frequently sought 
 by the other members of the profession. In 1871 he was 
 the Democratic candidate for judge of the several courts 
 of Lancaster county. 
 
 EVANS, David, was born in Manheim township, Febru- 
 ary 21st, 1827. His father was of Irish, and his mother of 
 German descent. He was sent by his parents to the common 
 schools of the neighborhood, and acquired a knowledge of 
 the branches then customary to be taught, viz.: reading, 
 writing and arithmetic. When about thirteen years of age, 
 he attended a quasi select school, taught by a man named 
 Sutherland, and here he began the study of the advanced 
 branches of an education. He worked on the farm and also 
 aided in the butchering business, which was the trade of his 
 father. 
 
 He early evinced a great fondness for reading, and pro- 
 
 1741. It is at present occupied by the fifth generation, as a family resi- 
 dence, of the family now represented by Jacob Eshleman, of Paradise, 
 Dr. Isaac S. Eshleman, of Philadelphia, Dr. Frank Eshleman, of Dowu- 
 ingtown, Dr. Abram Eshleman, of Strasburg, Benjamin Eshleman, of 
 East Lampeter, and David G. Eshleman, esq., of Lancaster. 
 
 On the adjoining farm stands an old mill, one and a half stories high, 
 with a saw-mill attached. The first pair of French bruTS introduced 
 into Lancaster county are still in use in that mill. Tlie mill was built 
 in the early part of the last century, by Jacob Eshleman, and although 
 of such diminutive and insignificant appearance now, that it would 
 scarcely attract the notice of a traveler, it was considered of sufficient 
 consequence, at the time of its erection, to be called "Eshleman's big 
 miU." 
 
 About one and a half miles south of the borough of Strasburg, on 
 the road to New Providence, just beyond the residence of the late Jacob 
 Neflf, stands the old mansion house of the Neff family. This house was 
 erected in the second decade of the last century. It stands up on a 
 knoll, which rises abruptly from the banks of Beaver creek, and is 
 remarkable on account of its position and its antiquated and venerable 
 appearance. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 199 
 
 cured for himself and read some of the most valuable and useful 
 books. When about twenty years of age, he began teaching 
 common schools, which pursuit he followed for some years. 
 Not long after this, he entered as a student, the Strasburg 
 academy, then taught by Rev. D. McCarter. The last year 
 he attended at this institution, he was employed in the capa- 
 city of an assistant teacher, and taught the lower classes. 
 After leaving this place, he attended for some time at the 
 White Hall academy, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, 
 and next entered the Sophomore class in Franklin and Mar- 
 shall college, where he graduated in 1858, obtaining a divi- 
 sion of the Marshall honor with a classmate named Theodore 
 Fisher. His theme on commencement day, was " the Consti- 
 tution of the United States." 
 
 He began teaching in Perry county, Ppnnsylvania, in 
 September of the same year in which he graduated. He 
 was married in the following month, and in February, 1859, 
 was appointed County Superintendent of Common Schools 
 of Lancaster county, in the room of Rev. John S. Crum- 
 baugh, deceased. He was elected to the same office in May, 
 1860, by the Directors' Convention, and thrice reelected in the 
 years 1863, 1866 and 1869. He held the office up to the 
 1st of June, 1872.1 
 
 EVANS, James, was born in Little Britain township, 
 Lancaster county, in 1791. In 1812 he moved to the 
 borough of Lancaster, and in 1814 entered into partnership 
 with his brother, Robert, in the dry goods business, and so 
 continued to act as partner with him up to 1824. Prior to 
 removing to Lancaster he had himself engaged, in the vicinity 
 of his birth, in the mercantile business, individually, for 
 about one year and a half. In 1824, having established a 
 wide reputation for business sagacity, he was elected cashier 
 of the Lancaster Bank. Dr. F. A. Muhlenberg was at that 
 time President of the Bank. This position of cashier Mr. 
 Evans held for a number of years. March 7th, 1842, he was 
 elected President of the same Bank, and this office he held 
 
 ' When Mr. Evans entered upon the duties of his office, in 1859, the 
 average salary of male teachers in the county was $27.37, and of female 
 teachers $24.18. In 1870 the average salary of males was $38.85, and of 
 females 34.44. 
 
200 . BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORT 
 
 until November 22d, 1849. During the time he officiated as 
 President of the institution, he managed its affairs with great 
 financial success ; all this time it was in the highest degree of 
 credit, and its notes passed at par throughout the whole 
 country. Indeed, it is but the truth when it is said, that to 
 him the institution owed its prosperity, credit and financial 
 success. From the time Mr. Evans ceased to be the head of 
 the institution, the downfall of this old and reliable bank 
 dated its origin. 
 
 James Evans was a man of strict integrity, of irreproach- 
 able and upright conduct, and universally esteemed and re- 
 spected by his fellow citizens. He was a man of a very 
 generous nature, liberal in his charities when worthy objects 
 presented themselves; yet he gave in no ostentatious man- 
 ner, and sought rather that his gifts should be known only 
 by the recipients thereof. 
 
 As a man of business, he was shrewd and penetrating; 
 and it is not too much to -say, that he had no superiors as to 
 business qualities in the county, and but few, if any, in the 
 State. In his opinions he was very liberal and high-toned, 
 and never permitted difference of views to mar social rela- 
 tions between himself and his associates. He was no aspirant 
 for public office, and though this was within his reach, he 
 rather shrunk from cares of this character,- devoting his 
 attention simply to business affairs. He died October 12th, 
 1864. 
 
 EVANS, Robert, brother of James Evans, was born in 
 Little Britain township, October 4th, 1791. His father, 
 John Evans, was one of the early settlers of Lancaster 
 county, having emigrated from Wales about the year 1740. 
 Having received the rudiments of an education, customary 
 in his day, he was apprenticed, on the 24th of November, 
 1807, to Michael Gundaker, (a leading merchant of Lancas- 
 ter), to learn the mercantile business; and, after serving 
 three years, he married Anna Margaret, a daughter of Mr. 
 Gundaker. He set up as a merchant in Lancaster, and con- 
 tinued to follow this business to the end of his life. In 1819 
 he was appointed by Phineas Ash, Wm. B. Ross and Peter 
 Holl, Commissioners of Lancaster county, to the office of 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 201 
 
 Co"unty Treasurer, and was twice re-appointed to the 
 the same office, in the years 1820 and 1821. Amongst those 
 recommending Mr. Evans to the office of Treasurer, we find 
 the names of several of the principal leading citizens of 
 Little Britain township,, viz: Jeremiah Brown, sr., William 
 Brown, Jeremiah Brown, jr., John Kirk, Nicholas Boyd, 
 (father of the late sheriff Boyd), Timothy Haines, Isaac 
 Stubbs, William McCulloch, and Slater Brown. Mr. Evans 
 served for many years as a director of the old Farmers' 
 Bank of Lancaster, and acted besides in many fiduciary 
 positions of trust and responsibility, and was esteemed as 
 one of the most useful and influential citizens of his day. 
 He died November 2nd, 1831, aged 40 years and 29 days. 
 The present Eobert A. Evans and Walter G. Evans, esqs., 
 of Lancaster city, are sons of Robert Evans. 
 
 EVANS, Samuel, elected Clerk, of Quarter Sessions and 
 Oyer and Terminer, in 1857. 
 
 EWING, A. Scott, a member of the Legislature in 
 1849. 
 
 SWING, GrENERAL James, was born about the year 1736, 
 in Manor township, Lancaster county. His father had emi- 
 grated from Ireland at an early day, and settled in Manor 
 township, and when the subject of this notice was but a boy 
 they removed to Hellam township, York county. At the 
 age of eighteen he was engaged with his associate? in re- 
 pelling the incursions of the Indians. He served in the cam- 
 paign under General Braddock, and was a participant in the 
 action near Pittsburg, in which that brave but ill-fated offi- 
 cer was killed and his army routed. James Ewing served 
 his country in the capacity of a brigadier general, attached 
 to the flying camp during the Revolution. 
 
 In the character of civilian, he was also a prominent and 
 • influential member of society. He was a member of the 
 Legislature for several years, and filled many other positions 
 of public trust. He was a man highly esteemed by his fel- 
 low citizens, and died in March, 1806, aged seventy years. 
 
 EWING, Thomas, a member of the Legislature in 1739, 
 
 1740, 1741 and 1742. 
 16 
 
202 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOKT 
 
 FAHNBSTOCK FAMILY* The Fahnestqcks are de- 
 scendants of one Dietrich Fahnestock, who came from 
 Prussia in the year 1724. He had seven sons, viz: Casper, 
 Peter, Dietrich, John, Benjamin, Daniel, and Borieus; of 
 the two latter no record can be found. Benjamin had two 
 sons, Greorge and Dietrich, from whom the druggists of 
 Pittsburg have descended. John had two sons, Jacob and 
 Henry. Dietrich, who was a physician, had three sons, 
 Samuel, Daniel and John, who were all physicians. Casper 
 had three sons, Charles, Dietrich and Daniel. Peter had 
 five sons, Samuel, Obed, Peter, Conrad and Andrew ; the 
 latter has been a Seventh-day Baptist minister, living at 
 times at Antietam, and latterly at Bphrata. Conrad was a 
 printer, and published a paper at Harrisburg, during the 
 alien and sedition acts, and being a warm supporter of 
 Mr. Jefferson, was outspoken against the administration of 
 Mr. Adams. He was, in consequence, arrested, with others, 
 and thrown into prison. It was, however, just upon the eve 
 of the election, and he was released a few days afterwards. 
 He had but one son, Peter, who resides at present at Ephrata. 
 Peter has three sons, Samuel and Eeuben, both residing in 
 Bphrata township, and John, residing in Ohio. 
 
 There are Fahnestocks residing in Lancaster, and also in 
 Lebanon county, who are no doubt descendants of the same 
 family. 
 
 FAHNBSTOCK, Bb.. Samuel, a leading physician of 
 Lancaster for many years. He practiced medicine in Lan- 
 caster for nearly forty years. 
 
 In the autumn of 1777, when the wounded soldiers were 
 transferred from Brandy wine to the village of Bphrata, the 
 subject of this notice, being about fourteen years of age, by 
 his unwearied attention and the coolness he displayed, 
 attracted the attention of General Hand, himself an eminent 
 physician, who advised his father to educate him for a 
 physician. The father accepted the suggestion, and his 
 *Contributed by I. P. Bomberger, of Litiz. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 203 
 
 future career fully justified the prophetic spirit of General 
 Hand. 
 
 As he increased in years and practice he became especially 
 distinguished for his treatment of fevers, and the remarkable 
 success that attended the exercise of his skill throughout 
 the prevalence of an eventfal epidemic, won for him the 
 most flattering encomiums of the distinguished Dr. Rush. 
 His practice, for many years, extended far beyond the limits 
 of Lancaster county. He died December 8th, 1836, in the 
 73rd year of his age. 
 
 FAHNESTOCK, William M., was a man somewhat 
 fond of antiquarian research. In 1835 he published a his- 
 torical sketch of Bphrata, together with a concise account 
 of the Seventh-day Baptists. 
 
 FERRBB, Isaac, a member of the Legislature in 1793, 
 1794, 1802, 1803 and 1804. 
 
 FEREBE, Joseph, a member of the Legislature in 1770, 
 1771, 1772, 1773 and 1774. 
 
 FERREB, James B., elected Register in 1839. 
 
 FISHER, Joseph W., was born October 16th, 1814, in 
 Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. He received the 
 simple rudiments of an English education, and when quite 
 young was hired out by his parents to work upon a farm till 
 about the age of fifteen, when he was apprenticed to learn 
 the tailoring business. In this occupation he spent the early 
 years of his manhood. In the year 1840 he removed to 
 Columbia, Lancaster county, where he pursued his trade for 
 several years. In 1848 he was nominated and elected a 
 member of the House of Representatives. In 1850 he was 
 elected a justice of the peace, and so entirely did he satisfy 
 his constituents, that he was reelected to the same office in 
 1855, receiving every vote save six. During the time he 
 was acting in the capacity of justice of the peace he read law, 
 and was admitted to the Lancaster bar in 1856, and was not 
 long in stepping into a fair practice. 
 
 He was always an active and leading politician ; a Whig 
 during the existence of that party, and upon its dissolution 
 he became a Republican. In the campaign of 1860 he took 
 
204 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 a very active part, and assumed t"he ground that if Lincoln 
 was elected and war resulted, he would enter the ranks in 
 defence of the flag of the_ nation. Upon the bombardment 
 of Fort Sumter, therefore, although over age, he enlisted as 
 a private, and was immediately elected Captain of what was 
 afterwards Company K, of the Fifth Pennsylvania Reserves. 
 When the regiment was organized, he was elected Lieutenant 
 Colonel, and served with the regiment through the campaign 
 of 1862, and afterwards participated in the engagements 
 known as the seven days' battles before Eichmond, also at 
 Bull Run, South Mountain and Antietam. He led the heroic 
 charge, consisting of a part of the Fifth and Eighth regiments 
 of the Reserves, and killed, wounded and captured the 
 Seventh and Seventeenth Virginia regiments, in which en- 
 gagement Col. Simmons was killed. Col. Fisher was com- 
 plimented by Gen. Lemoyne, commanding the division, and 
 recommended for promotion by Gens. McCall, Meade, Rey- 
 nolds and Lemoyne, to a Brigadier Generalship. 
 
 Becoming Colonel, in course, upon the death of Colonel 
 Simmons, at the second battle of Bull Bun, he was not able 
 to command the same, owing to injuries received from the 
 fall of his horse. At the battle of South Mountain he left a 
 sick bed to lead his regiment, and he charged with it up the 
 northern slope of the mountain, and drove the enemy from 
 the summit down the southern and western slopes, and cap- 
 tured a large number of prisoners. He was complimented 
 by Gens. Meade, Lemoyne and Duryea for the undaunted 
 heroism displayed by him in this engagement, and was again 
 strongly urged by them as worthy of promotion. Being 
 with his regiment in the battle of Antietam, he repulsed an 
 attack during the night, of the Fourth Texas regiment, and 
 drove them in utter confusion. 
 
 He was transferred by Gen. Meade from the first to the 
 third brigade, to take command of the latter, which com- 
 mand he retained until the close of the third year for which 
 he had enlisted. He participated in nearly all the battles of 
 his division until the close of his term of service. At the 
 battle of Gettysburg he led his brigade up and took what is 
 known as Round Top Mountain, and held it. From Gettys- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 205 
 
 burg he crossed, with his brigade, the Potomac, Eappahan- 
 nock and Eapidan ; and left his sick bed, against the protests 
 of his surgeon, to participate in the battle of Mine Kun, in 
 November, 1863. 
 
 After this battle the army went into winter quarters, and 
 he had command of the post at Manassas Junction, and 
 Temained there till April. After the army got in readiness 
 he moved his brigade from Culpepper, and was in all the 
 battles of the Wilderness, and closed his term of service on 
 the 30th of May, 1864, with a brilliant victory at Bethesda 
 church, near where he had participated in his first engage- 
 ment. 
 
 He then left for home, where he arrived about the middle 
 of June, intending to remain. However, upon the invasion 
 of Maryland and Pennsylvania by the rebel forces, under 
 Generals Early and Breckinridge, at the urgent solicitation 
 of Governor Curtin, he raised and took command of the 
 19oth regiment, and aided in the defence of the Border 
 States, during the one hundred days. He moved with his 
 regiment up the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad, as far as 
 Hedgesville, in West Virginia. Upon the expiration of the 
 one hundred days period of service, he. urged his men to 
 reenlist, and succeeded in inducing about 300 of them to do 
 so. He then returned home in November, 1864, and in the 
 following February, was solicited by Governor Ourtin to 
 take command of the 300 men, (before stated to have reen- 
 listed) and to raise, if possible, sufiicient recruits to complete 
 the full strength of the regiment. This he did; and succeeded 
 in swelling the regiment to 1300 men, of which he was com- 
 missioned Colonel on the 25th of February, 1865. He was 
 with this regiment in the Shenandoah valley, up to August 
 of that year, and being transferred to Washington, there 
 remained in command of his regiment up to January 31st, 
 1866, when the regiment was mustered out and discharged 
 from service. 
 
 During the time he was in the Shenandoah valley, in 1865, 
 he had the command of a brigade, composed of the 192d, 
 195th and 214th regiments, and also the 192d and 193d regi- 
 ments of New York. Being recommended for promotion 
 
206 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOKT 
 
 by all the superior officers under whom he served, he was 
 raised to the rank of Brigadier General, in 1865. 
 
 General Fisher participated in about thirty different en- 
 gagements of the war. He was never absent from service 
 without leave of his superior officer, and was never repri- 
 manded for dereliction of duty. In all things he was a 
 faithful and efficient officer, and won the esteem of both 
 officers and men. He was frequently detailed to sit upon 
 courts martial, and was for six weeks president of a board 
 of examiners, to examine officers for promotion. His highest 
 ambition, as an officer, was to save his men, and he had the 
 good fortune to secure their unlimited confidence and esteem. 
 Although one of the strictest disciplinarians in the army, he 
 nevertheless uniformly treated the men under his command 
 with kindness and respect, and his men were ready to obey 
 and follow him through every danger. 
 
 In the fall of 1866 General Fisher was nominated and 
 elected a member of the State Senate of Pennsylvania, from 
 Lancaster county. He removed to Lancaster city during his 
 term of Senator, and again actively engaged in the practice of 
 his profession. In 1871 he was appointed Judge of the 
 District Court for the territory of Montana, for which place 
 he left, with his family, about the first of April, 1871. 
 
 ^ FOGLE, George. The late well-known and highly re- 
 spected George Fogle, of Sadsbury, was captain of a com- 
 pany of the Lancaster county militia, in the war of 1812. 
 He resided on the land of the well-known Francis Bailey, 
 (the printer), and farmed the land. He first volunteered as 
 a private soldier, under James Caldwell, esq., of Bart, but 
 when the company received marching orders, Captain Cald- 
 well was on the retired list, and George Fogle was chosen to 
 take his place, in marching the company to Baltimore. 
 After the close of the war he purchased a farm in Bart 
 
 ' George Fogle was the son of Jacob Fogle, who emigrated to this 
 country from Germany about the year 1765; whose son, Adam, was the 
 well known Adam Fogle, esq., who served many years as justice of the 
 peace in Sadsbury. George Fogle was united in marriage with Barbara, 
 the daughter of Simon and Margaret Geist, of Bart, about the year 
 1796, and died in the year 1854, aged 84 years. J. M. W. Geist, esq.,, 
 of Lancaster, is the grandson of Simon and Margaret Geist, of Bart. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 207 
 
 township, on which his grandson, Joseph Fogle now. resides. 
 His son, John G. Fogle, now resides in Christiana. Jacob 
 S. Fogle, the eldest son, is a respected citizen of Columbus, 
 Ohio, where he emigrated many years ago. David H., 
 another son, is a citizen of Berrien county, Michigan. Other 
 descendants of George Fogle are numerous and respectable 
 citizens of the neighborhood. 
 
 FONDBESMITH, John, elected Clerk of Quarter Ses- 
 sions in 1842. 
 
 FOREMAN, Jacob, a member of the Legislature in 1840, 
 1841 and 1842. 
 
 FORD, George, was a leading lawyer of the Lancaster bar. 
 He was elected to the Legislature in 1836, 1837 and 1839. 
 
 FORDNEY, William B., a retired lawyer, and one who, 
 whilst in practice, ever ranked amongst the ablest of his pro- 
 fession. After his admission to the Lancaster bar, in 1829, 
 his superior abilities soon gave him a front rank in the pro- 
 fession, which he held until his retirement from practice some 
 years since. For several years he acted as prosecuting attor- 
 ney of Lancaster county. In intellectual capacity he ranked 
 with Gorge B. Porter, Gorge W. Barton, Thaddeus Stevens, 
 Reah Frazer, Benjamin Champneys, and other brilliant stars 
 of the old Lancaster bar. 
 
 FORNEY, Colonel John W., was born in Lancaster, 
 Pennsylvania, in the year 1817. His parents occupying an 
 humble grade in society, were not in possession of the means 
 to afford him more than an ordinary English education. At 
 the early age of thirteen, he obtained employment in a store 
 of his native town for a short time, and then entered as an 
 apprentice the ofB.ce of the Lancaster Journal, at that period 
 one of the most influential papers published in Pennsylva- 
 nia. Hugh Maxwell, the proprietor of the Journal, was a 
 man of remarkable ability, and one who wielded the edito- 
 rial pen with singularly rare force. In this office, the sub- 
 ject of our notice remained until he attained his twentieth 
 year, when he purchased the Lancaster Intelligencer, ^ a strong 
 
 , ' The Lancaster Intelligencer was first issued in 1799 by William and 
 Thomas Dixon, as a weekly paper, being at first only a small four col- 
 Tunn sheet. It was regularly published up to 1823, the time of William 
 
208 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 Democratic paper of the county, from Thomas Feran, esq. 
 A few years afterwards he bought out the Journal and con- 
 solidated the two papers, and made the new paper one of the 
 ablest and most influential sheets of the county, and one that 
 exercised a powerful influence not only in Lancaster county 
 but throughout the whole State. In 1839 he was appointed 
 Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster 
 county, a position he held for a short time. He remained in 
 Lancaster, absorbed in his editorial duties, up to the year 
 1845, when he received the appointment of Deputy Surveyor 
 of thtj port of Philadelphia, from President Polk, and re- 
 moved to the last named place, the better to attend to the 
 duties of the ofiice. 
 
 Soon after his location in Philadelphia, with that enthusi- 
 asm for journalism which has ever seemed in him a leading 
 characteristic, he purchased a one-half interest in the old Penn- 
 sylvanian newspaper, then the leading Democratic organ of 
 the State. This was in the year 1845. He remained asso- 
 ciated with the Pennsylvanian until the year 1853. 
 
 In December, 1851, he was elected Clerk of the House of 
 Eepresentatives, and removed with his family to Washing- 
 ton. This important and influential position he held during 
 the memorable struggle of 1855 and 1856, for the election 
 of Speaker of the House, and which terminated in the elec- 
 tion of Nathaniel P. Banks. During those exciting times 
 Colonel Porney was the presiding ofhcer of the House, and 
 the highly satisfactory manner in which he performed his 
 dutiep, is attested by a resolution offered by Hon. Joshua E. 
 Giddings, tendering him the thanks of the House, for the 
 ability and impartiality with which he had presided over the 
 House during the contest. The resolution was passed with- 
 out a dissenting voice. 
 
 Dixou's death, aud was continued afterwards by Mrs. Dixon, assisted 
 by lier son-in-law, Mr. Bedford, and subsequently by Thomas Feran, 
 esq. In March, 1837, the paper passed into the hands of James H. Bry- 
 son and John W. Forney, the latter of whom obtained the whole con- 
 trol and ownership within the year. In September, 1839, Mr. Forney 
 bought out the Journal, first established in 1^94, and united it with the 
 Intelliripncer, under the title of the /ftteMi'jfOJcer and Journal, at the same 
 time considerably enlarging it. When, in 1845, Mr. Forirej' left Lancaster 
 for PhJ.idelphia, the paper passed into the hands of Marcus D. Hoi- 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 209 
 
 Subsequently Col. Forney became one of the editors of 
 tbe Washington Union, and remained in that position until 
 James Buchanan received, at the Democratic Convention 
 held at Cincinnati, in 1856, the nomination for the Presi- 
 dency. He was then elected Chairman of the Democratic 
 State Central Committee of Pennsylvania, and threw him- 
 self into the campaign with all his vigor and energy. By 
 this time Col. Forney had become, and was generally re- 
 garded, as one of the shrewdest and most sagacious politi- 
 cians in the Democratic party ; and located at Washington, 
 as he was, in the midst of the leading political minds of the 
 nation, his influence was of the greatest account in the Presi- 
 dential contest. He wielded one of the most fertile pens in 
 the whole country, and his efforts were all powerful in behalf 
 of the Democratic nominee. It is, perhaps, but the truth 
 when it be said, that to J. W. Forney, more than to any 
 other man, was James Buchanan indebted for the electoral 
 vote of Pennsylvania, and with it his elevation to the Presi- 
 dential chair of the United States. 
 
 In 1857 Col. Forney was nominated by the Democratic 
 members of the Pennsylvania Legislature, as their candi- 
 date for the Senate of the United States, his competitor 
 being Simon Cameron, a politician of great sagacity and 
 adroitness. The contest on this occasion was that of Greek 
 meeting Greek, and the subject of our notice through the 
 political treason of three Democratic Eepresentatives — Lebo, 
 Waggonseller and Manear — was defeated. 
 
 brook, as its manager. In the following yeai', the latter became sole 
 publisher, but in a few months transferred the paper to Franklin G. 
 May. On January 1st, 1848, May ti-ansferred his interest in it to Edwin 
 W. Hutter, who continued his connection with it until July, 1849. 
 Hutter was succeeded by George Sanderson, who aftei'wards associated 
 his sou Alfred with him in the publication, and these continued it up to 
 July 18th, 1864. It was then sold to John M. Cooper, H. G. Smith, 
 William A. Morton and Alfred Sanderson, who published it under the 
 firm title of Cooper, Sanderson & Co. November 1st, 1866, it passed 
 into the hands of PI. 6. Smith and A. J. Steinman, the present editors 
 and proprietors. August, 1864, the Daily Intelligencer was started by 
 Cooper, Sanderson & Co., which, with the Weekly Intelligencer, passed 
 into the hands of H. G. Smith and A. J. Steinman. The Daily and 
 Weekly Intelligencer yet continues to be published by them. The Intel- 
 ligencer is Democratic in politics. 
 
210 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 It was not long after James Buclianan was inaugurated 
 President, that a coolness between Col. Forney and himself 
 became distinctly perceptible. The rupture was by no 
 means complete, however, for a considerable time, Col. For- 
 ney still according to Mr. Buchanan his friendship and 
 sympathy. Indeed, in the first number of the Press, issued 
 August, 1857, he openly and warmly advocated the adminis- 
 tration policy. It was not until the Kansas question became 
 prominent, that any serious difficulty took place between 
 them. It was only when, as he conceived, Mr. Buchanan 
 was lending the weight of his official position towards the 
 establishment of slavery in Kansas, that Col. Forney took 
 issue with him, and at once expressed his views of the mea- 
 sure and the questions it involved, in his usual forcible 
 manner. 
 
 In December of 1858, Col. Forney was a second time 
 elected Clerk of the House of Representatives. During his 
 residence at the National capital, he started a weekly paper, 
 entitled the Sunday Morning Chronicle, which was subse- 
 quently turned into a daily paper, and was one of the most 
 successful journals ever printed in that city. 
 
 In 1861 he was elected Clerk of the Senate, a position he 
 accepted and filled with great credit for several years. 
 
 During the rebellion Col. Forney was a stern advocate of 
 the principles of the Union party, and a warm supporter of 
 the administration of President Lincoln. Upon the death of 
 the latter, he gave his influence and support to his successor, 
 Andrew Johnson. This course he continued until upon the 
 veto of the Preedman's Bureau bill by President Johnson, it 
 became apparent that the new Executive was swerving from 
 the principles of the party to which he owed his election. 
 
 In March, 1871, he was offered by President Grant the 
 position of collector of the port of Philadelphia, which he at 
 first positively declined, but which at the urgent request of 
 leading men of his party in this and other States, he was 
 afterwards induced to accept. He discharged the duties of 
 this office with marked ability and success. The opinion 
 entertained amongst the business men generally, is, that 
 Philadelphia never before had a more efficient Collector. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 211 
 
 In personal appearance, Col. Forney is a fine-looking man, 
 of medium height, dark brown hair, piercing eye and promi- 
 nent features. He has a deep, full voice, which never fails 
 to command the attention of his hearers. He is not an im- 
 passioned orator, but he is calm, fluent, logic and emphatic 
 — qualities of which all others are desirable in a political 
 speaker. Wben rising to address a mass meeting, during a 
 political campaign, his air is imposing and his flowing strains 
 of eloquence and captivating declamation leave the impres- 
 sion that he is a man of brilliant conception and rare intel- 
 lectual ability. 
 
 As a journalistic writer he is smooth, elegant and ornate, 
 his sentences presenting a polish and roundness almost 
 rivaling those of a Gibbon ; and yet, at the same time, show- 
 ing that they are the unstudied first effusions of his pen, no 
 indications of the midnight oil being at all visible in his com- 
 position. But few writers equal Col. Forney in this particu- 
 lar. He seems, in a word, to have reached the acme of 
 style most captivating and best adapted for the journalist 
 and newspaper writer. He is a tower of strength in the edi- 
 torial profession, and his rare mental vigor and complete 
 mastery of the pen, justly entitle him to be regarded and 
 styled the journalistic Achilles of the Western Continent. 
 
 FOERBY, John, was a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1816, 1817, 1823, 1825, 1827 and 1828. 
 
 1 FOSTER, Rev. William, was born in Little Britain 
 township, Lancaster county, in 1740. He was a son of 
 Alexander Foster, who emigrated from the north of Ireland 
 and settled in that township. He graduated at Princeton 
 College, New Jersey, in 1764 — having as his cotemporaries 
 in that institution, David Ramsey, the historian. Judge Jacob 
 Rush, Oliver Ellsworth, Nathan Niles and Luther Martin. 
 
 'Mr. Foster was succeeded as pastor of Upper Octoraro and Doe 
 Run, by the Rev. Alexander MitcHell, who was born in 1731, graduated 
 at the College of New Jersey; in 1765, was licensed pastor in 1767, 
 and was installed at Octoraro, December, 14th, 1185. He had formerly 
 resided in Bucks county, and came from thence to Chester county. He 
 was pastor of Octoraro until April, 1706, when his connection with the 
 church was dissolved. During the last of his time, troubles arose in 
 the congregation which continued for several years. He died December 
 
212 BIOGKAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Castle, 
 April 22iid, 1767, and was installed pastor of the Upper Octo- 
 raro church, October 19th, 1768. He also, about the same 
 time, became pastor of the Doe Eun Presbyterian church, 
 on the Strasburg road, in East Fallowfield township, where 
 he preached one-fourth of histime. He married Hannah, a 
 daughter of Eev. Samuel Blair, of Fagg's Manor, and owned 
 and resided oh a farm a short distance east of Upper Octo- 
 raro church. This farm he purchased December 15th, 1770. 
 
 la the Kevolution Mr. Foster engaged heartily in the 
 cause of civil liberty, and encouraged all who heard him to 
 to do their utmost in defence of their rights. On one occa- 
 sion he went to Lancaster to preach to troops collected there 
 previous to their joining the main army. The discourse was 
 so acceptable that it was printed and circulated, and did 
 much to arouse the spirit of patriotism amongst the people. 
 
 Indeed, nearly all the Presbyterian clergymen in this 
 State, at that time, were staunch Whigs, and contributed 
 greatly to keep alive the flame of liberty which our disasters 
 had frequently caused to be well-nigh extinguished in the 
 long and uaequal contest; and but for them it would often 
 have been impossible to obtain recruits to keep up the forces 
 requisite lo oppose the enemy. 
 
 It was a great object with the British officers to silence 
 the Presbyterian preachers, as far as possible; and they fre- 
 quently dispatched parties into the country to surprise and 
 take prisoners unsuspecting clergymen. An expedition of 
 this kind was planned against Mr. Foster. 
 
 The British were iu possession of Wilmington, Delaware, 
 and sent a party of light-horse from thence one Sunday 
 
 6tli, 1813, at the age of eighty-one years, and Tras hurried in Upper 
 Octoraro. He left no descendants. The Doe Run church, to which Mr. 
 Foster and Mr. Mitchell had ministered one-fourth of their time, was 
 made a distinct congregation in 1 798. 
 
 From 1706 until 1810, the Upper Octoraro church was without a regu- 
 lar pastor, and received supplies from Presbytery. 
 
 September 3.5th, 181 C, a call was presented to Rev. James Latta, 
 which he accepted. He had been licensed at New London, December 
 9th, 1809, and was ordained and installed pastor of Octoraro church, 
 April 13th, 1811. He maintained that relation until October, 1850, a 
 period of forty years, and then resigned. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 213 
 
 evening, to take him prisoner and burn his church. Mr 
 Poster received word of it on the morning of that day, af 
 Doe Eun, and hastening home collected his neighbors, who 
 removed his family and library into a house remote from 
 the public road. The expedition after proceeding twelve 
 miles on their way, were informed by a tory that their pur- 
 pose was knowp, and that parties of militia were stationed to 
 intercept them, and they returned to Wilmington without 
 accompanying their object. 
 
 Mr. Foster died September 30th, 1780. He had a high 
 standing as a minister, and was held in much estimation by 
 his congregation.- They procured a tombstone to be erected 
 over his remains in Upper Ootoraro burial ground. 
 
 He occasionally received under his care theological 
 students. The Eev. Nathaniel • W. Sample, who was the 
 esteemed pastor of several churches in Lancaster county for 
 forty years, was one of his students. After his death, his 
 family continued for a time to reside on his farm already 
 referred to. It was sold by his widow on September 4th, 
 1790, to Joseph Park, esq., and the family removed to west- 
 ern Pennsylvania. Henry D. Foster, the Democratic candi- 
 date for Governor of Pennsylvania in 1860, is a grandson. 
 He is a son of Samuel B. Foster, the eldest son of Rev. 
 William Foster. 
 
 FRANKLIN, Col. Emlen, youngest son of Judge Walter 
 Franklin, was born in Lancnster, April 7th, 1827. After 
 passing through the select schools of Lancaster, he entered 
 Yale College in 1815, and graduated in 1847. He thereupon 
 entered the law office of Nathaniel Ellmaker, esq., and after 
 the usual time of study, was admitted to the bar, May 15th, 
 1850. He immediately began the practice of his profession, 
 and in the autumn of 1854 he was elected a member of the 
 House of Representatives at Harrisburg; and having 
 served one term, declined a reelection, owing to the shape 
 that parties had, in the meantime, assumed. 
 
 In 1859 he was elected District Attorney of Lancaster, and 
 discharged the duties of his office, during his term, with 
 credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents. 
 
 Upon the breaking out of the rebellion, being at the time 
 
214 BIOGKAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 the Captain of the old "Fencibles," he volunteered with his 
 company for the three months' service. In 1862 he raised 
 the 122d Eegiment of Pennsylvania volunteers, of which he 
 was chosen Colonel, and which he commanded for nine 
 months, the period for which the regiment had been raised. 
 During this period of his service he participated, in com- 
 mand of his regiment, in the battles of Fredericksburg and 
 Chancellorsville. He returned with his regiment on the 16th 
 of May, 1863; and in June, of the same year, upon the inva- 
 sion of Pennsylvania by Gen. Lee, in obedience to the urgent 
 solicitation of Gen. Couch, then commanding the department 
 of the Susquehanna, he immediately raised the 50th regiment 
 of Pennsylvania militia, and in command of one of the bri- 
 gades, participated in the movements of that campaign. 
 With the restoration of quiet along the borders, these troops 
 were discharged, and Col. Franklin resumed again the prac- 
 tice of his profession. During the fall of 1863 he was nomi- 
 nated and elected register of wills of Lancaster county, 
 which position he filled during his term of three years. 
 During the period of his official service, and up to this time, 
 he has been, and is now, engaged in the pursuits of his 
 profession. 
 
 FRANKLIN, Thomas E., a member of the Lancaster bar, 
 and a brother of Bmlen Franklin, has for many years been 
 recognized as one of the leading members of the profession 
 in Lancaster county. He was appointed Attorney- General 
 of Pennsylvania, by Governor Pollock, in 1855. In 1860 and 
 1861 he was a leading member of the National Peace Con- 
 vention, convened in order to endeavor to avert the calami- 
 ties of the impending civil war, which finally deluged 
 American soil with blood. 
 
 1 FRANKLIN, Walter, was born in the city of New 
 York, in February, 1773. His father having removed, 
 during his minority, to Philadelphia, he there read law, and 
 was admitted to the bar in 1794. In January, 1809, he was 
 appointed, by Governor Snyder, Attorney-General of Penn- 
 
 1 Upon the breaking out of tlie war of 1812, with Great Britain, the 
 public mind, as always happens in such cases, became instantly crazed, 
 and insults and contumely were heaped upon those who had the courage 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 215 
 
 sylvania, which position he held until January, 1811, when, 
 upon the death of Judge John Joseph Henry, he was ap- 
 pointed President Judge of the Courts of Common Pleas of 
 the second judicial district of Pennsylvania, which com- 
 prised the counties of Lancaster, York and Dauphin, and to 
 which afterwards were added Cumberland and Lebanon. 
 This office he continued to fill until his death, February 7th, 
 1838. 
 
 As a judge he was distinguished for clearness of concep- 
 tion, vigor of mind, and eminent integrity. He discharged 
 the duties of his position with great satisfaction to the pub- 
 lic. As a jurist, he ranked among the ablest in the State. 
 He was marked by uniform dignity of manner; was in 
 deportment unvaryingly correct and courteous ; and his rare 
 gentlemanly bearing rendered him a favorite with all classes 
 of his fellow- citizens. 
 
 *FEAZEE, Beenaed, was born in Dublin, Ireland, about 
 1755. When only eleven years old he left his father's house 
 for the purpose of coming to some friends in America, whom, 
 it appears, he never found. Being well educated for a boy 
 of his age, he found employment in a country store, owned 
 by a family in Chester county, named Witherow, with whom 
 he had his home for several years. During this time he 
 acquired a knowledge of surveying and scrivening, a business 
 
 to raise their voices against the war. Tlie civil authority was in many 
 places prostrated, and mob law ruled supreme ; the most respectable 
 citizens were insulted, and the offices of the press, opposed to the war, 
 were in many places destroyed. In the midst of this state of excite- 
 ment and feeUng Judge Franklin delivered a charge to the grand jury 
 of York county, of which the following is an extract : 
 
 " The existing state of our foreign relations, and the sensibility of 
 the pubUc mind on all questions connected with it, caU for peculiar 
 care in those who are concerned in the administration of justice, to 
 guard against every occurrence which may have a tendency to promote 
 a spirit of popular tumult, or of lawless violence. 
 
 "A disposition to riot and commotion may in general be easily sup- 
 pressed, in its first stages, by a proper firmness and decision on the part 
 of the magistrate ; but if neglected, and sufl'ered to gain ground and 
 extend itself, it soon grows too powerful for the ordinary exertions of 
 civil authority, and bears down everything before it in a resistless torrent 
 of rage and desolation. Fear is said to be the basis of arbitrary govern- 
 
 *Contributed by Alex. H. Hood, esq. 
 
216 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 which he practiced to a considerable extent in after-life. In 
 1776 he volunteered in a Pennsylvania regiment, and was 
 present at Brandywine, where he received a bullet in his leg 
 which lamed him for life, and which he carried with him to 
 his grave. In 1786 he came to Strasburg, and was employed 
 as a clerk in a store. Soon after this he married Elizabeth, 
 the daughter of Philip Kessler, the result of which marriage 
 was a numerous and highly intelligent family. He died in 
 1817, and lies in the Lutheran churchyard at Strasburg. 
 His widow died in 1855, aged nearly ninety years. His 
 sons, John, Samuel and Philip, died while yet young men, 
 leaving families. Warren never was married, and died when 
 about twenty-five years old. William lived to be over sixty, 
 and left a family. Of his daughters, Hannah died unmarried 
 in 1845; and Mary, the wife of Alex. H. Hood, esq., died in 
 1851. Two of his daughters, Elizabeth, the widow of Captain 
 Christian Sherts, resides in Lancaster ; and Angelica, a single 
 lady, resides in Strasburg. 
 
 Mr. Frazer was a very useful man in his day. He, and 
 all his family, were remarkable for the beauty of their pen- 
 manship ; and in his section of the county, when anything in 
 that line was to be done, he was always employed. In hunt- 
 ing up old titles, his deeds are often to be found, and they fully 
 justify his traditional reputation. The few who still remember 
 him, speak of his ability as a teacher, a surveyor and a 
 scrivener, in the highest terms. Philip Frazer, of Philadel- 
 phia ; Christian Prazer, of Austin, Texas ; and David T. Frazer, 
 of Venango, Pa., are the grandsons who inherit his name, 
 ment, and virtue the ruling principle in republics. Laws, and not faction, 
 should bear the sway in every free country. No condition is more de- 
 plorable than that ]produced by anarchy ; and experience has abundantly 
 proved, that of aU governments, a mob is the most despotic and san- 
 guinaiy. 
 
 "We are, each of us, deeply interested in avoiding a state of things 
 so awful and calamitous. Let us unite then in our endeavors to prevent 
 the most distant approaches towards it, and let us evince our reverence 
 for the principles of the institutions of republicanism, by a faithful 
 adherence to the law, and a strict and impartial execution of it against 
 offenders of every description." 
 
 The above are the utterances of sound wisdom, and such as should be 
 observed in all civil commotions. Uufortunately, however, the mass of 
 mankind never are able to live up to them. 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 217 
 
 FRAZEE, Col. Eeah, was, in Hs day, one of the leading 
 lawyers of Lancaster, and a politician who exerted a controll- 
 ing influence in his party. He read law in the office of 
 Amos Ellmaker, one of the luminaries of the bar, and was 
 admitted a member of the profession in the year 1825. Be- 
 ing possessed of a very buoyant and impulsive temperament 
 he was not long in establishing himself as one of the 
 most conspicuous attorneys of Lancaster, and for many 
 years, and indeed up to a short time before his death, he was 
 employed in most of the important cases that came before 
 the courts of his native county. 
 
 He was ardent and enthusiastic in all he undertook, and 
 he brought the whole power of his impassioned nature to 
 the investigation and trial of his cases ; evincing during the 
 whole of the proceedings the same zealous and passionate 
 ardor as were he advocating or defending his own individaal 
 case. His was a nature which knew no moderation. In his 
 speeches in Court he seemed to have the power to carry the 
 day, from his faculty of being able to convince the jurj^ that he 
 himself fully believed all he uttered and advocated. Thirf, 
 in short, was one of the great secrets of his success as a legal 
 practitioner. 
 
 For many years he was the leading Democrat of Lancaster 
 county, and was known throughout Pennsylvania as the 
 "Lancaster War Horse." As a politician he was all power- 
 ful with the masses, who are ever more swayed by passion 
 than by argument. Wherever he presented himself daring 
 a campaign, the occasion was a signal that called forth the 
 huzzas and plaudits of the congregated multitude. He died 
 December 30th, 1856. 
 
 In the business of his profession, he was very industrious 
 and persevering ; and he prepared and tried his cases to the 
 utniost of his ability. He would seem, however, to a critic 
 witnessing his impassioned displays before a jury or a polit- 
 ical meeting, asuilhewn intellectual marble, lacking symmet- 
 rical prfeciaion aild connected systematic cohesion. His efforts 
 were terrific and applause-produciWg ; and he simply bore 
 off the victory by the hefciilea'a might of his inflammatory 
 declamation. 
 
 17 
 
218 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 FEBY, Jacob ¥., elected Commissioner in 1856. He was 
 elected sheriff of Lancaster county in 1866. 
 
 FEY, Samuel, was bora February 12th, 1809, in Ephrata 
 township, Lancaster county. He was a miller by trade, and 
 carried on the Millport mill for many years. He was a man 
 of rare business capacity, and was often by his neighbors 
 employed in fiduciary trusts. In 1840 he was elected a jus- 
 tice of the peace, and after serving that ofSce for ten years, 
 he was, in 1850, elected Commissioner of Lancaster county. 
 He was one of the board of Commissioners when the new 
 Court House was erected. For many years he stood at the 
 head of the Lancaster County Corn Exchange. He was, for 
 a time, engaged in the commission business, in Market street, 
 Philadelphia, in the firm of Fry, Acheson & Eommel. He 
 died October 23d, 1868, and he lies buried at the Union 
 meeting-house, in Warwick township. 
 
 * FULTON, EoBEBT. The aid of the historian, or biogra- 
 pher, is hardly necessary to preserve the name of Fulton. 
 He is identified with the age in which he lived, and so long 
 as a knowledge of the power of steam remains, tradition 
 will perpetuate the character and exertions of him who, by 
 his successful application of its power to the purposes of 
 navigation, defied alike wind and tide, and compelled the 
 elements to bow to the genius of man. 
 
 Yet, although his memory exists, and will exist until the 
 unsparing hand of time shall have swept away alike the 
 records of his fame and the knowledge of his triumphs, and 
 mental darkness shall again obscure the earth, it becomes not 
 less our duty to render him the praise which is his due, and 
 to enroll his name in our humble volume among the illustri- 
 ous worthies of our native land. Lowly in his origin, needy 
 in circumstances, and devoid in his youthful career of the 
 appliances of wealth and the patronage of friends, he pos- 
 sessed a mind and temperament that enrolled him in the ranks 
 of genius, and by his self-dependence enabled him to com- 
 mand the one and disregard the other. 
 
 He smoothed for himself the rugged road to power, and 
 * National Portrait Gallery. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 219 
 
 when standing on its lofty eminence, he relaxed not the toils 
 
 by which he had attained his elevation, but 
 
 ' ' gazing higher 
 
 Purposed in his heart to take another step." 
 
 The father of Eobert Fulton was an emigrant from Ireland 
 to this country. He married Mary, the daughter of Irish 
 parents by the name of Smith, then settled in Pennsylvania, 
 and from this union Robert was born in the township of 
 Little Britain, (now Fulton township,) Lancaster county, in 
 the year 1765, being the third child and oldest son. His 
 father dying when Robert was little more than three years 
 old, his means of instruction, which during the lifetime of 
 his parent were small, were still more reduced, and to the 
 town of Lancaster he was indebted for the rudiments of a 
 common English education. The early bent of his genius 
 was directed to drawing and painting, and such was his pro- 
 ficiency that, at the age of seventeen, we find him in Phila- 
 delphia pursuing this avocation for a livelihood, and with a 
 success that enabled him, by strict frugality, by the time he 
 had arrived at the age of twenty-one, to acquire suf&cient 
 means for the purchase of a small farm in Washington 
 county, on which, with filial affection, he settled his mother. 
 
 In 1786 he embarked for England and became an inmate 
 in the family of his distinguished countryman, Benjamin 
 West, where he remained several years, and with whom he 
 formed an intimacy which death alone dissolved. 
 
 For some time after leaving the family of Mr. West, he 
 devoted himself chiefly to the practice of his art, and during 
 a residence of two years in Devonshire, near Exeter, he be- 
 came known to the duke of Bridgewater and the earl of 
 Stanhope, with the latter of whom he was aftewards for a long 
 time in regular correspondence. About this period he con- 
 ceived a plan for the improvement of inland navigation, and 
 in 1794 he received the thanks of two societies for accounts 
 of various projects suggested by him. In 1796 he published 
 in London his treatise on the system of canal improvement. 
 The object of this work was to prove that small canals navi- 
 gated by boats of little burthen, were preferable to canals 
 and vessels of larger dimensions ; and to recommend a mode 
 
220 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 of transportation oyer mountainous regions of country with- 
 out the aid of locks, railways and steam engines. This he 
 proposed to accomplish by means of inclined planes, upon 
 which vessels navigating the canals should be raised or low- 
 ered from one level to another through means of some in- 
 geniously contrived machinery placed on the higher level, 
 by lifting and lowering the vessel perpendicularly. The only 
 ideas in these projects claimed by him as original, were the 
 perpendicular lift and the connection of the inclined planes 
 with machinery. 
 
 From England, in 1796, Mr. Fulton proceeded to France 
 and took up his lodgings at the same hotel with his cele- 
 brated fellow-citizen, Mr. Joel Barlow. Mr. Barlow after- 
 wards removing to his own house, Mr. Fulton accepted an 
 invitation to accompany him, and continued to reside in his 
 family for seven years. In this period he studied several 
 modern languages and perfected himself in the higher 
 branches of mathematics and natural philosophy. 
 
 The attention of Mr. Fulton appears to have been early di- 
 rected to the application of steam to the purpose of navigation. 
 It is not claimed for him that he was the originator of the 
 idea, nor that he was first to make the experiment, but it is 
 affirmed, and justly, that he was the first who successfully 
 applied this powerful engine to this branch of human indus- 
 try, and by his genius and perseverance removed the in- 
 cumbrances which had hitherto obstructed the path and 
 contributed to those splendid results which we are daily 
 witnessing, and in which its saving of time has shortened 
 space, and by bringing the various sections of our' beloved 
 country into more frequent intercourse, has strengthened 
 the Federal compact and joined more closely the bonds of 
 union. This important object was, however, temporarily 
 suspended, and in the meantime, in addition to various othei* 
 scientific projects, Mr. Fulton embarked in a series of ex- 
 periments, having for their object the destruction of ships^ 
 of war by submarine explosion. The situation of France 
 at this period, engaged in a war with nearly all the powers 
 of Europe, and compelled to succumb on the ocean to the 
 naval superiority of Great Britain, gave a universal interest 
 
OF LANOASTEB COUNTY. 221 
 
 to his scheme, and at once invited the attention of the 
 French government to the suggestion. A commission was 
 appointed by Napoleon, then first consul, to examine the 
 plans and report upon the probability of their success. Ac- 
 cordingly, in 1801 Mr. Fulton repaired to Brest, and there 
 commenced the experiment with his plunging boat, the 
 result of which we find detailed by himself in an interest- 
 ing report to the committee, from which, as related in 
 Colden's memoir, we gather the following facts : 
 
 "On the 3rd of July, 1801, he embarked with three com- 
 panies on board his plunging boat, in the harbor of Brest, 
 ^pd descended with it to the depth of five, ten, fifteen, and 
 so on to twenty-five feet, but he did not attempt to go lower, 
 because he found that his imperfect machine would not bear 
 the pressure of a greater depth. He remained below the 
 surface one hour. During this time they were in utter 
 ■darjcness. Afterwards he descended with candles, but find- 
 ing a gyeat disadvantage from their consumption of vital 
 ^r, he caused, previously to his next experiment, a small 
 window of thick glass to be made near the bow of his boat, 
 and he again descended with her, on the 24th of July, 1801. 
 He found that he received from his window, or rather aper- 
 ture covered with glass, for it was no more than an inch 
 4ind a half in diameter, sufficient light to enable him to count 
 the minutes on his watch. Having satisfied himself that he 
 could have sufficient light when under water, that he could 
 ■do without a supply of fresh air for a considerable time, 
 that he could descend to any depth and rise to the surface 
 with facility, his next object was to try her movements as 
 well on the surface as beneath it. On the 26th of July he 
 weighed his anchor and hoisted his sails; his boat had one 
 mast, a mainsail and jib. There was only a light breeze, 
 and therefore she did not move on the surface at more than 
 the rate of two miles an hour, but it was found that she 
 would tack and steer, and sail on a wind or before it as well as 
 any common sailing boat. He then struck her mast and sails, 
 to do which and perfectly to prepare the boat for plunging, 
 required about two minutes. Having plunged to a certain 
 depth he placed two men at the engine, which was intended 
 
222 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 to give her progressive motion, and one at the helm, while 
 he, with a barometer before him, governed the machine, 
 which kept her balanced between the upper and lower 
 waters. He found that with the exertion of one hand only, 
 he could keep her at any depth he pleased. The propelling 
 engine was then put in motion, and he found upon coming 
 to' the surface that he had, in about seven minutes, made a 
 progress of four hundred meters, or about five hundred 
 yards. He then again plunged, turned her around while 
 under water, and returned to near the place he began to 
 move from. He repeated his experiments several days suc- 
 cessively, until he became familiar with the operation of 
 the machinery and the movements of the boat. He found 
 that she was as obedient to her helm under water as any 
 boat could be on the surface, and that the magnetic needle 
 traversed as well in the one situation as the other. 
 
 "On the 7th of August Mr. Fulton again descended with a 
 store of atmospheric air compressed into a copper globe of a 
 cubic foot capacity, into which two hundred atmospheres 
 were forced. Thus prepared, he descended with three com- 
 panions to the depth of about five feet. At the expiration 
 of an hour and forty minutes he began to take small supplies 
 of pure air from the reservoir, and did so as he found occa- 
 sion, for four hours and twenty minutes. At the expiration 
 of this time, he came to the surface without having experi- 
 enced any inconvenience from having been so long under 
 water. 
 
 " Mr. Fulton was highly satisfied with the success of these 
 experiments ; it determined him to attempt to try the effects 
 of these inventions on the English ships which were then 
 blockading the coast of France and were daily near the 
 harbor of Brest. 
 
 " His boat at this time he called the submarine boat, or the 
 plunging boat ; and he afterwards gave it the name of the- 
 Nautilus ; connected with this machine were what he then 
 called submarine bombs, to which he has since given the 
 name of torpedoes. This invention preceded the Nautilus. 
 It was, indeed, his desire, of discovering the means of apply- 
 ing his torpedoes that turned his thoughts to a submarine.- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 223 
 
 toat. Satisfied witli the performance of his boat, his next 
 object was to make some experiments with the torpedoes. 
 A small shallop was anchored in the roads ; with a bomb 
 containing about twenty pounds of powder, he approached 
 to within about two hundred yards of the anchored vessel, 
 struck her with the torpedo and blew her into atoms. A 
 column of water and fragments were blown from 80 to 100 
 feet in the air. This experiment was made in the presence 
 of the prefect of the department, Admiral Villaret, and a 
 multitude of spectators." 
 
 The experiments of Mr. Fulton with his torpedoes were 
 subsequently renewed in England, where, in 1805, he blew 
 up in W aimer roads, near Deal, a Danish brig of two hun- 
 dred tons, provided for the purpose. 
 
 On his return to this country he continued his experi- 
 ments, and in 1807 blew up a large hulk brig in the harbor 
 of New York. These experiments, however satisfactory to 
 himself, were not so to the various governments to which 
 he had offered his services, and his efforts were therefore 
 productive of no further immediate results than to demon- 
 strate the effect of submarine explosions. 
 
 We now recur to an important period of Mr. Fulton's life, 
 for the purpose of tracing in a connected point of view those 
 labors, the successful result of which has exercised so bene- 
 ficial an influence on the destinies of the world and on which 
 rest his own claims to imperishable renown. As early as 
 1793, as appears by a letter addressed by him to Lord Stan- 
 hope, his attention had been drawn to the practicability of 
 steam navigation. It does not appear that any experiments 
 were made by him until the year 1803. 
 
 "Among his papers," says Golden, "are a variety of 
 drawings, diagrams and innumerable calculations, which 
 evidently relate to the subject; but they are imperfect; 
 most of them are mutilated^ and they are without dates, so 
 that they cannot with certainty be assigned to any period. 
 They render it very evident, however, that the application 
 of water-wheels, as they are now used in the boats which he 
 built in this country, was among his first conceptions of the 
 means by which steam vessels might be propelled." 
 
224 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 It is not our intention to enter into an examination of 
 Mr. Fulton's claims as an originator of this idea ; he made 
 no such pretensions. Experiments had been made again and 
 again by different individuals, but without success ; in some 
 instances, indeed, vessels had been moved by the power of 
 steam, but they had only served to prove the fallaciousness 
 of each invention, and to confirm the ignorant in their belief 
 of its impracticability ; and until the attempt of Fulton, we 
 unhesitatingly assert that the practical establishment of 
 navigation by steam was wanting, and that to him is the 
 world indebted for its advantages. 
 
 How contemptible is that narrow-minded sectional feeling 
 which in its desire to give credit to natives of a particular 
 country, would descend to calumny and falsehood for the 
 purpose of robbing another of his well-earned laurels, 
 merely because his birth-place was on a different soil. 
 
 Genius belongs to the earth at large. It is the property 
 of the universe. It disdains conventional trammels, and 
 like our own free eagle, it soars in the boundless space far 
 above the clouds of prejudice and envy, regardless of the 
 petty storms beneath. 
 
 As well might the claims of Watt, as an inventor, be dis- 
 puted, because steam engines were in operation before his 
 day, as those of Fulton, because others had unsuccessfully 
 attempted similar experiments; and yet we are told by 
 Stuart, in his "Anecdotes of Steam Engines and of their 
 Inventors and Improvers," that "there is probably no one 
 whose name is associated with the history of mechanism and 
 whose labors have received so large a share of applause, who 
 appears to have less claim to notice as an inventor than 
 Eobert Fulton." 
 
 So also in another part of his work, in speaking of Mr. 
 Fulton's publication on the subject of canals, before adverted 
 to, he says : " The character af this book was that of its 
 author, it contained nothing original either in matter or 
 manner." We can hardly return the compliment of Robert 
 Stuart, in reference to his production, as he is certainly 
 entitled to the credit of originality for his idea of Fulton's 
 character, and we may add that in this thought he stands 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 225 
 
 alone. While Mr. Fulton was yet in France engaged in his 
 experiments with the Nautilus, Eobert R. Livingston, esq., 
 arrived in that country as an American minister, and an 
 intimacy at once commenced between them. Chancellor 
 Livingston had previously been engaged in some experi- 
 ments in that country, and in 1798 had procured from the 
 Legislature of the State of New York, the passage of an act 
 vesting him with the exclusive right of navigating all kinds 
 of boats which might be propelled by the force of fire or 
 steam on all the waters within the jurisdiction of that State 
 for the term of twenty years, upon condition that he should 
 within one year build such a boat, the mean rate of whose 
 speed should be at least four miles an hour. 
 
 A boat was accordingly constructed by Mr. Livingston, 
 in accordance with this act, but not meeting the condition 
 of the law, the project was for the time abandoned. His 
 acquaintance with Fulton was the commencement of a new 
 era in the history of science. It was the union of congenial 
 spirits — a, junction of minds alike distinguished for capacity, 
 energy and perseverance, and bent upon the same grand 
 design, and from whose em'brace sprang into being the 
 mighty improvement which, in its influence on human 
 affairs,, has outstripped all other efforts of modern times. 
 
 The mind of Fulton was of an order which peculiarly 
 fitted him for this undertaking ; active, inventive and un- 
 yielding, towering in stature, it may be aptly compared to 
 that of the bard who saw 
 
 " The tops of distant thoughts, 
 
 Which mou of common stature never saw." 
 
 Possessing a keen penetration, a mind also of superior 
 mechanical order, and thorough theoretical knowledge of 
 the laws of mechanics, Mr. Livingston was deficient in that 
 practical information which, with the other qualities, was 
 united in Fulton; and on meeting with him, he at once per- 
 ceived the man through whose talents he might hope to 
 accomplish his valuable designs. 
 
 It was immediately agreed between them to embark in 
 the enterprise, and a series ol experiments were had on a 
 small scale, which resulted in a determination to build an 
 
226 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBY 
 
 experimental boat on the Seine. This boat was completed 
 early in the spring of 1803 ; they were on the point of 
 making an experiment with her, when one morning as Mr. 
 Fulton was rising from a bed in which anxiety had given 
 him but little rest, a messenger from the boat, whose precipi- 
 tation and apparent consternation announced that he was 
 the bearer of bad tidings, presented himself to him and 
 exclaimed, in accents of despair, " 0, sir, the boat has broken 
 to pieces and gone to the bottom !" Mr. Fulton, who him- 
 self related the anecdote, declared that this news created a 
 despondency which he never felt on any other occasion ; but 
 this was only a momentary sensation. Upon examination 
 he found that this boat had been too weakly framed to bear 
 the weight of the machinery, and that in consequence of an 
 agitation of the river by the wind, the preceding night, what 
 the messenger had represented had literally happened. 
 Without returning to his lodgings he immediately began to 
 labor with his own hands to raise the boat, and worked for 
 four and twenty hours incessantly, without allowing himself 
 rest or taking refreshment, an imprudence which, as he 
 always supposed, had a permailently bad effect on his con- 
 stitution, and to which he imputed much of his subsequent 
 bad health. 
 
 The accident did the machinery very little injury, but they 
 were obliged to build the boat almost entirely anew. She 
 was completed in July ; her length was sixty-six feet, and 
 she was eight feet wide. Early in August Mr. Fulton 
 addressed a letter to the French national institute, invit- 
 ing them to witness a trial of his boat, which was made in 
 the presence of a great multitude of the Parisians. This 
 experiment was so far satisfactory to its projectors as to de- 
 termine them to continue their efforts in that country; and 
 arrangements were accordingly ma.de with Messrs. Watt & 
 Bolton to furnish certain parts of a steam engine according 
 to the directions of Fulton. Mr. Livingston also procured a 
 reenactment of the law of 1798, extending the provisions of 
 that act to Fulton and himself for the term of twenty years 
 from the date of the new act. In 1806 Fulton returned to 
 this country, and at once commenced building his first 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 227 
 
 American steamboat. In the spring of 1807 the boat was 
 launched from the ship -yard of Charles Brown. The engine, 
 from England, was put on board, and in August she was 
 moved by the aid of her machinery from her birth-place to 
 the Jersey shore. Great interest had been excited in the 
 public mind in relation to the new experiment; and the 
 wharves were crowded with spectators, assembled to witness 
 the first trial. Ridicule and jeers were freely poured forth 
 upon the boat and its projectors, until, at length, as the boat 
 moved from the wharf and increased her speed, the silence 
 and astonishment which first enthralled the immense audi- 
 ence was broken by one universal shout of acclamation and 
 applause. The triumph of genius was complete, and the 
 name of Fulton was thenceforth destined to stand enrolled 
 among the benefactors of mankind. 
 
 The new boat was called the Clermont, in compliment of 
 the place of residence of Mr. Livingston, and shortly after- 
 wards made her first trip to Albany and back, at an average 
 speed of five miles an hour. The successful application of 
 Mr. Fulton's invention had now been fairly tried, and the 
 efficacy of navigation by steam fully determined. The Cler- 
 mont was advertised as a packet boat between New York an 
 Albany, and continued, with some intermissions, running 
 the remainder of the season. Two other boats, the Raritan 
 and Car of Neptune, were launched the same year, and a 
 regular passenger line of steamboats established from that 
 period between New York and Albany. In each of these 
 boats great improvements were made, although as yet im- 
 perfect. 
 
 In 1811-12 two steamboats were built under the superin- 
 tendence of Mr. Fulton, as ferry-boats for crossing the Hudson 
 river, and shortly after another of the same description, for 
 the ferry between Brooklyn and New York. These boats 
 consisted of two complete hulls, united by a common deck, 
 moving -either way with equal facility, and thereby saving 
 the necessity of turning. A painful incident as regards the 
 starting of this boat is as follows: The boat had made one 
 or two trips across the river, and was lying at the wharf at 
 the foot of Beekman street. Some derangement had taken 
 
-228 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 place in the machinery, which the chief engineer was engaged 
 in rectifying, when the machinery was set in motion, and 
 coming in contact with the engineer, mangled him in a man- 
 ner that produced his death the next day. He was removed 
 to the house adjacent to that occupied by the author of this 
 sketch, and well does he remember the conversation between 
 Mr. Fulton and the attending surgeon in reference to the 
 unfortunate man. After some conversation in relation to 
 the prospect of his recovery, Mr. Fulton, much affected, re- 
 marked, " Sir, I will give all I am worth to save the life 
 of that man." When told that his recovery was hopeless, 
 he was perfectly unmanned, and wept like a child. It is 
 here introduced to show, that while his own misfortunes 
 never for a single moment disturbed his equanimity, the 
 finer feelings of his nature were sensitively alive to the dis- 
 tresses of others. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to trace the further progress of Mr. 
 Fulton's career in regard to steam navigation. Altogether 
 thirteen boats were built in the city of New York, under his 
 superintendence, the last being the steam frigate which, in 
 compliment to its projector, was called Fulton the First. 
 The keel of this immense vessel was laid on the 20th of June, 
 1814, and in little more than four months she was launched 
 from the ship-yard of Adam and INoah Brown, her architects, 
 amid the roar of cannon and the plaudits of thousands of 
 spectators. From the report of the commissioners appointed 
 to superintend her construction, we extract the following 
 description of this magnificent vessel: " She is a structure 
 resting on two boats and keels, separated from end to end 
 by a channel fifteep feet wide and sixty-six feet wide ; one 
 boat contains the cauldrons. of copper to prepare her steam. 
 The cylinder, of iron, its piston, levers and wheels, occupy 
 part of the other. The water-wheel revolves in the space 
 between them. The main or gun-deck supports the arma- 
 ment, and is protected by a parapet four feet ten inches 
 thick, of solid timber, pierced by embrasures. Through 
 thirty port holes, as many thirty-two pounders are intended 
 to fire red-hot shot, which can be heated with great safety 
 and convenience. The upper or spar deck, upon which 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 229 
 
 several thousand men might parade, is encompassed with a 
 bulwark which aifords safe quarters. She is rigged with 
 two stout masts, each of which supports a large lateen yard 
 and sails ; she has two bowsprits, so that she can be steered 
 with either end foremost; her machinery is calculated for 
 the addition of an engine which will discharge an immense 
 column of water, which it is intended to throw upon the 
 decks and through the port-holes of an enemy, and thereby 
 deluge her armament and ammunition." 
 
 Before the conclusion of this mighty undertaking, it 
 pleased the Almighty to remove Mr. Fulton from the scene 
 of his labors. He died in the. city of New York, on the 
 24th of February, 1815, after a short illness, consequent on 
 severe exposure. The announcement of his death was ac- 
 companied with all those tokens of regret which mark the 
 decease of a great public character. His corpse was attended 
 to its last resting-place by all the public officers of the city, 
 and by a larger concourse of citizens than had ever been 
 assembled on any similar occasion. Minute-guns marked 
 the progress of the procession, and every testimonial of 
 gratitude and respect was lavished upon his memory. Mr. 
 Fulton left four children, one son and three daughters, and 
 we regret to add, in the- language of Golden, with no other 
 "patrimony than that load of debt which their parent con- 
 tracted in those pursuits that ought to command the grati- 
 tude as they do the admiration of mankind." In person Mr. 
 Fulton was about six feet high, slender, but well propor- 
 tioned and well formed. In manners he was cordial, cheer- 
 ful and unembarrassed; in his domestic relations eminently 
 happy. A kind husband, an affectionate parent, a zealous 
 friend, he has left behind him, independent of his public 
 career, an unsullied reputation and a memory void of 
 reproach. 
 
 G. 
 
 GAEA, Isaac B., was born nfear Soudersburg, LAnCastel" 
 couiity, Pennsylvania, Octdber 28th, 1821. At the age' 
 of siiteen hb entered the Examiner and Herald office' as au 
 
230 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 apprentice to learn the printing business, the paper at that 
 time being under the ownership of Hamersly & Eichards. 
 After remaining in the employ of this firm for about three 
 years, the paper passed into the hands of other proprietors, 
 and the subject of this notice passed out into life and began 
 the publication of a paper in Bellefonte, and afterwards in 
 Lock Haven. For about nine months he edited the semi- 
 weekly Gazette, at Galena, Illinois. The climate of this part 
 of Illinois not agreeing with him, he returned to Pennsyl- 
 vania and became associate proprietor and editor of the Brie 
 Gazette, a position which he held up to May 4th, 1865. In 
 January, 1867, he was appointed by Governor Geary Deputy 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth, and retained the same 
 up to May 1st, 1869, when he resigned the Deputy Secre- 
 taryship to accept the office of postmaster of the city of 
 Brie, a position voluntarily tendered him. Hugh S. Gara, 
 of Lancaster city, is a brother of Isaac B. Gara. 
 
 GAEBEE, Gheistian, (Carver) emigrated from Germany 
 sometime between the years 1700 and 1720, and settled in 
 West Hempfield township, near where the present Jacob B. 
 Garber, his great grandson, resides. He took up and settled 
 a traet of land, and obtained a deed in 1735 for 236 acres, 
 with the usual allowance of 6 acres to the 100 for roads, &c., 
 from John, Thomas and Eichard Penn, true and absolute 
 proprietors of Penjisylvania and the counties of New Castle 
 and Sussex, on the Delaware. For this tract of land he paid 
 £46, 11 shillings and 8 pence. The original tract has re- 
 mained in the family until the present time, and is yet in the 
 possession of Jacob B. Garber and Jonas Garber, also a de- 
 scendant of the original settler. Jacob B. Garber says : " The 
 house I live in was built by my father in 1812, and is the 
 third dwelling house erected on this farm, besides the squat- 
 ter's cabin first put up in the wilderness. Previous to the 
 time of my forefather's locating on this farm, several families 
 had penetrated as far as the Susquehanna river and took 
 possession of the ground whereon Columbia is now located." 
 The Garbers have all been of a retiring disposition, devoting 
 their time and attention to farming. The name has been 
 spelled differently — as Karver, Carver, Gerber, Garber. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 231 
 
 Jacob B. Garber is an old, estimable citizen, noted for the 
 leading position be has for many years held in county and 
 State Agricultural Societies. He has been a contributor 
 for many years to agricultural journals. 
 
 GATCHBLL, J. 0., a member of the Legislature in 1868 
 and 1871. 
 
 GALBEAITH, Andrew, a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 1731, 1732, 1733, 1734, 1735, 1736 and 1737. 
 
 GALBEAITH, Babteam, a delegate to the convention in 
 1776 which ratified the first Pennsylvania Constitution. He 
 was a Colonel in the Eevolutionary war. 
 
 GEIST, J. M. W., one of the editors of the Lancaster 
 Uxpress, was born in Bart township, Lancaster county, on 
 the 14th of December, 1824. His parents being persons in 
 straitened circumstances, and having the burden of a large 
 family devolving upon them, the subject of our sketch had 
 not the advantages of more than an ordinary education 
 afforded him. Being, however, of a delicate constitution, 
 superior educational training was given him over and above 
 that received by the rest of his brothers and sisters. He 
 early gave evidence of superior ability in the rapid acquisi- 
 tion of knowledge, and soon distanced his youthful com- 
 petitors in the various branches of learning then taught in the 
 schools. Finding himself competent to impart instruction, he 
 taught school for some time in Chester county and elsewhere. 
 Whilst engaged in teaching, at the suggestion of friends he 
 read medicine, and in 1843 visited Philadelphia in order to 
 attend medical lectures in that city. An opportunity now 
 presented itself to him to learn the trade of his early choice 
 — printing and stereotyping — ^and he abandoned medicine, 
 having little taste for this profession. In 1844 he began 
 his editorial career in charge of the Reformer, a temperance 
 paper of Lancaster. Prior to this he had contributed con- 
 siderably as a writer for newspapers. His enterprise in 
 Lancaster proving a financial failure, and inducements being 
 held out to him by the State temperance organization to 
 essay the establishment of his paper at Harrisburg, he accepted 
 the offer. The promised aid not being furnished him, he was 
 
232 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 again unsuccessful, and was involved in difficulties whicb 
 required years of patient toil amidst great discouragement 
 to surmount. In 1846 he edited an anti-administration paper 
 called the Yeoman, supported by a wing of the Democracy 
 in opposition to the administration of Francis R. Shunk, 
 Governor of Pennsylvania. Some time after this, we find 
 him employed in Philadelphia, in the Quaker City newspaper 
 office, for which paper he afterwards contributed a serial 
 story, entitled the "Prayer of Love," supposed to embody 
 much of his own life experience. After this he became edi- 
 tor of the Sunday Globe]; next one of the publishers of the 
 Sunday Mercury. In February, 1852, he accepted the propo- 
 sition of John H. Pearsol, came to Lancaster and assumed 
 the editorial management of the Weekly Express, then the 
 organ of the temperance sentiment of the county. In 1856 
 Mr. Geist purchased an interest in this paper, and with his 
 partner, the original proprietor, established in connection 
 with it the Daily Express, and has succeeded in building it up 
 as one of the most influential and independent newspaper 
 organs in eastern Pennsylvania. As an editor of a news- 
 paper, Mr. Geist wields a fertile and vigorous pen, his style 
 being free, easy and euphonious. Although a Eepublican 
 in principle, he is Independent, and no party fealty checks 
 his pen when truth demands the exposure of political cor- 
 ruption. It is this cause which has rendered his paper the 
 powerful moulder of sentiment it has become. 
 
 GEIST, Philip, elected Commissioner in 1853. 
 
 GBTZ, George, was born in the city of Lancaster, July 
 18, 1789. He learned the printing business in the Lancaster 
 Journal office, under Hugh Hamilton. Afterwards he 
 entered the service of the United States, as midshipman in 
 the navy. He took part, under Captain James Lawrence, 
 in the memorable engagement between the Hornet and 
 the Peacock, and performed active duty in several minor 
 naval engagements. In the latter part of the year 1813 he 
 resigned his post in the navy, and was appointed by Presi- 
 dent Madison, a lieutenant in the army, in which capacity he 
 served until the close of the war. In 1816 he removed to 
 Eeading, Berks county, Pa., where he established the Berks- 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 233 
 
 and Schuylkill Journal, a paper which he conducted for over 
 sixteen years. In March, 1850, he was elected Mayor of the 
 city of Eeading, and was twice reelected, in the years 1851 
 and 1852. He died February 10th, 1853. 
 
 GEST, Joseph, born at Bethel, (now Delaware county), in 
 the year 1722, was the son of Henry Gest, who emigrated 
 to this country from Birmingham, England, about the year 
 1700, and who was married to Mary, the daughter of James 
 Clemson. While yet a boy, Joseph removed to Lancaster 
 county, and resided with his uncle, Thomas Clemson ; here he 
 learned the trade of a carpenter, and soon became an exten- 
 sive contractor, and was engaged in erecting some of the' 
 finest buildings among the early settlements. In the year 
 1764 he purchased 300 acres of land from William Webster, 
 the original patentee, on which his grandson, Jacob T. Gest, 
 now resides; and in the following year he was joined in 
 marriage with Deborah, the daughter of Joseph and Eliza- 
 beth Dickinson. His son, John Gest, was appointed to the 
 ofi&ce of Eecorder of Deeds, for the city and county of Phila- 
 delphia, under the administration of Governor Eitner, in the 
 year 1835; and his son, Joseph Gest, was, for many years, 
 county surveyor for Hamilton county, Ohio, and for the city 
 of Cincinnati. He lived to the age of 92 years, and his de- 
 scendants are among the most intelligent and respectable 
 personages in the eastern section of Lancaster county. 
 
 GETZ, Peter. The following notice of Mr. Getz we ex- 
 tract from Barton's Life of Eittenhouse : " Peter Getz was a 
 self-taught mechanic of singular ingenuity in the borough of 
 Lancaster, where he exercised the trade of a silversmith and 
 jeweler, and was remarkable for the extraordinary elegance 
 and beauty of the workmanship he executed. He was, in 
 1792, a candidate for the place of chief coiner or engraver 
 in the mint." 
 
 GIBBONS, Abraham, elected Commissioner in 1824. 
 
 GIBBONS, Mrs. Phoebe Bable, a lady of literary tastes, 
 
 was born in Philadelphia, August 9th, 1821. Her father, 
 
 Thomas Barle, was a man of great note in his day, and in 
 
 1840 was the first candidate of the Liberty party for 
 
 18 
 
234 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 Vice President. The subject of this sketch was well 
 educated in select schools in Massachusetts, and taught in 
 Mr. Picot's French school in Philadelphia and elsewhere for 
 some years. In 1845 she was married to Dr. Joseph Grib- 
 bons of Lancaster county. In 1861 she began the study of 
 Oreek, with Professor William M. Nevin, of Lancaster. A 
 portion of the Odyssey, translated by her was published in 
 the Ladies' Friend of Philadelphia. A small medical work 
 ■was translated by her from the French, for Lindsay and 
 BlakistoB, which was published in 1866. She has also trans- 
 lated a portion of the Herman and Dorothea of Goethe. At 
 ■difiVreiit times she has written articles for magazines. In 
 1872 she published a small volume, entitled "Pennsylvania 
 Dutch," a portion of which originally appeared in the Atlan- 
 tic Monthly. Mrs. Gibbons is an active member of the Lan- 
 caster Linnaean Society. She is a lady of varied acquire- 
 ments and marked intellectual capacity. 
 
 GIBSON, General John, was born in Lancaster city, 
 Pennsylvania, on the 2t5rd of May, 1740. Having received 
 an excellent education, at the age of eighteen he made choice 
 of a military career as the most congenial to his tastes. His 
 first service was under Gen. Forbes, in the campaign that 
 resulted in the capture of Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburg), 
 from the French. When the peace of 1763 was concluded 
 between the French and English, he settled as a trader at 
 Fort Pitt. Shortly afterwards, war broke out anew with the 
 Indians, and he was taken prisoner by them at the mouth of 
 Beaver creek, while descending the Ohio river in a canoe, 
 together with two men in his employ, one of whom was 
 immediately burned, and the other suffered the same fate ou 
 reaching the mouth of the Kanawha river. Gibson, on this 
 occasion, owed his life to the partiality of an aged squaw, who 
 chose him as her adopted son, in lieu of her own whom she 
 had lost in battle. He was necessitated to remain many 
 years with the Indians, where he became immediately con- 
 versant with their language, habits, manners, customs and 
 traditions. It has been a subject of extreme regret by many, 
 that he should have held these matters in such slight esteem 
 && to deem his collections unworthy of being transmitted to 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 235 
 
 posterity ; for it is evident that in the present state of anti- 
 quarian research, they would throw light upon many ques- 
 tions that are now agitated among scientific men. No man 
 of his attainments and ability to set forth his observations, 
 has had equal opportunities for coming to a correct know- 
 ledge of the Indian character, unless his friend, the Rev. 
 Hecke welder, is to be excepted. Upon the termination of 
 "hostilities, he again settled at Fort Pitt. 
 
 In 1774 he acted a conspicuous part in the expedition 
 against the Shawnee towns, under the command of Lord 
 Dunmore, and was particularly active in the negotiation of 
 the peace that followed, and which restored many prisoners 
 to their friends after long years of anxious captivity. It 
 was on this occasion that the celebrated speech of Logan, 
 the Mingo chief, was delivered, and the circumstances con- 
 nected with its delivery are of suf&cient interest to account 
 for their recital in this sketch, such as they were detailed by 
 <jren. Gibson hiinself a short time before his death. When 
 the troops had reached the principal town of the Shawnees, 
 and while active preparations were being made to put every- 
 thing in readiness for the attack. Gen. Gibson, with an escort 
 and flag of truce, was despatched to the Indians with au- 
 thority to treat for peace. As he approached he perceived 
 Logan, (whom he had previously seen), standing in the path, 
 and he addressed him with the familiar greeting : " My friend 
 Logan, how do you do ? I am glad to see you." To this, 
 Logan, with a coldness of manner and brevity of expression 
 which clearly betokened his feelings, replied : " I suppose 
 you are," and immediately turned away. After explaining 
 the object of his embassy to the assembled chiefs, (all of 
 'whom were present except Logan), he found them all sin- 
 cerely anxious for peace. Whilst the terms of reconcilia- 
 tion were being discussed he felt himself plucked by the 
 skirt of his capote, and turning around he saw Logan at his 
 back, standing with his face convulsed with rage, and by 
 signs beckoning to follow him. What to do he was at first 
 in doubt, but reflecting that he was at least equal to his an- 
 tagonist, being armed with dirk and side pistols, and in 
 nluscular strength his superior, and considering, above all, 
 
236 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 that any betrayal of fear in this emergency, might prove 
 detrimental to the negotiation, he followed in silence, while 
 Logan with quick steps led the way to a copse of woods at 
 some little distance. Here they seated themselves, and the 
 stern and fearless chief was instantly suffused in a torrent, 
 of gushing tears, but as yet no word was uttered, and his 
 grief appeared inconsolable. As soon, however, as he had 
 regained the power of utterance, he delivered the speech in 
 question, and desired it to be transmitted to Lord Dunmore, 
 in order to remove all suspicion that might be entertained 
 in reference to a treaty, in the ratification of which a chief 
 of his importance had not participated. Accordingly, the 
 speech was translated and sent to Lord Dunmore without 
 delay. Gen. Gibson could not positively say that the speech, 
 as given by Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia, was verbatim 
 as he had penned it ; but he was inclined to think from cer- 
 tain expressions which he remembered, it was so ; that it gave 
 the substance, he was confident. Gen. Gibson, however, be- 
 lieved that it was not in the power of a translation to do 
 justice to the speech as delivered by Logan ; a speech to 
 which the language of passion, uttered in tones of the deepest 
 feeling, and with gestures at once naturally graceful and 
 commanding, together with a consciousness on the part of 
 the hearer that the sentiments proceeded immediately from 
 a desolate and broken heart, imparted a grandeur and force 
 inconceivably great. Indeed, as compared with the original, 
 he even regarded the translation as but lame and insipid. 
 
 On the breaking out of the revolutionary war, Gen. Gibson 
 obtained the command of one of the Contineatal resiments, 
 and was with the army at New York aud during its retreat 
 through New Jersey; but during the remainder of the war 
 he was detailed on the western frontier, a service for which 
 his long sojourn among the Indians had peculiarly qualified 
 him. In 1776 he was a member of the convention which 
 framed the Constitution of Pennsylvania, and was afterward 
 appointed a judge of the court of common^ pleas of the 
 county of Allegheny, and a major general of the militia. 
 In the year 1800 he received from President Jefferson the 
 appointment of Secretary of the Territory of Indiana, and 
 
• OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 237 
 
 this position he retained until the territory was admitted as 
 a State into the Union. Laboring under an incurable 
 cataract, which had for a long time afflicted him, he now 
 retired to Braddook's Field, the residence of his son-in-law, 
 Geo. Wallace, esq., and there died April 10th, 1822, having 
 sustained through life the character of a brave soldier and 
 an honest man. 
 
 GILCHRIST, John, was a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 1778 and 1779. 
 
 GISH, Jacob, was a member .of the Legislature in the 
 years 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808, 1809 and 1824. 
 
 GLEIM, William, was elected Register of Wills in the 
 year 1845. 
 
 GOOD, Anthony, was elected Recorder in the year 1857. 
 
 "GOOD, Daniel, elected Commissioner in 1854. 
 
 GOTSCHALK, Abraham, was a member of the Legisla- 
 ;ture in 'the years 1867 and 1869. 
 
 GRAFF, Hans, (John), a native of Switzerland, born in 
 1661, was one of the first pioneers of Lancaster county, who 
 settled in it as early as the year 1717, when the district in 
 which he chose his future home was comparatively a howl- 
 ing wilderness, still inhabited by the tawny races of the new 
 world. He belonged to the pious but persecuted sect of 
 •religionists in Europe, the Mennonites, against whom the 
 sword of intolerance was unsheathed ; and it was to escape 
 the destruction that seemed to threaten the devoted followers 
 of Menno Simon, that the subject of our notice was induced, 
 together with his fellow religionists, to select some portion 
 ■of the new world as their place of refuge. About the year 
 1695, Hans Graff had fled from his native home in Switzer- 
 land, and taken up his abode in Alsace, a district of France, 
 where he remained until he emigrated to America, and set- 
 tled at Germantown, Pa. His stay in this latter place was 
 of some duration ; but finally, induced by glowing descrip- 
 tions of the fertility and excellence of the soil of the Pequea 
 valley, he removed thither and chose it as his abode, unless 
 one more adapted to his tastes should come to his knowledge. 
 In his wanderings through the new territory he came into a 
 
238 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY , 
 
 finely timbered district of country ; and embowered in the 
 midst of beautiful and majestic oaks, he saw a gushing stream 
 of limpid water issuing from its fountain in all its native 
 purity. Fascinated with this delightful elysium of nature,, 
 this exiled wanderer for conscience resolved to select the 
 lovely spot upon which his eyes then for the first time 
 rested, and the place where, in coming years, he and his 
 successors might pour out their adorations to the God of 
 their fathers, with none to fear nor make them afraid. His 
 resolution was fixed. Eeturning to his home at Pequea, he 
 disposed of his effects and- immediately took up his journey 
 for the place which he had chosen as his future home and 
 abode. Here he erected a cabin under a large white oak 
 tree, in which he, the partner of his bosom and an only 
 child, spent the first winter. In the following spring, in 
 order to secure himself in this the territory of his choice, 
 he took out a warrant for a large tract of land, and then 
 bailt for himself a house of more commodious dimensions 
 and near to the site of his first rude and homely cabin. 
 Fortune favored, in a remarkable degree, this early pioneer 
 of Lancaster's wilds ; and it was not long till his prosperity 
 attracted others of his countrymen, who came and settled 
 around and near him ; and in this manner the nucleus of a 
 flourishing settlement was in a short time formed. For 
 many years, however, the principal persons with whom Hans 
 Graff had intercourse, were the red^men of the forest, and 
 this accounts for his great knowledge of the Indian tongue, 
 in which he is said .to have discoursed as fluently as in his 
 vernacular German. He was not slow in taking advantage 
 of the circumstances by which he was surrounded, and with 
 the Indians he soon established a trade that resulted to his 
 great profit and advantage. He sold to the Indians milk, 
 vegetables, blankets, and other articles of merchandise 
 which he could purchase in Philadelphia, and obtained in 
 exchange for them furs and other objects of trade, for which 
 he could secure a ready sale, and which, to him, were equiva- 
 lent to cash. In this way Hans Graff laid the foundation 
 of a princely fortune ; and by the time that Lancaster was 
 organized into a separate county, he was already one of the 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 239 
 
 most independent and influential of its citizens. The town- 
 ship in which he had selected his abode, was named Earl (Graff) 
 in honor of him, as its most respected inhabitant. He was- 
 an active and energetic man in his day ; useful as a counsel- 
 lor amongst his neighbors and fellow-citizens ; and no busi- 
 ness of importance was transacted at that early period unless- 
 his judgment was first consulted and his consent obtained. 
 Despite the jealousy of race, that in thosa. early times in- 
 flamed the antagonistic Irish and German elements of the 
 county, we find the name of Hans Graff often conspicu- 
 ously appearing in positions of official trust, to which he 
 had been assigned by the Governor and Board of Council 
 of the province ; and by the judges of the court of his 
 county. After having served his day and generation, he 
 was followed to his last resting-place by his numerous friends 
 and descendants, who have erected a shrine to his memory 
 more enduring than the lofty marble monuments reared to 
 princes, kings and einperors. 
 
 Hans Graff raised six sons : Peter, David, John, Daniel, 
 Marcus and Samuel. David was married to a Miss Moyer, 
 and died at the age of sixty-two years. His wife attained 
 the age Of ninety -two years. David, son of the last named, 
 married Barbara Hirst, and built the house in West Earl 
 township where Levi W. Groff now resides. He died at 
 the age of twenty-seven, and his widow married David 
 Martin. John, (gross Johnny), son of the last, was married 
 to a Miss Wenger. Levi W. Groif is one of his sons, and 
 David G. Swartz, esq., of Lancaster, is a grandson. 
 
 GKIBST, Bllwood, was born in Chester county. Pa., 
 June 17th, 1824. His parents belonged to the Society of 
 Friends. After receiving an ordinary English education, he 
 was apprenticed to the blacksmithing business, and having 
 learned this trade, he worked in the capacity of a journeyman 
 in Lancaster, Chester and Delaware counties. He carried 
 on this business in Bart township, and afterwards in Christi- 
 ana, up to the breaking out of the rebellion. He entered 
 the service of the United States in December, 1862, as a 
 clerk in the subsistence department, in the Third Division, 
 Sixth Army Corps, Army of the Putomac. In this capacitjr 
 
240 biogeaphicaij history 
 
 he served up to October, 1863, when he was captured by 
 Moseby's guerrillas, and sent to Eichmond. Here he was 
 detained for some months, and after -returning home, was 
 detailed for duty to Johnson's Island, in Lake Brie, a depot 
 of rebel prisoners. In August, 1864, he was commissioned 
 commissary of subsistence, with the rank of captain. He 
 was ordered to Gen. Sheridan's army, and placed on his 
 staff as issuing commissary at headquarters. He re- 
 mained with Sheridan till February, 1865; and when the 
 latter went on his raid in the Shenandoah Valley, Captain 
 Griest was left as post commissary at Winchester. 
 
 During the time that Captain Griest was connected with 
 Sheridan's staff, General Alexander Shaler, who knew him 
 well in the Army of the Potomac, and was now commanding 
 the post of Columbus, Kentucky, made repeated applications 
 to have him assigned to duty on his staff. These applica- 
 tions were at length referred by the Commissary General of 
 Subsistence to General Sheridan, who returned them with 
 the following endorsement: 
 
 Headquaetkks Middle Military Division, Wihchbsteb, Va., 
 
 December 14tli, 1864. 
 
 Respectfully returned to the Commissary General, with the remark 
 that Captain Griest is an intelligent and efficient officer, whose services 
 at this time, in this department, cannot very well be dispensed with. 
 
 By order of MAJOR GENERAL SHERIDAN. 
 
 Jno. Kellogg, Col. and Chief C. S. 
 
 He was afterwards detailed with Sheridan to New Orleans ; 
 next to Jacksonville, Florida, at which latter place he re- 
 mained till mustered out of service in April, 1866, with the 
 brevet rank of Major. Before returning home a lieutenant's 
 commission in the United States infantry was tendered him, 
 which he declined accepting. In the following September, 
 upon his return home, he was appointed County Treasurer 
 by the county commissioners, in room of Samuel Ensminger, 
 deceased. Whilst acting as Treasurer he was engaged by 
 S. A. Wylie to edit the Lancaster Inquirer, then published 
 by tbe latter. In 1868 he entered into partnership with the 
 latter, a position he retained till the death of Mr. Wylie, in 
 June, 1872. He is still editor of the Inquirer. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 241 
 
 G-EEY, Henry, was a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1852 and 1853. 
 
 GRIMLER, Benjamin, the editor of the Wahre Ameri- 
 <;aner; a Grerman newspaper published in Lancaster during the 
 period that it was the seat of government of Pennsylvania. 
 The paper was published by himself and his brother, Henry 
 Grimier. Benjamin was the youngest of a considerable 
 family. His father had emigrated from Wirtemberg, Ger- 
 many, at an early day, and his mother was a native of 
 ■Charleston, South Carolina, and an intimate acquaintance of 
 the celebrated Benjamin Franklin, having boarded in 
 the same family with him for some time. Der Wahre 
 Americaner was for a long time the leading Democratic paper 
 of Lancaster county, and looked upon as the political bible 
 of that party. The Messrs. Grimier were employed by the 
 Legislature to do the German printing as long as the ses- 
 sions of the body were held in this place. Benjamin Grim- 
 ier went out as lieutenant of a company, raised in Lancaster, 
 to Elkton, Maryland, to assist in keeping at bay the British, 
 who were cruising around the coasts under Admiral Cock- 
 burn. His service was not of long duration, and after his 
 discharge therefrom he returned to Lancaster and resumed 
 again the business of civil life. In 1824 he was elected to 
 the lower house of the Pennsylvania Legislature. Benja- 
 min Grimier was a ready writer, in either German or Eng- 
 lish, and could deliver an impromptu address or pen an 
 editorial upon any occasion. At the time when Captain 
 Oeorge Hambright was defeated by the delegates of the 
 federal party for the office of sheriff, and ran afterwards in 
 ■opposition to the settled ticket of his party, Benjamin 
 Orimler was successful in inducing the Democratic party to 
 support him, and he was elected. Hambright was supported 
 by the plebeian wing of the Federal party, and also by the 
 Democrats. During this campaign Grimier issued in his 
 paper one of his masterly addresses, which aroused the masses 
 of the people to the support of his candidates, and insured 
 thejr triumphant election. He died in 1832, and lies buried 
 in the graveyard of Trinity Lutheran church. The mother 
 of Hon. Henry G. Long was a sister of Benjamin Grimier. 
 
242 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 GEIMLER, Henry, brother of the above and co editor 
 with him in the publication of Der Wahre Americaner. He 
 was a man of much greater brilliancy of intellect than his 
 brother, and possessed a great fondness for writing blank 
 verse. Some of his productions of this kind evince a high 
 order of intellect. He died at the early age of 36 years. 
 
 GEOFF, John, a member of the Legislature in 1812. 
 
 GEOFF, Sebastian, was elected State Senator in 1790. 
 He was, in 1787, a delegate to the convention to ratify the 
 Federal constitution, and was again a delegate in 1789 to 
 the convention held to amend the constitution of Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 GROH, C. L., elected a County Commissioner in 1831. 
 
 GEOSH, Jacob. In 1745 two families of the name of 
 Grosh, emigrated to this country from Manheim, Germany. 
 On landing at Philadelphia, two of the children were in- 
 dentured as "Eedemptioners," to aid in paying their passage 
 money. 
 
 Valentine Grosh, the grandfather of the subject of this 
 sketch, settled in Bast Hempfield, on wild lands purchased 
 on credit from the government, at a shilling (13|- cents) per 
 acre. The houses being built of round hickory logs, the 
 neighborhood was called Hickorytown; afterward Snuff- 
 town. After a time Valentine removed to Litiz, being a 
 member of the Moravian church, and gave up the farm to 
 his son John, the father of Daniel and Jacob, and their sisters. 
 
 Jacob Grosh, the youngest of these children, was bora 
 January 25th, 1776. Between the ages of eight and twelve, 
 years he was sent to school iji Litiz — three months each 
 summer — a daily walk of ten miles. The teacher was Eev. 
 Mr. Grube, grandfather of John Beck, the founder, and for 
 fifty years the principal of the Boys' Academy in Litiz.. 
 This twelve months of schooling, all he ever received, was. 
 in German ; nor did he learn to read and write English untili 
 aided by his second wife. At 12 years of age he was put 
 to "man's work," plowing, felling trees, &c. At 20 he 
 married, and was disowned by his father. He soon went to 
 work, and thus describes his establishment : " Our house 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 243 
 
 (rent $7.00 a year,) was built of round logs, the crevices 
 filled with clay mortar. It was 15 by 16 feet, of one-story, 
 (6 feet in the clear,) roofed with straw, and had one window of 
 four panes, 6x8. My wages were good, and we had every- 
 thing we really needed, a bed, two chairs, two pewter spoons, 
 two knives and forks, two plates, a table of rough boards, 
 a few pots, pans, &c., and suitable clothing in a chest. We 
 were really comfortable and contented, and happy in each 
 other. I had a tender, loving wife, of my own choosing, a 
 healthy, virtuous and agreeable woman." His wife died on 
 Christmas eve of 1796. 
 
 His father having married again, came and thus addressed 
 him : " Jacob, your new mother, and, I may add, your new 
 father, want you to come home again. Next Sunday I wish 
 you to go to church with your mother, brother and sisters, 
 and I will acknowledge you as my son as publicly as I dis- 
 owned you." Their mingled tears washed away all unkind 
 recollections. 
 
 In 1799 he made his home with Daniel, his brother, whose 
 wife, "Gretel," (Margaret) was always a beloved sister; 
 laboring on the farm, where he became acquainted with. 
 Margaret, daughter of George Gutedel, (anglicised into 
 Gooderl); but as he could understand no English, and she 
 no German, their intercourse was confined to looks and 
 dumb show. Rut a marriage resulted, June 13th, 1799. 
 His father now gave him the tenancy of 100 acres of wild 
 land, and became security for necessary stock and utensils. 
 He cleared ten acres, and built a two-story log house, 28 by 
 30 feet, and a double barn, himself felling and preparing all 
 the timber for buildings and. fences. His energetic wife was 
 his helper in nearly all the labors in field and barn, in dairy 
 and household, as was then the country custom. Here were 
 born to them Hannah, (who died, aged four years), and Aaron 
 Burt, (Mr. G.'s mother's family name) ; and afterward, in 
 Marietta, Rufus King, C. C. Pinkney, J. A. Bayard, Malvina, 
 Magdalena, and B. Franklin.^ Hard labor, exposures, and 
 the anxieties of debt impaired his health, and finally com- 
 pelled a change. The farm, stock and utensils were sold,, 
 
 1 Of these seven children, only the first and third sons survive (1873.) 
 
244 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 debts paid, and a surplus of $1,000 obtained. The towns of 
 Waterford and New Haven (now Marietta), had just been 
 laid out at Anderson's ferry, on the Susquehanna, and thither 
 they moved in March, 1806, and built (of brick) the seventh 
 house in the place, and opened it as a tavern. The land- 
 lady's tact and skill made it successful, but it was disagree- 
 able to him. One day while his wife was on a visit, he cut 
 down the sign-post, and closed the tavern. Thus ended a 
 few brief months of tavern-keeping. He entered next into 
 the lumber business, which he continued for fifty-three years. 
 This led him into new associations, and somewhat into dissi- 
 pation. 
 
 In 1811 he was nominated for the House of Representa- 
 tives, and having overheard his wife and a friend expressing 
 their fears of the result, he inwardly resolved that hence- 
 forth he would not forfeit the public confidence, nor blast 
 the hopes of his family and friends, and from that day to the 
 close of his life he never gambled in any way. And during 
 Ms first winter at Harrisburg, by the representations of an 
 aged room-mate, (Col. Erwin, Senator from Bucks county,) 
 be vowed that he would never taste intoxicants while en- 
 gaged as a legislator. In after-life he often gratefully re- 
 viewed the many snares he had escaped by observing these 
 resolutions. He was reelected to the Legislature for the 
 sessions of 1818, 1814 and 1816. In 1818 he was elected 
 to the State Senate, and served four years, making his legis- 
 lative service eight years, four in the House and four in the 
 Senate. 
 
 As a legislator he was noted for his close attention to his 
 duties, his intimate acquaintance with rules and usages, his 
 sound judgment, strict integrity, and readiness to attend to 
 all proper calls for aid and information. He was conscien- 
 tiously opposed to the war of 1812-15. He believed that it 
 should not have been declared until the country was put into 
 a condition to make it effective. The early disasters of our 
 army and pecuniary distress of the government confirmed 
 these views ; but when Washington city was captured, the 
 «apitol and its records burned, and other cities threatened, his 
 blood boiled within him and he contributed liberally to send 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 245- 
 
 a company of drafted men to Baltimore. Soon after, Gov- 
 ernor Snyder issued a proclamation calling for volunteers, 
 and sent a copy with a letter, appealing to Mr. Grosh to give 
 it his influence. He at once hired the town-crier to go 
 through the streets, read the proclamation, and call a town 
 meeting that evening. At the meeting he made a warm, 
 appeal and called for volunteers. Over eighty gave their" 
 names on the spot, uniform and name (" Marietta Greys ")■ 
 were agreed on, and money subscribed to equip the men- 
 and provide for needy families. The principal work and- 
 cost soon rested on Mr. Grosh, who was unanimously chosen 
 Captain ; John Pedan, ].st Lieutenant ; John Huss, 2d 
 Lieutenant ; and J. Albright, Ensign.' On the fourth day 
 after receiving the Governor's proclamation, 107 men^ were 
 uniformed and marched for their destination. They were 
 mustered in as " 9th Co., 2d Eeg., Pa. Yols., L. Inf ," com- 
 manded by Col. Lewis Bache. As cold weather came on 
 the captain purchased 100 blankets at $8.00 a pair, for which 
 he never made any claim on the government. While in 
 camp, commanding men who were associates and friends, 
 and some his social superiors, he lived on the same fare and 
 bore the same privations and restraints, and thus secured 
 their cheerful obedience to his orders and submission to the 
 hardships of camp. 
 
 During the speculation* fever Mr. G. (in 1813) bought 
 48 acres of land, east of (now in) Marietta, at $13.00 per 
 acre, and laid it out in lots. In two months all were sold, 
 at $500 each, and, in February following, when titles were 
 given, were held at $600 and upward. He bought back 
 many lots at these prices, and a farm of 133 acres, seven 
 miles from town, at $250 per acre— merely to invest his 
 money. He also built a first-class three-story brick house 
 
 ' The women of Marietta assembled in a school-house, and made gar- 
 ments asd knapisacks for the volunteers in Captain Grosh' s company, 
 so that when the men left their homes to march to Marcus Hook, they 
 went fully equipped. — Sypher's History of Pa., pp. 239, 240. 
 
 2 Of these 107 men but one now (1873) survives, Jacob Jones, of 
 Delaware. 
 
 ' Few persons now living have any definite idea of the speculations 
 that desolated so many homes and ruined so many fortunes in Marietta 
 during and after the war of 1812-15, when property fell in successive 
 
246 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 in the new town, costing over $10,000. In those days of 
 abundant paper money, all felt rich, and indorsing was " a 
 mere form," for every man .was "abundantly able to meet 
 all his engagements ;" so that when Mr. G. went to camp, in 
 1814, he was bail and iudorser for more than $55,000, beside 
 his own heavy debts. By 1819 every man for whom he had 
 indorsed, was bankrupt ; his absence had necessitated new 
 indorsers, and thus saved him ! On his return, he freed 
 himself from other entanglements, barely in time to meet 
 the coming storm. For when his property fell to one-tenth 
 in price, while debts contracted in paper money had to be 
 paid in coin at about quadruple value, he found himself 
 utterly bankrupt — save that no one knew it — -only his wife 
 suspected it. Once, when sued as bail on a bond, for $2,960, 
 by selling his entire stock of lumber at a sacrifice, he escaped 
 an execution ; and the free use of his brother's credit stocked 
 the yard again. In the family, the merest and cheapest 
 necessaries only were used.' Thus through ten years of 
 agonizing debt, Mr. G. slowly emerged into comparative 
 comfort, still limited in means, but free from fears of the 
 sheriff. 
 
 His faithful wife ,sunk into consumption, and died Decem- 
 ber, 1823, aged 36 years, leaving six children, the youngest 
 about five years old. 
 
 When the Marietta Bank became insolvent Mr. Grosh 
 and six others were appointed trustees to settle its affairs. 
 Its notes were bought up at a heavy discount by brokers, who 
 hoped to sell them at great profit when the bank's debtors 
 
 values and debts pressed inexorably, until everything except indebted- 
 ness went down under the sheriff's hammer for almost nothing ; and 
 fathers and husbands were dragged to jail by unsatisfied creditors, 
 leaving families without the necessaries of life, which the imprisoned 
 men were thus prevented from earning. ISTor were the sufferers few. 
 Up to 1823, out of 2,000 souls in Marietta, only four men escaped in- 
 solvency ! Houses sold for less than the cost of the mortar in and on 
 their walls ; one, that cost $16,000, sold for $1,100 ; lots brought one per 
 cent, of former prices ; even farms, five or six miles from town, sold for 
 only one-sixth of their cost ! 
 
 ' Rye coffee, without sugar ; rye, corn and potato bread, generally 
 without butter ; cheap meat, twice a week ; home-spun clothing for the 
 children's every-day wear, &c. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 247 
 
 were pushed for payment. But in 1823 the bank was rob- 
 bed of all its evidences of debt, and its notes rendered 
 worthless, unless the trustees could be made liable for them, 
 or responsible for the robbery. Hence, civil suits were 
 commenced against them for over $400,000, the U. S. Bank 
 leading the way, and the Legislature of 1824-5 was induced 
 to cite them to appear before it for trial. Mr. Grosh prompt- 
 ly refused to appear, and Mr. Shannon, Sergeant-at-Arms, 
 was sent to compel attendance. He found Mr. Grosh en- 
 trenched in his chamber, armed for resistance unto death. 
 In vain Mr. Shannon urged (among other considerations,) 
 that a refusal would be considered proof of guilt. Mr. 
 Grosh acted on principle, and was therefore regardless of 
 people's opinions, and Mr. Shannon went to summon a posse. 
 He returned after a time, saying that not a man would aid 
 him, even as Mr. Grosh had predicted. So, after dinner, 
 (which Mr. Grosh had ordered prepared, but did not preside 
 at!) he departed, bearing to the Legislature Mr. Grosh's pro- 
 test, which stated — that the Constitution vested all govern- 
 ment in three departments (legislative, executive, judicial,)— 
 that neither department could exercise powers vested in the 
 others- -that in citing the trustees for trial the Legislature 
 usurped judiciary powers, in violation of the Constitution 
 and of the right of citizens, for if it had a right to try the 
 trustees for alleged bank robbery, it had a right to try any 
 other person for any other alleged crime, (robbing a hen-roost, 
 for instance !) He concluded with assurances that he refused, 
 not out of disrespect, nor fear of conviction, but out of 
 duty to resist a precedent so dangerous to the prosperity of 
 government and the rights of. its citizens, and pledged ready 
 obedience to the summons of any lawful criminal court. 
 These events excited much feeling and various comments 
 on all sides ; but the result was, that the Legislature drop- 
 ped the matter, and never afterward undertook any similar 
 affair ; no criminal suit was ever brought ; and, after much 
 manoeuvering and costs, even the civil suits were decided 
 against the plaintiffs or quietly dropped. Many years after- 
 wards a worthy townsman, on his death-bed, informed Mr. 
 Gtosh that he and others had robbed the bank to save them- 
 
248 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 selves from the utter ruin whicb must have ensued had the 
 bank collected its claims. 
 
 He found, in the Litiz " Sister House," a lady every way 
 suited to make him happy, and was married November 2d, 
 1824. 
 
 In 1822 his oldest son embraced Universalism. Owing 
 partially to surmises long entertained, he was induced to con- 
 sider the subject of religion more earnestly, reading books 
 and periodicals on both sides, and studying the Scriptures so 
 thoroughly that few were better acquainted with their con- 
 tents, and thu'' he became (as he afterward lived and died) a. 
 Universalist Christian. 
 
 Mr. Grosh had been reared a Federalist. But the war of 
 1812-15, and the Presidential contest between five candidates, 
 in 1824, gradually effaced party lines. He voted for Mr. 
 Adams in 1824 and 1828 ; but before 1832 Gen. Jackson's- 
 views on nullification and the United States Bank so fully 
 accorded with his own, that he thenceforward acted with the 
 Democratic party, until, in 1857, his life-long hatred of 
 slavery led him to vote with the Eepublicans. In 1832 he 
 again became an active politician. In 1840 Governor Porter 
 nominated him to the Senate for Associate Judge. Both 
 Lancaster Senators being ardent Whigs, opposed the nomi- 
 nation, alleging that he was incapable, superannuated, an 
 infidel, (because a Universalist), and a tfabbath-breaker, in 
 that he held Universalist meetings in his house, and attended 
 temperance meetings on Sundays. Only 101 persons could 
 be induced to thus remonstrate, but he was rejected, 15 to 
 18, by a strict party vote. In 1841 Governor Porter again 
 nominated him, stating that many of both parties desired it ; 
 that careful inquiry proved him fit and capable ; and that 
 religious prejudice should not be heeded, &c. He was con- 
 firmed — 18 Democrats and 4 Whigs for, and 9 Whigs against. 
 When, five years later, he was again nominated, nearly all 
 of the bar requested it, and the Senate unanimously con- 
 firmed it. 
 
 Shortly after Mr. G.'s appointment. Judge Dale died, and 
 Judge Champneys resigned his seat upon the bench. Before 
 Mr. Shaeffer had taken Judge Dale's place. Judge Grosh was 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 249 
 
 alone on the bench. Yet he opened the court, qualified the 
 new associate, charged the juries, and presided at trials; the 
 first instance an associate judge had so officiated in the 
 county. On the first day he thus presided, Thaddeus Stevens, 
 who had lately removed to Lancaster from Adams county, 
 came to him, at noon, and said, " The settling of the docket 
 was forgotten this morning." The judge replied that that 
 would be attended to next Monday, the first day of Common 
 Pleas. Mr. Stevens remarked, "This is the proper day;" 
 and added that he had taken judgment in two cases, naming 
 them. The judge said that where both terms were held the 
 same week, (as in Adams county,) the first day might be 
 proper, but if Mr. Stevens would consult some old member 
 of the bar he would find that it was not the rule here. Mr. 
 Stevens fiercely replied that he knew his own business, and 
 would impeach any judge who dared alter that entry on 
 the docket. When the court opened the judge calmly said, 
 " Mr. Prothonotary, Mr. Stevens (in a mistake, the Court 
 
 presumes,) entered judgments by default against and 
 
 ; and, as he declines striking them off, the Court 
 
 now directs you to do it." It was done, amidst great sup- 
 pressed excitement in the bar, Mr. Stevens looking pale and 
 vexed, but from that day he and Mr. Grosh were friends, 
 despite their political differences. 
 
 Another lawyer, presuming on Mr. Grosh's timidity, was 
 unruly and speaking " out of order." He was told to take 
 his seat, but heeded it not. The judge mildly said, "Sit 
 down, or the Court will be compelled to commit you for 
 contempt," to which the lawyer saucily replied, " Your 
 Honor had better try your hand at that !" " Sit down, sir !" 
 said the judge, in such stern tone and with flashing eye, that 
 the lawyer literally dropped into his seat. That was the last 
 •attempt to browbeat him on the part of any attorney at the 
 bar. The greatest pain was suffered in deciding cases of 
 fugitives from slavery, not one of whom, however, was ever 
 remanded into bondage by him or Judge Shaeffer. One 
 case only is here noted. Before the law of 1848, which 
 debarred all State officers from acting in slave cases, fugi- 
 tives could be tried by a single judge, " in chambers." 
 19 
 
250 BIOGEAPHIOAL HISTORY 
 
 Thus, Henry Johnson, kidnapped by slave catchers, and 
 rescued, was brought to the judge's residence for trial. The 
 crowd and excitement were so great that the strong front 
 door was forced from its hinges. As Johnson desired a 
 lawyer, the case was adjourned to the court house, on the 
 •ensuing Saturday, when Judge Shaeffer assisted by taking 
 ■down the testimony, and Mr. Stevens appeared for the 
 defendant. The proof of identity, and that Johnson had 
 run away from the claimant, was clear, and Mr. Stevens, 
 seemingly paralyzed, could only express suspicions of 
 forgery, &c. Judge Grrosh, also in deep distress, asked time 
 for consideration. The claimant's lawyer, with much heat, 
 exclaimed, " Why, judge, a plainer case could not come 
 before you ;" when the judge interrupted him with, " I gen- 
 erally do my own thinking," and ordered the case adjourned 
 till Mbnday, at 2 o'clock, p. m. Leaving the crowded court 
 house he went to Hinkletown, where his wife was on a visit. 
 On seeing him she cried out, " Good God ! what ails you ? 
 how wretched you look !" He told her all, and asked to be 
 alone that he might think. He read the testimony again 
 and again, and worried through the weary hours, till with 
 Monday morning came a ray of hope. He reached Lancas- 
 ter at noon on Monday, and Judge Shaeffer almost leaped 
 with joy as he related his plan. At 2 p. m. the court house 
 was so full that the judges had to get in through a window. 
 After the opening Judge Grosh asked the claimant's attorney, 
 " Can a person be legally a slave, unless born in a slave 
 State, and of a slave mother ?" " If a free woman were 
 kidnapped and carried into slavery, would her progeny be 
 legally slaves ?" The answers were, " Certainly not." 
 " Then (said the judge) the case is clear. In all cases where 
 freedom and slavery are at issue, all constructions, all 
 doubts, must enure to the advantage of freedom. So I 
 should charge a jury, so I must govern myself I doubt 
 whether Johnson's mother was a slave. I will adjourn the 
 ■court for one week, if you claim that you can remove that 
 doubt." A dead silence, no motion for such adjournment, 
 and he proceeded, " No answer ! I therefore decide that you, 
 Henry Johnson, are a free man," &c. Shouts rent the air, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 251 
 
 and it was some time before order could be restored. Toward 
 the close of his second term, by the amended constitution, 
 the of&ce became elective, and Judge Grosh declined 
 candidacy. 
 
 In 1842 his wife was taken ill and lingered along, until he, 
 too, was prostrated by a fever, from the delirium of which 
 he awoke to find that his affectionate wife bad died August 
 26th, 1842, aged 58 years. He next married Miss Leah 
 Bushong, of Eeamstown, in 1843. She died October 15th, 
 1847. A fifth marriage was entered into with Mrs. Sarah 
 Albright, on May 24th, 1849, who survived him. The 
 close of his long life was quiet and peaceful. The deaths of 
 many children, grandchildren and friends often excited the 
 wish, that " these young plants could have been spared, and 
 the old, useless trunk been taken in their stead," but he did 
 not repine at Providence. His two sons aided him in his 
 business, and, with their families, cheered his lonely hours. 
 His general health continued good, and his faculties active, 
 for one of his years, until his last comparatively brief illness, 
 which terminated his life on November 4th, 1860, in his 
 85th year. Judge Grosh, though of quick temper, never 
 bore malioe ; and though he reared a large family of children 
 and dependents, he never but once inflicted corporal pun- 
 ishment on any of them. Indeed, most of " his failings leaned 
 to virtue's side;" and many portions of his life furnish in- 
 teresting examples to encourage the poor and erring amongst 
 mankind. 
 
 GEOSH, Samuel, a member of the Legislature in 1823. 
 
 GRUBB, Henry, emigrated from "Wales to Lancaster 
 county at an early day. His son, Peter, obtained possession 
 of the Cornwall ore banks, -and built a furnace as early as 
 1725. The title of the property was confirmed to Peter 
 Orubb by the proprietaries, in 1732. Peter Grubb died in 
 1745, leaving two sons, Curtis and Peter, the former inherit- 
 ing two-thirds, and the latter one-third of the estate. The 
 estate in 1783 consisted of Cornwall furnace, the Hopewell 
 forges, and Union forge, on the Swatara, at the foot of the 
 Blue Mountains. Curtis Grubb was a member of the Penn- 
 sylvania Assembly for the years 1775, 1777, 1778 and 1782. 
 
252 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOKY 
 
 He died in the year 1788. His son, Peter, was Colonel of 
 the 8th battalion of Lancaster county militia. He was a 
 member of the Legislature in the year 1784. 
 
 H. 
 
 HAINES, Henry, was born near Columbia, Lancaster 
 county, Pa., December 8th, 1759. His parents being 
 in very humble circumstances, he was apprenticed at an early 
 age to the tailoring business, and his education was entirely 
 neglected. All the little learning he acquired was picked up 
 by him after his marriage, in a German night school. At 
 the early age of eighteen he evinced his patriotism by en- 
 listing as a soldier in the revolutionary army, in which he 
 bore his part heroically. He was chosen as one of the guards 
 to the Hessian prisoners, captured at Trenton, and assisted 
 in their removal to Lancaster. Afterwards he was attached 
 to Col. Bole's command in his expedition up the Susque- 
 hanna to subdue the Indians. After the revolution he settled 
 in Maytown, where he spent the balance of his useful and 
 active life. In 1797 he was appointed a justice of the peace, 
 the duties of which position he discharged for many years. 
 Some time after this he was elected and commissioned a 
 captain of militia by Governor Simon Snyder. Being a 
 warm and ardent Democrat, he was nominated and elected 
 to the Legislature in 1804. He was reelected again in 1810, 
 and also in 1811, serving his constituents with great satis- 
 faction. In 1825 he was again elected, and also in 1828; but 
 owing to ill health, was obliged to retire before the close of the 
 session. The Anti-Masonic party,' about this time coming 
 
 ' The political complexion of Lancaster county has, from an early 
 period of its history, been moulded to a certain extent by the religious 
 sentiments of the people. The bulk of the early settlers being non- 
 resistants, a line of division soon manifested itself which never ceased 
 to be visible. Even an earlier difference than this separated the German 
 and Scotch-Irish elements of the county. This was the earliest line of 
 distinction, and it was some generations before it disappeared. Before 
 its disappearance the difficulties between the Quakers and Scotch-Irish, 
 arose, chiefly brought about by the Quaker policy of Pennsylvania with 
 reference to the Indians within the State. The Scotch-Irish, being the 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 253 
 
 into power, and Mr. Haines being a man of wide influence, 
 was tendered by tbis party the position of Senator if he 
 would attach himself to the new organization. So fixed, 
 however, was he in the principles of Jefi'erson, that he spurned 
 the offer with contempt. He never further took an active 
 
 frontier settlers, were about the time of the outbreak consequent upon 
 the French and Indian war, and afterwards in the conspiracy of Pontiac, 
 subjected to be the victims of the most inhuman murders and tortures 
 of every description that can be conceived; and being so situated they 
 implored the Governor and assembly of the province to remove the 
 Indians that they were harboring, and also vote supplies for their 
 defence. Deaf ears were turned by an assembly, the majority of whom 
 were Quakers, and non-resistance their religious policy. Out of reli- 
 gious sympathy the Mennonites of Lancaster county, and , other non- 
 resistant sects sided with the Quakers against the Scotch-Irish. This 
 was the first line of political distinction that divided the people of Lan- 
 caster county. 
 
 Upon the breaking out of the revolution the old division was not 
 obliterated. As is weU known, the Quakers, Mennonites, and other 
 non-resistant sects felt averse to the war, because of religious scruples. 
 They were stigmatised as Tories and adherents of the British crown. In 
 nowise did they side with the British government, but their conscientious 
 scruples would not allow them to favor any war, defensive or otherwise. 
 They chose therefore to remain quiescent and participate with neither 
 party in the struggle. Non-resistant sects are in all oountri-es found loyal 
 to the powers that be. They paid their taxes and assessments the same 
 as other citizens, and followed the emi)loyment of their lives, farming. 
 The Mennonites, in particular, were no politicians then, nor are they 
 yet, such at least as remain truest to the faith of their fathers. 
 
 After the achievement of American independence the Quakers,. Men- 
 nonites, and other non-resistants, still clinging together out of old 
 sympathy, and feeling the necessity of aiding, as speedily as possible, 
 in the solidification of a new government, gave their early and hearty 
 adhesion to that party which favored the new constitution and the 
 establishment of the Federal Union. Being of those classes that are 
 ever averse to revolution and change in government, they were not slow 
 to perceive that the Federalists, in their view, was the party to which 
 their adhesion should be given. Early, therefore, having attached 
 themselves to this party, (and at a time, too, when the ablest men of the 
 nation were arrayed under its banners), it is in accordance with experi- 
 ence that they should remain faithful to their new allies, now become 
 the representatives of the government. They thus early became and 
 remained the devoted advocates of the party of their first choice 
 throughout the changing phases of its history. In other German coun- 
 ties of Pennsylvania, the early settlers of which did not belong to 
 non-resistant sects, a marked difference of political attitude has been 
 observed. The people of Lancaster county, for the reasons stated, 
 
254 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 part in politics ; but so steadfast was he in his principles, that 
 at the age of 83, when blind and feeble in health, he could 
 not be induced to abstain from voting, inasmuch as he re- 
 garded the liberty of his country as resting upon the free- 
 exercise of this invaluable privilege. He deposited what^ 
 being the great majority of them of German non-resistant sects, early 
 became members of the Federal party, and not giving that attention to 
 politics as many others did, even the unpopular measures of John 
 Adams were not sufficient to wean them from their early choice. 
 
 The large majority of men of position in the county, from the origin 
 of the government, continued the advocates of the measures of this 
 party. The great Democratic victory in Pennsylvania, which carried 
 Thomas McKean into the gubernatorial chair in 1799, and which broke 
 the strength of the Federal party, had none of its laurels in Lancaster 
 county. His competitor carried the county by a considerable ma- 
 jority. Thus we find parties at this early period. Occasionally a Men- 
 nonite, or his descendant, gave his adhesion to the Democratic party, 
 but the great bulk of them remained attached to the old opinions of their 
 fathers. When the Federal party became more and more unpopular in 
 public estimation, the non-resistant sects chiefly abstained from the poUs, 
 and the Democrats (then called Republicans), occasionally carried the 
 day in the county. Thus, in 1802, 1803 and 1804, the Democrats car- 
 ried the' county by small majorities. In 1805 the Federals gained, and 
 likewise the following year. In this manner elections somewhat alter- 
 nated ; one year the Federals carrying the victory, and another their 
 opponents. A marked feature is, that the Democrats never carried it 
 by a large majority, as would occasionally the Federals, showing that 
 Democratic success was rather to be attributed to the apathy of their 
 opponents than to their own numbers. The Federals carried the county 
 in 1814'by about 800 majority ; in 1815 by 650 ; in 1816 by 460, and in 
 1817 by 1,000 majority. About this time the financial bubble burst, and 
 with it collapsed the Federal party. From that time up to 1838 the 
 Democrats occasionally carried the county, or elected a part of their 
 ticket. Andrew Jackson, in 1838, carried the county for President by 
 over 1,500 majority. But the movement, of all others, that made the 
 county of Lancaster the strong citadel of Democratic opposition, was 
 the Anti-Masonic crusade that took its rise from the abduction of 
 Morgan, in New York State, in the year 1836. Morgan's abduction was 
 seized hold of by politicians, and by the fall of 1838 a considerable 
 party was already organized upon principles of opposition to the Masoiuc 
 order. It. was a very captivating question with which to make capital 
 for a party. A jealousy always exists in the human mind against that 
 which is exclusive, and towards secret societies this feeling is ever alive. 
 Particularly amongst the people of the rural districts does this jealousy 
 exist the strongest ; and with many religious bodies secret societies 
 receive no favor. The Mennonites, Omish, and other such German 
 sects, were not hard to be persuaded into a party that had for its object; 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 255 
 
 as he surmised, proved his last ballot, with the remark: 
 
 " Let it be so, this may be my last vote and I must cast it 
 
 for my children's children." He died February 1st, 1842, 
 
 highly esteemed and respected by all who knew him. He 
 
 was a man of great firmness, purity of principle, and one 
 
 the overthrow of Masonry, and they therefore welcomed the crusade 
 that was heing preached against the murderers of Morgan and the 
 advocates of the Masonic iniquity, as they regarded it. 
 
 An organ of the new party was started in June of the year 1828, at 
 New Holland, entitled the Anti-Masonic Herald, with Theo. Fenn as 
 its editor. This sheet was widely circulated through the county, and 
 the effect was tremendous. Quite a number of those who had hitherto 
 acted with the Democratic party received the new paper, and became 
 converts to the new cause. The party grew with great rapidity. The 
 most of the German non-resistants warmly espoused the cause. In the 
 election held in 1829, the Anti-Masonic party swept the country with a 
 considerable majority. From that time for several years Anti-Masonic 
 principles in Lancaster county were in the ascendant. Masonry sank 
 rapidly below par. No longer was a member of the Order free from 
 insult, and they mostly ceased all connection with their lodges. These 
 were closed one after another, and every lodge in the county remained 
 closed for some years. Most of the rural lodges were never again re- 
 opened. Lecturers passed through the country detailing the horrors of 
 Masonry ; exhibitions were giveii in which the different scenes of Ma- 
 sonic initiation were said to be represented upon the stage ; and 
 almanacs, both English and German, were filled with cuts representing 
 Masonry in the most ludicrous light. Feeling became more and more 
 intense against the Order ; and he was a bold man, indeed, who any 
 longer owned himself the member of an organization resting under such 
 public odium. Most members of the Order denied that they were 
 Masons, and it even become matter of insult to charge a man as being a 
 Tree Mason. 
 
 Jarvis F. Hanks, a Mason of ten years' standing, and eighteen de- 
 grees, from New York State, began on Monday, May 4th, 1830, holding 
 exhibitions in Lancaster, representing the various initiations of Masonry. 
 He exhibited first in Lancaster, and afterwards in Mt. Joy, Strasburg, 
 New Holland, Manheim and other places. He carried with him tools, 
 implements, robes, &c., by which the better to illustrate the Masonic 
 initiations. He charged twenty-five cents admittance to his exhibition. 
 He represented himself as an artist by profession, a member of church 
 in good standing, and an editor of the Investigator, an Anti-Masonic 
 paper. He began his exhibitions and illustrations by introducing "a 
 poor, blind candidate," with a bandage over his eyes, and a rope around 
 his neck ; " neither naked nor clothed, barefooted nor shod." His exhi- 
 bitions purported to represent the oaths, mysteries and ceremonies of 
 Free Masonry, and to display before the eyes of his audience the spec- 
 tacles and workings of a Masonic Lodge. His exhibitions were numer- 
 
256 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBY 
 
 ever resolved to stand by what Ms conscience dictated as 
 duty. 
 
 HALDEMAN FAMILY. In Rupp's History of Lan- 
 caster county, p. 397, a list of citizens is given wlio were 
 chosen in 1775 as a Committee of Public Safety, in the 
 ously attended. In his exhibitions Hanks generally represented tlie 
 first evening the Entered Apprentice and Master Mason's Degree ; the 
 next evening the Royal Arch Degree, and on the third, the Templar 
 Degree. At Mt. Joy he exhibited in the school-house ; but great oppo- 
 sition was made to his exhibiting in the public building. He also 
 exhibited to audiences of ladies the initiations into the Entered Appren- 
 tice and Master Mason's Degree ; and at Mt. Joy a lady of standing 
 received the "Heroine of Jericho," or lady degree. He exhibited to 
 the ladies without compensation. These exhibitions were held all over 
 the county, and were designed to bring the Masonic Order into public 
 ■contempt. Anti-Masonic papers were full of prospectuses and announce- 
 ments of the publication of books and rituals exposing the secrets of 
 Masonry. One writing in 1830 says : "The developments and exposures 
 of Masonry have already thrown the institution into disgrace. Five 
 years ago no one dared to speak against it, but now its members become 
 angry if called Masons, and publicly talk against it. No public parades 
 are any more held, and no initiations are made into the Order. The 
 Democratic party found itself obliged to exclude all Masons from its 
 ticket. ' ' 
 
 Lancaster Lodge, No. 43, after being closed for a considerable time, 
 was again opened, and members stealthily began to visit it in small 
 numbers, few members of respect, for a long time, freqvienting any of 
 the meetings. Kobert Moderwell, esq., Mayor Albright, and Dr. Geo. B. 
 Kerfoot were amongst the most respected and influential Masons who 
 helped to lift the Order again to respectability. In 1837 the meetings of 
 the Lodge were small, and those who visited them sought access so as 
 not to be seen by their neighbors. An odium hung over the Order even 
 for years later, and it was not much before 1850 that Masons felt bold 
 enough to hold their ijublic ijrocessions as in times prior to the Anti- 
 Masonic excitement. It soon became clear that the Anti-Masonic party 
 could never become national, its strength being confined very generally 
 to the North. Although it had already lost its distinctive importance, 
 the election of Ritner as Governor, in 183.5, was regarded as an Anti- 
 Masonic triumph. About this time, however, the Anti-Masonic party 
 in Lancaster divided, a part calUng themselves Whigs. Fronjt his time 
 Anti-Masonry continued to decline in the county until Stevens came to 
 Lancaster from Adams county, in 1843, and attempted, but unsuccess- 
 fully, to revive it. The leading Auti-Masons were Amos EUmaker, Isaac 
 Burrowes, Thos. H. Burrowes, Roland Diller and Samuel Parke. The 
 leaders who brought uiJ the Whig party in Lancaster county, were 
 Christopher Hager, John Shaeffer, John F. Long, Wm. Gleim, Geo. 
 W. Haiuersly and Luther Richards. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 257 
 
 troubles which resulted in the war with England, and among 
 numerous German names, that of Jacob Haldeman ^ appears 
 as one of three for Eapho township. To his grandson Henry 
 Haldeman, a similar trust was confided at Harrisburg during 
 the so-called Buckshot War in 1838. Jacob Haldeman was 
 the father of John Haldeman, (1753-1832) of Locust Grove, 
 near Bainbridge,^ on the Susquehanna, who lived in the 
 house now occupied by his grandson John (son of John B.) 
 Haldeman, about two miles below Bainbridge. The elder 
 John was married to Maria Breneman, and they brought up 
 a large family, most of whom were sons, and became suc- 
 cessful business men.^ After a prosperous career, John Hal- 
 deman and wife left their homestead to their oldest son, John 
 B., (1779-1836) and retired to a life of leisure in Columbia. 
 The large stone mill at Locust Grove (subsequently trans- 
 ferred to his fourth son, Henry), was built by him and bears 
 the inscription — erbauet bei john haldeman and maria 
 
 HALDEMAN, 1790. 
 
 About the year 1795 he was a member of the State Legis- 
 lature for two terms at Philadelphia, where he made the 
 acquaintance of various distinguished men of the period. 
 He was well informed, fond of reading, and a subscriber to 
 works like 'Guthrie's Geography,' 2 vols. 4to. 1794, and 
 ' The World Displayed,' 8 vols. 8vo. 1795, both of which 
 he presented to S. S. Haldeman when a boy. These im- 
 parted a taste for geography and travel to the recipient, 
 who in 1837, when engaged in the geological survey of the 
 State in the vicinity of Hummelstown, remembered the 
 exaggerated description in Guthrie, of the cave on the Swa- 
 tara. Upon visiting it he discovered the main cave, (pre- 
 
 'Born in German Switzerland, October 7th, 1732; died December 3d, 
 1783. General Haldeman, a native of French Switzerland, and the first 
 British Governor of Canada, visited Lancaster county in 1773, and 
 offered to adopt one of Jacob Haldeman' s sons, as lie had not a family 
 of his own. The celebrated scientific writer, Mrs. Marcett, was related 
 to this family. 
 
 2 This town was founded by his sons John B. and Henry Haldeman. 
 
 ' Particularly the second Jacob M. Haldeman, (1781-1857) of Harris- 
 burg, whose son Jacob S. was Minister to Sweden in 1862, and another 
 son, (Richard J.) is now (1872) a member of Congress from Cumberland 
 county, Pennsylvania. 
 
258 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORy 
 
 viously unknown), by climbing to a small bole into which he 
 crept, and found a descent where a rope was required to 
 reach the floor. In the apartment thus entered for the first 
 time, every delicate stalactite was perfect ; there was not a 
 foot-print in the soft clay floor, and the bones of bats were 
 the only signs of previous visiters. 
 
 HALDBMAJST, S. S., was born at Locust Grove Mills in 
 1812; the oldest son of Henry Haldeman- (1787-1849) and 
 his wife Frances Steman, (1794-1826). The house of his 
 parents was well supplied with books, a pair of globes, &o., 
 which afforded indoor occupation. He went to the local 
 schools until the age of thirteen, and as there was little or 
 nothing required of him in the way of employment, his time 
 in the vacations was spent in the use of tools, in the shops 
 on the premises, in shooting, fishing, boating, trapping, 
 riding and swimming, thereby securing a good constitution 
 and founding habits of observation which were afterwards 
 applied to the study of the sciences. Scott's beautiful ma,p 
 of Lancaster county (published about the year 1824), had 
 great attractions for him, and taught him the local geogra- 
 phy; and as a boy he studied natural history, wading in the 
 Susquehanna for shells, collecting plants, and traversing the 
 river shore for minerals, Indian arrowheads and stone axes. 
 He formed a little museum on the loft of the carriage house, 
 where among other things, he had rude anatomical prepara- 
 tions made from rabbits, possums, muskrats, and other 
 animals ; and a traveling Methodist preacher taught him 
 how to stuff birds. From his father's house an eagle's nest 
 was visible, upon a large buttonwood, on an island a mile 
 distant, and it was easy to observe the eagle chasing and 
 robbing the fish-hawk, and to ascertain that when he cannot 
 thus get fish, he will dive for them himself — a fact first put 
 on record by Mr. Haldeman, who also published the fact 
 that the peregrine falcon nests in rocks, as in Europe, and 
 not in trees, as Wilson and others had supposed. He had 
 in reality procured young ones from a nest in the cliff 
 (Chickies Eock) which rises behind his present residence. 
 
 In the spring of 1826, when nearly fourteen years of age, 
 Prof. Haldeman was sent to the Classical Academy of Dr. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 259 
 
 Jolin M. Keagy,' at Harrisburg, where he remained for two 
 years, and then went to Dickinson College, Carlisle,, where 
 he was a student for two years more. Here he took lessons 
 in French as an extra study, a language to which his atten- 
 tion had been turned by the grammar used by his mother 
 when ar pupil at Litiz ; and his taste for natural science was 
 encouraged under Prof. H. D. Eogers, subsequently the dis- 
 tinguished geologist. Preferring to direct his own studies, 
 he returned home at the age of eighteen, and while occa- 
 sionally assisting his father in the saw-milling business at 
 Chickies, he continued his studies and gradually accumulated 
 cabinets of geology, conchology and entomology, and a 
 scientific and linguistic library. 
 
 In 1835 he published his first communication of a scien- 
 tific character in the Lancaster Journal^ being a refutation 
 of Locke's "Moon Hoax," in which it was pretended that 
 with a telescope twenty-four feet in diameter, animals had 
 been observed in the moon.^ At this period he was inter- 
 ested in education, and was ready to lecture before lyceums, 
 which came into vogue about that time ; and subsequently 
 before educational conventions, on scientific and linguistic 
 subjects, taking care to expose the scientific errors which 
 are so often present in educational literature. To one of 
 these books he devoted an entire pamphlet, ('Notes on "Wil- 
 son's Readers'), of which the revised edition has the date of 
 1870. When editing the 'Farm Journal,' (1851, p. 2 and 
 66,) he ridiculed the ' Paine Light ;' and when ' spirit rappings' 
 
 ' See Mombert's History of Lancaster county, 1869, p. 398. 
 
 2 The following paragraph will give an idea of this refutation: "The 
 magnifying power of the new telescope is 'said to be 43,000 times, and 
 capable of distinguishing objects of a few inches in diameter on the 
 lunar surface. Now this power is much too great for an instrument 
 twenty-four feet in diameter, and still not great enough to distinguish 
 objects of eighteen inches. The unassisted eye, when viewing the moon, 
 can distinguish a spot of about seventy miles, and of course with a 
 telescope magnifying seventy times, one mile of lunar surface would 
 just be visible. According to the rule for calculating the power of tele- 
 scopes, it would require a magnifying power of 37,000 to distinguish 
 ten feet of lunar surface, and a lens to produce this power could not be 
 less than sixty feet in diameter, with a focal distance of three hundred 
 feet. From this, we may judge to what an extent the powers of a. 
 twenty-four foot diameter telescope have been overrated." 
 
260 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 came up, they received like attention. On one occasion a 
 a speaker spoke of the sciences as leading to skepticism, 
 when he replied, that if it had not been for physical science 
 we would probably have been executing witches to this day. 
 
 In 1835 Prof Haldeman married Miss Mary A. Hough, 
 and removed to the residence which they still occupy, at 
 Chickies, where he was subsequently joined by his brothers, 
 Dr. Edwin Haldeman and Paris Haldeman, in the iron busi- 
 ness. In this connection he published a paper, in 1848, on 
 the construction of blast furnaces ; in 1855 he edited the 
 second edition of Taylor's " Statistics of Coal," and for many 
 years he has been an officer of the State Agricultural So- 
 ciety. In 1841 his "Freshwater Univalve Mollusca " of the 
 United States was commenced, a work Avhich had no superior 
 in the style and finish of its plates. ' About the period of 
 1855-8 he was professor of agricultural chemistry and 
 geology in Delaware College, confining his course to several 
 months of each year, without residing permanently at the 
 college. His paper " On Species and their Distribution," 
 {1851), opened a question which has been more recently de- 
 velope'd into what is now called Darwinism, and Darwin 
 himself makes favorable mention of this article in his later 
 editions. 
 
 As language is a characteristic of mankind, his attention 
 was drawn to it as an aid to ethnology ; he studied it as a 
 natural science, and the first result was his " Elements of 
 Latin Pronunciation," (1851), in which the attempt is made 
 to ascertain the ancient pronunciation. ^ Professor Halde- 
 man subsequently lectured on the " Mechanism of Speech" 
 
 ' The original sliells iigured have been presented to the Academy of 
 Natural Sciences, Philadelphia ; and those of the continuation, pub- 
 lished in Piiris, were given to the celebrated Delessert-Lamarck collec- 
 tion in that city. 
 
 2 That philosophical talent and tact so essential for investigations in 
 natural science, vphich he is well known eminently to possess, he has 
 here brought to bear on the elements of the Latin language with pecu- 
 liar success. His conclusions, we fancy, are generally, if not always, 
 correct, as they are founded on philosophical principles, having been 
 drawn from various reliable materials, botlj ancient and modern, in a 
 manner almost as satisfactory and as safely to be trusted as the deduc- 
 tions of mathematics. — Mercerahtirg Bevieio, March, 1852. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 261 
 
 before the Smithsonian Institution, and in 1858 his " Tre- 
 velyan Prize Essay " was successful in England, against six- 
 teen competitors. This essay was published in 1860, by J. 
 B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, under the title of "Ana- 
 lytic Orthography," and it contains specimens of about 
 seventy languages and dialects, as heard from the lips of the 
 natives themselves. In 1865 his ' Affixes to English "Words' 
 appeared, which claims to be the key to the analysis of 
 100,000 words ; ^ and in the Southern Review ( Baltimore, 
 July, 1869), he has an article on American Dictionaries.^ 
 
 Of late years the advance of learning has required an 
 increase of professors in the large colleges, and among these- 
 the University of Pennsylvania stands in the front rank, its 
 location in a large city like Philadelphia affording facilities 
 for getting instructors in the various sciences. The last 
 professorship added to the list in this institution, was that of 
 Comparative Philology, in 1870, to which Prof. Haldeman 
 was elected. Studying language as a natural science, and 
 simultaneously with it, he often gives definite information 
 upon points which his predecessors had attributed to ' acci- 
 dent' or ' euphony ;' and studying the vocal elements of many 
 languages by ear, he ascertained, for example, that a certain 
 sound of Arabic and Hebrew occurs in Wyandot, another in 
 Esquimaux, while another is common to Cherokee and 
 Welsh. It is obvious that to ascertain such facts, the same 
 person must hear the sounds compared, and from native 
 speakers. Comanche was thus heard in Washington, Ha- 
 waian at Liverpool, and from Queen Emma in London, Gud- 
 jerati from a Parsee in Paris, and the language of the Tonga 
 Islands, and Coordish, at the missionary college of the 
 Propaganda at Eome, at which many languages are spoken. 
 
 At school and in college the subject of this notice was an 
 
 1 Mr Haldeman has compressed in an elegantly printed octavo volume, 
 
 * * a collection more rational, complete, and exhaustive of the coin- 
 ponent parts of our language, than we have had any good right to hope 
 for within the present century; * * a most practical, useful work, 
 
 * * absolutely indispensable to systematic and thorough students of 
 language. — Contemporary Review, London, July, 1867. 
 
 2 It is a learned and exhaustive examination of the respective merits 
 and demerits of Worcester's and Webster's dictionaries. — Trubner's 
 Literary Record, London, September, 1869. 
 
262 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 average student, acquiring knowledge slowly ; and had he 
 remained to graduate, he would probably not have taken 
 any of the honors. His success is to be attributed to facility 
 in determining the proper line of inquiry, caution in adopt- 
 ing results, and persistent industry in research ; traveling to 
 observe, but living the life of a hermit when working up his 
 materials, and thus producing a series of from eighty to one 
 hundred communications in the scientific journals, causing 
 Dr. Hitchcock, the distinguished geologist, to express sur- 
 prise that he should "find time to make and bring out so 
 many new discoveries." As work produces fatigue, rest is 
 required, and as rest may be secured in a change of study, 
 the " Tours of a Chess Knight," (1864, illustrated with 114 
 figures) was the result of such a change. 
 
 Acknowledgments for his aid, or for suggestions, are given 
 in various American works of science, such as Lynch's Dead 
 Sea Expedition; and he has been honored with membership 
 in a number of learned societies, American and foreign. 
 One of his latest labors has been an essay on that curious 
 dialect of German spoken among us, and called " Pennsyl- 
 vania Dutch," which he was requested to prepare for the 
 Philological Society of London, and which is now in their 
 hands. 
 
 HAMBEIGHT, Gen. Henry, was a member of the Legis- 
 lature in the years 1813, 1814, 1816, and 1817. 
 
 HAMBEIGHT, George, elected sheriff of Lancaster 
 county in 1815. 
 
 HAMBEIGHT, Henry A., now Major of the 19th United 
 States Infantry, brevet Colonel United States army, and 
 brevet Brigadier General United States Yolunteers during 
 the late rebellion, was born at Lancaster, Pa., on the 24th 
 day of March, 1819, and was the third son of Major Frederick 
 Hambright and Elizabeth Shaeffer, his wife. The family of 
 Hambrights were always fond of military life ; in fact they 
 were natural born soldiers ; his father and uncle. Col. George 
 Hambright, both of whom were highly popular men, not 
 only served as captains of our old-time volunteer companies, 
 but during the war of 1812-14 marched to the battle-field 
 and defended their country. The father of Henry A. Ham- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 263 
 
 bright was Major-General of the militia of Lancaster county, 
 and was a soldier in reality. Henry A. Hambright, after 
 commanding a fine and spirited volunteer company, (as his 
 father and uncle had done before him), in which he had 
 served under his father as second sergeant, no sooner heard 
 of the declaration of war between the United States and 
 Mexico, in 1846, than he volunteered and entered into the 
 service of his country. His company had been previously 
 twice called upon by the then Governor of Pennsylvania, 
 David E. Porter; and marched to Philadelphia to quell the 
 riots there taking place, and it rendered efficient service. 
 He early felt the necessity of learning the " school of the 
 soldier," and the efficiency of discipline. Giving proper 
 attention thereto, he became a good soldier, and marched as 
 First Lieutenant of a company in the 2d regiment of Penn- 
 sylvania volunteers, commanded by Colonel William B. 
 Eoberts, to the Mexican war. He served throughout the 
 whole war in the valley of Mexico, from Vera Cruz to the 
 City of Mexico, and was consequently present in the battles 
 of Cerro Gordo, La Hoya, Contreras, Cherubusco, Molino 
 del Eey, Chepultepec, Belen Gate, and the taking of the 
 City of Mexico. After his return with the regiment to the 
 United States, which was mustered out of service at Pitts- 
 burg in 1848, he resumed his business as a contractor on 
 public works, and afterwards was an efficient officer on the 
 Pennsylvania Central Eailroad, stationed at Lancaster. 
 
 It was in this capacity that he was serving when the 
 rebellion became a ^^ fixed fact" and having reorganized his 
 old volunteer company, the " Jackson Riflemen," and ten- 
 dered its services with his own to the Governor of Pennsyl- 
 vania, was received and marched to Harrisburg. He was 
 mustered into service in the 1st Pennsylvania volunteers, 
 under Colonel Samuel Yohe, for three months, and partici- 
 pated in all the actions of the campaign under Gen. Eobert 
 Patterson. On the discharge of this three months' regiment, 
 he immediately raised a new regiment and offered its services 
 to the government to serve for three years, which offer was 
 accepted, provided he had it ready for service in thirty days, 
 and to report to the Adjutant General, U. S. A., at Wash- 
 
264 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ington city. This order was promptly complied with, after 
 a short extension of time. The regiment proceeded 'to Pitts- 
 burg, and was organized October 18th, 1861, with its full 
 complement of officers and men, and a fine regimental band. 
 It was afterwards known throughout the whole war, as the 
 gallant and efficient 79th Pennsylvania regiment, and Col. 
 Hambright continued in its command until it was finally 
 mustered out of service at the conclusion of the war. On 
 the' 7th day of June, 1865, ^' for •meritorious services in the 
 Jield," he was commissioned by the President " brevet Brig- 
 adier General of volunteers." While serving in the three 
 months' service as Captain, he received the commission of 
 Captain in the 11th regiment United States Infantry, of the 
 regular army ; this appointment he accepted ; but his higher 
 temporary rank as Colonel of a brave regiment of volunteers 
 where he was doing his whole duty, at times being in com- 
 mand of a brigade, kept him in full employment, and he con- 
 tinued in command as Colonel of the 79th, and brevet Brig- 
 adier General in the army of the Ohio, and that of the Cum- 
 berland, and formed part of Sherman's grand corps in the cele- 
 brated march to the sea. Under all circumstances he brought 
 into service those active and energetic powers with which 
 he was naturally gifted, and participated in all the actions 
 and battles of_ the campaigns under Generals Buel, Eose- 
 crans, George H. Thomas, Sherman and other commanders, 
 which ended the war ; eliciting from them all high com- 
 mendations. 
 
 Colonel Hambright, since the close of the war, has served 
 in Texas and other parts of the south, and is at present 
 commanding officer at Fort Jackson, Louisiana, together 
 with Fort St. Philip, lying adjacent thereto on the other bank 
 of the Mississippi river, near its mouth. He is an honor to 
 the army and a credit to his native State. His actions and 
 meritorious conduct speak for themselves, and need no 
 eulogy. 
 
 HAMBRIGHT, Major Frederick, son of John and 
 Susanna Hambright, was born at Lancaster, Penna., Novem- 
 ber 22d, 1786. Early in life he displayed a taste for mili- 
 tary affairs, and in 1810 became a member of the Lancaster 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 265 
 
 Phalanx. As fourtli corporal of this company he marched 
 to Elkton, Md., in 1813, under Captain James Humes. In 
 1814, when Baltimore was threatened with destruction and 
 pillage by the British, the Phalanx again mustered for the 
 defence, and on .this occasion the subject of this notice 
 accompanied it in the capacity of ensign. The company 
 was now under the command of his brother, George Ham- 
 bright. After going into camp for three months the 
 Pennsylvania troops were discharged, and returned to their 
 respective homes. In the year 1815 Mr. Hambright was 
 elected captain of the Phalanx, a position he held up to 
 1838, when the company disbanded. During the afore- 
 mentioned period he had several times been elected major 
 of a battalion, composed of different volunteer companies of 
 Lancaster county, in which position he was highly -esteemed 
 and gave very general satisfaction. 
 
 In the year 1839, at the request of the " -Jackson Eifle- 
 men," a very spirited company, composed chiefly of young 
 men, he became their captain, and many new names having 
 been added to the roll, he commenced a series of instructions 
 that made it one of the best military companies in that 
 branch of the service anywhere to be found. In 1840 he 
 marched his company to Camp Wayne, Pa., and at the 
 request of a regiment there assembled, composed of volun- 
 teers from various sections of the State, among which was 
 his own company, he assumed the command. In July, 1841, 
 Captain Hambright was called upon by a committee from 
 York Pennsylvania, to take command of all the volunteers 
 to assemble at Ca up Lafayette, in the following month ; he 
 accepted and marched to York with his riflemen, on the 23d 
 of August, and organized the brigade. This is said to have 
 been one of the handsomest displays of volunteers ever 
 witnessed in Pennsylvania, and gave Capt. Hambright great 
 credit for the discipline of the entire command. He won 
 golden opinions from all assembled, as he, on this occasion,, 
 displayed a knowledge of military affairs inferior to none, 
 and ranked himself as a commanding officer of rare military 
 attainments. He continued in command of the Riflemen 
 until 1846, when they disbanded their organization. 
 20 
 
266 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1842, he was elected Major General of 
 the 4th division of the Pennsylvania Militia by the officers 
 thereof. In the year 1824 Major Hambright naarched two 
 companies — the " Lancaster Phalanx" and the " City Guards" 
 by invitation, to participate in the reception of the nation's 
 guest, General La Fayette, on his arrival in this country. 
 This, at that time, was one of the most brilliant receptions 
 witnessed in the United States. Major Hambright also 
 marched a command to Philadelphia on two several occa- 
 sions when riots were taking place in that city, in obedience 
 to the call of David R. Porter, Governor of the common- 
 wealth. On those occasions Major Hambright was the re- 
 'Jcipient of much applause for the high state of discipline 
 l^hich his command exhibited, and for the very efficient 
 l#e**?ices • which he so cheerfully rendered. As a civilian, 
 Major Hambright held a prominent and influential position 
 •afti&igSt his fellow-citizens. In the fall of 1821 he was 
 '^l&€ted High Sheriff of Lancaster county, an office previously 
 ■^iiled: by -his brother, Col. George Hambright. As an 
 fe^ivide4i^i(?>f'the esteem in which he was held by the people, 
 ia^ni^ihg-stkracpiation of his office of Sheriff he was elected a 
 e^eWBfc oil th^iState Senate of Pennsylvania, the duties of 
 ©tyhi^h fefdi^^Arged honestly and faithfully. About twenty 
 -fsksM ^X) ftffiiipepimiciive^ to Allegheny, where he resided up to 
 s&e tijii&'ofi:kSirdjea))ij,n .which took place March 17th, 1872, 
 i^fthe'afesMeice.bfiihisridaughter, Mrs. Charlotte Kennedy, in 
 J^tJ!5ia'186th' yearrjof jhis dgeijqjj 
 
 fcT9AeJ«Ic|;«st4iidiiiy'jbifJtbffi£regard in which Major Hambright 
 »<ifagjlfeld«bjgt3i®'3:elltiiiididi3 ]ais,eQmmand, the following certifi- 
 i<}iSefeitoecapp«ndBar, drierfeignediuby the officers of the "Lan- 
 sffsffiiea-iS'hsdEaix'i'dvfliiGhJligBrafkfligJja.ommanded, and the other 
 'J^'gsiefii'byitlik'Laiicastpicpiilfy- Ba'ttalita. 
 
 3/i3i*gj^%iiidRg^jilq,rSli-6«/l|eteaa^faf-/1l]ae Lancaster Phalanx, a 
 mptoin^®.- ooiB?xM»}giPgti^$j41je gjfy ljfi,tta,yij(}5^,fif volunteers in the 1st 
 .Sjie^^fpii^s^m ^^ewJr,??Ji|,f^iJf a,% certify that Major 
 Frederick Hambrignt bescaine a meijiber of saia corps at the orgamza- 
 '?S.Sf oSthRiS/flly Wifffly, Igfd^yiid W §S^'fim-(miS, when the said 
 ■^"bSliyiffii^Ma fe)Elk*(3i,0i§t(lifeiiilfltei«aai:y lK!3S8a^a»iPffi*ted a corporal ; 
 liExttBrfljiaar6liiJ4?(ylfe»jMfc6i?iing$nJ,5j^9^4^tOg^ d^f^ce of Balti- 
 
 tain, which commanS he stiiTliolas ; aimin tue various autffiS'of private, 
 
 OS 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 267 
 
 officer and commander, for twenty-five years, his conduct has been that 
 of a gentleman, a soldier and a patriot, alike anxious for the honor of 
 his corps and the welfare and prosperity of the strong arm of our 
 country's defence, the volunteer system. 
 
 Given under our hand this 4th day of May, A. D. 1835. , 
 
 (Signed) Petbb Reed, Jr., 
 
 1st Lieut. Lancaster Phalanx. 
 
 We, the undersigned officers of the Lancaster city battalion of volun- 
 teers, in the 1st Brigade, 4th Division, P. M., do hereby certify that 
 Major Frederick Hambright was elected and commissioned Major com- 
 manding said battalion on the 12th day of May, A. D. 1836, which 
 command he yet holds, and has conducted himself as an active disci- 
 plinarian, vigilant officer, and honorable gentleman, beloved and re- 
 spected by his soldiers, and enjoying their highest ooiffidence as a 
 gallant commander, ever ready to defend the rights of freedom and the 
 welfare and glory of his country. 
 
 Given under our hands this 4th day of May, A. D. 1835. 
 
 (Signed) Charles Natjman, Adjutant. 
 
 John Leonard, Surgeon. 
 Jacob Kaufman, Quartermaster. 
 
 HBNRy PiNKERTON, Captain City Guards. 
 George Hatjghman, Captain Jackson Riflemen. 
 Peter Reed, Jr., 1st Lieut. Lancaster Phalanx. 
 Chas. Nauman, 1st Lieut. City Guards. 
 Michael Tkissler, 1st Lieut. Jackson Riflemen. 
 Philip Ptle, 2d Lieut. Lancaster Phalanx. 
 Jacob Foltz, 8d Lieut. City Guards. 
 George Eagles, 2d Lieut. Jackson Riflemen. 
 
 HAMILTON, James, a member of the Legislature in 
 1734, 1735, 1736, 1737 and 1738. 
 
 HAMILTON, John, elected State Senator in 1825. 
 
 HAMILTON, William, was born in the city of Phila- 
 delphia, and learned the business of printing in the office of 
 Benj. F. Bache. In the winter of 1794-5 he came to Lan- 
 caster, and entered into partnership with Henry Wilcox to 
 publish the Lancaster Journal, a newspaper which the latter 
 had started. The partnership was not of long duration. 
 Hamilton purchased the interest of his partner, and published 
 the Journal from June, 1796. He continued its publication 
 until 1820, when be sold out his interest to Huss & Brenner. 
 During the year 1796 Hamilton favored the election of 
 Thomas Jefferson for the next President, and so strongly 
 that he' alienated certain Federal leaders from him, and they 
 
268 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 withdrew their suppert from the paper. Among those who 
 did so, were Robert Coleman and Charles Smith, esq. His 
 paper had ostensibly set out in its publication as a neutral 
 in politics, but by 1799 it donned the full Federal uniform, 
 and continued to wear this garb as long as Hamilton con- 
 trolled it. He was elected a member of the Legislature in 
 1810 and 1811, and a State Senator in 1812. Hamilton, was 
 captain of a rifle company, raised in 1814, in Lancaster, and 
 he marched with his company to Baltimore on the 3d of 
 September, 1814. He was elected Treasurer of Lancaster 
 county, in the year 1816, and twice reelected, in 1817 and 
 1818. He became a defaulter to a large amount of money, 
 upwards of $20,000, and his securities became responsible 
 therefore. His securities were Geo. Musser, Wm. Cooper, 
 and John Bomberger. The securities paid the interest on 
 the defalcation debt for some years, and finally the County 
 Commissioners exonerated them from the debt. Hamilton, 
 after his failure, became so distressed in mind that he was 
 believed by many to have become in=ane, and he was 
 removed to the almshouse, where he died April 10th, 1820, 
 in the 49th year of his age. 
 
 HAMILTON, William, elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in 1855 and 1856. In 1860 he was elected to the 
 State Senate. 
 
 HAMAKBE, Daniel, elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in 1829 and 1830. 
 
 HAND, General Edward, was born December 31st, 
 1744, at Clydaft" Kings coimty, province of Leinster, Ireland. 
 He received in 1807 the appointment of surgeon's mate, or 
 surgeon to the 18th Eoyal Irish regiment of foot, and sailed 
 with the regiment from Cork, May 20th, 1767. He arrived 
 at Philadelphia, July 11th. He was ensign of the same regi- 
 ment, his commission bearing date in 1772. He went with 
 the 18th regiment to Fort Pitt, and returned to Philadelphia 
 in 1774, resigning his commission and receiving a regular 
 discharge from the British service. In the same year he 
 came with recommendations to Lancaster, in order to practice 
 his profession. The following year he married. In 1775 
 he entered the Continental service, his first commission bear- 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 269 
 
 ing date in June of that year. In 1777 lie was chosen 
 Colonel of the 1st regiment of Pennsylvania riflemen, one 
 famous for its exploits during the Revolution. He was 
 raised to the grade of Brigadier General and subsequently to 
 that of Adjutant General. He was the Adjutant General at 
 the battle of Yorktown, and marched with his troops back to 
 Philadelphia, where they were dismissed. Upon the close of 
 the war he resumed the practice of medicine in Lancaster. 
 In 1798 he was appointed Major General in the Provisional 
 army. In 1785 he was elected a member of the Pennsylva- 
 nia House of Representatives. In 1789 he was a delegate 
 from Lancaster county to the Convention that amended the 
 first State Constitution. He was a member of the Conti- 
 nental Congress in 1784 and 1785. In politics he was a 
 Federalist. He died September 3rd, 1802, in the 58th year 
 of his age. As a citizen he was highly esteemed, and as a 
 physician greatly sought after and beloved, especially by 
 the poor, to whom he was in the habit of rendering his 
 services gratuitously. 
 
 HARBAUGH, Rev. Henry, an American clergyman and 
 author, was born in Pranklin county. Pa., October 28th, 
 1817. His great grandfather emigrated from Switzerland 
 about the year 1736. His father was a farmer, and the sub- 
 ject of this notice spent his youth working on the farm until 
 the 19th year of his age. Being very fond of reading, he 
 was in the habit of saving all the spare money he could, and 
 therewith buying himself books. In 1836 he started west, 
 with the design of learning the carpentering trade. He 
 followed this occupation for some time, still using his spare 
 moments in reading. For three years he taught school in 
 winter and went to an academy in summer ; and in the year 
 1840 he entered Marshall College, at Mercersburg, and at 
 the same time read divinity in the Theological Seminary at 
 the same place. He was licensed and ordained in 1848, and 
 became pastor of the German Reformed congregation in 
 Lewisburg, Pa., still continuing his literary studies with un- 
 abated interest. In 1848 he published " Heaven, or an Earn- 
 est and Scriptural Inquiry into the Abode of the Sainted 
 Dead." This work was well received, and has passed through 
 
270 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY • 
 
 numerous editions. In January, 1850, he commenced the 
 publication of the Guardian, a monthly magazine, still 
 continued. In 1850 he received a call from the First Ger- 
 man Eeformed church of Lancaster, which he accepted and 
 entered upon his duties April 1st, 1850. Being a strong 
 advocate of total abstinence, and having in his congregation 
 a few liquor dealers and many more who did not disapprove 
 of the moderate use of intoxicating drinks, considerable op- 
 position soon manifested itself against him. He, however, 
 overpowered the opposition, the Consistory sustaining him. 
 The congregation, through his instrumentality and influence,, 
 began in 1852 the erection of a new church, which was com- 
 pleted in 1854. A committee of the Eastern Synod having 
 recommended for the use of the Reformed church a provi- 
 sional liturgy, Mr. Harbaugh gradually and cautiously intro- 
 duced it during the morning service, without exacting the 
 responses from the congregation ; but even this partial lean- 
 ing to what was termed " high churchism," created decided 
 dissatisfaction. An attempt made shortly after to define the 
 limits of membership, and admonish irregular members, 
 created further trouble. Several of the members slackened 
 their attendance, or ceased attending church altogether. The 
 secret of opposition was their dislike to the liturgy, and this 
 continued to increase until it culminated one Sunday morn- 
 ing in the Consistory locking him out of the church. For 
 this offence they were arraigned before Classis, deposed from 
 ofiice, and suspended from the benefits of communion. This 
 led to another secession of twenty or thirty members, most 
 of whom connected themselves with St. Paul's church. He 
 still continued to serve the balance of the congregation until 
 September, 1860, when he resigned. He accepted a call 
 from St. John's church, Lebanon, where he served for three 
 years, and was then elected Professor of Theology in the 
 Seminary at Mercersburg, Pa., which position he held at the 
 time of his death, December 28th, 1867. In 1851 he pub- 
 lished " The Heavenly Eecognition, or an Earnest and Scrip- 
 tural Discussion of the Question, ' Will we know our Friends 
 in Heaven.' " In 1853 he published "The Heavenly Home, 
 or the Enjoyments of the Saints in Heaven." In 1854 he 
 
• OF LANCASTER COUNTT. 271 
 
 published " The Birds of the Bible." In 1857 appeared his 
 life of Michael Schlatter, and in 1857-58 the "Fathers of the 
 German Eeformed Church in Europe and America," in 3 
 volumes. Shortly after this he issued " The True Glory of 
 Woman, as portrayed in the Beautiful Life of the Virgin 
 Mary." He is also the author of " Union with the Church," 
 and the " Plea for the Lord's Portion of a Christian's Wealth, 
 in Life by Gift, in Death by Will." Dr. Harbaugh deserv- 
 edly ranks as a man of high order of intellect. As a clergy- 
 man, he spoke with considerable force, being solid, weighty 
 and emphatic in his delivery. As an author, his works give 
 evidence of great industry, rather than profundity. His 
 writings are chiefly of the popular order. He no doubt 
 possessed the ability to become a theologian of eminence, 
 but perhaps it may be suggested that his attention was too 
 much dissipated in the collection of his material for and in 
 the writing of his histories to allow him to bestow such 
 attention upon theological questions as would have rendered 
 him profound. As a poet, he showed some ability in the 
 Pennsylvania German, his native vernacular. 
 
 HARTMAN, David, was elected Sheriff of Lancaster 
 county in 1845. 
 
 HARTMAN, Joseph, elected Commissioner in 1837. 
 
 HAVERSTICK, George, elected Commissioner in 1828. 
 
 HAWTHORNE, Geo. C, elected Register in 1860. 
 
 HAWTHORNE, Samuel, a member of the Legislature 
 in 1829 and 1830. 
 
 HAYES, Alexander L., was born in Kent county, in 
 the State of Delaware. He was educated in the Southern 
 Boarding School, in Smyrna, afterwards studied in the New- 
 ark Academy, and graduated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, 
 in 1812. He began the study of law in the office of Hon. 
 Henry M. Ridgely, of Dover, where he continued to read for 
 three years, the period prescribed for law students in that 
 State, and was then admitted to the Delaware bar. He com- 
 menced the practice of the profession in Dover, but after- 
 wards removed to Philadelphia, and was admitted as a 
 practitioner before the District Court, Court of Common 
 
272 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY ' 
 
 Pleas, and the Supreme Court, in 1820. After practicing 
 his profession for about a year in Philadelphia, he moved to 
 the city of Eeading, Pa., where he practiced the profession 
 for about six years. While a resident of Eeading he mar- 
 ried a daughter of Galbraith Patterson, esq., of Mifflin 
 county, Pa. In June, 1827, he was appointed by Governor 
 Shultz, Associate Judge of the District Court of the counties 
 of York and Lancaster, Judge Bradford being President 
 of the court. He discharged the duties of the office of asso- 
 ciate judge for about seven years, when the district of which 
 this court was composed was divided, and a separate district 
 court was formed out of the county of Lancaster. Upon 
 the recommendation of the members of the Lancaster bar, 
 he was, in 1833, appointed by Governor Wolf, president of 
 this court. ^ Judge Hayes held this position by subsequent 
 re-appointments, until 1849, when he resigned the presidency 
 of this court and resumed the practice of the profession. It 
 was not long after this that he became warmly interested in 
 the enterprise, then first beginning to be discussed, of estab- 
 lishing a cotton mill in the city of Lancaster. He was 
 among the first who subscribed money for the new project, 
 and WHS selected by the stockholders to draft the first arti- 
 cles of the association. He was afterwards selected by the 
 stockliolders as one of a committee of five, (Christopher 
 Hager and David Longenecker being part of the number), 
 who should visit the New England States, and make them- 
 selves acquainted with cotton manufacture in that section of 
 the Union, and report upon the feasibility of the contem- 
 plated enterprise; and if, in the judgment of the committee, 
 ■the establishment of such a branch of manufacture would 
 seem warranted, then to secure the services of an architect, 
 who should cause the erection of a first-class cotton mill in 
 the city of Lancaster. This committee visited, in 1845, 
 Boston, Newburyport, Lowell, Saco, in Maine, and the prin- 
 cipal cotton manufacturing towns of New England. Upon 
 returning, the committee reported in favor of the projected 
 (enterprise, which report was unanimously adopted by the 
 
 ' The Dist]'ict Court of Lancaster was presided over by one judge 
 alone, and he was entitled the president judge of the district court. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 27B 
 
 stockholders, and they proceeded immediately to erect cotton 
 mill No. 1, in the city of Lancaster. The report submitted 
 by the committee that had visited the Eastern States, was 
 framed by the subject of our notice, and evinces the great 
 ■care and observation brought into requisition in the prepa- 
 ration of this document. 
 
 Judge Hayes was solicited to become one of the five 
 managers who should superintend the affairs of the new cor- 
 poration, but declined for want of sufficient time to do jus- 
 tice to the duties of the position. In 18i6 or 1847, in con- 
 sequence of the declination of John N. Lane, one of the five 
 managers, he was again solicited to accept the vacant posi- 
 tion, to which at length, with reluctance, he gave his assent, 
 and was thereupon elected to this vacancy, and continued to 
 hold the same until 1854. During this time he was elected 
 general agent of the company, and upon the resignation of 
 Mr. Hager, as president of the board of managers, was 
 chosen President of the said board. In the meantime the 
 company had erected two other cotton mills near the site of 
 the first one, and were employing eight hundred hands in 
 the mills, and running between seven and eight hundred 
 spindles. In 1854 the Legislature having created an asso- 
 ciate law judge of the court of common pleas of Lancaster 
 county. Judge Hayes was elected to fill the said position so 
 established, and thereujDon resigned his position in the cotton 
 mill company. The duties of this position he continued to 
 discharge up to 1864, a period of ten years, when he was 
 again reelected to a second term of the said office, which 
 position he yet continues to fill. 
 
 HEINITZSCH, Gael Heinbich, is the earliest settler of 
 the Heinitsh family in Lancaster. He emigrated from 
 Leipsic, in Saxony, in the winter of 1781, and located in 
 Lancaster and established the first drug store west of the 
 Schuylkill. The business thus established by him has been 
 carried on by his son, and is still continued by his grandson, 
 Charles A. Heinitsh. He died in 1803, and lies buried in 
 the burying ground of the Trinity Lutheran church. 
 
 HBITLBE, EiCHAED E., appointed Eegister in 1839. 
 
 HENDEESON, Jas., a member of the Legislature in 1839. 
 
274 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 HENDERSON, Mathew, was born about 1770, in Salis- 
 bury township, where his parents resided. He was of 
 Scotch-Irish descent. His grandfather, Thomas Henderson, 
 emigrated from Ireland about the year 1727. The subject 
 of this notice having received a classical education, studied 
 medicine and practiced his profession for many years with 
 fine success. In 1820 he was elected a member of the Penn- 
 sylvania House of Representatives, and in 1821 reelected. 
 In 1822 he was elected a member of rhe State Senate. After 
 -the expiration of his legislative career he retired from the 
 practice of his profession and lived upon his farm. He died 
 about the year 1830. 
 
 HENDRIOKSON, George R., son of Okey Hendrickson, 
 was born June 2d, 1826. After receiving an education he 
 taught school for a number of years. In the autumn of 
 1851 he was nominated and elected Clerk of quarter ses- 
 sions and oyer and terminer, and discharged, the duties of 
 that office in person for three years. He was the last clerk 
 in the old court house, in Centre Square, and the first in the 
 new one, and officiated at the court when held at Fulton Hall. 
 He was, during the rebellion, elected quartermaster sergeant 
 to Company F, of the 15th regiment Pennsylvania three 
 months' volunteers. He was, in 1868, elected a justice of 
 peace. 
 
 HENDRICKSON, Okey, a descendant of a Dutch- Swede 
 family, emigrated from New York to Lancaster county 
 about the year 1815. He was a man of unusual enterprise 
 and public spirit for his time. He was instrumental in the 
 establishment of a post-office in Mount Joy, and was 
 appointed the first postmaster, which position he held for 
 many years under different administrations, until 1837, 
 when on account of the active support he gave the Anti- 
 Masonic party, he was succeeded by a Democrat. He was 
 re-appointed to the same position in 1841, under President 
 Harrison, with whom he enjoyed a personal acquaintance, 
 and whom he had entertained in his house, but died before 
 entering on the duties of the office. Out of respect for his 
 memory, the appointment was promptly conferred upon 
 James, his oldest son. The project of a railroad, connecting 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 275 
 
 Lancaster witli the State Capital, originated in the town of 
 Mount Joy; and Okey Hendrickson, who was one of the 
 incorporators, was influential, in concert with Jacob Eohrer, 
 esq., Dr. Simon Meredith, Abraham Harnley, Henry Mussel- 
 man, and Samuel Smith Patterson, in procuring a charter 
 for the road, and the capital for its construction. 
 
 *HBNEY, John Joseph, was born NoTember 4th, 1758, 
 at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was apprenticed by his 
 father, Wm. Henry, at the age of 14, to an uncle, .who was 
 a gunsmith, then a resident of Lancaster, but who after some 
 time removed to Detroit, taking his nephew, John Joseph, 
 with him. At that place his stay was but short, on account 
 of the scarcity of business. He returned on foot with a 
 single guide, who died in the wilderness which lay between 
 Detroit and his home. It was here that hardships and mis- 
 fortune first were felt, and which were his future compan- 
 ions during a length of years. Young Henry returned to 
 his parents and home, dissatisfied with the employment a 
 judicious father had pointed out for him to gain a future 
 subsistence. His arduous mind panted after military glory ; 
 the troubles of his country, which was then making vigor- 
 ous and ultimately successful struggles for a total emancipa- 
 tion from slavery, wrought strongly upon one, the acme of 
 whose hopes and wishes was ty be one of those who con- 
 tended most for freedom. In the fall of 1775 he clandes- 
 tinely joined a regiment, raised in Lancaster county, 
 for the purpose of joining Arnold, who at that time was 
 stationed at Boston. After enduring all the fatigues of a 
 veteran soldier they entered Canada on his birthday, he being 
 then but 17 years of age. He endured hardships here which 
 he has enumerated in his history of the campaign against 
 Quebec. It was in prison, where he lay for nine months, 
 that he contracted a disease, (the scurvy), which at that time 
 did not make its appearance ; but six weeks afterwards, on 
 his return home, at a time when least expected, it made its 
 appearance under its most malignant form ; it was at a 
 time when it became a duty for him to continue in the army. 
 A captaincy had been procured for him in the Virginia line, 
 *History of the CampaigB against Quebec. 
 
276 • BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 and a lieutenancy in that of Pennsylvania. He had designed 
 to accept of a command under the hero, Gen. Morgan, that 
 of captain, but the disposer of all events arrested his career, 
 and instead of his fond expectations being accomplished, all 
 his hopes were blasted, his high prospects thwarted, and his 
 life became a dreary blank, by the order of that Omnipo- 
 tence which furnished bini with the fortitude which enabled 
 him through all his misery to kiss the rod that chastised him. 
 It was after two years' continuance on the couch of sickness, 
 that his leg, which was the unfortunate cause of his illness, 
 began to heal, and renovated health gave brighter hopes for 
 him. 
 
 His lameness precluded all possibility of his again enter- 
 ing the army. He had, however, by a disregard of parental 
 authority, at least so far as concerned his trade, forfeited 
 his claim to his father's exertions to place him in such a 
 situation, such as would make him capable of rendering him- 
 self useful to society. A vigorous effort on his part was ^ 
 necessary ; resolution was not wanting ; it was made. He 
 bound himself an apprentice to John Hubley, esq., Protho- 
 notary of the county of Lancaster, as a clerk in the office for 
 four years ; he pursued his business with the closest appli- 
 cation, anil discharged the duties of that office with unabated 
 care and strictness, and when the labors of the day was over 
 his nights were consumed in study, endeavoring to make 
 up in some measure for the neglect that his educa- 
 tion had suffered by his becoming a soldier. His frame, 
 still somewhat debilitated by his illness, was not capable of 
 sustaining the fatigues of office, his health suffered much from 
 labor so severe and application so intense. The time of his 
 indenture having expired, he commenced the study of law 
 under Stephen Chambers, esq. Here he became acquainted 
 with his future companion in life, the youngest sister of Mr. 
 Chambers. He was admitted to the bar in 1785, and began 
 the practice of his profession, which he continued to pursue 
 until 1793, when he was appointed by Governor Mifflin 
 President of the second judicial district of Pennsylvania. 
 
 A number of years had now elapsed, and his family was 
 large. By an unfortunate removal to a district, at a sickly 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 277 
 
 period, he was attacked by the gout, which from inexperience, 
 and owing to his having no knowledge as to the consequences 
 that would necessarily ensue, he did not take proper precau- 
 tion so as to thwart the disease. Under that deceptious 
 name, numerous disorders invaded his frame, and at times 
 with so much severity that he was necessitated to continue 
 at home, and he was thus prevented from executing his 
 official duties as a judge. It was during some long years of 
 bodily suffering that his mind and memory reverted to those 
 scenes (more forcibly than ever) which formed so eventful a 
 field in a life of misfortune and vicissitude. The interest- 
 ing narrative of the sufferings of that band of heroes, of 
 which he was the youngest, is a simple tale of truth; which 
 he undeviatingly throughout his book adheres to. 
 
 He is supported in all his assertions by the testimony of a 
 number of his companions in that arduous campaign, men 
 of character and respectability — his relation of incidents, his 
 
 , descriptive account.^ of the country they passed through, the 
 situation of Quebec and the disposition of the army, all mark 
 him to have been a youth of accurate observation, of a com- 
 prehensive and intelligent mind. Possessing, as he must 
 necessarily have done, activity of spirit and contempt of 
 fatigue, he gained the approbation and esteem of his seniors. 
 The buoyant spirits of youth rose high over misfortune ; 
 under the pressure of that severest distress, vivacity was 
 still retained and burst forth at intervals to cheer his hope- 
 less companions. 
 
 Disease had now made rapid progress on a constitution 
 weakened by repeated attacks and accumulation of disorders 
 which no skill could counteract or remedy. The non-per- 
 formance of his duties caused petitions from the several 
 counties to be presented to the Legislature for his removal; 
 nothing was alleged against him but absence. That honor- 
 able House having examined and considered the charges, 
 acquitted him with honor. His commission he retained for 
 the space of two years afterwards; but illness and debility 
 increasing, and a knowledge of his infirmities being incur- 
 able, compelled him to resign that office which he had held 
 
 with integrity for seventeen years. Four months succeed- 
 
278 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ing, Ms -worn-out frame was destined to feel the stroke of 
 death, and his freed soul to seek refuge in the bosom of his 
 father and his God. He died at^ancaster,|April 15th, 1811. 
 The history of the campaign against Quebec was written by 
 Judge Henry, who often compared it in many respects to the 
 celebrated retreat of the ten thousand Greeks, and said of it 
 that it would require the talents of a Xenophon to do it 
 real justice. 
 
 HBNEY, William, was an ingenious and successful 
 mechanic of Lancaster, and for many years conducted a large 
 gun manufactory and iron-mongery, at the southeast corner 
 of Centre Square. He was inventor of the screw auger, 
 which, previous to 1777, could be had only at his store. His 
 discovery of the principle of the auger is thus said to have 
 been suggested to his mind : He was at a time sitting on his 
 porch and twisting thoughtlessly, with his fingers, a piece of 
 lead, and this he bored into a tui'nip, and he observed that 
 the twisted lead threw out chips, and this suggested to him 
 the idea of the screw auger. He sent a sample of his inven- 
 tion to England and obtained a patent therefor. He acted 
 as a justice of the peace for many years before the breaking 
 out of the revolution. In 1772 he was appointed one of a 
 committee, with John Lukens, Surveyor General, David 
 Eittenhouse, and others, to survey the route of the Susque- 
 hanna and Lehigh rivers, in order to ascertain the best loca- 
 tion for a canal, to be constructed through the interior of 
 the State of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Henry was one of the most active men of the borough 
 of Lancaster who espoused the cause of the colonies in their 
 opposition to Great Britain. He was immediately engaged 
 by the general committee of safety of the province of Penn- 
 sylvania, to manufacture and repair arms for the continental 
 army, and the privilege was accorded him by the executive 
 council to choose such workmen as he might deem proper 
 to be engaged in his employ, and that these men, so selected, 
 should be exempted from draft in the army. He was, on 
 July 4:th, 1777, appointed by the executive council of Penn- 
 sylvania, a justice of the peace under the new constitution. 
 This position he held continuously up to his death, and he 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 279 
 
 was president of the county court from 1781 up till 1786. 
 He was also chosen a member of the Pennsylvania council 
 of safety, by act of assembly of 13th October, 1777. For 
 some time during the revolution he was treasurer of the 
 county of Lancaster. 
 
 "Wm. Henry was one of the first who recognized in the 
 youthful Benjamin West a genius of a high order, and his 
 first master-piece, the " Death of Socrates," was painted at 
 the former's suggestion. Young West, about 1749 being in 
 Lancaster, and some of his paintings having met the eyes of 
 Mr. Henry, the latter suggested to him that instead of wast- 
 ing his time upon portraits, he should turn his attention to 
 historical painting. He, at the same time, mentioned the 
 death scene of the great Grecian philosopher as affording one 
 of the best topics for illustrating the moral effect of the art 
 of painting. Upon the painter's confessing that he knew 
 nothing of the philosopher, Mr. Henry went to his library, 
 and taking down a volume of the English translation of 
 Plutarch, read to him the account given by the writer of 
 this affecting story. The young painter said he would be 
 happy to undertake the task, but having hitherto paintBd 
 only faces and men clothed, he should be unable to do jus- 
 tice to the figure of the slave who presented the poison, and 
 which he thought ought to be nude. Mr. Henry had among 
 his workmen a very handsome young man, and without 
 waiting to answer the objection, he sent for him. On the 
 young man entering the room, he pointed him out to West, 
 and said, " there is your model." The instruction at once 
 convinced the artist that he had only to look into nature for 
 his models. The Death of Socrates was finished, and the 
 fame of the artist was from that time established. 
 
 During the Eevolution the house of Mr. Henry was 
 somewhat a place of resort for men of culture and intellect- 
 ual standing. The host being a man of acknowledged abil- 
 ity and well-known reputation, naturally attracted others of 
 like grade around him. Whilst the British held possession 
 of Philadelphia from September 1777 till June of the follow- 
 ing year, David Eittenhouse, the philosopher, (then being 
 State Treasurer), Thomas Paine, author of the Eights of 
 
280 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 Man, and John Hart, a member of the Executive Council, 
 were inmates of the house of Mr. Henry. The biographer 
 of Eittenhouse, the philosopher, speaking of this period of 
 life, says : " While he continued in the borough of Lancas- 
 ter, he made his home in the house of Wm. Henry, esq., at 
 that time treasurer of the rich and populous county of the 
 same name ; a situation which at that time was very com- 
 modious for the business of his ofiS.ce, from its connection 
 with that of the County Treasurer, and one which was also 
 the more agreeable by reason of Mr. Henry being a person 
 of very considerable mechanical ingenuity." It was during 
 the time that Thomas Paine was stopping at the house of 
 Mr. Henry, that he wrote No. 5 of his celebrated political 
 treatise, the Crisis. Mr. Henry was for many years one of the 
 most active and influential assistant burgesses of the borough 
 of Lancaster. He was commissary of the regiment of troops 
 raised in Lancaster county in 1775, and which was destined 
 to reinforce Arnold at Boston. All through the Eevolution 
 he was very active on the side of the colonies, and his cor- 
 respondence in 1779, as chairman of the committee on the 
 supply and regulation of the flour market, shows him to have 
 been a good writer and a shrewd practical business man. 
 He was a member of the Continental Congress from 1784 
 till 1786. Mr. Henry was a man of the strictest honesty 
 and known probity. He was possessed of a strong and in- 
 dependent mind, and yet his conscience was one of the most 
 tender. He had a full and abiding faith in revelation, and 
 his trust in the Eedeemer seemed to him all-assuring in his 
 later years. He was a strict and consistent member of the 
 Moravian church. Ever of a benevolent and unsuspecting 
 mind, Mr. Henry acted through life upon the principle, 
 " that we should consider every one as possessing probity 
 until we discover him to be otherwise." He died December 
 15th, 1786. 
 
 , HEEE, Benjamin, a member of the Legislature in 1843 
 and 1844. 
 
 HEEE, Benj. G., a member of the Legislature in 1837^ 
 1838 and 1839. 
 HEEE, Chbistian, a County Commissioner in 1812. 
 
OP LAN-CASTER COUNTY. 281 
 
 HERE, Daniel, a member of the Legislature in 1852 and 
 1853. 
 
 ■ HERE, Dr. Elias B., was born tbe 1st of May, 1833, in 
 Manor township. His descent may be traced down from 
 one of five brothers who came from Europe prior to 1710. 
 He was educated in the schools of John Beck, Litiz, and also 
 in the York County Academy. At the age of eighteen he 
 commenced the study of medicine with Dr. F. A. Muhlen- 
 berg, of Lancaster, and graduated at the New York Uni- 
 versity in March, 1854 ; he immediately followed his pro- 
 fession, and at the same time took a great interest in the- 
 cause of education, especially in his native district. Politi- 
 cally, he has always been an active Eepublican, and was 
 elected to the Legislature of Pennsylvania in 1869. 
 
 *HBER FAMILY. John Herr came to this country in 
 1710, from Switzerland, bringing with him his four sons, 
 and others of his friends; he had five sons married, Abraham, 
 Christian, Emanuel, John and Isaac. Christian. had come 
 to this country before the rest of the family. 
 
 Abraham Herr was the oldest, and came with his father 
 in 1710. He was married in Europe, and had a large family, 
 some of his children being grown and married. He settled near 
 Wabank, on the west side of the Conestoga creek. He was 
 the only one of the family that settled in Manor township, 
 and having several children grown when he came there, the 
 family became very numerous. 
 
 Christian Herr was a minister of the Mennonite church, 
 and was the first of the family in this country. He came 
 with Martin Kendig, ' John Mylin, and others, in the year 
 1709. They were pleased with the country, and concluded 
 to send for the rest of their friends. They therefore cast 
 lots -^ho should go, and the lot fell on Christian, their minis- 
 ter ; they not wishing him to go, Martin Kendig offered to 
 go, an|J in 1710 brought over the rest of the Herr family, 
 and others. Christian built a house of sandstone in 1719, 
 half a mile east of Willow Street, where it stands yet, with 
 his name and the date upon it, now in possession of David 
 
 *Oontrilbutecl by Christiau Herr (farmer), West Lampeter. 
 21 
 
282 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Huber. Christian had three sons, John, Christian and Abra- 
 ham. 
 
 John lived on the farm now owned by John Musselmaji, 
 about one mile from Willow Street, on the road leading 
 from Willow Street to Strasburg, and part of the original 
 tract owned by his father, Christian. He had five sons, 
 named Abraham, John, Benjamin, Christian and David. 
 
 Christian lived on the farm now owned and occupied by 
 David Huber, a half mile west of where his brother John lived ; 
 and also part of the original tract owned by his father, 
 Christian. He had two daughters — both married Kendigs ; 
 one afterwards married Michael Withers. Her daughter, by 
 the first husband, married George Withers, the brother of 
 Michael. George was the father of Michael and George, 
 living in Lancaster. 
 
 Abraham lived on the farm and in the mansion house 
 built by his father, he falling heir to the home division of 
 the original tract. He had four daughters — two married 
 Barr brothers ; one married a Huber, grandparent of David 
 Huber, now owning said property; the other married a 
 Shaub. The family name expires with Abraham. 
 
 Eev. Christian's Son John's Family. Abraham carried 
 on milling on Pequea creek, on the road from Lampeter 
 Square to Strasburg, where Daniel K. Herr now resides. 
 He had five sons, and one daughter, married to John Huber. 
 Their names were Abraham, John, Tobias, David and 
 Emanuel. 
 ■/ John carried on milling on Pequea creek, near Souders- 
 burg, now in possession of Benj. Herr, a grandson of said 
 John. He had two children, one son and a daughter. The 
 former, named John, also a miller. The daughter married 
 Samuel Herr, grandson of Emanuel. 
 
 Benjamin lived where John Holl lives now in Strasburg. 
 He died without issue. 
 
 Christian (Big) lived on the farm now owned and ogcupied 
 by the author of this sketch, C. Herr, (farmer). He had two 
 sons and five daughters. The sons, named Benjamin and 
 Christian. The daughters married Jacob Breneman, Chris- 
 tian Snavely, Martin Mylin (blacksmith, and grandson of old 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 283 
 
 John or Hans Mylin), Martin Light and Martin Herr, (grandson 
 of Emanuel, one of the sons of the original John or Hans Herr). 
 
 David lived on the farm occupied by his father, John. He 
 was the youngest of the family. He had two children, 
 both daughters, named Betsy and Martha. The former 
 married Adam Herr, (a grandson of Emanuel and a brother 
 of Martin, who married Big Christian Herr's daughter). The 
 other married Christian Brackbill. Here David's family 
 name ends. This also ends the record of John's family. I 
 shall now take their children, beginning with Abraham's 
 (miller) children. 
 
 Abraham's (miller) Children. Abraham lived on the 
 farm occupied by his son a few years ago, adjoining his 
 father's mill property, situated on the west side of Pequea 
 creek. He had three children, all sons. Henry, (who died 
 single), John and Abraham. 
 
 John lived on the homestead occupied by his father and 
 carried on milling ; he had one son, Samuel. 
 
 Tobias lived near Strasburg, on property now owned by 
 John Book. He had four sons and three daughters. Ben- 
 jamin, John, David and Tobias. Nancy married John 
 Shenk ; Betsy married a Hoffman, and she dying, he married 
 Hettie, the youngest. 
 
 David lived near his father, on part of the homestead, in 
 what is now called Turniptown. He had one son, Benjamin, 
 who was killed in his grandfather's mill, then in possession of 
 to his cousin, Samuel (John's son). He went to the cog-pit 
 start the hoisting apparatus, and while doing so accidentally 
 fell and was crushed to death ; stopping the mill, the gearing 
 had to be taken apart to get him out. This occurred in 1830. 
 He had also two daughters ; one married Adam Beck. 
 
 Emanuel settled somewhere in the vicinity of Martic Forge, 
 and reared a family there. One of his sons was named Levi. 
 '{"^ John's (miller) Family. John lived on the place occu- 
 pied by his father. He carried on milling, and was a justice 
 of the peace. He had three sons and four daughters; namely, 
 Benjamin, (miller), John and Henry ; Maria, who died single ; 
 one married to Henry Witmer, one to Amos Witmer, and 
 ^ one to George Lefever. 
 
284 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Christian's (big) Family. Benjamin lived on the farm 
 formerly occupied by his father, Christian, (big). He sold 
 his farm and went west, leaving some of his children mar- 
 ried here. He had six sons and three daughters, viz : Anna 
 married John Baohman, Lizzie married John Herr, her se- 
 cond cousin, son of Tobias Herr, and grandson of Abraham 
 Herr, (miller), but Lizzie dying, he married her sister Maria. 
 The sons were Martin, Eudolph, David, Benjamin, Christian 
 and George. 
 
 Christian lived on the road leading from Willow Street to 
 Martic Forge, about one mile south of Willow Street. He 
 here carried on the distilling business. Afterwards he went 
 west with his family. One of his daughters married her 
 first cousin, George, a son of Benjamin. 
 
 John, also a grandson of Abraham, was married and lived 
 as a renter, here and there. Two of his sons live in the 
 eastern part of the couniy. 
 
 Abraham, also a grandson of Abraham, lived by the side 
 of his uncle John's mill. He lived there and raised a family 
 of three sons and four daughters. One daughter married 
 Aaron Witmer. Abraham has two children; Christian has 
 one, and Elam two children. 
 
 Henry, Abraham's son, was a grandson of old Abraham, 
 the miller, and died single. 
 
 John's Family. Samuel carried on milling where his 
 forefathers before him carried on the trade. He was mar- 
 ried, but died without issue. 
 
 Tobias' Children". Benjamin studied law and practiced 
 in Lancaster. 
 
 John lives on the road from Willow Street to Conestoga 
 Centre, in Pequea township. 
 
 David lives in Lancaster. 
 
 Tobias lives above Lancaster. 
 
 John's (squire) Children. Benjamin lives on the home- 
 stead of his forefathers, and also is a miller. He is married. 
 
 John lives on the road from Strasburg to Paradise, at 
 Fairview. 
 
 Henry lives in Lancaster. 
 
 Emanuel Herr, one of the five sons that came to Lan- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 285 
 
 caster in 1710, pitched his tent on the hank of the Pequea 
 creek, on the road from Strasburg to Lancaster, where John 
 Musselman now resides. It was he that built the first mill 
 there, ran the burrs by water and the bolt by hand. He 
 was married and had three sons : Rev. John, Martin and 
 Emanuel, and one daughter, who married a man named Car- 
 penter ; they were the parents of Christian Carpenter, and 
 grandparents of Israel and William Carpenter, of Lancaster 
 city. Hon. John W. Forney's (editor of the Press) mother, 
 was a sister of Christian Carpenter. 
 
 Rev. John built his house and farmed the property now 
 owned by Henry Keener, about one mile southwest from Stras- 
 burg. He was twice married and had two sons by his first wife : 
 John and Francis ; and by his second wife three sons : Henry, 
 Martin and Adam ; and four daughters ; two of these daugh- 
 ters married Witmers, one married Tobias Herr, and the 
 other married David Strohm, father of Hon. John Strohm. 
 Emanuel lived on the place owned now by Mrs. John Brack- 
 bill, near that of John Musselman's. He built the house 
 there, was married and had one son, Samuel, and three daugh- 
 ters ; one married Henry Miller and another John Kendig. 
 
 John's (minister) Children. John carried on milling at 
 the mill formerly occupied by his father and built by his 
 grandfather, now owned by John Masselman. John rented 
 this mill to Mr. Gray ; Gray put in a conveyor to carry the 
 ground wheat to the bolt ; when Gray's time had expired 
 John took out the conveyor and said that this made lazy 
 millers, and made them carry it by hand again. He married 
 and had one son, John. 
 
 Francis's Family. Francis built the house torn down a 
 few years ago by Gabriel Wenger, and farmed that property, 
 owned by him now. He masried Fanny Barr, a daughter 
 of Mr. Barr ; who married a daughter of John's one of the five 
 brothers. He had three sons : John, Francis and Martin ; 
 and five daughters : Anna married Henry Mylin (a great 
 grandson of the original Hans Mylin who came in with the 
 jfive Herr brothers) ; Esther married Martin Eshleman, 
 Francis married Benjamin Eshleman, Martha married Abra- 
 liain Groff (saw miller), and Lizzie died single. 
 
286 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 Henry lived on tte farm owned by Jacob Eohrer, in 
 Strasburg township, north of Bunker Hill. 
 
 Martin lived on the farm now owned by his son Abraham, 
 alongside of his father and grandfather's mill, across the 
 creek. He was married three times ; his first wife was a 
 daughter of (Big) Christian ; the third wife was Susan Buck- 
 waiter. With the last wife he had ten children : Four boys, 
 Abraham, Adam, John and Henry ; six daughters, Esther 
 was married to Mr. Metzler, Lizzie married Mr. Kreider, 
 Mary married Jacob Huber (a grandson of the original 
 Christian, one of the five brothers), Susan married Eev. 
 John Kinports, Anna to Abner Eohrer, and Martha married 
 Christian Miller. 
 
 Adam lives on the home-place, where his father lived, 
 which property his father obtained with his last wife. He 
 was married to Elizabeth Herr, (a daughter of David Herr, 
 and great grand-daughter of the original Christian, one of the 
 five brothers). He had five sons, viz : Daniel, Adam, Chris- 
 tian, David and John. He had three daughters, viz : Martha 
 married David Herr, (whose mother was a sister of Martha's 
 father, and from his father's side he was great-great grand- 
 son of the original Christian, one of the five brothers.) 
 Elizabeth married Levi Lefever. 
 
 Emanuel's Family. Samuel lived close by the mill 
 formerly owned by John Herr, (Squire). The farm lay east 
 or southeast of the mill. He was married to John Herr's 
 (squire) sister, (great grand-daughter of the original Chris- 
 tian, one of the five brothers). He had three sons, viz : 
 John, Benjamin, and Emanuel; and two daughters; Anna 
 married Frank Kendig, and Sarah married Abraham Keagy. 
 
 Eev. John's Geand-childeen. John lived at the mill 
 formerly owned by his father^ his grandfather, and his great- 
 grandfather, Emanuel, one of the five brothers. He mar- 
 ried Christiana Mylin, (who was a great grand-daughter of 
 Hans Mylin, who came with the five Herr brothers). He 
 had two sons, Francis and Martin ; and one daughter, Lizzie, 
 who married a man named Zercher. 
 
 John lived on the farm now owned by his son, John 
 F. Herr, one-half mile north of Strasburg. He married 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 287 
 
 Elizabeth Groff, (who was a grand-daughter of Mr. Forrer, 
 who married the daughter of John, one of the five brothers). 
 He had two sons, Benjamin G. and John F., and six daughters ; 
 Mary was married to Christian Herr, Elizabeth to Eev. 
 Daniel Musser, Anna to Henry Frantz, Martha to Dr. Jacob 
 Musser, Naomi to Dr. Benjamin Musser, and Fanny, died 
 single. 
 
 Francis' father divided the homestead, and gave the east- 
 ern half to him ; he lived on it ; it is now owned by his son 
 Francis. He married Fanny Neff, whose father, Jacob Neff, 
 married a grand-daughter of John Herr, one of the five 
 brothers. He had three sons, Amos, Cyrus and Francis, 
 and five daughters. Elizabeth married Adam Herr, who 
 was a great grandson of Emanuel ; Anna married Martin 
 Weaver, Charlotte married Henry Herr, (who was son of 
 Martin and great grandson of Emanuel) ; Fanny and Amanda 
 are single. 
 
 Martin lived on the home-place with his father, Francis. 
 He married Polly Herr, (daughter of John Herr, grand- 
 daughter of Abraham Herr, great grand-daughter of Eev. 
 John, and great-great-grand- daughter of John, one of the 
 five brothers). He had two daughters; Mary married John 
 Kendig, and Martha married Gabriel Wenger. 
 
 Martin's Family. Abraham lives in Lampeter Square, 
 and married Susan Hess. 
 
 Adam died single. 
 
 John lives also in Lampeter Square. He married Fanny 
 Kreider, and has two sons and three daughters. 
 
 Henry now lives in Lampeter. He, previous to this, carried 
 on milling, where his son, Eev. Daniel K. Herr, carries on 
 now. He was married three times. He had one son, D. K. 
 Herr, (Eev.) and two daughters ; Susan, married to Daniel 
 Musser ; and Lizzie. 
 
 Adam's (brother of Martin) Family. Daniel Herr 
 lives on the Philadelphia pike below Greenland. He was 
 married to Sarah Strohm. He has three sons and three 
 daughters. 
 
 Adam lives on a part of the farm now farmed by his son 
 Alpheus, and formerly owned by Abraham Groff (saw 
 
I 
 
 288 BIOGEAPHIOAL HISTORY 
 
 miller). He married Elizabeth Herr (daughter of Francis 
 and great-grand-daughter of Emanuel.) He has one son and 
 one daughter. 
 
 Christian lived- on the farm now owned by David Kendig, 
 in West Lampeter township. He married Maria Light, 
 whose father was married to (Big) Christian Herr's daughter. 
 He had two sons and two daughters. 
 
 David kept store in Lampeter Square ; afterwards went to 
 Ohio. He was married to Mary Landis. He had six chil- 
 dren, two sons and four daughters 
 
 John lives on a property close to the Green Tree Hotel, on 
 the Beaver Valley turnpike. He was married to Anna Herr, 
 daughter of the Eev. Christian Herr, of Pequea, and has but 
 one son, Benjamin. 
 
 Samuel's Family. John lived below Strasburg, and died 
 there in 1871. 
 
 Benjamin died single. 
 
 Emanuel lived on the place now owned by John B. Herr. 
 He went to Maryland 25 years ago. 
 
 John's (miller) Family. Francis received the mill from 
 his father, but traded it with Michael Musselman for a piece 
 of laud in Paradise township. He was married to Lydia 
 Barr, and had two daughters ; one married Henry Stehman, 
 and the other Nathaniel Mayrs. 
 
 Martin lives on the farm alongside of John Musselman's 
 mill. He was married to Eliza Suavely, and has one son and 
 one daughter, both single. 
 
 Rev. John's Family. Benjamin G. lives on the farm 
 alongside of that on which his father lived, and he devotes his 
 time principally to literature; has written some eight or ten 
 books of poems. He was a member of the Pennsylvania 
 Legislature for three years, 1836, 1837 and 1838. He was 
 married to Mary Emma^Witmer, and has five sons and three 
 daughters. 
 
 John F. lives on the homestead occupied by his father, 
 Eev. John, and farms his father's farm. He was a member 
 of the Pennsylvania Legislature for one term. He was mar- 
 ried to Martha Musser, and has three sons and two daugh- 
 ters. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 289 
 
 Fbancis's Children. Amos lives at Longenecker's meet- 
 ing-house, and on the farm formerly occupied by John 
 Longeneoker. He was married and has four sons and five 
 -daughters. 
 
 Cyrus lives on the farm formerly occupied by David Miller, 
 and adjoining the land south of the homestead of his father. 
 He was married to Mary A. Brackbill, and has four sons 
 and one daughter. 
 
 Franklin iives on the home-place occupied by his father 
 "before him. He was married to Sarah Frantz and has eight 
 ■children ; three sons and five daughters. 
 
 Eev. D. K. Hebr (miller) grandson of Martin and son of 
 Henry, lives on the mill property owned by his father, Henry. 
 He was married to Susan Musser, and has one son. 
 
 John Hebr, one of the original five sons that were the 
 first settlers of the Herr family in Lancaster county, built a 
 homestead on a tract of land of 530 acres, which he bought 
 of William Penn for £30 6s., with a rent of a silver English 
 shilling yearly for every hundred acres ; his title was dated 
 July 3, 1711. He built his house of sandstone; said house 
 being on the same site of Jacob Herr's present house, who 
 resides therein ; said house being some five miles south of 
 Lancaster, on the road from New Providence to Lancaster, 
 in West Lampeter township. John had six children; two 
 sons and four daughters, named John, Christian ; Anna mar- 
 ried a Forrer; one was married to a Burkholder; one to a 
 Barr, and one to Ulrioh Brackbill. All the Brackbills in 
 the county come from this family — Ulrich being the only son ; 
 he (Ulrich) had one sister named Barbara, who married a 
 Oroff; they being the father and mother of my grandmother 
 on my father's side. This Brackbill family came to 
 America in 1717. 
 
 John was born in Europe, came in with his father, 
 -was a small boy at the time of his father's coming in. He 
 married and lived in the house built by his father, which 
 was torn down by the Eev. Benj. Herr, a new house being 
 on the same position, and occupied by Christian B. Herr, 
 (Benjamin's son), said house bf^ing about three-fourths of a 
 mile south of where his father lived, on the same road. He 
 
290 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 had three children, two sons and one daughter, named 
 Abraham, Christian, (Pequea); the daughter married a Bach- 
 enstose. 
 
 Christian lived on the homestead where his father lived 
 before him ; he was married twice ; first to Anna Kendig, 
 then to Fanny Groff. He had one son and five daughters, 
 Christian, Fanny, Anna, Mary, Elizabeth and Barbara ; the 
 three older daughters by the first wife, and the two other by 
 the last, Christian being the youngest child. Fanny married 
 G. Bressler; Anna, Benjamin Herr, grandson of Chris- 
 tian, one of the five brothers; Mary married Abraham 
 Witmer, who built the bridge across the Conestoga, near 
 Lancaster, on the Philadelphia turnpike road. The two of 
 the second wife were married ; first, Elizabeth, to Jacob Neff; 
 and Barbara, to John Neff, two brothers. 
 
 Abraham lived on the homestead, and married a Barbara 
 Weaver, and had five sons, named Jacob, John, Abraham, 
 Martin and Joseph. 
 
 Christian lived on the place and in the same house now 
 occupied by the Eev. Amos Herr. He married Miss Bow- 
 man; had one son, Christian, and six daughters; one married 
 to George Diffenbaugh ; one to John Funk ; one to Chris- 
 tian Eohrer ; one to Henry Bowman ; one died single. As 
 Christian lived close to Pequea creek, he received the name 
 Pequea, which has ever since adhered to his family. 
 
 Christian's Childken". Christian built a house across 
 the road from where his father lived ; this house was torn 
 down a few years ago, and a new one erected by his daughter, 
 Elizabeth. He had four sons and three daughters ; Chris- 
 tian, John, Benjamin and Jacob, Fanny, Susan and Eliza- 
 beth. He was married twice ; first, to Elizabeth Withers ; 
 second, to Mary Eohrer ; two daughters, Fanny and Susan, 
 by the first wife, and the rest by the latter. Fanny married 
 Samuel Herr, son of John (miller), grandson of Abraham, 
 (miller), great-grandson of John, and great-great-grandson 
 of Christian, one of the five brothers ; Susan married Benja- 
 min Breneman, and Elizabeth remained single. 
 
 Abraham's Family. Jacob bought a tract of Martin 
 Kendig, adjoining the home-place of his father. He here 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 291 
 
 built his house upon it, now occupied by John Tout, and 
 owned by Jacob Herr. He had one child, Jacob. 
 
 John lived on the home-place, formerly occupied by his 
 father, Abraham. He was married twice ; first to a Miss 
 Shultz, and then to the widow Stauffer, formerly Miss Brack- 
 bill, ■ a grand-daughter of Ulrich Brackbill. He had six 
 children ; one son, John, and five daughters ; Susan, Pollyj 
 Barbara — these were of the first wife ; then Elizabeth and 
 Fanny, of the second wife. Susan married John Barr (he a 
 grandson of the Barr who married John's daughter, one of 
 the five brothers) ; he died ; she then married Hon. John 
 Strohm ; Polly married Martin Herr (son of Francis, grand- 
 son of Eev. John, and great-grandson of Emanuel, one of th© 
 five brothers) ; Barbara, married to David Strohm, (cousin to 
 Hon. John Strohm) ; Elizabeth, to Henry Hess ; Fanny, to 
 Benjamin Suavely, whose mother was a daughter of (big) 
 Christian, who was a son of John, himself a son of the Eev. 
 Christian, one of the five brothers. 
 
 Abraham lived south of New Providence, and was mar- 
 ried to a Shaub, who was a daughter of Abraham Herr's, 
 (son of the Eev. Christian, one of the five brothers) daughter, 
 who married Henry Shaub. He had three sons, Abraham, 
 John and Martin; and one daughter, Polly, who married 
 Jacob Groff. 
 
 Martin lived near New Providence, afterwards owned by 
 Mowrer. He had three children, two sons, Benjamin and 
 Martin; and one daughter, Barbara, who married Simon 
 Grofif. 
 
 Joseph settled on a farm now owned by Mr. Myers, situ- 
 ated near the termination of the turnpike leading from the 
 Lamb Tavern, on the Willow Street pike, to Marticville. 
 He married Maria Forrer, (who was a grand-daughter of the 
 Forrer who married the daughter of John Herr, one of the 
 five brothers). He had eight children, five sons, viz : Abra- 
 ham, Christian, Joseph, Martin and David ; he had three 
 daughters ; Nancy, who married a Stoner ; Barbara, who 
 married Isaac Houser ; Maria, who married John Harnish, 
 This ends the children of Abraham. 
 
 Christian lived in the house a,nd farmed the place which 
 
292 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 his father, Christian, (Pequea), occupied before him. He 
 married Nancy Forrer, a sister of Maria Forrer, who mar- 
 ried his cousin Joseph. He had eight children, six sons 
 and two daughters ; Benjamin (Eev.), Blias, Christian, Joseph, 
 Amos (Eev.), and Daniel ; Maria mariied John Brackbill, a 
 descendant of Ulrich Brackbill; Anna, who married John 
 Herr, who was a great-grandson of Emanuel, one of the five 
 brothers. 
 
 Christian, son of Christian, grandson of Christian, and 
 great-great-grandson of John, one of the five brothers, 
 lives on the farm formerly occupied by (big) Chris- 
 tian, one mile southeast of Willow Street. He married 
 Mary Herr, daughter of the Eev. John Herr, (she being 
 great-great grand-daughter of Emanuel, one of the five 
 brothers). He had two sons, Amaziah and Ezra, and three 
 daughters, Lizzie (dead), Louisa and Addie ; the daughters 
 all single. 
 
 John lived on the farm formerly owned by Joseph Lea- 
 mon, and adjoining, on the north that of his father's home- 
 stead, the whole being a part of the original tract of 530 
 acres. He was thrown from his horse crossing the creek at 
 Herr's mill, formerly owned by Samuel, married to his sister 
 Fanny. He was married to Susan Rohrer, daughter of 
 Christian Rohrer. He had five children, two boys, Aldus 
 and Henry; Fanny, who married John Brackbill, jr.; Sarah 
 Ann and Lizzie, both single. 
 
 Benjamin lives on the place formerly owned by Martin 
 Xendig, who came in with the five brothers. The old house 
 which Martin built, was used by Benjamin until he built a 
 new one by the side of it. The old house was then used as 
 a private school house for several families. Benjamin was 
 married twice. First to Catharine Bair, by whom he had 
 two children. Christian S. B., and Mary Ann, who married 
 Christian Witmer, (minister). By his second wife, Anna 
 Sener, he had three sons, Sanner, Millo, and Aldus. 
 
 Jacob lives on the old homestead where his father, grand- 
 father and great-grandfather lived. He married Anna Mus- 
 ser, and has seven children ; five sons, viz : Benjamin, 
 Hebron, Jacob, Francis and Amos ; two daughters, one 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 293^ 
 
 married David Hess, tlie other is single. Here ends tlie record 
 of Christian's children ; we now recur to that of Abraham's 
 (who married Barbara Weaver), descendants. 
 
 Jacob lived on the farm of his father. He married Martha 
 Porrer, and had four children, three daughters and one son; 
 Jacob F., who married Barbara Witmer, and has seven chil- 
 dren, five sons and two daughters ; Mary and Anna died 
 single; Barbara married Tobias Kreider, (minister). 
 
 John lived on the old home-place with his father, John, 
 but went to Ohio some 37 years ago, and settled near Colum- 
 bus. He had four sons, Levi, (a noted horse trainer and 
 dealer, living at Lexington, Kentucky), Christian, Francis 
 and John, all in Ohio. 
 
 Abraham is dead, and his family is scattered. 
 
 John, his son, married a Miss Bartholomew, and had two 
 daughters, Susan and Lizzie; the former is single, and the 
 latter is married to Henry Miller. 
 
 Martin's Fa-mily. Benjamin was a fuller by trade, and 
 carried on the fulling business at Martin Huber's, below the 
 Valley tavern. 
 
 Martin was married to Jacob Martin's daughter. 
 
 Joseph's Family. Abraham lives with his brother Chris- 
 tian at Groff & Landis's mill on the Willow Street pike. He 
 married Miss Stoner. He had four children, two sons named 
 Abraham and Isaac, (and this Abraham is married and has 
 five children, two sons and three girls). 
 
 Christian lives on the farm spoken of in my last record of 
 Abraham. He was married to a Hess, and has six children: 
 four sons. 
 
 Joseph, a carpenter by trade, lives in Willow Street, on 
 the road from Lancaster to Martioville. He married Miss 
 Snavely, and has three children. 
 
 Martin Herr married a Miss Miller, and left four daughters. 
 
 Eev. Christian's (Pequea) Family. Benjamin lives on 
 the property where the original John, one of the five broth- 
 er's sons, John (the minister) lived. He married Nancy Bren- 
 neman, and has two children. He is a bishop of the Menno- 
 nite church. 
 
 Elias lives' on a farm now belonging to his son Elias, and 
 22 
 
294 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 lying over east from where his father lived. He has been 
 married three times. He has five children ; four sons : Jere- 
 miah, Andrew, Blias, and Benjamin; and Mary Ann, married 
 to Elias Groff. 
 
 Christian (Pequea) lives adjoining farm to his brothers 
 Elias and Benjamin. He married Susan Breckbill, sister to 
 John Breckbill, who married his sister Maria. He has four 
 children ; three sons, John, Levi and Christian (Pequea), and 
 one daughter. 
 
 Joseph lives on the property formerly owned by his aunt 
 Barbara Forrer. He was married to Hetty Stauffer, and 
 has two daughters. 
 
 Eev. Amos lives on the old homestead owned by his father 
 and grandfather. He was married to Elizabeth Kohrer, and 
 has one son, Christian, and three daughters ; one married to 
 Benj. Snavely, one to Mr. Ronk; the other is single. 
 
 Daniel lives about half a mile down the pike from where 
 Ms brother Amos lives. He carries on the lime-burning 
 business extensively. He was married to Anna Breneman, 
 and has two sons, Enos and Reuben ; and Lizzie, a daughter, 
 who was married to Christian S. B. Herr. 
 
 HERE, John, was a member of the 'Legislature in 1838. 
 
 HERR, John E., was a member of the Legislature in 1854. 
 
 HERR, John, the founder or organizer of the 'New Men- 
 nonite church, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, 
 September 18th, 1781. His father, Francis, was the son of 
 Emanuel Herr, one of the five sons of Hans Herr, who emi- 
 grated to Lancaster county in the year 1710. Hans Herr 
 was the pastor and spiritual leader of a large colony of 
 emigrants who made their way into the bounds of Lancaster 
 county, and settled in what was known as the Pequea valley, and 
 which is now included in the townships of Strasburg, Lampe- 
 ter, Conestoga and others. The subject of our sketch belonged 
 to a family noted in the early history of our county as 
 leaders in religious opinions, many of whom were clergymen 
 of the Mennonite persuasion. It would seem somewhat ap- 
 propriate in this connection, to glance at the causes which 
 induced the important movement in the Mennonite church, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTT. 295 
 
 ■whicli ultimated in its division into the old and new com- 
 munions.- It is an event of august concern in our county's 
 history; one which deserves some consideration, and would 
 space warrant, (which it does not) it should be treated in full 
 detail. The inceptive impulse which led to the separation 
 of the church was given by Francis Herr, the father of our 
 subject. For suf&cient reasons, Francis Herr became dis- 
 united with the old Mennonite church^ of his fathers, and so 
 remained till the period of his death. Being a man of 
 considerable intellectual vigor, he was able to attract a 
 number of followers who sympathized with him in his views, 
 and who were in the habit of meeting together for spiritual 
 conversation and edification of each other. In these meetings 
 of Francis Herr and his followers nothing seems to have been 
 further in view than to endeavor to act in accordance with 
 Christ's promise, that he would be in the midst of two or 
 three of those who should meet together in his name. These 
 small assemblies were congregated in the name of the Ee- 
 deemer, and His promise was fervently invoked upon their 
 meetings. The design of founding an antagonistic church to 
 that to which his ancestry had belonged, never perhaps 
 entered the thoughts of Francis Herr or any of his followers. 
 He was an earnest investigator of the doctrines of Menno 
 Simon, and he critically compared them with the teaching 
 of the gospel and the whole of the New Testament. This 
 
 'Tte Mennonite Christians exhibit a simplicity of faith and worship 
 that serves to call to mind the early days of the reformation epoch. 
 Deducing their views from the Uteral sense of Scripture, they have not 
 been seduced into the reception of new-coined and rationalistic theolo- 
 gies that have since the beginning of the eighteenth century been stea- 
 dily making their way into the other churches of England, Holland, 
 France and Germany. They may, (especially in America), therefore, be 
 regarded as presenting the faith-type which most clearly portrays that 
 which obtained in Europe in the sixteenth century. They have suc- 
 cessfully resisted the insinuating currents of free thought that have been 
 creeping into many of the other churches of Europe and America 
 during the last one hundred and fifty years, and on this account they 
 stand nearer than most others in accord with the views of the Reformed 
 fathers. Perched upon the mount of Gospel faith, the rippling brook of 
 deistic unbelief, the encyclopedic stream of French infidelity, and the 
 surging flood of German rationalism have passed by scarcely noticed by 
 the ixierudite followers of Menno Simon; and the opinions of this early 
 
296 BIOGEAPHIOAL HISTORY 
 
 investigation served but to convince him that the teaching^ 
 of that reformer was fully supported in the discourses of 
 Christ and his apostles, and his chief aim seemed simply to 
 be to aid in building up life-examples as the gospel enjoined. 
 Doctrine, without a corresponding walk and conversation 
 would, in his view, be of no avail. In all his exhortations 
 to his small flock of followers, he urged upon them in the 
 most emphatic manner, holiness of life and uprightness and 
 godliness in all manner of conversation. What should it 
 benefit him to be a full believer in the tenets of Menno 
 Simon if his action did not conform thereto, and his walk be 
 upright and pure. In a holy life, therefore, as he thought, 
 did all Christian godliness consist. 
 
 In all this he had before him the example of the reformers 
 of the sixteenth century. With them he agreed in endeavor- 
 ing to bring back the purity of the early ages. Nothing 
 further was his aim than the rejuvenation of Christian sim- 
 plicity and piety in the life and actions of his small band of 
 faithful followers. All this, in his estimation, was attainable 
 outside of nominal church organization ; and the communion 
 of the spirit of Christ and his fellowship was all that was 
 desirable. This could be secured in the bosom of his small 
 company of sympathizers, who were in the habit of meeting 
 together for mutual consolation. 
 
 But at length the winged arrow of death bore Francis 
 
 reformer yet shine in the vales of the fatherland and on the American 
 continent in all their pristine purity. 
 
 The important movement in the Mennonite church, the establishment 
 of a theological seminary in Europe in 1735, was an event that occurred 
 after their early settlements had been made in America. This has given 
 to the European church an educated ministry, and an array of dis- 
 tinguished Mennonite clergymen stand conspicuous in modem eccle- 
 siastical history. Their brethren in America prefer, on the contrary, 
 pastors of apostolic simplicity, and as yet maintain with a tenacious 
 grasp the uncorrupted creed of their fathers. 
 
 The American Mennonites see in Christianity a perfect system as it 
 flowed forth from the mouth of the Redeemer of mankind, instead of 
 being a progressive science as is contended by learned modern expositors. 
 Little else in their view is required of the ministers of Christ, save that 
 they shall be able to read the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. 
 The critical acumen of a Reimarus, "Wolff, Ernesti, or Semler, is not 
 desired by these plain followers of the ancient doctrines. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 297 
 
 Herr from the scenes of his life's activity and from the com- 
 panionship of his faithful circle of followers, and his freed 
 spirit took its flight to regions beyond the skies. His mantle, 
 however, fell upon worthy shoulders — upon him whose task 
 it should become as the master workman to polish the un- 
 hewn material that his father had been gathering, and there- 
 from erect a living temple fitted to resist the adverse blasts 
 of persecution, and which is being constantly increased, en- 
 larged and beautified. The architect of the Christian edifice 
 referred to is the subject of our notice. 
 
 Of the youthful career of John Herr, whose sketch we 
 pen, little data exist. Having never preserved any diary 
 of his labors, all that can be gathered of his career comes 
 through tradition. It is, however, inferable from the career 
 in which his father was engaged, that our subject was trained 
 in the fear and admonition of the Lord, and that the lessons 
 of truth and morality were taught him by his pious mother. 
 It is said of him that in youth he was of a gay and lively 
 disposition, fond of society, and that he engaged in the sports 
 of his comrades to a great extent. His conscience was, how- 
 ever, cast in a tender mould, and his horror of sin was so 
 acute that he frequently lamented with tears during the 
 night, the follies of which by day he had been guilty. In 
 these secret hours of the night, when all around him was 
 hushed in sleep, he would deplore, his imperfections and 
 promise to the Saviour an amendment of his course of life. 
 But these, like the ordinary evanescent promises of youth, 
 were forgotten. The dawn of day and the appearance of his 
 youthful comrades, again dispelled the good resolves, and 
 carnal desires and natural enjoyments soon seated them- 
 .selves in his affections. 
 
 His educational attainments were of limited scope. Be- 
 sides the acquisition of the simple elementary branches of 
 reading, writing and arithmetic, he as a youth was not favored. 
 Being possessed of a very retentive memory, he exhibited a 
 great taste for reading, and was remarkably fond of investi- 
 gation. He seldom accepted anything without prior care- 
 ful study, and the reason of everything must be apparent. 
 What little spare time he was able to snatch from the labors 
 
298 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 of tte farm, he sedulously devoted to the reading of such- 
 works as came within his reach. His father's library, how- 
 ever, being composed of but few books, save of the religious 
 and devotional kind, it is reasonable to suppose that he 
 should become well versed in the Bible and works of a reli- 
 gious character. In his youth, therefore, he perused works 
 on Church History and the Eeformation, the lives of the 
 Martyrs, writings of Josephus and those of Menno Simon, 
 besides others; and his inquisitive mind led him thoroughly 
 to investigate the doctrines of the Mennonite church, which 
 he found, like his father before him, to accord with the Gos- 
 pel. It is doubtful at this time whether he had access to 
 any works on profane history, biography, travels or polite 
 literature. The only works of Jiction, indeed, that he ever 
 read, were the writings of John Bunyan ; and he uniformly 
 condemned the practice of devoting valuable time to the 
 reading of modern novels. Poetry he appreciated very 
 highly, especially if of a devotional character; and in his 
 mature years he composed hymns on frequent occasions. As 
 regards science, art and rhetoric, he had no opportunities 
 whatever in his youth to acquire a knowledge of them ; and 
 yet in his old age he had attained a fund of general infor- 
 mation upon all these subjects. His extensive intercourse 
 for many years with various classes of society, some of them 
 the best scholars in the country, his great powers of obser- 
 vation, his faculty for minute analysis, his extraordinary 
 memory and his extensive reading, caused him to become in. 
 his latter years, if not profound, at least well informed upon 
 all ordinary topics. 
 
 As above stated, John Herr's youth was chiefly spent in 
 the reading of the Bible and other religious works, and in 
 hearing the important question of the soul's salvation and 
 the scheme of redemption discussed by his father, and by 
 those he met in argument. His naturally bright mind availed 
 itself of the opportunity thus afforded, and he soon became 
 well trained in this particular field which so admirably qual- 
 ified him for the great work for which he was destined. 
 When the period arrived for him to begin the work, his 
 preparation had been of such a character, that he entered^ 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY, 299 
 
 thereon, not simply as in the performance of a duty, but 
 "with the greatest of pleasure and zeal did he inaugurate the 
 great work of his life. 
 
 Upon the death of his father, being painfully exercised by 
 the conviction of sin, he took occasion to reveal the state of 
 his feelings to some of his father's friends, who were also 
 similarly concerned for their own salvation. But owing to 
 the increase of worldly cares devolved upon him by the 
 death of his father, he permitted himself again to grow lan- 
 guid in his love for Christ, and for a time seemed to regret 
 that he had revealed his spiritual emotions to his friends. 
 This state of feeling having continued for some months, an 
 incident occurred in his career that served to lead him back 
 to God. He now resigned himself wholly to the Lord, and 
 soon found comfort. The friends who had sympathised with 
 his father, were still in the habit of meeting together and 
 mutually comforting each other in spiritual converse. John 
 Herr now became a constant attendant at these meetings. 
 At one of these, held daring the year 1810, Mr. Herr was 
 requested to give his experience upon the all important 
 question of the soul's salvation. This was an important 
 epoch in the ' life of Mr. Herr. Clothed, as he felt, in 
 the garb of truth, and mailed in the armor of righteousness, 
 with the sword of the spirit in his hand, he stepped forward 
 ready to battle and die, if need be, in the cause of the Ee- 
 deemer. Animated by sympathy for lost humanity, and 
 gratitude to God for His merciful plan of salvation, he 
 addressed the small auditory in words of peace and comfort. 
 Then it was that the firm resolve was made, that come what 
 might, while life would last, his time and talents should be 
 devoted to the cause of Christ; that he would mete out to 
 his fellow-men the consolations of redemption, warn them 
 of their folly and the wickedness of sin, and point out the 
 way of truth as God should vouchsafe to instruct him. In 
 spite of his comparative youth, being but as yet in his 
 twenty-ninth year ; in spite of adverse surrounding circum- 
 stances, he nevertheless dared the scorn of the ungodly, met 
 the jeers of his associates, and openly braved the opposition 
 of the whole unchristian world. His remarks, altogether 
 
300 BIOGBAPHIOAL HISTORY 
 
 impromptu, breathed severe denunciations of sin and all un- 
 righteousness. And at the same time in burning strains of 
 eloquence he presented to his hearers a vivid delineation of 
 the great richness of divine grace and the wonderful sub- 
 limity and awful grandeur of the God-conceived plan of 
 salvation for the souls of miserable and fallen men. 
 
 The sermon of Mr. Herr, delivered on that occasion, was, as 
 tradition tells us, an extraordinary effort, in the opinion of 
 his illiterate and simple-minded hearers. In their opinion, it 
 surpassed anything they had ever heard. For profundity of 
 sentiment and eloquent invective, poignancy of grief at the 
 wickedness of the age ; for clear, logical elucidation of man's 
 requirements ; for sublime invocations for mercy and aid, it 
 could not, as his auditors conceived, be surpassed. The effort 
 must have been indeed extraordinary. No sooner was the 
 news spread abroad that Mr. Herr had preached such a 
 powerful sermon, than applications poured in upon him to 
 preach in various parts of the county. His services came in 
 great demand on funeral occasions. He was at once chosen 
 the leader of the new flock. The tree which his father 
 Francis had planted and nursed so carefully for many years, 
 now began to bear its fruit under the auspices of John Herr. 
 The soil was well watered by the penitent tears of himself 
 and CO -laborers. 
 
 The fact that Mr. Herr was a decided radical on religious 
 subjects ; that he would not compromise his views and thereby 
 sacrifice his sense of right, soon brought him into contro- 
 versy with clergymen of different denominations. Many 
 were the foul charges and false slanders that were heaped 
 upon his head. His motives were impugned and his views • 
 misconstrued. Ridicule and derision were hurled at him in 
 great abundance, but they fell harmlessly at his feet. The 
 envenomed shafts of calumny that poured in upon him from 
 every side, never ruffled the serenity of his disposition, or 
 excited in him anything save emotions of pain and sorrow; 
 and in return he simply offered up prayers for the souls of 
 his calumniators. He veritably fulfilled the scripture injunc- 
 tion, in praying for those "who desjntefuUy use you and 
 persecute you." Nothing, ^however, debarred his onward 
 
OF LANOASTEE COUNTY. 301 
 
 progress; the more he was maligned and persecuted, the 
 more strenuous were his exertions ; and in spite of the most 
 untoward circumstances, his influence steadily extended. 
 New accessions were constantly being made to the ranks of 
 his sympathizers. In the month of April, 1811, the ordi- 
 nance of baptism was first administered in the new body. 
 Gn this occasion Mr. Herr was baptized by Abraham Grof^ 
 who, in turn, in company with Abraham Landis, was baptized 
 by Mr. Herr. The organization known as the " Eeformed 
 Mennonite," or " New Mennonite" church, was instituted by 
 this trio. They commenced by holding regular meetings at 
 .stated periods ; instituted the regular church ordinances, 
 ,such as baptism and the breaking of bread ; established a 
 regular system of rules of church government in accordance 
 with the injunctions of the apostles. Mr. Herr was at once 
 recognized as their pastor, and was subsequently elected 
 bishop. Their proceedings occasioned great excitement in 
 the community, and, as a consequence, their meetings were 
 attended by numbers prompted by mere curiosity. Mr. 
 Herr'a labors were soon heavy and exacting ; he not only 
 preached regularly and attended frequently at funerals, but 
 was continually sought by individuals at home and abroad 
 to offer the consolations of religion at the bedside of the 
 sick and the dying. His time was so largely occupied in 
 .duties of this kind, that he was unable to devote much time 
 t© his private affairs. In this he greatly sacrificed, as re- 
 gards pecuniary matters, for he was unwilling to receive aily 
 compensation in lieu of his time and services, feeling that 
 the ministrations of the gospel should not be made a means 
 of worldly accumulation ; and he from the first, made up his 
 iaaiind to look for his reward in the blessings promised to the 
 faithful who labor in the vineyard of the Lord. Nor did his 
 ^jemperal affairs fail him. Indeed, to such an extent did 
 they flourish, that he had always sufi&cient to live upon and 
 rear his family in comfort and independence. 
 
 In the autumn of the same year, Mr. Herr baptized fifteen 
 penitent souls, among whom was included his wife, who 
 stood by him faithfully in all his trials and tribulations^ and 
 his venerable mother. He proceeded in his undertaking in 
 
S02 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTOBT 
 
 the even tenor of his way, exhorting, preaching and discus- 
 sing at times with those that disagreed with him in opinion, 
 and all the while was steadily gaining new converts to his 
 opinions. His object was not, however, to build up a large 
 congregation, merely for the purpose of being their leader. 
 If such had been his design, he might have secured many 
 more followers than he did. He admitted none as members 
 of his congregation without the most thorough examination, 
 and unless ample proof existed of sincere repentance. Can- 
 didates, therefore, who desired admission as members of his 
 church, must undergo a searching ordeal and a trying exam- 
 ination in order to test their fitness for such communion. 
 All this he knew was necessary to keep the church pure and 
 uncorrupted. It must be preserved free from all corruption 
 and impurity so far as was possible. He was determined 
 that, so far as lay in his power, no hypocrite, with assumed 
 Christian habiliments, should obtrude himself and interfere 
 with the successful working of the new organization ; and 
 when, unhappily, a few such were admitted, and a few fell 
 from grace, he obeyed the apostolic injunction, and of them 
 made stern examples, and treated them as " publicans and 
 heathen." By this constant care and vigilance which he 
 exercised, was he enabled to prevent schism from entering 
 the organization, alnd likewise rendered it out of the power 
 of pride, worldly allurements and vanity to prevail against it. 
 The services of Mr. Herr all this time were coming more 
 and more in demand, and many invitations came to him 
 from abroad to preach for them. He visited and preached 
 in the neighboring counties of York, Cumberland, Franklin, 
 Lebanon, Bucks, Montgomery, and others, in most of which 
 he organized congregations and ordained pastors over them, 
 who constantly kept him advised of their proceedings. As 
 a consequence, his correspondence became very large; so 
 much so, indeed, that nearly all his time unoccupied in 
 preaching was required to reply to his correspondents. Nor 
 were his labors by any means confined to the localities above- 
 named ; he made repeated visits to New York and Canada, 
 when traveling was not a matter of the ease and conveni- 
 ence of the present day. His mode of conveyance was 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 3 OS 
 
 either on horseback or in those heavy two-horse wagons 
 made use of by emigrants before the spring carriage was 
 invented. On his route he preached at various points, and 
 planted the nuclei of various congregations, that bore in 
 after years abundant fruit. He also made several trips to 
 Ohio and Indiana, when those States were but little re- 
 claimed from their primitive condition of a wilderness, and 
 when the crossing of the Alleghenies was regarded as quite 
 an adventure. He established congregations in both the 
 above named States, as he did also in later years in the State 
 of Illinois. As he became advanced in years, and the fruits 
 of his labors were ripening in distant and more extended 
 regions, his correspondence grew still more voluminous, so 
 much so that it became necessary for him to call in aid to 
 assist him in his labors. His prayers for aid in his arduous 
 work were not in vain. A band of laborers grew up around 
 him who were able to challenge the world for piety, disin- 
 terested benevolence and purity of life. Though not of the 
 refined and educated, nevertheless, like the humble fisher- 
 men of Galilee, they were mailed in the holy armor of gos- 
 pel truth, and with devoted hearts and heroic spirits they 
 were amply qualified to fight the battles of the Lord. These 
 came to Mr. Herr's aid, and largely relieved him of the 
 details of superintendence. But never, uatil the day of his 
 death, did anything important or unusual transpire in church 
 affairs, either at home or abroad, without his knowledge 
 and never did an important question arise in the whole- 
 church of his organization, wherever scattered, that was not 
 referred to him for solution. 
 
 , Notwithstanding Mr. Herr's great correspondence and 
 other labors connected with the ministrations of church 
 affairs, he still found time to write several volumes and 
 pamphlets upon religious topics. They were all written in 
 German, with the exception of that entitled, his "Eemarka- 
 ble Vision," which he wrote in English. The others were all 
 translated into English, and passed through several editions. 
 In this brief sketch we are unable to analyze his writings, 
 and speak of them all severally as they deserve. Of his 
 " Vision," this, however, may be said : that it is a remarkable 
 
304 BIOGRAPHIOAL HISTOET 
 
 work in every sense, and one tltat indicates a genius of a 
 high order ; and the little work will not suffer when placed 
 in comparison alongside of the " Pilgrim's Progress." 
 
 Mr. Herr maintained an epistolary controversy with a 
 pastor of the Moravian church of Litiz, which finally re- 
 sulted in a pamphlet, entitled "a brief and apostolical answer," 
 which was published in the year 1819. It is clear, at this 
 late day, that Mr. Herr had the best of the argument ; and 
 his clerical antagonist seemed to think so himself, as he never 
 saw proper to reply. This was not the only instance that 
 Mr. Herr had such correspondence with clergymen, but it is 
 the only one that was published. 
 
 Had John Herr received the culture of a classical educa- 
 tion and made politics his study, he could have become a 
 leader in spite of all opposition. He was an admirable judge 
 of mankind, and could intuitively almost, as it were, select 
 those who should execute what he desired to be accomplished. 
 It is not known, indeed, that he was ever deceived in a single 
 instance in any of his appointees, whether for the transaction 
 of church or business matters. And it is somewhat remark- 
 able that, as in accordance with his religious opinions, a 
 resort to legal tribunals was not warranted ; yet in business 
 affairs he became the dupe of sharpers and knaves to a much 
 less extent than is usually the case with business men. 
 
 He was a natural born orator. His oratory was both 
 emphatic and persuasive. He was grandly eloquent when 
 lie wished to enforce a truth or depict the evils of sin. A 
 leading feature of his character was his earnestness and sin- 
 'Cerity. His reasoning powers were of a high order, and in 
 argumentative discourse he had few if any equals. He had 
 a fine voice, and when appealing to sinners to turn from 
 their evil ways, (and on such occasions made use of his per- 
 suasive powers,) the effect was electrical. He was a sound 
 logician, and fortified his arguments by appropriate quota- 
 tions. He never spoke from notes, and his impromptu efforts 
 on the spur of the occasion were frequently his most suc- 
 cessful ones. 
 
 He was a radical in religion, and would have been in 
 politics had he given it any attention ; but his mind was so 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 305 
 
 equally poised, that he never would have become agrarian. 
 His mind was so well balanced, that' under no circumstances 
 did he despond or become unduly excited. He possessed 
 extraordinary good judgment, was frequently an arbiter be- 
 tween neighbors, when a dispute arose between them, and his 
 ■decisions were always satisfactory. His disposition was mild 
 and childlike in simplicity ; the pauper and degraded had as 
 free access to his attention as the most respected. His kind- 
 ness of heart was so proverbial, that he never could gainsay 
 a legitimate request; but when anything was demanded con- 
 trary to his principles, no inducement could swerve him from 
 his course. Except in his religious views, it is doubtful if 
 John Herr ever had an enemy ; his business transactions 
 were of such a nature that no one ever took umbrage thereat ; 
 on the contrary, all his acquaintances were so attracted by 
 the excellency of his conduct, the unselfishness of his motives, 
 and by the unostentatious benevolence that characterized all 
 his labors, both temporal and spiritual, that they became his 
 devoted friends. 
 
 Mr. Herr's sole and only aim in this life, seems to have 
 been to prepare himself, and point out the way to others, for 
 a life in the future. And as every person with whom he 
 came in contact soon became convinced of his sincerity, they 
 respected him on account of his motives, even though they 
 differed with him in opinion. In the family relation he was 
 a perfect model as a souj husband and father. He filled all 
 these relations creditable to human nature. That he had his 
 failings in temper and desire, no one was more conscious 
 than himself ; and of this he gave frequent evidence in the 
 pulpit and his writings. But take Eev. John Herr all in 
 all, and it may be said of him by one who knew him for 
 many years, that " his like will not soon be found again." 
 
 John Herr was married in 1808, to Elizabeth Groff, a 
 descendant of Hans Groff, the head of one of the surviving 
 families who accompanied Hans Herr from Switzerland- 
 They had ten children, two of whom died in infancy. In 
 accordance with his sense of duty, Mr. Herr took his last 
 trip to Canada in 1850. He preached a sermon in the even- 
 ing, traveled to a neighbor's house to spend the night, and 
 
806 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 died on tlie 3d of May, 1850, far from his wife, his kindred 
 and connections, and at peace with all the world. He calmly 
 and willingly resigned his soul into the hands of his Creator, 
 in the firm and abiding hope that he should receive the 
 crown of glory prepared for the faithful in the mansions of 
 eternal rest. 
 
 HERSHBY, Christian, elected Commissioner in 1836. 
 
 HBRSHEY FAMILY. Andrew Hershey was born in 
 Switzerland in the year 1702, and moved with his father to 
 the Palatinate. In the year 1719 he and his brother Benja- 
 min sailed for America and settled in Lancaster county. 
 His brother Christian also came to America, settling in Lan- 
 caster in 1739. The three brothers were each of them chosen 
 ministers in the Mennonite church. Andrew died in the 
 year 1792, aged ninety years. He left twelve children, viz.: 
 Christian, Andrew, John, Benjamin, Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, 
 Henry, Catharine, Maria and Odti. 
 
 Andrew Hershey, second son of Andrew, one of the first 
 settlers, was born in Lancaster county in the year 1734, and 
 died July 16th, 1806. By his first wife, named Bachman, he 
 had one daughter, Catharine, born in the year 1760. His 
 second wiff, Maria, whose maiden name was Acker, was born 
 September 26th, 1743, and died September 18th, 1831. By 
 his second wife he had the following children : Anna, Jacob, 
 Maria, Andrew, Henry, Elizabeth and John. Anna was 
 born February 27th, 1762 ; Jacob was born October 2nd, 
 1765, and died May 80th, 1821 ; Maria was born May 23d, 
 1768 ; Andrew was born September 14th, 1779, and died 
 August 1st, 1885 ; Henry was born December 19th, 1772 ; 
 Elizabeth was born December 5th, 1775 ; John was born 
 March 31st, 1783, and died July 16th, 1831. 
 
 Andrew Hershey, one of the family last named, married 
 Esther Kauffman, who was born May 31st, 1770, and died 
 March 8rd, 1829. By her he had the following children, 
 viz. : Christian, born December 28th, 1796, and died Septem- 
 ber 5th, 1834 ; Anna, born July 15th, 1799 ; Andrew, born 
 January 15th, 1802 ; Maria, born December 9th, 1804 ; Cath- 
 arine, born January 15th, 1809 ; Esther, born September 
 11th, 1811 ; Barbara and Elizabeth, born December 9th, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 307 
 
 1814; John, bbfn Marcli 14th, 1818 ; and Magdalena, born 
 March 20th, 1821. 
 
 HESS, Christian, elected Commissioner in 1851. 
 
 HESS, Martin D., Eecorder in 1857. 
 
 HEETZ, Rev. Daniel, was born in Susquehanna town- 
 ship, Dauphin county, April 23d, 1796, where he grew up to 
 manhood. His parents were named Lewis and Eosanna 
 Hertz. In youth he learned, in Harrisburg, the printing 
 business, but this not agreeing with his health, he abandoned 
 it for brick-laying, a trade which he learned with his brother. 
 In the winter months, not being busied in the business of 
 his trade, he engaged at intervals in teaching school, and so 
 continued until having made the acquaintance of Eev. Isaac 
 Gerhart, he was induced to prepare himself for the ministry. 
 He began his preparatory studies to this end, under Rev. 
 Gerhart, and closed them under Dr. Helfenstein, of Phila- 
 delphia. He entered upon the duties of the ministry some- 
 where about the year 1821, and after preaching somewhat 
 desultory for some time, received a call to Ephrata, which 
 he accepted and entered upon duty at this place in the spring 
 of 1823. His charge at Ephrata embraced several congre- 
 gations ; and his trial sermon was preached at Muddy creek, 
 in the same church in which he closed his labors, forty-five 
 years and six months afterwards. His was a long and faith- 
 ful pastorate, and his name remains enshrined in the memo- 
 ries of those who oft listened to the words of truth that 
 flowed from his pure and mellowed lips. In his long and 
 dutiful service to the congregations of his charge he preached 
 10,028 regular Sabbath and week-day sermons ; 1,776 funeral 
 discourses, and united in the bonds of matrimony 1,136 
 couples. After his long and faithful stewardship he resigned 
 his charge into other hands, and peacefully breathed out his 
 soul into the bosom of his Eedeemer, September 22d, 1868. 
 In the words of Eev. J. V. Bckert, the subject of this notice 
 as a pastor, " was laborious and faithful in his ministry. He 
 pursued his calling with almost unexampled devotion. He 
 was instant in season and out of season. Like his heavenly 
 master, he went about doing good. He was systematic, 
 conscientious, and particular in his calling. His manner and 
 
308 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 deportment was high-toned and manly ; and never com- 
 plained, nor allowed any one to trifle with his ministerial 
 character." 
 
 HIBSHMAN, Henry, was elected a member of the Leg- 
 islature in the years 1811, 1815 and 1821. He was elected 
 to the State Senate in 1833. 
 
 HIBSHMAN, Jacob, was a native of Lancaster county, 
 and a citizen of great prominence and respectability in the 
 community. In 1810 he was appointed one of the associate 
 judges of Lancaster county, the duties of which office he dis- 
 charged for nine years. In 1818 he was elected a member 
 of Congress for the district composed of the counties of Lan- 
 caster, Lebanon and Dauphin. He filled the office of Dep- 
 uty Surveyor for the county of Lancaster, for a period of 
 upwards of twenty years. He was appointed' by the Gover- 
 nor Appraiser of Damages, suffered by land-owners in con- 
 sequence of the public improvements. He served the office 
 ■of justice of the peace for many years under the old consti- 
 tution ; and after the adoption of the new one, was continued 
 in office by the suffrages of the people. He held the office 
 of Major General of the 5th Division of Pennsylvania Militia 
 for twelve years. He died at his residence in Bphrata, May 
 19th, 1852, aged 80 years, 4 months and 19 days. In public 
 as well as iu private life, Jacob Hibshman was esteemed for 
 his integrity, ability and high sense of honor. In him were 
 united a sound understanding and a kindness of heart which 
 endeared him to all who knew him. In his entire character 
 he was well worthy of imitation. He left behind him an 
 unspotted reputation. 
 
 HIESTAND, John A., editor of the Examiner and Her- 
 ald, was admitted as a member of the Lancaster bar in the 
 year 1849. He was elected to the Legislature of Pennsylva- 
 nia in the years 1852, 1853 and 1856. In 1860 he was 
 elected to the State Senate, and served one term in that body. 
 He was appointed in 1871, by President Grant, to the posi- 
 tion of Naval Officer in the city of Philadelphia. 
 
 HIESTAND, John M., elected Commissioner in 1852. 
 
 HIBSTER, Isaac E., son of Williani Hiester, and grand- 
 nephew of Governer Joseph Hiester, was born in New Hoi- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 309 
 
 land, Lancaster county, in May, 1824. At an early age h© 
 was sent to the Moravian school for boys, at Litiz ; after- 
 wards to the Abbeville Academy, and subsequently to Bol- 
 mar's Institute, at West Chester, where he was prepared for 
 college. In 1838 he entered Yale College, and after pursuing 
 a full course of studies in that institution, graduated with 
 high honors. He entered and read law in the office of 
 Thomas B. Franklin, esq., and was admitted to the bar in 
 1845. Coming to the" bar well fitted for the duties of the 
 profession, and his family ties being amongst the most in- 
 fluential in Lancaster county, he speedily rose in the legal 
 ranks. In 1848 he was appointed District Attorney for the 
 county, by the Attorney General of the State. In 1852 he 
 was elected to Congress by the Whig party, and though 
 young, made his mark in that body, delivering a brilliant 
 speech against the Kansas-Nebraska bill. Upon the organi- 
 zation of the Know Nothing party, Mr. Hiester chose not to 
 go with the majority of his party, and with a small wing of 
 followers, united himself to the Democratic party. He was 
 again nominated by this party for Congress in 1854, but was 
 defeated. With the Democratic party he continued to act as 
 long as he lived, but by no means sympathized fully with it. 
 In 1856 he was again the candidate of the Democratic party 
 for Congress, but his popularity was by no means sufficient 
 to overcome the great opposition majority in Lancaster 
 county. In 1868 he was elected a delegate to the Demo- 
 cratic National Convention, and was chosen to represent the 
 State of Pennsylvania in the Democratic National Executive 
 Committee. He died February 6th, 1871. 
 
 On the question of the prosecution of the war for the sup- 
 pression of the rebellion, Mr. Hiester seemed not materially 
 to differ in sentiment with the other recognized leaders of 
 the Democratic party ; but after the close of the war his 
 opinions showed a restiveness in Democratic harness. His 
 views by no means harmonized with those of his party, and 
 he was zealous and outspeken for a dissolution of the Demo- 
 cratic organization, a change of name and an entire remodel- 
 ing of principles. By instinct he belonged, as it were, to the 
 Eepublican party ; and although at times he must and did op- 
 
310 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 pose them, yet it is very doubtful if he did not oft regret his 
 abandonment of the old party in which he had been reared, 
 and to which he was indebted for his most substantial honors. 
 He believed that the attitude of the Democratic party, as 
 regards the Southern rebellion, had ruined it, and he regarded, 
 therefore, a defence of dead principles as useless. In other 
 words, in his judgment, the Democratic party had been 
 weighed in the scales of American public opinion and found 
 wanting. 
 
 As a lawyer Mr. Hiester was conceded talents of a high 
 order. From the analytical character of his mind, he was 
 able to grasp legal questions and unfold them before the 
 court and jury in a very happy manner. He always had 
 his cases well prepared, and in their trial was fully equal to 
 any member of the Lancaster bar. He enjoyed a large and 
 profitable practice. In all his relations with the members 
 of the profession his conduct was exemplary, and his word 
 when given, equalled his bond. He was purely a business 
 man. Save political distinction, he had no other ambition 
 than to shine in the ranks of the profession, and in this latter 
 aspiration he was worthily gratified. With his immense 
 wealth, his talents might have secured him eminence in other 
 careers than business, but his mind never seems to have been 
 aroused to anything except the career in which he spent his 
 days. He appears to have had no taste for travel, science, 
 or literature, any of which might have served to occupy his 
 time quite as pleasantly as the legal profession. As a citi- 
 zen he was kind and courteous to all. He possessed, how- 
 ever, a dignified reserve that gave no room for familiarity, 
 and even in the midst of his most intimate friends this was 
 not laid aside. 
 
 HIESTEE, William, was born in Berks county, Penn- 
 sylvania, October 10th, 1790. He removed to Lancaster 
 county when a young man, located at New Holland, and 
 married Lucy E. EUmaker, a daughter of Isaac Ellmaker of 
 that place. He early became known as a politician, and 
 first took a prominent political part in the movements in 
 Lancaster county that gave shape to the Anti-Masonic party 
 of the county in 1828. He acted as secretary of the great 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 311 
 
 Anti-Masonic meeting, held at New Holland in 1828, which 
 passed resolutions refusing to support any man for office 
 who was a member of the Masonic order. Mr. Hiester was 
 nominated in the campaign of 1828 for Congress on the Anti- 
 Jackson ticket against James Buchanan, but was defeated. 
 He was again nominated in 1830 for Congress, and elected. 
 He was twice reelected to Congress, and served as a mem- 
 ber of that body from 1831 till 1837, and rendered general 
 satisfaction to his constituents. He was, in 1836, elected 
 a member of the Convention to revise the Constitution of 
 Pennsylvania. In 1840 he was nominated and elected a 
 member of the State Senate, and during the^session of 1842 
 was chosen speaker of that body. Whilst a member of 
 Congress, Mr. Hiester advocated and voted^for a tariff that 
 should ensure a sound national currency ; as a member of 
 the Eeform Convention he advocated an amendment to the 
 Constitution, which, if adopted, would have prevented an 
 excessive increase of the public debt ; and whilst a Senator, 
 he was ever the rigid advocate of reform, and ^desired even 
 to commence with the reduction of his own compensation. 
 
 During all his public service, he was remarkable for his 
 attention to the interests of his constituents, and for his 
 regular attendance at his place of official duty. His career 
 of official life secured for him the lasting confidence of his 
 constituents, and many of them, against his earnest protests, 
 still desired to crown him with yet higher honors. He was 
 president of the great Whig meeting, held at Lancaster, July 
 29th, 1843, which advocated the claims of Henry Clay for the 
 Presidency in 1844. He was the unanimous choice of Lan- 
 caster county for Governor, in 1844 ; and although the dele- 
 gates were instructed for him, he declined allowing his name 
 to come before the convention. Physical infirmity, he felt, 
 would not permit him to undertake a trust of such import- 
 ance, especially as he had for some years been in declining 
 health. He was the Whig Presidential Elector in 1844. 
 
 Mr. Hiester was a German by birth, a farmer by occupa- 
 tion, and a gentleman well informed upon all the current 
 topics of the day. He spoke the German as fluently as the 
 English. In private life he was a man of unblemished 
 
812 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 moral character and integrity, of winning manners and easy 
 address. He was respected and esteemed wherever known. 
 He died at New Holland, Oct. 13th, 1853, in the 63d year of 
 his age. 
 
 HIPPLB, Frederick, was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in 1833 and 1834. He was also elected Commissioner 
 in 1842. 
 
 HOFF, John, was appointed Clerk of Orphans' Court in. 
 1817. 
 
 *HOFFMAN, George, was born in Strasburg, March 9th, 
 1784. He must have been quite a student in his youth^ 
 and, without doubt, improved all his opportunities to their 
 utmost extent. He obtained the first rudiments of educa- 
 tion from an old German schoolmaster, named Buch, of 
 whom but very little is known, but who, according to Mr. 
 Hoffman's recollection, must have been a man of considera- 
 ble knowledge and ability. Of Mr. Hoffman's parents but 
 little is known. His father died when George was quite young, 
 and his mother, whose maiden name was Drum, did not live to 
 be old. Old people, who had any recollection concerning 
 her, always said she was a woman of good sound sense, a 
 fact which all who knew her son were free to confess. Such 
 a man could not have been the son of any other than a 
 woman of first-rate natural abilities. 
 
 When George was about fifteen years old he was placed 
 in the store of James Whitehill, then the most considerable 
 of the Strasburg merchants. Here he remained till he was 
 over twenty-one years old. For the next eight or ten years 
 he was employed as clerk in other stores,, all the while re- 
 taining his studious habits and love of knowledge. In 1809 
 he was married to Mrs. Barbara Maynard, of Safe Harbor, 
 and went into the mercantile business on his own account. 
 About five years afterwards he removed to Strasburg, where 
 he continued to reside and keep store till the time of his 
 death. 
 
 In 1816 he was appointed by Governor Snyder a justice 
 of the peace, an office which he held till the winter of 1827-8, 
 when he ceased any longer to perform its duties, he having 
 "^Contributed by Alexander Hood, esq. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 313^ 
 
 been, at a special election held in December, 1827, elected ta 
 the Legislature over the regular Jackson Democratic nomi- 
 nee. Being a supporter of Adams, in 1828, he could not be- 
 reelected. 
 
 At this time Mr. Hoffman stood very high in the party 
 which opposed Jackson in this county. True, it was but a 
 small party in the State, but it contained all the wisdom^ 
 and most of the political honesty of the time. The cry of 
 corruption raised against Clay and Adams, swept everything 
 before it. In the small vote which the State then polled, 
 Jackson had more than fifty thousand majority. In Lancas- 
 ter county, owing to the exertions of Mr. Hoffman and 
 others, the disproportion was not so overwhelming. Bu- 
 chanan's majority for Congress, in 1828, was 1,299, smaller 
 by about 200 than that which William Hiester, as an Anti- 
 Mason, received two years afterwards. 
 
 As a magistrate Mr. Hoffman was one of the most useful and 
 upright men who ever filled that office. His aim was never 
 to make money ior himself, but to do good to those around 
 him. No civil case that could be amicably adjusted, did he 
 ever push onward to a suit, for the sake of making costs for 
 himself or the constables. In all cases of misdemeanor, 
 where the law permitted an amicable arrangement, he never 
 failed to exert his good offices towards that end. He was 
 emphatically, a peace-maker ; and many had cause to bless 
 him for his efforts in that direction. Nor did his good offices 
 as an adviser end with his magisterial career ; to the end of 
 his' life he was the friend and counsellor of all who applied 
 for his advice, the great merit of which was, that he was 
 almost invariably right in his views of what was most proper 
 to be done in all cases of difficulty. He had, in an eminent 
 degree, the rare faculty of making persons who were wrong 
 and angry, perceive their error and the folly of their ill 
 temper ; and this he could do without giving them the least 
 offence. He seemed to know, by intuition, how to treat 
 every person with whom he came in contact, and this in all 
 cases without the least departure from his habitual dignity. 
 The writer of this knew him perfectly well, and now, twenty- 
 seven years since his death, upon an impartial view of his 
 23 
 
S14 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 •character, comes to the conclusion that Mr. Hoffman was so 
 nearly devoid of all prejudice, that his judgment was never in 
 the least influenced thereby ; that, with the greatest kindness 
 of heart, he had the clearest perceptive power of any man of 
 whom he has ever had any personal knowledge. 
 
 His friendship for the young was at all times remarkable. 
 No man ever took a stronger interest than he did in young 
 people who fell in his way. To them he was like a father ; 
 and his advice was always given with so much good feeling 
 that no one could ever take offence, even when the admoni- 
 tion took the form of reproof It was this feeling which 
 gave rise to the sentence uttered by him, which led to the 
 first effort to found a system of public schools in Pennsyl- 
 vania. In January, 1831, in consequence of a sentence 
 uttered by him, a discussion took place in his store, which 
 ended in the call of a meeting, of which George Diffenbach 
 was the chairman, and James McPhail, esq., secretary. This 
 meeting, which was held in the Jackson street school house, 
 and which was attended by about forty persons, sent the 
 first petition to the Legislature in favor of general educa- 
 tion, resulting in the passage of the act of 1831, appropri- 
 ating certain funds towards the establishment of public 
 schools at some future time. -From this time till the school 
 system was firmly established, in 1885, Mr. Hoffman, with 
 other friends of education, never lost sight of the grand 
 movement to which in our State they had given the first 
 impetus. To the day of his death he was always one of its 
 firmest supporters. 
 
 It has already been said that Mr. Hoffman was strongly 
 opposed to the election of Andrew Jackson. Being a very 
 quiet member of the Masonic order, in 1829, when Anti- 
 Masonry swept over this country like a deluge, he was forced 
 back into the Democratic party, the ticket of which he voted 
 till his death, except when Henry Clay was a candidate for 
 the Presidency, for whom he always cast his vote and influ- 
 ence. He was at all times a firm believer in the protec- 
 tion of American industry, and an ardent supporter of the 
 rights of man, without distinction of color or race. When 
 Charles Burleigh delivered the first anti-slavery lecture in 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 315 
 
 Strasbilrg, Mr. Hoffmaa was one of the few who stood by 
 him at all hazards. He always was a decided abolitionist, 
 and hated slavery in all its forms. Had he lived till the 
 great contest between liberty and slavery had developed 
 itself, only so far as in its form of free soil against slavery 
 extension, there is no doubt as to where he would have been 
 found. 
 
 His whole nature revolted against wrong and oppression 
 in every shape; but he was not permitted to see the political 
 salvation of a down-trodden race, nor to look upon the red, 
 white and blue, untarnished by the. blackness of slavery. 
 
 In 1845 he was attacked by typhoid fever of the most 
 malignant type. From this he never rallied, and on the 30th 
 day of June he breathed his last. No man within the circle 
 , of those who knew him, was ever more sincerely regretted. 
 He left three children, Barbara, the widow of Jacob Erb, 
 who resides in Oonestoga township ; Ann, the wife of B. B. 
 Gonder, esq.; and Jesse Hoffman, who resides in Strasburg. 
 
 HOFFMAN, Valentine, was ^ superior manufacturer of 
 edge tools and cutlery in Lancaster at an early day. He 
 was a highly respected citizen. 
 
 HOFFMEIEE, J. L., was elected Clerk of the Quarter 
 Sessions in 1839, being the first elected under the new Con- 
 stitution. After serving this office he was engaged in various 
 clerkships until 1858, when he was appointed clerk and sales- 
 man of the Lancaster County Prison, a position he retained 
 up to April, 1863. He was reelected in March, 1864, and 
 held the office up to April, 1872, with the exception of a 
 brief interval. 
 
 HOLL, Peter, was a resident of Warwick township, owner 
 of a mill on Litiz creek, and a man of influence in the com- 
 munity. He was elected Commissioner of Lancaster county 
 on the Federal ticket in 1819. Shortly after the expiration 
 of his term of office, he left Lancaster county and settled in 
 Cumberland county, Pa. 
 
 HOOD, Alexander. In 1696 an Englishman, named 
 John Hood, with his wife, settled within a few miles of where 
 Norristown now stands. This man, it seems, when quite 
 
316 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 young, had been concerned in some plot against the govern- 
 ment and fled to Holland, afterwards going back to England 
 as a soldier in the army of William III. A grandson of 
 this man, Eev. Philip Hood, had a numerous family, among 
 whom was a son named Gerhart, born in 1756, who married 
 Mary, the daughter of Philip Wentz, of Skippaoh, at whose 
 house General Washington had his headquarters before and 
 after the battle of Germantown. About 1792 Gerhart and 
 his brother John removed to Chester county, not far from 
 Andrew's Bridge, the place being now known as Homeville. 
 John remained there till his death, in 1832, but Gerhart 
 removed to Lancaster in 1795, remaining there till 1802, 
 when he removed to Philadelphia, and died there in 1814. 
 
 Gerhart Hood had three sons: Frederick, born near Nor- 
 ristown, June 14th, 1779 ; George, born at the same place, 
 about 1783 ; and Samuel, born at Lancaster in 1796. George 
 moved from Philadelphia to Lancaster, Ohio, in 1816, and 
 died there a few years afterwards. Samuel died in Philadel- 
 phia, unmarried, in 1822. 
 
 Frederic Hood learned the trade of a hatter at Lancaster, 
 and afterwards worked in various places, till he married 
 Margaret, the daughter of John Higgins, of Chambersburg, 
 Pa. After the war of 1812, in which he participated in 
 several battles and was taken prisoner, he removed to Phila- 
 delphia, and in 1819 removed to Strasburg, where he fol- 
 lowed his trade for several years. He died at Soudersburg, 
 October 14th, 1865, in his 87th year. His two sons, Alex- 
 ander H. and John Gerhari Hood, reside in 'Lancaster. 
 
 Alexander H. Hood was born at Chambersburg, Pa., and 
 when a small boy came to Strasburg with his parents, as 
 above stated. When about sixteen jears old he was appren- 
 ticed to a shoemaker, and worked at that business till he 
 was over twenty years old. He then became a teacher of a 
 public school, and in 1887 was appointed a clerk in the 
 office of the Secretary of State, at Harrisburg, where he re- 
 mained till the close of Eitner's administration. In April, 
 1839, he became the editor and proprietor of the Lancaster 
 Union, which he conducted with marked ability till October, 
 1842, when he sold out to E. W. Middleton. In 1839 he 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 317" 
 
 was elected Clerk of tlie Orphans' Court of Lancaster county, 
 and before his term expired he was elected to the Legisla- 
 tuTe, in which, owing to a split in the party, he remained but 
 one session. While serving in this capacity, John Mathiot, 
 who for several years had been Mayor of Lancaster, died. 
 Mr. Hood, on the petition of many Whigs and a few Demo- 
 crats, introduced and had passed into a law, a bill making 
 the Mayor elective, though it was covertly opposed by all 
 the leading Democrats. After the defeat of Clay, in 1844, 
 he took but little part in politics for some years. In 1844, 
 having read law under the direction of the late Hon. Thad- 
 deus Stevens, he was admitted to the bar, and soon became 
 one of its most prominent members. In 1847 he identified 
 himself with the free-soil movement, voting for Van Buren 
 in opposition to Taylor. When the Eepublican party was 
 formed, he was one of the very few who held the first meet- 
 ing in Lancaster county. From that day to the present time 
 he has always been prominent in the Eepublican ranks. At 
 the otitbreak of the war, all his energies were exerted in 
 behalf of the Union cause. In 1861 he received the regular 
 Eepublican nomination for President Judge of this district, 
 but was defeated by a coalition of dissatisfied Eepublicans 
 with the Democrats, who put the old incumbent, then re- 
 garded as a Eepublican, in the field against him. The ma- 
 jority of the successful candidate was very small, and Mr. 
 Hood could have been easily elected had he not refused to 
 take any part in his own behalf. 
 
 In August, 1862, he was appointed Collector of Internal 
 Eevenue of this district, by President Lincoln, a position 
 which he held till September, 1866, when he was removed 
 by Andrew Johnson for refusing to contribute funds towards 
 the formation of Johnson's new party. Since that time Mr. 
 Hood has been steadily engaged in the practice of his pro- 
 fession. 
 
 As to social science, Mr. Hood can scarcely be said to be 
 «ither conservative or progressive, though his mind tends 
 most strongly in the latter direction. He is the furthest 
 possible remove from an old fogy, but he does not like to 
 go ahead without being sure he is right. His opinions are 
 
818 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 all formed after patient investigation, and when his mind is 
 once made up on any question, he has full confidence in the 
 result at which he has arrived. From his boyhood he was 
 a decided abolitionist, and was never afraid to express his 
 views, even when such expression was attended with con- 
 siderable danger. He has at all times been the friend of the 
 oppressed, without regard to race, color, or condition. 
 
 As one of the few who at Strasburg put the ball ia 
 motion, which resulted in the school system of Pennsylvania, 
 it was natural that when an attempt to destroy that system 
 was made, he should oppose it with all his force, though the 
 attempt was sanctioned by the most of the party to which 
 he belonged. In truth, it may be said, that in all cases 
 where the contest has been between the strong and the weak, 
 the powerful and the oppressed, he has always been found 
 on the side of justice and right. 
 
 Mr. Hood's mind is eminently mathematical, and in this 
 department of science he is said to be proficient. His argu- 
 ments all indicate study in this direction, and it is this 
 faculty of mind which prevents his impulses from getting 
 control of his judgment ; and it is this which imparts to him 
 that full confidence he has in all his conclusions. As a 
 speaker, he is logical and argumentative rather than flowery 
 or fluent; yet in many of his speeches there are touches of 
 pathos which go directly to the hearts of his hearers. His 
 illustrations are always apt and forcible, but, like the draw- 
 ings of Michael Angelo, a few touches tell the whole story. 
 On the stump he always takes the crowd along «with him, 
 and the effect of his speeches all tell upon the majorities- 
 where he speaks. 
 
 HOOD, Joseph, was a member of the Legislature in I860, 
 
 HOLLINGER, Isaac, was elected Eecorder in 1866. 
 
 HOPKINS, George Washington, son of James Hop- 
 kins, was one of the brilliant lights of the old Lancaster 
 bar, whose great oratorical powers and splendid declamation 
 have associated his name with John E. Alontgomery and 
 George W. Barton. These three names are ever associated 
 together as the bright trio of intellectual stars of the first 
 magnitude, that shone with such dazzling splendor on old 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 319 
 
 Lancaster, the remembrance of which will never perish 
 whilst memory endures. 
 
 HOPKINS, James, for many years was the most eminent 
 lawyer of the Lancaster bar, and ranked amongst the most 
 noted in the whole State. His business in the profession 
 was immense, and he accumulated a vast fortune in the 
 practice. With him studied many of the old able attornies 
 of the country, and amongst these James Buchanan. He was. 
 employed in the trial of important causes in different counties 
 of the State. On one occasion he was selected by the Legis- 
 lature, with Eoss, of Pittsburg, to try a case calling for great 
 legal ability. He was purely a lawyer, mingling little im 
 politics, but was elected a member of the Legislature in, 
 1821. He died whilst engaged in the trial of a case ia 
 Lancaster. 
 
 HOPKINS, John, brother of James Hopkins, was a 
 member of the Legislature in the years 1787, 1788, 1789^ 
 1796, 1797, 1798, 1799 and 1800. He was also elected to the 
 State Senate in 1814. 
 
 HOPKINS, W. W., grandson of James Hopkins, and a 
 member of the Lancaster bar, was elected to the Legislature 
 in the year 1868. 
 
 HOSTETTER, Henry, a citizen of Ephrata township, 
 was elected to the Legislature, on the Democratic ticket,^ in 
 1828. He was a farmer, and a minister in the denomination 
 of the Seventh-day Baptists. 
 
 HOUSEKEEPER, W., was a member of the Legislature 
 in the years 1855 and 1856. 
 
 HOUSTON, Samuel, one of the early settlers in Lancas- 
 ter county, emigrated from Scotland to America with five 
 sons, prior to the Revolution. He purchased a large body of 
 land in Pequea valley, a few miles northwest of the Gap> 
 He at once espoused the American cause and rendered impor- 
 
 ' The Democratic success iu Lancaster county in 1828, was its last 
 victory in the county. Prior to that time it had been somewliat alter- 
 nately successful in the elections, but "with the coming into power of 
 the Anti-Masonic party, the Democratic party sunk. Many Democrats 
 became Anit-Masons, and the Democratic party has been in a misera- 
 ble minority in the county ever since. 
 
320 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 tant service. Four of his sons joined the army and served 
 during the war. He was a valuable and influential member 
 of the Associate Presbyterian church. 
 
 HOUSTON, Samuel, son of the above, was born in 
 Scotland, and removed with his father to this country about 
 the year 1769. He married Sarah, daughter of John and 
 Mary Hopkins, in the year 1787. He was for many years 
 engaged in mercantile pursuits at the Gap, in Salisbury 
 township, and was appointed a justice of the peace by Gov- 
 •ernor Mifflin, which office he held with satisfaction to the 
 public for more than forty years. He was, in 1829, elected 
 a member of the State Senate of Pennsylvania, which posi- 
 tion he held for three years. He was honored by the people 
 with many other important trusts. Mr. Houston was a man 
 of great usefulness in the community, and by his persever- 
 ing industry and business activity, he acquired a handsome 
 independence, among which were included several fine farms, 
 Houston's mill, the hotel at the Gap, besides several store 
 houses. He was a worthy and esteemed member of the 
 Presbyterian church. He died in the year 1842, aged 
 seventy-five years. His youngest son, Benjamin F. Houston, 
 is among his surviving descendants; and the late John Hous- 
 ton, of Washington city, who held a situation in the Treas- 
 ury department uninterruptedly for more than fifty years, 
 was the eldest son of Samuel Houston, esq. 
 
 HOWELL, Chaeles M., was born in Philadelphia, April 
 24th, 1814. He received his education in the schools of that 
 city, and was a student of the Plainfield Academy, in Con- 
 necticut, for some time. At the early age of fourteen he 
 was apprenticed to Gen. Peter Fritz, to learn the marble 
 mason business, and served- with him till he was twenty- 
 one years of age. Upon the close of his apprenticeship he 
 continued to work as a journeyman for several years. In 
 ithe spring of 1838 he set up for himself in his business in 
 Philadelphia, and carried on till September, 1841. Having 
 married into a Lancaster family, he, in 1841, removed to and 
 began business in Lancaster, in East King street, on property 
 of John N. Lane, where he carried on with excellent suc- 
 cess. A few years afterwards he purchased the old Gompf 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 321 
 
 property, on tlie west side of N orth Queen street, where lie 
 has since carried on his business. In 1863-4 he erected a 
 handsome new building on the site of the old property 
 purchased by him. Mr. Howell was elected County Treas- 
 urer, on the Democratic ticket, in the fall of 1856, which 
 oSice he filled with entire satisfaction to the public. He was 
 also elected City Treasurer by the City Councils, in 1865. 
 He has frequently been a member of both branches of City 
 Councils, and also for some time a member of the City 
 School Board. Mr. Howell is emphatically a self-made man, 
 and has from an humble grade in society arisen until he is 
 a man of considerable wealth and influence. He became a 
 member of the Masonic fraternity in Philadelphia, in 1835, 
 and since 1853 has been District Deputy Grand Master of 
 District No. 1 of Pennsylvania; and he was also Grand 
 Generalissimo of the Grand Commandery of the Order of 
 Knights Templar of Pennsylvania. A new Masonic Lodge, 
 founded in 1871, was named Howell Lodge, in honor of the 
 subject of this notice. 
 
 HOWEE, J. W., elected a member of the Legislature in 
 1848. 
 
 HUBER, John, one of the early settlers in Warwick 
 
 township, and the principal contestant in the dispute with 
 
 Eichard Carter in reference to naming the township. He 
 
 was a leading man and an iron-master. The following lines 
 
 were upon his furnace : 
 
 ' ' Jolian Huber, der erste Deutsche man 
 Der das Eisenwerk vollf iiren kann. ' ' 
 
 HUBLEY, Adam, a brother of John Hubley, was, in 
 December, 1776, appointed Major of the 10th Pennsylvania 
 regiment in the Continental service. He was a member of 
 the Legislature for the years 1783, 1785, 1786 and 1787. 
 He was also chosen a member of the State Senate in 1790. 
 
 HUBLEY, Bernard, was born in Germany, October 
 18th, 1719. He emigrated to America when a boy of about 
 sixteen years of age, and settled in Lancaster. He learned 
 the tanning business with Valentine Krug, and afterwards 
 carried on this business for many years. He purchased and 
 owned what was years ago known as the Brady farm. He 
 
822 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ranked in his day as one of the most influential and respected 
 citizens of the community. He was a member of the Board 
 of Assistant Burgesses of the borough of Lancaster for the 
 years 1750, 1757, 1766 and 1767. He was for some years a 
 commissioner of the county of Lancaster. He was a man 
 who exerted considerable influence in political circles, and 
 was a member of the Federal party. He was an active 
 Whig in the Eevolutiop, and was appointed barrack-master 
 of Lancaster county in 1778. By his energy and persever- 
 ance he accumulated a considerable fortune, and left his 
 children in easy circumstances. He was twice married, and 
 had twenty- one children, the youngest of whom was Anna, 
 the wife of the late Joseph Ehrenfried. He sustained heavy 
 losses in the depreciation of the Continental currency. He 
 died January 29th, 1803. He was for many years an elder 
 of Trinity Lutheran church. 
 
 HUBLBY, John, son of Michael Hubley, was born at 
 Lancaster, December 25th, 1747. He was married to Maria 
 Magdalena, the daughter of Ludwig Lauman. He read law 
 under the instruction of Edward Shippen, and was admitted 
 to the bar in 1769. He was one of the delegates from Lan- 
 caster county to the convention which met in Philadelphia, 
 July 15th, 1776, to adopt a State Constitution. August 5th, 
 1776, he took his seat as a member of the General Pennsyl- 
 vaiiia Council of Safety which had been established by the 
 first Constitution. On January 11th, 1777, he was appointed 
 commissary of Continental stores, and the stores of Pennsyl- 
 vania at Lancaster, with the rank of Major, and with author- 
 ity to appoint such deputies as he might judge necessary. 
 A few days afterwards he was authorized to employ all the 
 shoemakers among the Hessian prisoners at Lancaster, in 
 making shoes for the State. He was for some time a Coun- 
 cillor of the Supreme Executive Council. He was appointed 
 April 5th, 1777, by the Supreme Executive Council, Pro- 
 thonotary of the Court of Common Pleas, Clerk of the 
 Orphans' Court, Clerk of Quarter Sessions, and also Eecorder 
 of Deeds, part of which offices he held for upwards of twenty 
 years. In January, 1777, he was commissioned also a justice 
 of the peace. In 1787 he was a member of the State Con- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 323 
 
 vention that ratified the Federal Constitution. He died 
 January 21st, 1821. 
 
 HUBLEY, Michael, brother of Bernard Hubley, waa 
 born in Germany, February 28th, 1722. On the 2d of 
 October, 1882, he came with his father to America, and 
 landed at Philadelphia. In the spring of 1840 he came to 
 Lancaster, where he continued to reside until his death. On 
 the 6th of August, 1745, he married Eosina, a daughter of 
 Dietrich Strumpf, who was also born in Germany, and who 
 lived with him until her death, June 28th, 1803, at the age 
 of 84 years. He was, in 1777, appointed by the supreme 
 executive council a justice of the peace of Lancaster county, 
 and for some time was the presiding justice of the several 
 courts of the county. He was re-commissioned a justice of 
 the peace in 1784. For some time during the Eevolution he 
 held the position of barrack-master of Lancaster county. 
 He was an acting magistrate of the county for the period of 
 twenty- seven years. During the last 43 years of his life he 
 served the Trinity Lutheran congregation as warden, elder 
 and trustee. He died May 17th, 1804. 
 
 HUMES, De. Samuel, an eminent physician, of Lancas- 
 ter. He was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. 
 He began the practice of his profession about 1812, and was 
 busily engaged therein until his death in September, 1852. 
 Dr. Henry Carpenter being a student of Dr. Humes, and his 
 executor, succeeded him in his practice. Dr. Humes was 
 Treasurer of Lancaster in 1806. 
 
 HUNSECKBE, C. L., was born in Manheim township, 
 November 1st, 1814. He is a miller by occupation, and a 
 leading, influential and intelligent citizen of the community. 
 He was first elected to the Legislature from Lancaster county 
 in 1850, then quite a young man, and served in the sessions 
 of the Pennsylvania Legislature in the years 1851, 1852, 
 1854 and 1856. He was reelected to the Legislature in the 
 year 1871.^ 
 
 ' By the late apportionment made in 1871, Lancaster county is entitled 
 to but one Senator and three members of the House of Representatives. 
 The first members under the new apportionment for the session of 
 1873, were David K. Burkholder, Dr. J. C. Gatohell and C. L. Hun- 
 secker. 
 
324 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 HUEFORD, Lewis, a member of the Legislature in 1849. 
 
 HUSS, John, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, 
 November 6th, 1790. He learned the printing business in 
 Lancaster, in the oiS.ce of William Hamilton, and afterwards 
 worked as a journeyman printer with Hugh Maxwell. It 
 was he who began the publication of the first newspaper in 
 Marietta, and which he called the Pilot, but afterwards 
 changed its name to the Pioneer. He started this paper 
 about the close of the war of 1812-14, and in 1827 sold out 
 his interest therein to Charles Nagle. The vignette of his 
 paper was a steamboat, engraved by J. J. Libhart. The 
 motto of his paper was the following : 
 
 "This world is a bubble, all tilings show it ; 
 Once I thought so, now I know it." 
 
 He was elected a member of the Legislature for the year 
 1822 and reelected for 1823. He died July 19th, 1841. 
 HIGH, Geokge J., was elected Eecorder of Deeds in 1870. 
 
 J. 
 
 JACKS, James, a member of the Legislature in the years 
 1780, 1781 and 1782. He was appointed Eecorder of 
 Deeds in 1783. 
 
 *JACKSON, Joel, was born at West Grove, Chester 
 county, in the year 1776, being a descendant of one of the 
 oldest families in that region. At an early age he went to 
 Wilmington, Delaware, and entered into the mercantile .busi- 
 ness, for which it would seem he was singularly unfitted. 
 Eemaining in Wilmington but a short time, he returned to 
 Chester county, purchased, improved, and disposed of a farm 
 situated iu London, Britain township. In his 37th year he 
 determined to leave his native county, and with this end in 
 view came to Lancaster and purchased from a family by the 
 name of Coppock's, a large farm, located in the southern 
 part of Little Britain. This land being very poor, Joel 
 Jackson, with untiring industry set to work to improve it, 
 by burning lime and feeding cattle. The place was soon 
 *Contributed by Charles H. Stubbs, M. D. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 82& 
 
 rendered quite productive, and the new proprietor well 
 known as a successful and intelligent farmer. As an in- 
 stance of the general poverty of the soil of the southern part 
 of the township at this period, 1813-14, it might be men- 
 tioned that on several occasions, in the first year of his 
 occupancy, he had to haul corn for his stock from the richer 
 central parts of the county. 
 
 It is not of him as a successful farmer we would speak^ 
 but rather of those marked traits of character before 
 alluded to, and as possessing abilities of the very highest. 
 order for the acquisition of science, which, if cultivated, 
 would have placed him in rank with the Cuviers, Farradays- 
 or Davys of Europe. Though, doubtless, he was conscious 
 that by nature he was fitted for something higher than the life- 
 of toil that laid before him, and as necessary for the welfare 
 of his family. Perhaps no more hard-working, industrious 
 man, one more self-reliant, and one who would permit no 
 person to do for him anything that he thought could possi- 
 bly be done by himself, and one more strictly honest in his 
 dealings, never lived. His strict integrity and keen sense of 
 the justice due all men, was manifested all his life in the care 
 he would take not to ask too much for anything he had to 
 sell, or above the market price of the article. Though 
 somewhat hasty in temper, he was very kind and courteous 
 in manner. But if he should detect a man in any duplicity 
 or dishonesty, he took no pains to conceal his dislike. This 
 same strict sense of justice led him to forbid his day-laborers 
 • to work after sundown ; always having their meals ready for 
 them that they could return home ; himself, even when a 
 very old man, doing up the usual chores before coming to 
 the house. If the poet was right, that " an honest man is 
 the noblest work of God," Joel Jackson was emphatically 
 one of Nature's noblemen. In his habits he was very domes- 
 tic, rarely leaving home unless absolutely necessary; never 
 going to public meetings of any kind, and only to elections 
 when he thought some question of interest was at stake. 
 His love of science and of nature always remained with him ;, 
 and the reading of all works accessible on these subjects, in 
 hours snatched occasionally from labor, and from the time 
 
326 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 others devoted to slumber, was his greatest delight. This 
 seemed to have rendered his life more endurable, and towards 
 the close cheered its decline. His greatest recreation, in his 
 more advanced years, was the study of botany, the general 
 principles and the more minute details of which it was no 
 trouble for him to master. This was also true of geology, 
 his greatest delight being to receive all the new publications 
 on the subject. 
 
 When he found himself unable to conduct his business on 
 the upper farm where he then resided, being about seventy- 
 four years of age, he made such distribution of his property 
 as he thought just, and then retired to a small house near the 
 Rock Springs, in a remote corner of the place, to wait for 
 death as a friend to lead him to rest. Here, in the silence of 
 the solitary hours, cheered, however, by frequent visits from 
 his children and his grandchildren, who kept him well sup- 
 plied with books and papers, and finding employment in the 
 cultivation of about an acre of land, he awaited with com- 
 posure the last great change, knowing that death is not only 
 inevitable, but in the great scheme of creation, that it is just 
 as necessary as life. As he felt its near approach by his 
 increasing infirmities, he gave directions that he should be 
 buried in a plain manner, and no notice given, except to 
 some of the nearest of his friends, as he had always disap- 
 proved of great expense and large collections of people on 
 such occasions. He desired that no stone be placed over 
 him, but that one should be placed over his wife, who had 
 preceded him to the better land. After a short illness he 
 passed away peaceably from earth, in September, 1857, aged 
 nearly eighty-one j^ears. And there, in a family graveyard, 
 containing some of his children and grandchildren, rests the 
 remains of Joel Jackson. The ground is surrounded on 
 three sides by old forest trees, and there, in the quiet of that 
 nature he loved so well, a quiet unbroken, save by the song 
 of the wood-bird, and with a few wild flowers planted over 
 him by loving hands, life's fitful fever over, he sleeps the 
 sleep of death. 
 
 JAOKSOIST, Leavin H., was elected a member of the 
 Legislature in the years 1832, 1833 and 1834. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 327 
 
 JACOBS, Thomas B., was a member of tHe Legislature 
 in the years 1845 and 1847. 
 
 JENKINS, Catharine M., a daughter of the celebrated 
 divine, Eev. John Carmichael, was born in Chester county, 
 Pennsylvania, July 23d, 1774. Her mother died when she 
 was but thirteen days old, and her father before she had 
 reached the age of twelve. Not long after her father's death 
 she became the inmate of the family- of the Eev. Robert 
 Smith, a relative by marriage. In his house she found a 
 congenial and happy home, and in the learned and devoted 
 pastor of Pequea a friend and father. In the fall of 1792 
 she became a member of ihe Presbyterian church of Pequea. 
 Shortly before the death of Eev. Eobert Smith, which 
 occurred on the 15th of April, 1793, she accepted an invi- 
 tation to make her home in the house of Eev. Nathaniel W. 
 Sample, of Strasburg, and after some time accepted an invi- 
 tation to the like eflfect from Daniel Buckley, an iron-master 
 of courteous and hospitable manners. In a letter to her 
 half-sister, Phoebe, dated Pequea, June 7th, 1799, she says : 
 "I am no longer an inhabitant of Strasburg. I bade adieu 
 to that place the last week of March, and am now a member 
 of Mr. Daniel Buckley's family, whose forge and farm, you 
 may recollect, we passed in going from Strasburg to Brandy- 
 wine. It is a charming situation in the summer ; and if I 
 am to judge of the time to come by what is past, I have 
 every reason to expect much happiness. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Buckley treat me with all the attention and kindness I could 
 expect from relations, and express the greatest pleasure in 
 seeing and entertaining my friends and acquaintances." 
 
 In September, 1799, the subject of this notice was married 
 to Eobert Jenkins, and became the mistress of Windsor 
 Place. The first idipulse that inspired her after her marriage 
 with Mr. Jenkins, was to render her home the hospitable 
 mansion and favorite retreat for the pious and learned. As 
 soon as she would contract an acquaintance with a clergy- 
 man, she never failed to extend to him a cordial invitation 
 to visit the " Preachers' Hotel." In consequence of her great 
 ■amiability and kindness thus manifested, her house was the 
 constant resort of ministers of every denomination who 
 
328 BIO&EAPHICAL SISTOEY 
 
 passed that way. Catharine Jenkins was very fond of read- 
 ing, and her centre table presented always a collection of 
 the best religious and periodical literature of the day. 
 Scholars and literary men were her especial favorites, and 
 she ever aimed to render them easy in her presence and feel 
 at home in her hospitable mansion. She loved to entertain 
 them in a style becoming their education and attainments, 
 Mrs. Jenkins was a lady of great spirit and resolution, and 
 exerted these qualities of her character for the promotion of 
 truth and the elevation of mankind. She was an implacable 
 foe to the wine cup and the gaming-table, and the following 
 may be cited as illustrative of her resolution and stern pur- 
 pose. In her husband's employ were a large number of 
 workmen who were greatly addicted to the rum bottle, and as 
 a consequence entailed misery upon themselves and their fami- 
 lies. The hands would frequently come to the table at their 
 boarding house in a state of intoxication, and this condition 
 of affairs Mrs. Jenkins endeavored to reform by moral 
 suasion, and by endeavoring to depict the great sin they 
 were committiug. She now determined to employ more 
 decisive means. By the aid of one of her servants, she 
 obtained the bottles in which the men kept their rum. At 
 dinner time the hands were surprised and mortified to see 
 their bottles in a row standing upon the table, and their con- 
 tents visible through the glass. Mrs. Jenkins soon after 
 entered the room, and in her amiable manner remarked, that 
 she had in her possession a number of bottles belonging to 
 them which she desired to return to their respective owners, 
 and asked of them each to come forward and claim his 
 property. As none had the hardihood to do this under the 
 circumstances, she next remarked : " They are now in my 
 possession, and as you will not take them, of course they are 
 at my disposal." After that she took them to an open 
 window, and striking them one by one against the wall, they 
 fell in shivers to the ground. The bottles and their contents 
 being destroyed, she addressed the men and said, in a mild 
 but decisive manner, " if they be replaced by others, they 
 shall share the same fate." She used all her influence to 
 oppose vice and immorality, not only among her dependents, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 329 
 
 ■ but also amongst those who moved in the higher walks of 
 life. Every sphere in which this pious lady moved, felt her 
 influence. Immorality never escaped her disapprobation, 
 no difference what were the circumstances under which it 
 presented itself. More than once were the cards and wine- 
 cup, with great reluctance, removed from the social circle 
 when the approach of Mrs. Jenkins was announced. 
 
 As one whose life had been devoted to the service of Christ, 
 her life was truly an exemplary one. She, on all occasions, 
 labored for the cause of her Eedeemer, and liberally gave 
 of her means for the promotion and building up of His 
 church. Upon an occasion when attending a Presidential 
 levee, and the Scripture was sneered at in such a manner as to 
 indicate that the party were largely tainted with skeptical 
 views, she firmly defended and challenged respect for the 
 sacred book, which was not further gainsaid by any present. 
 She died September 23d, 1856. 
 
 JENKINS, David, the original ancestor of the numerous 
 descendants of this name, was a native of Wales, who emi- 
 grated to America and landed at Philadelphia in the year 
 1700. His son, John Jenkins, penetrated into the forests, 
 and selected a site on which the Windsor forges ' were 
 afterwards erected. He erected a temporary residence near 
 where now stands the Windsor Mansion, and entered into a 
 contract with John, Thomas, and Eichard Penn for the pur- 
 chase of 400 acres of land, January 10th, 1733. The land 
 wassurveyed, but a patent therefore was not taken oat by 
 Mr. Jenkins, and he sold it after some years to William 
 Branson & Co., of Philadelphia, who took out a patent for 
 the tract December 28th, 1742, and erected the Windsor 
 forges and Mansion House. 
 
 JENKINS, David, son of John, the first settler at Wind- 
 sor, was born July 2d, 1731. He purchased from William 
 Branson & Co., the whole of the Windsor property. He 
 
 ' The Windsor Iron Works were amongst the iirst established in the 
 United States, if not the first in Pennsylvania. They were put in opera- 
 tion by a company upon the lands originally purchased by John Jenkins 
 in 1731. The company sold out their interest about the time of the 
 Kevolution, to David Jenkins, who managed the works with skill and 
 economy. 
 
 24 
 
S30 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOKT 
 
 was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1784. He- 
 died in 1797. 
 
 JENKINS, Egbert, son of David Jenkins last named, 
 was born July 10th, 1767, at Windsor Place. He inherited 
 from his father the Windsor estate upon the death of his 
 parent, and managed the same with success until the spring 
 of 184:8, a period of about fifty years. When a young man, 
 he was a member of a troop of horse that was sent by 
 the government to the northern part of the State to repress 
 Fries' insurrection. He was married in 1799 to Catha- 
 rine, daughter of the eminent divine, John Carmichael, of 
 Brandy wine Forks, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He was 
 a member of the Legislature in the years 1804 and 1805. 
 He represented Lancaster county in Congress from 1807 
 until 1811, during the stormy period that preceded the war 
 of 1812 with Great Britain. He died April 18th, 1848, and 
 lies buried in the Carnarvon Presbyterian churchyard. 
 
 JENKINS, William, brother of Eobert Jenkins, was 
 born at Windsor Place, on the 7th of July, 1779. He grad- 
 uated at Princeton CoiJege, New Jersey, in 1797. He read 
 law in the ofBce of James Hopkins, esq., and was admitted 
 to the bar on the 10th of August, 1801. In the winter of 
 1817-18, he was appointed by Governor Findley Prosecu- 
 ting Attorney for the county of Lancaster, an office he filled 
 with marked ability and fidelity for the period of twenty- 
 three years. In 1845 he was appointed by Governor Shunk 
 Eecorder of the Mayor's Court, the duties of which office he 
 discharged until the abolition of the said court in 1849, 
 From that period he appeared but little in public ; declining 
 years and infirmity forbidding it. He died at his residence 
 on Duke street, May 24th, 1853. As a lawyer, Mr. Jenkins 
 stood in the first rank of that list of eminent men who, in 
 the old history of the Lancaster bar, rendered it so celebra- 
 ted throughout the commonwealth. He was an able jurist, 
 and a well-read lawyer ; a safe counsellor and an eloquent 
 advocate, winning his way to the hearts of the jury with a 
 resistless power, and presenting to the court the strong legal 
 points of his case with a tact and energy that seldom failed 
 of its effect. Always courteous to his opponents, he never 
 
' OP LANCASTEK COUNTY, 3131 
 
 for a moment, however, forgot the interests of his client, but 
 seemed to become, as it were, identified with his cause. To 
 young men entering upon the profession, his kindness was 
 great, and he was ever ready to instruct or assist them. His 
 mind was eminently a legal one, and a superior knowledge 
 of law may be said to have been his distinguishing charac- 
 teristic. Never an active politician, he was nevertheless 
 firm and decided in his opinions, yielding to all the privilege 
 of entertaining and expressing their convictions, and never 
 permitting political to interfere with his personal feelings. 
 In the domestic circle Mr. Jenkins was an ornament. As a 
 husband and father he had no superior ; and as a hospitable 
 gentleman, his home was proverbial. His hand and heart 
 were open to his friends, as was his purse to the afflicted 
 and needy. 
 
 JOHNS, John, elected Eegister in 1857. 
 
 *JONBS, John, was born in Chester county, Pennsylva- 
 nia, in 1756, and died in Little Britain township, February 
 2d, 1800. In early manhood he removed to the vicinity of 
 Peach Bottom, Lancaster county, where he purchased land 
 and erected thereon a mill and fine mansion — the latter in 
 the old English style of architecture. This building was 
 nicknamed "Jones's Folly," now known as the " Red House." 
 He was the first to have slate taken from the hills on the 
 eastern shore of the Susquehanna. Entering into the manu- 
 facture of iron, he built a forge on the Octoraro, called 
 " Octoraro Forge." These buildings, as well as his mansion 
 near Peach Bottom, were covered with roofing slate. John 
 Jones, in addition to being a man of business, possessed a 
 fine literary taste. In early life he was subjected to much 
 bodily affliction as well as severe trials, partly arising from 
 the course of military operations, at that time progressing. 
 These, however, operating on a remarkably susceptible and 
 intelligent mind, were embraced as profitable incitements to 
 seek for a more intimate internal acquaintance with God, 
 the great source of true consolation. Hereby his views of 
 the divine sufficiency became enlarged to the production of 
 an operative faith — his tribulations, agreeably with the apos- 
 *Contributed by Charles H. Stubbs, M. D. 
 
832 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBY* 
 
 tolio testimony, working " patience, and patience experience, 
 and experience hope." Continuing liis religious progress, lie 
 in time became an approved Minister of the Gospel in the 
 Society of Friends ; and as his experience in the spirituality 
 of the Christian dispensation advanced, he was sometimes 
 drawn in the power of divine love to unfold to large congre- 
 gations to whom he ministered in a very remarkable and 
 impressive manner the deep and solemn mysteries of the 
 Gospel of Christ. His natural disposition was remarkably 
 cheerful, his manners engaging, and his social conversation 
 pleasingly instructive ; his rational faculties were strong and 
 lively, and his judgment in natural things prompt and dis- 
 criminative. 
 
 John Jones, towards the latter part of his life, wrote a 
 religious work entitled. Analysis of Eevelation. This vol- 
 ume was published after his death by his friend and ad- 
 mirer, Joseph Churchman. 
 
 K. 
 
 KAUFFMAN, Abbaham, son of David Kauffman, was 
 born in Rapho township, Lancaster county, March 
 80th, 1799. His father moved to a farm in what was then 
 the southwestern part of Warwick (now Penn) township, 
 where Abraham has lived up to this time. His father died 
 January 15th, 184:6, aged 75 years, 1 month and 8 days. His 
 mother died March 11th, 1867, aged 87 years, 2 months and 
 26 days. He was brought up to agricultural pursuits. He 
 lived chiefly in private life, save his being entrusted with 
 several minor positions, until 1835, when he was elected to 
 the House of Eepresentatives. It was during this session 
 that the first appropriation was made toward commencing 
 the Gettysburg railroad, and here he differed from all his 
 colleagues from the county in taking a stand against it, while 
 they supported it, and continued to do so during the second 
 session he was in the House. After giving his last vote 
 against it in 1838, he put his reasons for so doing on the 
 journal, April 16th, 1838. Page 1156, House Journal. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 333 
 
 It may be stated that after the State had expended' nearly 
 $1,000,000 on the doubtful project, it was abandoned. He 
 was again elected to the House of Representatives in 1836. 
 It was during this session that the surplus revenue of the, 
 United States, by resolution of Congress, (session of 1835-6,) 
 ■distributing said surplus among the several States, fell into 
 the hands of the Legislature, Pennsylvania's share being 
 nearly $4:,000,000, and wishing to secure a portion of it to the 
 people direct, offered a joint resolution, February 20th, 1837, 
 (House Journal, Vol. I, p. 563,) authorizing the State Treasurer 
 to redeem $2,000,000 of the State indebtedness. February 
 23d, (page 593,) on motion, the said resolution was considered 
 in committee of the whole, when, after considerable discus- 
 sion, the opposition succeeded in having it postponed to 
 March 13th, when it could not be reached again. At this 
 time there was a strong improvement feeling, and log-rolling 
 the order of the day. The said surplus was all scattered to 
 various projects, excepting $500,000, which was distributed 
 amongst the several school districts of the State. He was 
 again elected to the House of Representatives in 1837, and 
 -again under the new constitution, in 1843, and served during 
 the session of 1844. In 1850 he was elected a director of 
 the poor for Lancaster county. He was reelected in 1853, 
 of which board he was president during the last five years. 
 February 11th, 1865, he assisted in organizing the Man- 
 heim National Bank, of which institution he has been presi- 
 dent up to this time. In the year 1869 he made a donation 
 to the borough of Manheim, of three acres of woodland, 
 containing a spring of water, near said town, to be used as a 
 public grove. This the town council properly named after 
 the donor. 
 
 KAUFFMAN", Andrew L, a member of the Legislature 
 in 11336. 
 
 KAUFFMAN, Benjamin, a member of the Legislature 
 in 1801. 
 
 KAUFFMAN, Benjamin, a member of the Legislature in 
 1839. He was also elected Clerk of Orphans' Court in 1845. 
 
 KAUFFMAN, 0. L., elected a member of the Legislature 
 in 1856. 
 
834 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 KAUFFMAN, Db. Michael, one of the' five brothers, 
 named Christian, John, Michael, David, and Isaac, sons of 
 John Kauff'man, was born March 5th, 1767, near what is 
 now Landisville, in East Hempfield township, Lancaster 
 county, Pennsylvania. His younger years were spent on the 
 farm, when he learned the millwright trade. About 1790 
 he bought a mill in Rapho township, which business he fol- 
 lowed for some years, when he moved to Manheim, where, 
 with his brother John, he went into the hardware business- 
 for a few years, when he commenced studying medicine with 
 Dr. Bard, and commenced practicing about 1803 and followed 
 it up to the time of his death. In 1831 he was elected ta 
 the House of Eepresentatives and reelected in 1832 ; during 
 these several sessions he attended industriously to his duties 
 as a representative. This long usefulness in the vicinity in 
 which he lived, can perhaps not be better described than 
 they are given in the following obituary notice : 
 
 "Dr. Michael Kauflfman died at his residence in the borough of Man- 
 heim, on Sunday morning, July 7th, 1839 aged 72 years, 4 months and 
 6 days. His earthly remains were interred on the following day at two 
 o'clock, p. m., attended by an unusually large concourse of relatives 
 and friends. Impressive addresses were delivered on the occasion by 
 Eevs. Messrs. Jacob Hochstetter and Daniel Fritz, on verse 32d, 16th 
 chapter, Book of Job : ' When a few years are come then I shall go the 
 way whence I shall not return. ' It is seldom that one is called from 
 amongst us whose loss will be more extensively felt and more deeply de- 
 plored than that of the individual whose name heads this obituary 
 notice. He has been a resident and an extensive practitioner of medi- 
 cine upwards of forty years ; he was liberal and ever ready to render 
 assistance to the distressed. Of him it may be truly said, the poor have 
 lost a friend. After his death many, very many, called to get a last 
 sight of him for whom they had at one time or another, during life, sent 
 in the hour of suffering. ' ' 
 
 EAUFFMAJN, Michael, and family, emigrated from the 
 vicinity of Greenstad, Hesse, on the upjDer Shine, and came 
 to this county between the years 1710 and 1719, and settled 
 somewhere not now known. Michael died a few years after 
 their arrival. The widow next died, leaving a son John and 
 a daughter Elizabeth. The guardian of these children 
 bought of William Penn's commissioner a considerable tract 
 of land, in the vicinity now known as Landisville, Lancaster 
 county, Pa., where the said John Kauffman settled. All that 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 835 
 
 is known of Elizabeth is, that she was married to Christian 
 Stoneman, December 12th, 1734. The said John Kauffman 
 had three sons, Christian, Michael and John. John Kauff- 
 man lived on the farm no^Y owned by Samuel Nissley, about 
 one mile from Landisville, where he died March 24th, 1776, 
 aged 48 years, 6 months and 12 days. His widow died 
 December 22d, 1806. They had nine children grown up and 
 married, viz : Maria, Anna, Christian, Barbara, John, 
 Michael, Elizabeth, David and Isaac, besides two, Anna and 
 Susanna, who died minors. This family has now all passed 
 away. 
 
 KEENAN, Eev. Bebnard, was born in the county of 
 Tyrone, Ireland, and was early designed by his parents for 
 the clerical profession. He began the study of the classics 
 in the seminaries of his neighborhood, and as soon as he was 
 qualified, entered the college of Dungannon, where he re- 
 mained as a student for four years. He was then engaged 
 as a teacher in that institution, and thus occupied for the 
 next seven years, having been the first Catholic who had 
 been known to be employed as a teacher in the Protestant 
 college of Dungannon. Having made up his mind to leave 
 his native home, he proposed going to France; but as the 
 Eight Reverend Bishop Conwell was thea on his way to 
 London to be consecrated Bishop of Philadelphia, he accom- 
 panied him to Liverpool, where he remained until the Bishop 
 returned, and thence sailed with him to the United States. 
 They landed at Baltimore on the 21st of November, 1820, 
 and from thence they proceeded to Philadelphia, where the 
 subject of this notice was ordained priest, having been the 
 first priest ever ordained in the Philadelphia conference. 
 Shortly after his ordination he went to Mount St. Mary's 
 College, near Emmettsburg, Maryland, where he remained 
 until the death of the Rev. J. J. Holland, of St. Mary's 
 church, Lancaster, in the fall of 1823. During the period 
 he spent at Emmettsburg he assisted in giving instruction to 
 young men pursuing their studies, for which his superior 
 linguistic attainments amply fitted him. Before having 
 Ireland he had taught for a time in a gentleman's family. 
 He was appointed by the Bishop of the diocese to fill the 
 
336 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 vacancy existing in St. Mary's Church, a position he has 
 held uninterruptedly up to'the present time. While in Phil- 
 adelpliia, and prior to his appointment to the Lancaster 
 charge, he was believed to be in the last stages of consump- 
 tion, his physicians pronouncing the left lobe of his lungs 
 as entirely gone with that disease. 
 
 The duties pertaining to the pastorship of St. Mary's 
 church at the period of his first appointment, were very 
 arduous, and the labors devolving upon him onerous ; the 
 Catholic clergymen in America were at that time few in 
 number, and not one-half that were actually needed ; it there- 
 fore devolved upon him, in connection with his duties at 
 Lancaster, to attend at alternate periods the missions of 
 Harrisburg, Lebanon, Colebrook, Elizabethtown and Colum- 
 bia. This district now occupies the services of twelve pas- 
 tors. Catholic clergymen are required to attend in cases of 
 sickness to the calls of any member of their congregations ; 
 the Catholic, as is well known, in his last illness in all cases 
 requires the ministrations of his spiritual pastor in order to 
 have the last sacraments of the church administered to him ; 
 and this branch of ministerial work devolved upon Father 
 Keenan an immense amount of labor, that we of the present 
 generation can scarcely realize. This was particularly the 
 case dui'ing the time that the public works were in progress, 
 and oft was it necessary for him to cross the Susquehanna 
 in a frail canoe, and spend day after day aijiong the poor of 
 his flock, in supplying spiritual food for their souls. For 
 nearly half a century has this devoted servant of Christ 
 labored in our midst in the discharge of his pastoral duties. 
 It would be difficult to cite a similar example, that of a pas- 
 tor of&ciating above forty -eight years for one congregation, 
 a circumstance that in itself speaks volumes in his favor. 
 The old stone church in which he couimenced his labors 
 still stands, though built more than a century since, (in 
 1762.) In front of it, however, has been erected one of the 
 finest churches in the State, a lasting monument of the zeal 
 manifested by himself and his congregation. During the 
 absence of Bishop Shannahan at the Ecumenical Council at 
 Eome, in 1870, Father Keenan was designated in lieu of 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 337 
 
 Mm, the administrator of the Diocese of Harrisburg. He is 
 a fine classical scholar, being master of the Greek, Latin 
 and Hebrew languages, and has also a ready acquaintance 
 with the French. One trait in the character of the subject 
 of this nocice which deserves special mention, and that which 
 has endeared him to all classes, both Catholics and Protest- 
 ants, and which displays itself in all his actions and language, 
 . is his " charity," which lies at the basis of all true rehgion. 
 Bigotry with him never found any countenance. In his dis- 
 courses, the doctrines of his dissenting brethren were never 
 maligned or impugned. Each individual who at any time 
 has heard any of his sermons, must have felt at its close that 
 although differing in modes of faith, yet that as fellow Chris- 
 tians we should practice the golden maxim, "to love one 
 another." 
 
 KEBNB, Geoege W., was elected Clerk of the Orphans' 
 Court in 1869. 
 
 KELLER, Samuel, a nephew of Peter Holl, was elected 
 County Commissioner in 1825. He was a citizen of War- 
 wick township, and for many years the owner of the well- 
 known Litiz mill. He was an excellent and upright citizen. 
 His sons have emigrated to Virginia, and are now engaged in 
 the iron business. 
 
 KEMPER, David, was elected County Commissioner in 
 1862. 
 
 KENDIG, Feancis, was a member of the Legislature in 
 1822. 
 
 KENEAGY, Samuel, son of Henry Keneagy, was born 
 June 20th, 1820. Having received an education, finishing 
 the same in the Strasburg academy, he began the study of 
 medicine in the office of Dr. F. S. Burrowes, in 18i2. He 
 attended the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and 
 graduated in the spring of 1844. He began the practice of 
 medicine in Strasburg with fair success. He ever took a 
 warm interest in politics, and in 1858 he was nominated and 
 elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature, and reelected the 
 following year. During the rebellion he was for a short 
 time surgeon in the 50th Pennsylvania regiment, under Col. 
 
838 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 Franklin. In 1868 he accepted, for one year, a professorship 
 of anatomy, physiology and hygiene in the State Agricultu- 
 ral College, in Centre county, Pennsylvania. After the expi- 
 ration of his term, he removed to Lancaster city, and 
 resumed the practice of medicine. j 
 
 KENEAGY, Ulrich, was born in Berks county, Penn- 
 sylvania, and emigrated therefrom in 1795, and settled near 
 Kinzer station, in Lancaster county. His ancestors were of 
 the Omish persaasion, and came from Switzerland about the 
 middle of the I7th century. The name was originally 
 spelled Gnege, afterwards Knege, and now Keneagy. Ulrich, 
 in 1805 moved to near Paradise, then Strasburg township, 
 and followed farming. He had three sons, viz : John, Henry 
 and David. The latter died about 1807. John had one son 
 and a daughter. Henry married Sarah, the eldest daughter 
 of Christian Shertz, in 1809, and had seven sons and two 
 daughters. He died in 1845, aged 63 years. 
 
 KENNEDY, Maxwell, a Lancaster county Legislator, 
 was born in Warren county. New Jersey, May 1st, 1782. 
 He emigrated with his father and his family to Salisbury 
 township, Lancaster county. In the war of 1812 he volun- 
 teered as aid to General Watsgn, and marched to York, Pa., 
 and from there to Baltimore, arriving the day after the battle, 
 in time to assist in burying the dead. His division was sent 
 from there to Elkton, Maryland, and he was appointed Major 
 of one of the divisions. On account of his powerful voice 
 and military knowledge, he was at one time drill officer of the 
 division. The following incident may be mentioned while 
 he was in the army at Elkton : A rumor was put in circula- 
 tion that the British had landed on the opposite side of the 
 bay, and were marching up towards the town. That night 
 General Watson received orders to take twelve of his most 
 trusty men, cross the bridge, and go down and reconnoitre 
 the enemy. Mr. Kennedy was one of the chosen twelve. 
 They crossed the bridge, expecting every moment to come 
 in contact with the enemy. After marching some distance, 
 the sentinel fired off his gun. All was ordered ready, when 
 the sentinel cried quarters. The General asked where the 
 enemy was, and was told there was no enemy there. Whea 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 339 
 
 asked why lie had done so, lie replied that he was so ordered 
 by his superiors. The party returned back to town, and the 
 matter was investigated. There were two reasons assigned for 
 this transaction : One was, that the commander wished to try 
 the bravery of General Watson; and the other was, that the 
 citizens of Elkton, who they were defending, were not sup- 
 plying them with suitable provisions, and they wanted an 
 excuse to leave. In the morning the place was deserted; 
 the inhabitants, fearing danger, had quit the place; and the 
 soldiers were only retained by fair promises of better accom- 
 modations, and which were fully realized until the time of 
 their departure, when affairs at New Orleans rendered their 
 stay no longer necessary, and they were discharged to their 
 homes and families. 
 
 Maxwell Kennedy was elected a member of the Legisla- 
 ture in 1835 without any solicitation, and declined being a 
 candidate the next year on account of failing health. Having- 
 led a very active life, close confinement did not agree with 
 him. He died from cancer of the stomach, after a lingering 
 illness, August 30th, 1845. He was a member of the Pres- 
 byterian Church, and an influential man in the community. 
 
 KERFOOT, De. Geoege B., ^ was born in the city of 
 Dublin, June 27th, 1808. He emigrated to America when 
 about 11 years of age, and when aged 15 he entered the 
 employ of Dr. Samuel Humes, of Lancaster, as a shop boy, 
 and the doctor perceiving in him a peculiar brightness, 
 induced him to study medicine. After having studied medi- 
 cine he took up the study of Latin and Greek, and 
 
 ' December 30th, 1838, Henry Cobler Mussulman, who was under 
 sentence of death for the murder of Lazarus Zellerbach, sold his body 
 for five dollars to Dr. Kerfoot, in order that it might be dissected after 
 he was hung. The assignment of sale is yet preserved, and is in the 
 handwriting of George JFord, esq., and is witnessed by the writer of it 
 and Capt. John Wise. 
 
 In this connection the other executions in Lancaster county may be 
 enumerated. Prior to 17T0 no record of any such is preserved. From 
 the year 1770 till 1780 several executions took place. During this decade 
 at least five persons were hung in Lancaster county for various offences ; 
 other crimes than muider being then punished with death. A man 
 named " Jockey Jones," was hung for horse stealing ; Catharine Fisher 
 for infanticide ; Capt. Taylor for highway robbery ; a colored man for 
 
340 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 unaided he made considerable proficiency tlierein. He also 
 studied the Grerman, and was able to read it with great ease 
 and fluency. He attended the medical lectures of Jefferson 
 College, in Philadelphia, and graduated March, 1830. He 
 immediately began in Lancaster the practice of the profes- 
 sion, and soon succeeded in acquiring a lucrative practice. 
 In a few years he rose to great distinction, and ranked 
 amongst the ablest in the profession. He was one of the 
 main instruments in establishing the Lancaster County Medi- 
 cal Society. He established an anatomical hall, and was 
 in the habit of giving lectures during the winter to numbers 
 of students. At one time the number of his students reached 
 sixty. Dr. John McCalla was numbered amongst his 
 students. The Eev. Mr. Bahnson and many other intellectual 
 men frequented his lectures during the winter season. He 
 was for several years a leading member of the Lancaster 
 school board, and also of the city councils. Dr. Kerfool 
 died in 1851, leaving a large and lucrative practice, aged 43 
 years, 8 months and 16 days. Dr. Kerfoot was an ardent 
 and active Democrat, and was a frequent contributor to the 
 Lancaster papers, especially to the Intelligencer. He was 
 possessed of a poetic genius, and wrote some poems of great 
 merit. We, was frequently summoned as a witness to testify 
 in medical cases before the courts in Baltimore, Harrisburg, 
 and elsewhere, especially where critical questions were to be 
 decided. He, on several occasions, delivered public lectures 
 on the eyes and brain, those parts of the human system to 
 which he had given the most study. On the Haggerty trial 
 
 rape, committed upon a white woman ; and Samuel Brandt for killing 
 his own father and setting the dwelling house on fire. From 1780 until 
 1832 no person was hung in Lancaster county. On the asth of October, 
 1823, John Lechler was executed for the murder of his wife, Mary 
 Lechler. Daniel Sheaffer was hung April 13th, 1833, for the murder of 
 a widow, named Bowers, living in Marietta. Sheaffer was convicted 
 upon his own confession, alleging that the reproaches of his conscience 
 no longer permitted him to conceal his crime. He voluntarily sur- 
 rendered liimself, and was committed, tried and executed. Henry Smith 
 (colored) was hung May 11th, 1838, for the murder of Benjamin Peart, 
 of Columbia. This execution took place in the jail yard, and was the 
 first which was carried into execution after the passage of the law 
 abolishing public executions. John Haggerty was, in 1847, executed 
 for the murder of Melchoir Fordney and a woman named Catharine 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 841 
 
 lie was the principal witness. Dr. Kerfoot was a lead- 
 ing member of the Masonic fraternity, being at the time of 
 his death District Deputy Grand Master. He was proverbial 
 for his charity, and but for this trait in his character he 
 might have accumulated a vast fortune from his medical 
 practice. 
 
 KEYS, EicHAED, was a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1799 and 1800. 
 
 KIBFFER, Christian, was elected a member of the 
 Legislature in the year 1840, and reelected in 1841. He was 
 three times elected Mayor of the city of Lancaster in the 
 years 1852, 1853 and 1854. 
 
 KIMMBL, Jacob, a member of the Legislature in 1803, 
 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808 and 1809. 
 
 KING, Robert, one of the early settlers of Little Britain 
 township, emigrated from Ireland, and came to Lancaster 
 county about 1717. He took up a tract of 150 acres of land 
 and followed agricultural pursuits. His son, John, was a 
 clergyman, and became pastor of the congregation, of which 
 the father of James Buchanan^ was a member. Robert King, 
 one of the descendants of the first settler of this name, was 
 born January 2d, 1789. He marched in 1814 as lieutenant 
 of a company, under Dr. James McOulloch as captain; and 
 when the latter was promoted to be surgeon of the regiment, 
 Mr. King succeeded to the captaincy of the company. For 
 many years he served as colonel of the Lancaster militia. 
 
 Tripple, as also one of her childien. Alexander Anderson and Henry- 
 Richards (both colored) were executed in April, 1858, for the murders of 
 Mrs. Garher and Mrs. Ream, of Manheim township. 
 
 Before the period of the abolition of public executions the execution- 
 ers wore masks, and the condemned criminals were taken from their 
 place of confinement, placed upon their own cofSn in a cart, and driven 
 through the streets, directly under the gallows, often amid the hoots 
 and jeers of the excited populace. The public parade thus made of 
 the prisoner, and the consequent spectacle of the execution, were sup- 
 posed to be calculated to intimidate offenders from the perpetration of 
 like offences. It came, however, to be believed that the object aimed at 
 was not attained, and public sensibility at length revolting at the idea 
 of public executions, they were discontinued. 
 
 ' Rev. John King was the first to perceive the remarkable ability of 
 James Buchanan, when a boy, and it was he who first suggested to his 
 
342 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 *KINGr, Vincent, son of Vincent and Mary King, was 
 born in Little Britain township, (in that part now included 
 in Fulton), Lancaster county, in the year 1786. His mother's 
 maiden name was Brown; she was a daughter of Joshua 
 Brown, a distinguished minister among the Friends. Her an- 
 cestors have been traced back long prior to the days of 
 William Penn, many of them having come over from Eng- 
 land soon after Penn's settlements on the Delaware. 
 
 His paternal grandfather was James King, an early settler 
 in this neighborhood. The father of the subject of this 
 sketch had six children, as follows : Joshua, James, Vincent, 
 Jeremiah, Mary and Hannah. Vincent, the third son, in 
 early youth was known as a remarkably active boy, of a 
 kind disposition, and possessed of a lively imagination. His 
 parents being strict Friends, he was sent to Westtown school, 
 an institution under the fostering care of that Society, to re- 
 ceive a thorough English education. . He remained at this 
 school several terms, and while there the following incident 
 took place, which may have had a tendency to lead him to 
 pursue the study of medicine and adopt the practice of it as 
 an avocation in after-life. One of the students was attacked 
 with what was then termed typhus fever, and to use a com- 
 mon phrase, was "given up to die" by the attending physician. 
 Vincent King — a brother student — became much interested 
 in the case, and asked permission of the superintendent to 
 nurse and attend upon the pupil, who had now ceased to 
 receive much aid from the physician in charge of the insti- 
 tution. Permission was granted, and young King assumed 
 charge of the patient, watching him night and day, pre- 
 scribing and caring for his school-mate. Finally, the sick 
 student recovered, and, we are informed, is yet living at an 
 advanced age. This success with his first patient led Vincent 
 
 parents the propriety of affording him an education. It has been told 
 us, by an aged citizen, that upon one occasion when James Buchanan 
 was dismissed from Dickinson College, for some student delinquency, 
 his parents apphed to Eev. King to have him re-instated. This the 
 Rev. King accomplished, he being at the time one of the trustees of 
 the institution, and for this act of kindness Mr. Buchanan ever bore his 
 early pastor a lasting good-wiU. 
 
 ♦Contributed by Charles H. Stubbs, M. D. 
 
OP LANCASTEE COUNTY. 343 
 
 King to inquire further into the mysteries of the healing art, 
 and while he remained at this school he was called doctor, by 
 pupils and teachers. 
 
 Leaving Westtown, he at once chose the profession of medi- 
 cine, and with this end in view, repaired in company with his 
 brother, Jeremiah, to Philadelphia— then, as ' it is now, the 
 seat of medical science in this country. Here he entered 
 the office of Dr. Houston, an eminent practitioner of that city, 
 and after preparing himself, entered and attended a regular 
 course of lectures in the medical department of the Uni- 
 versity of Pennsylvania. He graduated in the class of 1807. 
 The same year in which he received his degree of Doctor of 
 Medicine, he was united in marriage tO' Phoebe Trimble, 
 daughter of William Trimble, of Uwchland township, Ches- 
 ter county. Immediately after marriage he settled in Phila- 
 delphia, and practiced his profession in that city for about 
 two years; he then removed to Groshen, Chester county, 
 and while there obtained an extensive practice. Being of 
 an unsettled state of mind, he remained in this location but 
 a short time, and thence migrated to Baltimore, Md., and 
 finally to Columbia, Pa. At the last named place he met 
 with great affliction in the loss of his wife, who was removed 
 from earth after a short illness. Her decease took place in 
 the year 1816, in the 28th year of her age. Dr. King 
 remained a, widower five years, and married Patience 
 Wright, in the year 1821. Prom the time of the decease of 
 his first wife until his marriage with the second, he remained 
 and practiced medicine at Columbia. After the second mar- 
 riage he removed to Little Britain, near the place of his birth, 
 and resided with his mother and brother. Here he at once 
 entered into a large practice, which continued to increase 
 every year. 
 
 Being called to see a patient at Webb's forge, he was 
 suddenly taken ill, and so violently held that he could not be 
 removed to his residence. After lingering a few days, sur- 
 rounded by friends anxious that he should recover, he de- 
 parted this life on the 2d of December, 1825, aged 39 years. 
 In his last illness he was fully sensible of his precarious con- 
 dition, and in answer to some friend who was solicitous of 
 
344 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 his welfare, he replied, that he " must die as well as others, 
 and that they must be willing to give him up." He was the 
 father of five children, viz : Mary Ann, Lydia T., Jane P., 
 William T., and Jeremiah. All the sons died in infancy — 
 the eldest daughter dying in her thirteenth year ; only two 
 survive, Lydia T., and Jane P., now Mrs. Edge. 
 
 Dr. King was a man of talent and was well posted in his 
 profession, being on intimate terms with some of the most 
 distinguished medical men of his day. In person, he pos- 
 sessed a fine and commanding appearance ; and in his move- 
 ments was quick and vivacious. Gifted with rare conversa- 
 tional powers, he was well calculated to succeed and become 
 eminent in his profession. While he practiced in different 
 localities, several students,, in order to avail themselves of 
 the advantages to be derived from the counsels of so able and 
 worthy a practitioner, studied medicine under his direction. 
 Among the number were Dr. Glatz, of Marietta, and Dr. Jere- 
 miah B. Stubbs, of Fulton. Dr. King was not only learned 
 in his profession, but was familiar with the old English poets, 
 and, to some extent, cultivated an innate taste for the muses. 
 Even when engaged in a laborious practice, he would devote 
 occasional hours to reading and writing verse. On the 
 deaths of his aged rhother and his little sons, he wrote sev- 
 eral stanzas, filled with sorrowful reflections that pervaded 
 his mind at the time of these afflictions. These we have 
 failed to secure. 
 
 In concluding this sketch, we insert two of his poetical 
 productions, one an extempore piece, the other 
 
 "A MONODY ON THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE." 
 Alas ! Maria is no more ; dread death, 
 With vengeful ire has hurled his missive dart, 
 And left me here to languish out my days, 
 T'o weep unseen in deepest solitude, 
 And mourn amidst the giddy scenes of men. 
 My comfort and my love of life is fled— 
 In one dread hour was severed from my soul ; 
 Deep consternation, awful reveries flowed 
 Throughout each day and melancholy night — 
 Oh ! had I met my lasting, final fate, 
 Ere manliood raised for me her spotted crovra. 
 And fired me with ambition's wild career ! 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 345 
 
 Then had I slept in undisturbed repose, 
 Unconscious of the sweeping scythe of time. 
 Dear Maria's image dwells with me, 
 And may: ter virtues long vibrate my heart ; 
 Her soothing voice amid afflictions sore, 
 Buoyed up ray soul and checked the rising tear ; 
 When death his double mission had performed 
 And paralyzed, as with electric ilash, 
 Two blooming boys, just raised to interest dear, 
 To show their pressing wants and smile assent, 
 And joyous chatter all the livelong day ; 
 Bereft of these, in deep affliction bathed. 
 She sighed and with a pious soul resigned. 
 Proclaimed that God who gave had a right to take. 
 To call away in youth or hoary age. 
 
 EXTEMPORE. 
 
 Great Architect of worlds above, below. 
 
 Who formed the soul and taught its fires to glow ; 
 
 Whose mighty fiat rules and reigns above. 
 
 Thou Being of all beings, God of love. 
 
 Oh teach us to be wise and prize Thee more 
 
 Than earthly wealth and aU its checxuered store. 
 
 Without Thee all creation is but dust. 
 
 Delivered o'er to death and warring lust. 
 
 Confusion dread would overwhelm tha whole. 
 
 And darkness and despair appall the soul, 
 
 But with Thee we are rich without alloy. 
 
 All beauty, order and consummate joy. 
 
 KINZEE, Dr. B., elected to tlie State Senate in 1851. 
 
 KIRK, Jacob, elected a member of the Legislature in 
 1823 and 1825. 
 
 KITTERA, John W., son of Thomas Kittera, was born in 
 East Earl township, Lancaster county. He graduated at 
 Princeton College, New Jersey, in 1776, and afterwards 
 practiced law at Lancaster. He represented Lancaster county 
 in Congress from 1791 until 1801, a period of ten years. He 
 was then appointed United States District Attorney for the 
 eastern district of Pennsylvania, and removed to Philadel- 
 phia. He was a man of fine personal appearance, and ex- 
 ceedingly gentlemanly and polite in his intercourse with his 
 fellow-citizens. 
 
 KONIGMACHEE, Joseph, was a native of Lancaster 
 county, and a man of high standing and -influence in the 
 25 
 
846 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 community in which he lived. He was the proprietor of 
 the popular summer resort at Bphrata — the Mountain Springs 
 hotel. In 1837-88 he was a member of the Eeform Con- 
 vention, called for the amendment of the State Constitution, 
 and although at the time young and inexperienced in legis- 
 lation, he discharged his duties with great credit to himself 
 and his constituents. He strongly opposed the law that com- 
 pelled the people of any school district to accept the Free 
 School System of education contrary to their wishes, and he 
 favored a system by which the Germans could have their 
 children taught German if they choose. In 1838 he was 
 nominated and elected a member of the Legislature, and was 
 reelected in 1839. As a legislator, he took an active part in 
 all questions of general and local policy, and distinguished 
 himself by the production of one of the ablest documents 
 that ever emanated from our legislative halls — The Report on 
 an Asylum for the Insane Poor. Mr. Konigmacher was, in 
 1846, recommended b}^ the Whig convention of Lancaster 
 county as a candidate for Canal Commissioner, and he served 
 during that same year as one of the members of the Whig 
 State Central Committee. In 1848 he was nominated and 
 elected to the State Senate of Pennsylvania, the duties of 
 which of&ce he discharged with entire satisfaction. He died at 
 Michael's hotel, in the city of Lancaster, April 4th, 1861, 
 In politics he was a strong and enthusiastic Whig, and 
 always exerted himself — whether in public or private life — 
 to promote the success of the principles of his party. While 
 in office, it was his aim to endeavor to introduce the princi- 
 ples in which he believed, into the administration of the State 
 government. In his youth he had been a mechanic, and in 
 feeling was strongly identified, and always deservedly popu- 
 lar with the laboring classes. In his disposition he was 
 kind, genial, and open-hearted, and was possessed of a singu- 
 lar sweetness in his deportment and great amiability of 
 manners. 
 
 *KEAMPH, Frederic John, was born near the village of 
 Schleiesbach, in the valley of Auc, about three miles from 
 the city of Heidelberg, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, on the 
 *Coiitributed by S. S. Rathvon. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 347 
 
 llth of Marcli, 1811. The paternal residence was an humble 
 cottage, about half a mile from the banks of the Necker, and 
 his ancestors were plain, honest fishermen, and members of 
 tbe German Reformed church, highly esteemed by the com- 
 munity in which they resided. At about six years of age 
 he was placed in an excellent school for children, in Heidel- 
 berg, his mother having removed to that place — having lost 
 his father before he was born — where he remained until 
 after the death of his mother, in 1819, when he was just eight 
 years old. He was then placed in the Orphans' Asylum of 
 Heidelberg, where he remained until he had attained his 
 fourteenth year, and where he patiently endured all the de- 
 privations and hardships incidental to such institutions at 
 that period, in a monarchical government. The curriculum 
 of the Asylum included among other things, the preparation 
 of its inmates for "confirmation" in the German Reformed 
 church, and after that event was consummated with our 
 subject, he was bound apprentice to Herr Schulemyer, until 
 he was twenty years of age, and taught the art and mystery 
 of the tailoring trade. He was always active, obedient, and 
 intelligent; and in every position he occupied throughout 
 his life, he always shared largely of the popular esteem. Of 
 course, situated as he was, his educational means were very 
 limited, but he was always fond of reading, and availed him- 
 self of every opportunity to gratify his love of books. He 
 was religiously predisposed, and in his reading did not forget 
 to include the Bible, and at a very early age possessed him- 
 self of a copy. Before he was twenty-one, he had read nearly 
 all of Cooper's novels that had then been translated into 
 German, and the reading of these works gave birth to the 
 desire to ultimately emigrate to, and make his home in 
 America. Having neither father nor mother, sister nor 
 brother, nor any more remote relative that manifested any 
 special interest in him, there were, therefore, no special ties 
 of consanguinity to bind him to his fatherland. 
 
 He spent about eighteen months in traveling through his 
 own country and adjoining German States, after the end of 
 bis apprenticeship, working at his trade at intervals to obtain 
 the necessary means ; but as the traveling of journeymen 
 
348 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 mechanics, at that period, was always performed on foot, his 
 wants were easily supplied. Indeed, there were facilities 
 afforded to pedestrians, in many of the German States a,t 
 that period, that America has perhaps never known. At 
 the convents, monasteries, and the houses of the rich and 
 the noble along the public roads, a special mug of beer or 
 wine, with a slice of brown bread, was reserved for the way- 
 passer, and which he could claim, and was accorded to him as 
 & privilege. Keturning to Heidelberg in the early spring, 
 after some preparation he proceeded in company with others 
 to the city of Manheim, where he bid a final adieu to his 
 native land in the blooming month of June, and sailed for 
 America, landing at the city of Baltimore in August, 1832. 
 When he landed at Baltimore he had but a single Heller^ in 
 his purse ; all had been exhausted during the long passage. 
 After working about a week in Baltimore, and finding busi- 
 ness dull, full of hope and trust in the leadings of Providence 
 — a trust that never forsook him during his entire life — he 
 struck out for the interior of our vast country on foot, and 
 in due time reached the borough of York, Pennsylvania, 
 where he obtained employment. Learning, however, that 
 his employer was had pay, he left his service and demanded 
 the wages that were due him. This being withheld or re- 
 fused, he was advised to sue him, which he accordingly did, 
 and brought him before a justice " forthwith" on a capias, 
 and obtained his money. Being at this time without a 
 Bible, with these wages he immediately purchased a copy, 
 and was again alone in the world with only a few shillings 
 in his purse, and out of employment. Retiring to a wood 
 near the town, he there knelt down under the shade of a 
 friendly tree, and poured forth his fervent thanks to the 
 Almighty for the blessings he enjoyed in a land of liberty, 
 for in his own country justice could not have been thus ob- 
 tained so speedily. 
 
 Eeturning to the town again, he met Mr. John Bell, of 
 
 Marietta, in search of a journeyman tailor, and immediately 
 
 went into his service, and accompaanied him to that place, 
 
 where he remained until January, 1833. We record these 
 
 ' Five Relleri are equivalent to one United States cent. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 349 
 
 peculiar events here, because our subject made it a rule of 
 life always to do bis wbole duty so far as be bad an opportu- 
 nity and ability to do it, and tben to "wait patiently on the 
 Lord," feeling assured tbat " He would bring it to pass," so 
 far as was best for bis temporal and spiritual welfare. At 
 Marietta be contracted friendsbips tbat continued tbrougb- 
 out bis entire life, and tberebe also made progress in acquir- 
 ing a knowledge of tbe Englisb language, and in acquaint- 
 ing bimself witb Englisb literature, and learning tbe modes- 
 and manners of bis adopted country. He left Marietta on 
 'foot, in mid-winter, and visited Lancaster, Heading, Lebanon, 
 ^nd Hummelstown, in searcb of employment, but was not 
 successful until he reached tbe last named place, and bis pecu- 
 niary means, through a liberality which was a leading charac- 
 teristic in him, were again nearly exhausted. Here be made 
 hiniself so useful and was so highly esteemed by bis employer, 
 "that be offered extra inducements for him to remain and 
 take a partnership in his business, but as those inducements 
 contemplated a contingency not within the category of his 
 immediate future intention, he therefore left this town, 
 at the opening of early spring, and wended his way to Har- 
 risburg, tbe capital of the State. Here be made application 
 'for employment at every tailoring establishment in the place 
 'without success. Much exhausted, but still hopeful, he 
 entered a German " Gast-House," near the terminus of the 
 only bridge that tben spanned tbe Susquehanna at that place, 
 and called for a " sbepley bier," and the ever accompanying 
 " pretzel," to recuperate his tired energies. Finding the host 
 a native of his own " fatherland," be soon entered into a 
 cheerful and interesting conversation with him, which was 
 only interrupted by the entrance of another visitor. 
 
 This visitor was a Mr. Backstresser, from New Cumber- 
 land, a village in tbe southeastern angle of Cumberland 
 county, where the Yellow-breeches creek empties into tbe 
 Susquehanna river, and he was in search of a tailor to take 
 charge of business in a room next to his store in that place. 
 The host immediately referred him to Mr. Kramph, who 
 still sat at the table sipping his beer, as a person be thought 
 ■•woiild snit him, and an engagement was soon made with him 
 
850 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 to go and set up business for hiniself in New Cumberland. 
 After a visit to a hardware store to procure a tailor's iron, 
 an extra pair of shears, and other necessary implements, he 
 at once accompanied Mr. B. to the village, and began a new 
 and active career of life in America. At this place he 
 remained until the spring of 1840, a period of seven years,- 
 during which time he made many warm friends, and accu- 
 mulated some property. Here he obtained his naturalization 
 papers, identified himself with the interests and policies of 
 our institutions, and entered into the progressive spirit of 
 our country; and, perhaps, few men have become so 
 thoroughly Americanized in so short a time as he was, and 
 no man could possibly have manifested more gratitude than 
 he did for the blessings he enjoyed in a land of liberty. 
 Always of temperate, studious, and industrious habits, he 
 had no idle hours, for those fragments of time not neces- 
 sarily devoted to business, were employed in the cultivation 
 of his mind ; and as aids to this end, he commenced to accu- 
 mulate English and German books, gave some attention to 
 the natural sciences, and kept up a regular correspondence 
 with a few intellectual friends in his native land. Perhaps 
 the greatest turning point in his life took place during the 
 latter years of his residence in New Cumberland. His- 
 religious sentiments had, however, undergone a change, and 
 he became deeply imbued with the doctrines of Restoration- 
 ism. His ultimate aim, also, was a settlement somewhere 
 in the great West, and from causes, real or imaginary, he 
 had made a semi-resolve never to enter into marriage. 
 
 During the winter of 1835 or 1836 an exciting religious 
 revival took place at New Cumberland, and many of his 
 friends and neighbors became seriously but too temporarily 
 affected. One evening, after the dismissal of the congrega- 
 tion, perhaps half a dozen of the better class of young men 
 of the town assembled at his shop, and the conversation was 
 on the subject of religion. One said, for his part, he was a 
 Presbyterian, another was a Lutheran, another a Baptist, a 
 German Eeformed, and so on until all had expressed their 
 religious preferences, except Mr. Kramph. "Well, Frederic," 
 said one, " What is your faith ?" Being religiously unsettled 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 351 
 
 i 
 
 in mind, he casually replied, "I am a Swedenborgian." 
 Now, he had never read a line of Swedenborg in his life, and 
 never had heard his name until he had heard it mentioned 
 -by a passenger on board the ship during his voyage from 
 Europe, and then only as a great seer in connection with the 
 " Seeress of Prevorst" and others. " Oh !" said one of the 
 young men, "We have a book at our house written by 
 Swedenborg, which we found on taking possession of the 
 premises sticking under one of the rafters on the garret." 
 According to promise, the book was brought the next day 
 to Mr. Kramph. It was " Heaven and Hell," translated from 
 the Latin by Rev. Thomas Hartly, of England, with a long 
 preface. Busy as he was, he immediately read the preface 
 and fell to deeply thinking ; then laid it aside for a few 
 weeks, and read it again and again. He then read the book 
 itself and reflected, and then read it again. At this second 
 reading, he drank it in as the ultimatum of theological truth 
 as fast as he was capable of receiving it. He soon thereafter 
 made the acquaintance of the venerable Joseph Ehrenfried, 
 then State printer at Harrisburg, and through him, of 
 Henry Keffer, and Louis C. lungerich, of Lancaster city, 
 and he borrowed or purchased the works of Swedenborg, 
 and the collateral literature of the church as rapidly as time, 
 means, and opportunity afforded; and so far as he under- 
 stood them, he received their doctrines as the truth, without 
 a doubt, and also tried to the best of his ability to live them. 
 In 1836 a small society of Swedenborgians was formed, 
 and met for worship in Lancaster city, and Mr. Kramph 
 became a member of it, and this induced him to visit that 
 place more frequently and to form a more intimate acquaint- 
 ance with its members and the church in general, than would 
 otherwise have existed, which lead to the turning point 
 before alluded to, and which took place about three years 
 afterwards, for he had sold his property and had even made 
 a purchase of some western town lots with a view of settling 
 there. Whilst on a visit to Lancaster in 1839, his friends 
 there suggested a settlement in that city instead of the west, 
 when he accordingly changed his mind and removed thither in 
 the month of March, 1840, and commenced the business of a 
 
852 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY ' 
 
 merchant tailor and clothier. He was the first man that 
 gave impulse to merchant tailoring in Lancaster city. Pre- 
 vious to his location there, but one small establishment of 
 the kind, with a very limited stock, existed there, and there 
 was much prejudice against it by those whose interests it 
 seemed to conflict with. At this time there are at least a 
 dozen such establishments in the place, and the stock in them 
 from a few hundreds of dollars has increased to many thou- 
 sands. His active, energetic mind, found a wider field here 
 for the display of its powers, and he soon commanded a large 
 and a reasonably lucrative business. His affability, his 
 social qualities, and his general integrity was such, that he 
 made many friends, even among those who might otherwise 
 have been his enemies. To him also, perhaps, belongs the 
 credit of stimulating those building improvements which so 
 conspicuously distinguishes the last twenty years of the 
 material history of Lancaster. If the men of ample means 
 in that city had done as much for it in proportion to their 
 abilities, as Mr. Kramph did in proportion to his, perhaps at 
 this day it would not have been so far outstripped in business 
 and population as it has been by its sister city of Eeading. 
 
 It is true, that other men may have since erected more 
 splendid private residences, made more showy and conveni- 
 ent store improvements, and built a greater number of 
 houses, but they have been but following his excellent and 
 enterprising example, and have been identifying themselves 
 with that spirit of improvement which was developed so 
 largely through his innovations upon the old fossilized order 
 of things, which existed prior to 1840. Nothing gave him 
 more pleasure than to see men engaged in building up and 
 beautifying his adopted city, except perhaps when he him- 
 self, could be of any assistance to them in doing so ; and 
 hence he aided many an honest, industrious poor man, in 
 providing himself a home, which, without his aid, he might 
 never have accomplished. Mr. Kramph was liberal in his 
 donations and support of all worthy enterprises ; liberal in 
 the support of religious institutions, and especially those of 
 his own faith; liberal in his sentiments towards those who 
 differed from him in politics and religion ; liberal in his con- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 353 
 
 tributions to all public and private charities ; and liberal in 
 bis remembrances of his family and his friends ; and yet he 
 was singularly free from ostentation, and never seemed to 
 claim any special merit for any good he may have done. In 
 his estimate of men, he was influenced more by their actions 
 than by thQuprofessions; and if they were honest and pure, 
 they were infinitely more in fraternal harmonj'- with him than 
 if they were intellectual and corrupt, no matter what their 
 social and pecuniary condition may have been. He could 
 not have been called a wit, and never indulged in ambigui- 
 ties and double meanings, and yet he always appreciated 
 pure witticisms in others, and was quick in perceiving their 
 point. He was exceedingly kind, aflectionate and forbearing 
 in all his "social and domestic relations, and seemed to enjoy 
 no place on earth more than the precincts of his family 
 circle. Although he was interested and actively engaged 
 in the progress of the world, yet he could not, in any sense, 
 have been called " a man of the world." 
 
 Mr.Kramph was married three times. His first marriage 
 was in 1841, with Miss Ann, a daughter of Eev. James 
 Robinson, a Swedenborgian minister, formerly of Derby- 
 ghire, England. The issue of this marriage was two sons 
 and two daughters, a son and daughter of whom still sur- 
 vive, the other two having died in infancy. His first wife 
 died in July, 1847, much lamented by her family and 
 friends. He entered into marriage a second time with Miss 
 Mary, a sister of his first wife, in October, 1848. The issue 
 of this marriage was one daughter, which died in infancy. 
 His second wife died in November, 1840. After these sad 
 ruptures in his domestic relations, he broke up housekeep- 
 ing, and placed his two surviving children at a boarding 
 school, in the State of Rhode Island, and spent some months 
 in traveling through the eastern, western and northern 
 States, leaving his business, under his direction, in the hands 
 of his foreman. In the autumn of 1853 he entered a third 
 time into marriage with Miss Sarah M., a daughter of the 
 late David Pancoast, formerly of Cincinnati, Ohio. By this 
 marriage he had no issue. Nothing could possibly have 
 been a truer reflex of the elevated character of the man, 
 
854 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 tban his union with the pure, high-toned and intellectual 
 women he had chosen as his married partners. Perhaps few 
 men have been more happy and better contented, during the 
 continuance of their marriage relations, than our subject, 
 and more sincerely regretted their abrupt termination than 
 he did whilst at the same time he endeavored to yield a 
 willing resignation to the things " which seemed ordained." 
 
 Mr. Kramph was of a bilious, sanguine temperament, 
 and perhaps inherited from his mother, a rather delicate 
 physical constitution ; and had it not been for the predomi- 
 nating energies of his will, his body might have succumbed 
 long before it did. After an active and useful life in 
 America, of twenty-six years, eighteen of which were passed 
 in Lancaster city, he was "gathered to his fathers" on the 
 18th of April, 1858, aged 47 years, 1 month and 7 days. 
 
 Although Mr. Kramph never sought political, civil, social 
 or literary distinction, yet he was identified with many of 
 the progressive movements of his day. He was an active 
 member of the select council of Lancaster city, and for 
 many years a member of the board of school directors, and 
 was serving in that capacity when he died. He was also 
 one of the members of the " Old Lyceum," and nearly 
 eighteen years a member of the " Mechanics' Library Asso- 
 ciation," and one of the few who assisted in reviving and 
 sustaining that time-honored institution. He was one of 
 the originators and most active sustainers of the "Lancaster 
 New Jerusalem Society," and a life member of the " Swe- 
 denborg Printing and Publishing Society," of New York. 
 His sustaining influence was not only exercised towards the 
 persons and institutions of his adopted country, but he also 
 sent liberal annuities to some needy aged friends in his native 
 land, one of whom was his foster-mother, and for whom he 
 always entertained a filial affection. In politics he was 
 rather a conservative, and for twenty years had been a mem- 
 ber of the Whig party, but was not a distinctive party man, 
 " right or wrong," but was willing to make some concessions 
 — other things being equal — to friendship and to local pride. 
 Perhaps few men, in his sphere of life, have left such a 
 favorable and lasting impression upon the minds of those 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 355 
 
 "wlio knew tliem, than he has ; and many remember with 
 gratitude the countenance, the encouragement, and the 
 material support he afforded them in the beginning of a 
 subsequent successful career in life. Few men in his cir- 
 cumstances have shared more largely the confidence of the 
 community in which he lived, or have had more deference 
 paid to their judgments on matters in general than he. He 
 died as he had lived, with a full faith in the verities of his 
 church, believing that in the " other life " he would be judged 
 out of the book which he had written by his acts, intents 
 and purposes in "this life," and that as death left him, so 
 would judgment find him. 
 
 KEEADY, J. C, was elected County Commissioner in the 
 year 1868. 
 
 KEEIDEE, Jacob, the first settler of the numerous family 
 of this name, took up eight hundred acres of land on the 
 north side of the Conestoga, about two miles south of the 
 city of Lancaster. He settled in Lancaster county in 1716 
 or 1717. His descendants are very numerous. 
 
 KEEITEE, Benjamin, was appointed Clerk of the Or- 
 phans' Court in 1829. 
 
 KEUGr, Jacob, was a member of the Legislature in the 
 year 1781. 
 
 KUCHEE, Christopher, a member of the Legislature 
 in the years 1779, 1780, 1781 and 1782. 
 
 KUHN, Adam Simon, Dr., son of John Christopher 
 Kuhn, was a native of a small town of Swabia, near Heilbron, 
 on the Neckar. He came with his father to Philadelphia in 
 1733. He was a man of bright natural parts, improved by 
 the benefits of a liberal education, and he was considered as 
 a very skillful, attentive and successful practitioner of medi- 
 cine. He was a magistrate of the borough of Lancaster for 
 many years, and an elder of Trinity Lutheran church. He 
 was exceedingly zealous and enthusiastic in his efforts to 
 promote classical education among the youth of the borough. 
 For this purpose he procured the erection of a school house, 
 in which the Greek and Latin languages were taught by 
 skilled preceptors. There was no one amongst his cotempo- 
 
356 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 raries who had at heart more the spreading of religion, and 
 there was no place of worship throughout the whole county to 
 which he did not liberally subscribe. The utmost pains were 
 bestowed by him on the education of his numerous offspring, 
 in order to enable them to become useful members of society. 
 There is a tablet in the Lutheran church, perpetuating his 
 memory. Dr. John Kuhn, Dr. Frederick Kuhn, and Dr. 
 Adam Kuhn were sons of the above. Dr. John Kuhn 
 graduated at the Academy of Pennsylrania.'and afterwards 
 at the University of Bdinburg. He was a surgeon in the 
 Eevolutionary army. He first located at Reading, and mar- 
 ried a Miss Jones of that place, and afterwards returned to 
 Lancaster, where he practiced till his death. He was one of 
 the leading physicians of Lancaster. Dr. Frederick Kuhn 
 was also one of the leading physicians of Lancaster. He 
 served for some time as associate judge of the courts. He 
 died April 1st, 1816, in the 68th year of his age. Dr. Adam 
 Kuhn was professor of botany and materia medica in the 
 University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 *KUETZ, Jacob, was elected County Commissioner in 
 the year 1829, on the first Anti-Masonic ticket which was 
 successful. He was the only son of John and Magdalena 
 Kurtz, of Chester county. He was a member of the Ornish 
 church. Inheriting a lame foot, his father gave him a fair 
 English education, in order to enable him to make his way the 
 better in life. He followed scheol teaching till his marriage, 
 and then his father gave him a farm. He carried on farming, 
 and at the same time he engaged himself considerably in" 
 •conveyancing. Writing a beautiful hand, he soon gained 
 the reputation of being a first-class scrivener, as also a 
 farmer. He was a great friend of the free school system 
 and of temperance. He felt disinclined to sell his corn 
 to distillers, and he advised his neighbors to feed their corn 
 to their stock. When he took his seat as a member of the 
 board of commissioners, he found many things that he con- 
 demned. He was in for economy in everything where 
 money could be saved with prudence. He was greatly 
 denounced by those who had been in the habit of getting 
 *Coutributed by Levi S. Reist. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 35T 
 
 bargains in contracts from the old board. His efforts did 
 much, to inaugurate a new and better system. He secured 
 the confidence of his fellow-citizens for his vigorous and suc- 
 cessful efforts in establishing economy in the board of com- 
 missioners. Industry and economy was his life's motto. 
 
 KUETZ, Jacob H., was elected Prothonotary in the year 
 1845. 
 
 *KYLE, John, was among the earliest settlers of the 
 western part of old Sadsbury (now Eden) township ; and 
 before Lancaster county was organized he had purchased 
 nearly all the land in the western part of the township, 
 extending from the Strasburg township line to Quarryville. 
 He is said to have emigrated from Ireland, and to have 
 belonged to the original Scotch-Irish, and was a man of 
 considerable influence among the early pioneers. He was a 
 member of the second grand jury for Lancaster county, in 
 November, 1730. Jle was elected to the Legislature from 
 Lancaster county for the year 1731, and reelected for the 
 year 1733. He was commissioned a justice of the peace at 
 Chestnut Level, by Governor Thomas, in the year 1738. 
 He was re-appointed to the same oifice a number of times, 
 which of&ce he held with credit to himself and general 
 satisfaction to the public, for the space of about twenty years. 
 
 LANDIS, David, a soldier of the Eevolution, who enlisted 
 when but 17 years of age, and served faithfully till 
 the termination of the struggle, a period of five years and 
 seven months. He was engaged in agricultural pursuits, 
 and in 1824 was elected from Bphrata township a member 
 of the Pennsylvania Lpgislature. He died April 7th, 1852, 
 aged ninety years. 
 
 fLANDIS FAMILY. All the citizens of a community 
 naturally feel, to a greater or less extent, an interest in the 
 people generally who, generation after geneiration were in- 
 
 *Contributed by Isaac Walker. 
 ■j-Contributed by Andrew M. Frantz, esq. 
 
858 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 strumental in. developing their religious, moral and material 
 condition. And in proportion that this instrumentality ex- 
 erted itself and manifests itself in great and good results, this 
 feeling of interest grows strong and anxious. A large body 
 of people can, however, not be contemplated with the same 
 satisfaction as one may contemplate an individual or a par- 
 ticular family of individuals. Entirely free from any just 
 imputation for invidious distinction between families or 
 individuals, the selection of a particular family under the 
 circumstances of this occasion and for the purposes of this 
 publication, will not be regarded as any breach of propriety. 
 That Lancaster county is foremost in the march of modern, 
 improvement and achievement in field culture, in farm 
 buildings, and fences, and in the use of the improved machin- 
 ery for agricultural purposes and the general comfort, pros- 
 perity and happiness of the rural population, is neither 
 doubted nor disputed by any body. T^e past and present 
 generations have made this county what it is, by their 
 wisdom and virtue, their industry and economy. The pres- 
 ent generation owe a debt of gratitude to generations now 
 passing away, and those who have passed away before them. 
 More is owing to certain individuals than others, and more 
 to certain families than to others. It is not necessary to 
 inquire into the causes for this difference, the fact that it 
 exists is sufficient. 
 
 There are many families who have, through many gene- 
 rations, been noted for their religious and moral excellence, 
 their sterling character for industry, and economy. ' There 
 is, however, one family in this county, that is after all, per- 
 haps, entitled to some sort of superiority or preference, not 
 because of anything particularly prominent in individual 
 character of one or more of its members, but rather on 
 account of its numerical strength and steady devotion to the 
 interests of Lancaster county — plain farming. There is no 
 family so closely and so essentially connected with the 
 growth and development of Lancaster county, as the Landis 
 family. It is ftiore numerous, and continued to be through 
 all generations, time and changes devoted to farming, which 
 department of industry made this county what it is, as is 
 
OF LAKCASTEE COUKTY. 359 
 
 well known. The pedigree, or genealogy of this numerous 
 and powerful family, will be herein accurately given to -the 
 fifth generation or degree, from the first emigrant, the root 
 of the stock. The biography of the family will be given in 
 a general way, rather than individual. The family are not 
 so much distinguished for producing great public men as for 
 the uniform private worth of all its members^; not intending 
 to convey the idea that they would have been less able or 
 competent to fill public positions than others, but that a 
 certain feature of character impelled themfalways to attend to 
 their own business first. They are not and never have been 
 ambitious for public honors or preferment, except such as 
 naturally spring from good private citizenship. As a family 
 they have maintained, in a very great degree, the genuine 
 Lancaster county character, having been industrious and 
 economical without almost an exception. Modesty, cool- 
 ness and deliberation are some of the leading character- 
 istics of the stock, and these proved a shield of defence 
 against the allurements and enticements of excitements and 
 speculations, which obtained here and there, and which 
 tempted some others more unstable to follow the delusive 
 phantoms, leading them away from the land of their fathers 
 to seek fortunes elsewhere. The Laudis family are nearly 
 all here at this time, and most of them own one or more 
 farms. The propositus or common progenitor of the Landis 
 family, whose descendants are here traced and arranged in 
 order, by branches of families, emigrated to this country in 
 1718, a native of Switzerland. No one knows, and none 
 can tell anything beyond this. Like most of the early 
 settlers in the wilds of America, this pioneer was of the com- 
 mon class of people, comparatively poor in worldly posses- 
 sions, and upon arriving here had quite enough to do 
 to provide for himself and his family the necessaries for 
 subsistence; in other words, to keep the wolf from the door. 
 The new and unknown home, with its many privations and 
 wants at first, after awhile the gradual development of 
 goodly prospects in the land of adoption, all combined to 
 preclude all thought, as it seems, of making any note or 
 record of things left behind or transpiring in the present. 
 
360 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 These pioneer settlers, in the wilds of America, instinctively 
 became the champions of the great and peculiarly American 
 principle of progress. Onward ! upward ! has been the 
 motto all along the line of generations that have lived, 
 flourished and passed away. The present generations have 
 literally been helped out of the woods by the past. We 
 have been put in a position that enable us from its eminence 
 to look back, still nothing is to be seen or known beyond 
 the period of ancestral emigration. The dark curtain which 
 time draws over all earthly things, is let down so low and 
 has become so thick that, in the absence of recorded history, 
 we cannot penetrate it ; the beginning of our forefathers in 
 this country, is our absolute beginning. 
 
 Rev. Benjamin" Landis, a Mennonite preacher, accom- 
 panied by his only son and child, whose name was also 
 Benjamin, aged eighteen years, came to America from Swit- 
 zerland in the year 1718, and bought from the Conestogo 
 Indians a tract of about two hundred and forty acres of 
 land, situated in what is now Bast Lampeter township, about 
 four miles from Lancaster city, at the intersection of the 
 Horse-shoe and old Philadelphia roads. The most part of the 
 original tract is now owned and occupied by Henry N. Lan- 
 dis, in the iifth degree from the propositi's. 
 
 Benjamin Landis, the younger emigrant, had four sons, 
 whose names were, in the order of their births and respective 
 ages, as follQws-r "Beniamin Landi s, Abraham LandisT^Tacob 
 Landis, andvHenry Landis. The plan adopted to illustrate 
 the pedigree of the family, is to take these four sons, being 
 the first born upon the soil, in the order of their respective 
 ages, and enumerate the descendants of each one of them in 
 regular order to the fifth degree. Counting the senior or 
 older emigrant, the first degree or beginning, will place the 
 four first born upon the soil in the third degree. This plan 
 will bring us to, and stop with, the generation now repre- 
 sented by men all over sixty years of age, but about one- 
 half of them still living, and all of them second cousins in 
 relationship. They being in cousinship one degree nearer 
 . than they would be if the progenitor would have had two 
 or more sons with descendants in the male line. With a 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 361 
 
 view to a better iiiiderstaiiding of the matter, ohe of eacli 
 branch of the family in the degree, marking the stopping 
 place, is here- given, beginning with the oldest branch, as 
 follows : John Landis, of Manor township, called Manor 
 John ; Benjamin Landis, of East Lampeter township, called 
 big Benjamin; Benjamin Landis, of Manheim township, 
 called rich Benjamin ; David Landis, of Bast Lampeter 
 township, called miller David; Abraham Landis, of Lan- 
 caster township, occupying and owning the city mill farm ; 
 Abraham Landis, of East Lampeter township, called old 
 road Abraham ; Jacob Landis, of the same township, called 
 gentleman Jacob ; Henry Landis, residing near New Hol- 
 land ; Benjamin Landis, of East Lampeter township, called 
 little Benjamin ; Daniel Landis, now living in Manheim 
 township, near the village of Eden ; David Landis, called 
 fuller David ; and Henry N. Landis, residing upon the 
 original Landis homestead in East Lampeter township. 
 ,^ Benjamin Landis , the first born upon the soil, and oldest 
 son of the younger emigrant, moved to and settled in 
 Manheim township, in the year 1753, on a farm about 
 three miles from Lancaster city, near the Eeading road, and 
 near where the Landis valley Mennonite meeting-house now 
 stands. He had 'three sons — Benjamin, Henry, and John. 
 Benjamin, the oldest of these three sons, had also three sons 
 — John, Benjamin, and Jacob ; and these are the fifth gener- 
 ation. This John Landis resided in Manor township, and 
 was called Manor John, and was elected commissioner for 
 Lancaster county in 1838. Benjamin, the second of these, 
 lived on the old Manheim homestead, and died in 1822. 
 Jacob, the youngest, moved to the State of Ohio a few years 
 ago, where he is still supposed to live. 
 
 Henry, the second of the three, had five sons, viz : Benja- 
 min, Henry, John, Isaac and Jacob. Benjamin, the oldest, 
 called rich Benjamin, lived in Manheim township, near 
 Oregon, and died there some years ago, leaving a numerous 
 and prosperous family. Henry, the second son, called drover 
 Henry, now resides in the same township. John, the third 
 son, called miller John, resided in Hempfield township, 
 where he died. Isaac, the fourth son, resided in Manheim 
 26 
 
362 BIOGKAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 township, and was noted for feeding fine cattle. Jacob, the 
 youngest, now resides in the same township, near the Landis 
 valley meeting-house. John, the third son of the three, had 
 also three sons, viz : John, Benjamin and Henry. John, 
 the oldest of these three, resided in the vicinity of Landis- 
 ville, and was known as swamp John. Benjamin, called big 
 Benjamin, resided in Bast Lampeter township, on the horse- 
 shoe road. Henry, the third and youngest, resided in the 
 same township, on the long lan,e, and was known as swamp 
 Henry. These are the descendants of Benjamin, the oldest 
 son of the junior emigrant to the fifth generation. 
 
 Next in order come the descendants of Abraham Landis , 
 the second son of Benjamin, the younger emigrant. This 
 Abraham had two sons, viz : Benjamin and John. Benja- 
 min, the older of these two, lived in Bast Lampeter town- 
 ship, and had four sons, viz : John, Abraham, Benjamin and 
 David. John, the oldest of these four, called farmer John, 
 lived in the same township, and was elected commissioner 
 for Lancaster county, in the year 1846 ; he was the first 
 president of the Lancaster County Bank, after it was 
 chartered as a regular banking institution — elected to that 
 position in the year 1841, and continued to fill the same with 
 honor to himself and advantage to the institution, until 
 February, 1867, a period of twenty-six years. He was 
 buried on the 7th day of February, 1867, in the graveyard 
 belonging to Mellinger's meeting-house, about four miles 
 east of Lancaster city, on the old Philadelphia turnpike road. 
 Abraham, the second of these four, lived and died in East 
 Lampeter township. Benjamin, the third of these four, 
 lived and died in the same township. David, the youngest 
 of the four, now resides in the same township, and is known 
 as miller David, and is at present a member of the board of 
 directors for the poor of Lancaster county. 
 
 John Landis, (called Musser John), the second son of Abra- 
 ham, had three sons, viz : John, Abraham and Bmamuel, all 
 of whom resided in Bast Lampeter township, except Abraham. 
 
 John, the oldest of these, died about fifteen years ago. 
 Abraham owns and occupies the farm near the city water 
 works, known as the city mill farm in Lancaster township. 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 863 
 
 And Emanuel resides near the Pennsylvania railroad bridge 
 on the Lampeter side of the Conestoga. 
 
 ^+-rf" Next in order come the descendants of Jacob Landis , the 
 third son of the younger emigrant. This Jacob had two 
 sons — John and Abraham. John, the older of these two, 
 called brick John, had eight sons— Jacob, John, Abraham, 
 Benjamin, Christian, Martin, David, and Daniel. Jacob, the 
 oldest, died in East Lampeter township near where Landis's 
 warehouse on the Pennsylvania railroad stands, probably 
 thirty years ago ; John lived and died in West Lampeter 
 township, on the Millport and Strasburg turnpike road ; 
 Abraham, called old road Abraham, resides on the old road 
 in East Lampeter, about four miles from Lancaster ; Benja- 
 min resides in Upper Leacock township, near Bareville ; 
 Christian lived in East Lampeter, and died there in 1871 ; 
 Martin resides in Upper Leacock, near Bareville ; David also 
 resides in the same township, a little south of Bareville ; 
 and Daniel resides in Hempfield township, near the village 
 of Petersburg. Abraham, the younger of the two sons of 
 Jacob, had five sons — Jacob, Abraham, Benjamin, John, and 
 Adam. Jacob, the oldest of these five, called gentleman 
 Jacob, resides in East Lampeter township, near the old road, 
 about four miles from Lancaster, and was at one time 
 director of the poor for the county. Abraham, the second 
 of these, resides on the old yard occupied by the original 
 emigrant, on the farm adjoining Jacob's, and Benjamin also 
 on the farm adjoining; John, the fourth of these, resides in 
 East Hempfield township, near the village of Petersburg, and 
 is a Mennonite minister of the Gospel; Adam, the youngest, 
 is unmarried, and lives with his brothers in East Lampeter. 
 
 '-^ We now come next to the descendants of Henry , the fourth 
 and youngest son of the younger emigrant ; he had five sons, 
 viz : Benjamin, John, Henry, Peter, and Abraham. Benja- 
 min, the oldest of these five, had four sons, viz : Daniel, 
 Henry, Benjamin, and John; all of these were born and re- 
 sided part of their time about New Holland ; the two older 
 ones died there some years ago ; the third one, Benjamin, 
 moved to Adams county, Pennsylvania, many years ago, 
 where he is still living ; the youngest one, John, also moved 
 
864 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 to Adams county, where he now resides, about five miles 
 east of Gettysburg. John, the second one of these five, had 
 two sons, viz : Benjamin and John. Benjamin, the older, 
 called little Benjamin, resided in East Lampeter, near Mil- 
 ler's store, where he died a few years ago ; John, the second 
 and younger of the two, died at the age of eighteen, at least 
 fifty years ago. Henry, the third one of the five, had four 
 sons, viz : Daniel, Jacob, Henry, and Isaac. Daniel, the 
 eldest of these four, resides in Manheim township, on the 
 New Holland turnpike road, about three miles from Lancas- 
 ter city; Henry, the second one, died some years ago un- 
 married, in Bast Lampeter township, where he lived; Isaac 
 now lives in the same township, near Landis's store ; and 
 Jacob died unmarried in the same neighborhood a few 
 years ago. Peter, the fourth one of these, had only one 
 son, whose name was David, and' was known as fuller David, 
 residing in Upper Leacock township, near the village of 
 Monterey. Abraham, the last of the five and youngest son 
 of Henry, the youngest son of the junior emigrant, lived and 
 died upon what is part of the original Landis homestead, in 
 East Lampeter township. He died in 1861, at the age of 
 eighty-one years, and was the last connecting link between 
 the two generations. He was a Mennonite minister of the 
 Gospel, and a man much esteemed for his goodness as a citi- 
 zen, a neighbor and a Christian. He had five sons, viz : 
 Henry N., Abraham, Jacob, John, and Benjamin. Henry 
 N. Landis, the oldest of these, now occupies and owns the 
 old homestead in Bast Lampeter township ; Abraham, the 
 second one, emigrated to the State of Illinois in 1849, 
 settled and now resides in Whiteside county, near Sterling; 
 Jacob also moved to the same State, and died there about 
 twelve years ago ; John, the fourth of these five sons, also 
 moved to Illinois, and died there about fifteen years ago ; 
 Benjamin, the youngest of the five, moved to Franklin 
 county, Pennsylvania, and died there also about fifteen years 
 ago. These are the generations of this family of Landis's, 
 to the fifth degree from the senior propositus. In tracing 
 the pedigree, it appears that this family embraces all the 
 Landis's who are now living within eight or ten miles of 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 365 
 
 Lancaster city, except a very few. There are Landis's liv- 
 ing in this county, north of Ephrata, but they are not related 
 to these whose genealogy is herein given. In the third de- 
 gree, according to the manner of computation, there were 
 four Landis's ; in the fourth, twelfth, and in the fifth, forty- 
 seven ; in the sixth degree, taking the same ratio of increase, 
 one hundred and eighty ; and in the seventh degree, many of 
 whom belonging to the older branches of the family, are 
 now over twenty-one years old, there are certainly not less 
 than five hundred all in the male line. It is perfectly safe 
 to assume, that there are at this time one thousand living de- 
 scendants, male and female, in Lancaster county, all sprung 
 from Benjamin Landis, junior, who started out a boy eigh- 
 teen years of age, just one hundred and fifty-three years ago. 
 The writer regrets very much that the name of the woman 
 to whom this young man was married, cannot be ascertained. 
 
 The first emigrant, Benjamin Landis, was, as has been 
 stated, a Mennonite minister of the Gospel, and all his de- 
 scendants to the fifth generation adhered to the Mennonite 
 faith without an exception. 
 
 LANDIS, John, a native of Switzerland, emigrated to 
 America in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and 
 located in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He had five sons, 
 viz : Jacob, John, Martin, George and Samuel ; and two 
 daughters, Veronica and Barbara. John, one of the five sons, 
 was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, November 11th, 
 1720, and removed to Montgomery county, in the same State. 
 His son John, and grandson of the first emigrant, was born 
 August 16th, 1776, and emigrated to Lancaster county in 
 1797. He married a daughter of Michael Kline, the grand- 
 father of George M. Kline, esq., of this city. He was for 
 many years engaged in the mercantile profession. 
 
 LANDIS, Jesse, son of the last named John Landis, was 
 born October 15th, 1821. He read law with Emanuel 0. 
 Eeigart, and was admitted to the bar in' September, 1843. 
 Being a very sedulous and attentive student, he has steadily 
 won his way in the profession, until he ranks at present 
 amongst the well-read attorneys of the Lancaster bar. In 
 1861 he was elected by the county commissioners solicitor 
 
366 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 of the county, and held the same by annual reelection until 
 the year 1869. He has written, and is now preparing for 
 publication, a supplement to Linn's Analytical Index. 
 
 LANDIS, Samuel, a member of the Legislature in 1829 
 and 1830. 
 
 LANE, John N., was a successful merchant of Lancaster 
 city, and the wealthiest of our deceased citizens. 
 
 LATTA, Ebv. James, was pastor of the church at Chest- 
 nut Level, Lancaster county, and principal of an academy 
 for many years at the same place. He was called to this 
 charge in 1770, with a salary of £100 Pennsylvania cur- 
 rency, which was never increased nor all paid. Eev. Latta 
 manifested a deep interest in the cause of American inde- 
 pendence, and on one occasion actually took his blanket and 
 knapsack and accompanied the soldiers on their campaign. 
 At another time he served for a short time in the army as 
 chaplain. In 1785 a movement was set on foot amongst 
 many congregations, upon the subject of procuring acts of 
 incorporation, and Eev. Latta favoring the proposal, had 
 the misfortune to alienate many of his flock from him. An- 
 other subject of alienation between himself and his congre- 
 gation, was his effort to introduce Watts' Psalmody in his 
 churches. In this, however, he failed; and the new hymns 
 were not accepted until after the death of all the old mem- 
 bers who had originally formed the opposition. Eev. Latta 
 published a pamphlet of one hundred and eight pages 
 octavo, in defence of the new hymns, which passed through 
 four editions. The degree of D.D. was conferred upon him 
 by the University of Pennsylvania, about the close of the 
 last century. Dr. Latta died January 29th, 1801. His 
 widow, a lady of great piety and amiability, continued to 
 reside on the family farm, at Chestnut Level, until her death, 
 February 22d, 1810. 
 
 LAUMAN, LuDwlG, was born May 5th, 1725. He was 
 a merchant of Lancaster, and a man of influence about the 
 period of the American revolution. He was a very zealous 
 and active Whig, and ranked with Edward Shippen, George 
 Boss, Jasper Yeates, Mathias Slough, and William Henry, in 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 367 
 
 tis ardor for the promotion of the American cause. He 
 was elected a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania 
 in 1776. He was an active and influential member of 
 Trinity Lutheran church of this city, and died March 22d, 
 1797. 
 
 LEBKICHBE, David, elected Eegister in 1842. 
 
 *LBECH, Francis, emigrated to this county from Ireland, 
 about the year 1750. He was soon afterwards married to 
 Isabella, the young widow of Christopher Griffith, of Salis- 
 bury, and by his marriage acquired a large property. He 
 purchased all the real estate about the Gap, and erected that 
 large hotel (known afterwards as the Henderson property,) 
 about the year 1760, in which a public house was kept for 
 nearly one hundred years. When the road was laid out 
 froin the Schuylkill to Strasburg, under the administration 
 of Eichard Penn, in 1772, its course was defined to the public 
 house of Francis Leech, and thence to Strasburg. — Col. Eec, 
 Vol. X., p. 218. His son, George Leech, also made many 
 improvements about the Gap. The venerable Thomas 
 Leech, also the very aged Anna and Elizabeth Leech, are 
 the living grandchildren of Francis Leech. 
 
 LBFEVEE, Joseph, a leading Democratic politician, and 
 member of Congress from 1811 till 1813. He was a citizen 
 of Strasburg township. 
 
 LEHMAN, Henry C, was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in the years 1861 and 1862. 
 
 LEHMAN, John, was elected to the Legislature in the 
 year 1836. 
 
 LEHMAN, Samuel L., was elected Eecorder in the year 
 1863. 
 
 LIBHAET, John J., was born in York county, August 
 6th, 1806. He removed with his father to the borough of 
 Marietta when about six years of age, and was educated in 
 the local schools of Marietta and the borough of York. 
 When he was about fourteen years of age, Arthur Arm- 
 strong came to Marietta and engaged in portrait painting. 
 An enthusiasm for the new avocation immediately seized 
 *Contributed by Isaac Walket, of Sadsbury. 
 
368 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 young Libhart, and he took up the business and pursued it 
 with success for several years, executing a number of pieces 
 with great credit. After the death of Dr. Glatz, postmaster 
 of Marietta, he was appointed by James K. Polk to fill the 
 vacancy, a position which he held for two years. While he 
 was pursuing the occupation of artist, he took up the study 
 of natural science, such as mineralogy, ornithology and 
 zoology, and made considerable advancement in their study. 
 He made quite a collection of specimens in natural history, 
 especially in ornithology, wliich he donated some years 
 since to the Linnsean society of Lancaster. Besides his 
 great taste for natural history, he has always possessed a 
 remarkable fondness for history. His predecessor in the 
 post-office, Dr. Glatz, having been engaged in the drug busi- 
 ness, upon his death his store was purchased by the subject of 
 our notice, and this business he has carried on up to this time. 
 
 He was born and raised a Democrat, his ancestors having 
 been strong advocates of the principles of Thomas Jefferson. 
 Upon the breaking out of the late rebellion, favoring a 
 vigorous prosecution of the war, he became identified in 
 sentiment with the Eepublican party, and has acted with it 
 from that time. In 1867 he was appointed an associate 
 judge of the courts of Lancaster county, and in the succeed- 
 ing election was chosen to fill the same office for a period of 
 five years. He has filled all the borough offices of Marietta, 
 having been burgess, councilman and school director. In 
 the latter capacity he served for the period of sixteen years. 
 He was one of the earliest and staunchest advocates of the 
 free school system in Lancaster county. Judge Libhart is 
 an intelligent, liberal-minded, high-toned gentleman, and as 
 an officer of the court he is perfectly pure, honest and 
 upright. 
 
 LIGHT, Major Johx, ^ was a native of the State of New 
 York, but the greater portion of his life was spent in Lan- 
 
 'On August 17tli, 1798, the clerkship of the Sun engine and hose 
 company was made a permanent office, and John Light was elected 
 to this position, who served the same till April ITth, 1824. His grandson, 
 Dr. John L. Atlee, sr., was elected to the same position, and held it till 
 October 21st, 1854, when h^ resigned, and his son, John L. Atlee, jr., 
 was elected to the post filled by his great grandfather. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 369 
 
 caster. He early entered the American service as a minute 
 man for the Jerseys, in 1775, and participated in the expedi- 
 tion that was made against the Tories on Long Island. He 
 was in the division that invaded Canada, and participated in 
 the battle of Three Eivers. He was a sharer in the priva- 
 tions at the river Sorel, and on the retreat from Canada to 
 Ticonderoga. In the battle of Lake Champlain he was 
 present, and was among those who defended Ticonderoga and 
 other places, until the retirement of the British army to 
 winter quarters. Upon his return home he immediately 
 reenlisted, and was with Washington in his retreat through 
 New Jersey, and fought in the battle of Princeton. He 
 acted as guide to Gen. Washington, and to several of the 
 officers who commanded scouting parties detached from 
 Gen. Putnam's command, when the British possessed Bruns- 
 wick; and he was among the first of those who entered that 
 place after its evacuation by the enemy. He was a partici- 
 pant in the battle of Somerset Court House, and several 
 other skirmishes about this time. He was in the battle of 
 Monmouth Court House, and also at Germantown. He was 
 one of the light dragoons who guarded Burgoyne's prisoners 
 from New Jersey to the Potomac. In one service and 
 another he acted with the American army, and was present 
 when Lord Cornwallis surrendered his forces at Yorktown. 
 After the revolution he kept tavern in Bast King street for 
 some years, ceasing this business in 1803. He was inspector 
 of the 1st brigade of Lancaster county militia in 1800. In 
 1806 he was appointed a justice of the peace. He was a 
 leading Democratic politician of his day, and a man of great 
 influence. In 1818 he was appointed clerk of the orphans' 
 court, of the quarter sessions, and of the oyer and terminer. 
 He was appointed in the room of John Hoff, deceased. He 
 returned again to New York State, where he died about the 
 year 1834. 
 
 LIGHTNBE, Joel, a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1812, 1813,' 1815, 1816, and 1817. 
 
 LIGHTNEE, John, elected a member of the Legislature 
 in 1819, 1821. He was appointed Clerk of the Quarter 
 Sessions in 1836. 
 
870 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 LIGHTNEE, Nathaniel F., elected a member of tlie 
 Legislature in 1824 and 1828. He was afterwards Mayor' 
 of Lancaster. 
 
 LINDLEY, Thomas, a member of the Legislature in 
 1739, 1740, 1741, 1742, and 1743. 
 
 LINVILLE, Benjamin, elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in 1829 and 1830. 
 
 *LIVINGSTON, John B., was born in the year 1821, in 
 Salisbury township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. His 
 father, John Livingston, was a farmer of considerable intel- 
 ligence, who held the office of justice of the peace. His son, 
 the subject of this sketch, was sent to school at the age of 
 five years, and soon learned to read well for his age. He 
 became so fond of books that they became his constant com- 
 panions. At the age of seven he was remarkable for his 
 accuracy in spelling. He remained for weeks together at 
 the head of a large class, principally composed of much older 
 pupils. His father being physically disabled by lameness 
 for serere manual labor, and he being the oldest son, his 
 services on the farm were so valuable that his time for at- 
 tending school was limited to those months in the winter 
 when the duties on the farm were not so exacting. He, how- 
 ever, acquired the habit of improving every leisure moment 
 during the more busy season of the year ; and though the 
 work on the farm kept him from school, it did not keep him 
 from his books. His proficiency became so conspicuous, 
 that in 1842 the directors of the common schools, in the dis- 
 trict in which he resided, solicited him to engage in teaching 
 school during the winter months. He, however, considered 
 it his duty to consult the wishes of his father, before he con- 
 sented to accept their proposition. As the younger brothers 
 had now grown up and become capable of working the farm, 
 the father consented, and young Livingston was duly in- 
 stalled into the office of school teacher, which employment 
 he continued to follow during the winter months, for four or 
 five sessions. His time during the vacations being spent in 
 working on his father's farm and teaching private school. 
 
 *Contribiited by John B. Good, esq. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 371 
 
 About the year 1845 he began to think of studying a pro- 
 fession ; and it is said for a time his inclination tended to- 
 wards medicine, and that considerations of the great respon- 
 sibilities devolving on the physician, when the fate of pre- 
 cious lives depend on his skill, deterred him from choosing 
 that department as his place of activity. He concluded that 
 a slip in the practice of the law is a less serious calamity 
 than a blunder in medicine or surgery, in proportion as a 
 man's pocket is more easily repaired than his life or limbs. 
 He therefore resolved to study law. In pursuance of this 
 resolution, he wrote to Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, inquiring 
 whether he had room for a student, and if so, what his terms 
 were. In due time the answer came in the Old Commoner's 
 laconic style: "Have room. Terms, $200. Some pay, 
 some don't." On the 26th of January, 1846, the young 
 teacher left his parental roof, and the scenes of his boyhood 
 and youth, for the city of Lancaster, to enter upon the 
 stormy mazes of the law. With Blackstone he may have 
 
 said: 
 
 Lost to the fields, and torn from you, 
 Farewell, a long, a last adieu ! 
 Me, wrangling courts and stubborn law, 
 To smoke, and crowds, aiid city draw. 
 
 He applied himself earnestly to his studies, and on the day 
 on which the two years appointed by the rules of Court for 
 initiatory studies expired, he was admitted to the bar of 
 Lancaster county, of which he was destined to become an 
 ornament. He soon gave evidence of a useful career. His 
 industry and wonderful capacity for labor did not permit 
 him to be idle a minute. No one ever saw him idling away 
 his time either on the street or in the office. He believed 
 that no one willing to work need fail, and he acted in ac- 
 cordance with this principle. It is probable that these traits 
 of character, and the facility and taste displayed in his pen- 
 manship, attracted the attention of N. Bllmaker, esq., into 
 whose office he moved in 1851, and where he remained ac- 
 tively assisting in the extensive practice in the orphans' 
 court and general law practice in that office up to the time 
 of his election to the office of District Attorney in the fall of 
 1862. 
 
372 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 His election to this public position, and the satisfactory 
 manner in whioli he performed its duties, caused him to be 
 more extensively and favorably known throughout the com- 
 munity, and from this time his practice commenced to 
 rapidly increase. His mind being familiar with the general 
 practice in the several Courts, and his pen unusually ready, 
 he was able to perform an incredible amount of labor. His 
 charges always moderate, his manners affable and pleasant, 
 his honesty above suspicion, his office was constantly crowded 
 with clients. Under these circumstances, it is not strange 
 that he did not consider the promotion from the bar to the 
 bench a desirable change. When, however, in the fall of 
 1871, a vacancy was about to take place in the office of Pres- 
 ident Judge of the second judicial district of Pennsylvania, 
 composed of Lancaster county, the people with unusual 
 unanimity elected him to that office. On December 4th, 
 1871, he assumed its duties, and has since continued in. that 
 position. 
 
 LONG, HfiNEY G., was born in Lancaster, August 23d, 
 1804. His paternal grandfather, Nicholas Long, a native of 
 Zweibrucken, in Bavaria, emigrated to America, and settled 
 in Lancaster in 1754. Here he married, and reared in com- 
 fort a large family. He rose to be a man of standing and 
 influence in the community, and often was a juror in the 
 trial of causes. Jacob. Long, the father of the subject of our 
 notice, became a successful merchant and accumulated an 
 independent fortune. He was a sergeant in the American 
 revolution, and saw service therein during a long period of 
 the struggle. He came near being in the battle of Brandy- 
 wine, arriving on the spot with his company just as the 
 battle was over. He died in December, 1842, in the 82d 
 year of his age. The subject of our notice received his 
 education in the schools of Lancaster. When but seventeen 
 years of age he was appointed clerk in the prothonotary's 
 office, under Dr. F. A. Muhlenberg, and owing to 'the pro- 
 fessional engagements of the latter he was obliged to perform 
 most of the duties of the office. This position he retained 
 for three years. He then, in 1824, began the study of law, 
 in the office of George B. Porter, esq., then the leading 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 373 
 
 lawyer at the bar, and was admitted to the full practice of 
 the profession in 1827. He immediately opened an of&oe 
 and begun the practice of law, and was not long in establish- 
 ing himself fairly in the profession. 
 
 When he left the Prothonotary's office, it was the design 
 of his father that he should succeed him in the mercantile 
 business, and it was only at the suggestion of Mr. Porter 
 that he began the reading of law. When he commenced its 
 study it was rather that he might be profitably employed 
 than with the design of entering the profession. After read- 
 ing a short time, however, he acquired a fondness for it, and 
 so continued until he was prepared for admission to the bar. 
 Shortly after coming to the bar, he was chosen by the com- 
 missioners county solicitor, a position to which he was 
 successively re-chosen and held the same for twenty years. 
 Soon after his admission to the bar, he became active in 
 politics, and being very decided in his political views, he was 
 elected in 1836 a member of the Eeform Convention, being 
 one of the youngest men of that body. He was elected in 
 the fall of 1838 to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and was 
 a member of that body during the buckshot war, a period 
 of great excitement in Pennsylvania. After serving this 
 session, he again resumed the duties of the profession, to 
 which he now steadily gave his attention until 1851, when 
 he was nominated and elected President Judge of the court 
 of common pleas of Lancaster county. His nomination 
 was at this time entirely unsolicited. Learning that his 
 name would be used, he prepared a letter of declination and 
 handed the same to Abraham Cassel, a member of the con- 
 vention, and authorized him to have his name withdrawn. 
 So fully satisfied, however, was Mr. Cassel, and with him the 
 convention of his eminent fitness for this position, that the 
 letter of declination was not presented, and he was unani- 
 mously nominated. Finding himself thus the unanimous 
 choice of his party for this high office, he did not feel at 
 liberty to decline an election, and he therefore deferred to 
 the wishes of his friends, and as a consequence was triumph- 
 antly elected. The manner in which he discharged the 
 duties of this office gave entire satisfaction. 
 
874 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Upon the expiration of his ten years term, of service as 
 Judge, making no effort to secure a re-nomination for the 
 same, he was defeated by a majority of five in the conven- 
 tion of his party, held in 1861, and Alex. Hood was the suc- 
 cessful nominee. This, however, was a period when party 
 lines greatly changed, consequent upon the rebellion then 
 raging, and the result was the holding of a new convention 
 by those of the Eepublican party dissatisfied with the regu- 
 lar nominations, and the Democrats united with them. This 
 alliance, calling itself the Peoples' party, placed Henry G. Long 
 in nomination for the same position he then held, and for 
 which he had been defeated in the regular Eepublican conven- 
 tion. His great popularity secured his election, and he has 
 again completed his second term. 
 
 Henry G. Long was always a conservative in his opinions, 
 and this trait of his character was exemplified during the 
 period of the buckshot war. In conversation with some 
 of his party friends, he intimated his misgivings as to the 
 propriety of the conduct of certain extreme leaders of 
 his party ; and his remarks having been carried to the ears 
 of Governor Eitner, gave the latter much offence. A party 
 friend afterwards remarked to Mr. Long, that the Governor 
 was astonished that a man of his party, and especially one 
 from Lancaster county, should have given utterance to ex- 
 pressions as he had done. Mr. Long, far from being daunted, 
 and true to his convictions, boldly remarked, that what he " had 
 expressed, he believed, and he should not hesitate to give ex- 
 pression to the same sentiments upon any and every occasion." 
 
 As a Judge, Henry G. Long was fair and impartial, and 
 his honesty has never been questioned. He sought to de- 
 cide causes purely upon their merits ; and he bore with his 
 retirement the universal esteem of the bar and community. 
 As a citizen, he is kind, courteous and obliging, and he will 
 long be remembered for his bland and amiable manners. 
 In him it may truly be said, that he will, during the re- 
 mainder of his days, enjoy otium cum dignitate. 
 
 LONG, John", elected a member of the Legislature in 1829 
 and 1830. In 1835 he was elected one of the board of 
 county commisssoners. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 375 
 
 LOVBTT, John, elected a member of the Legislature in 
 1831. 
 
 *LOWBEY, Col. Alexander, was born in the north of 
 Ireland, in December, 1723, and came to America with his 
 father, Lazarus Lowery, in 1729, who settled in Donegal 
 township, Lancaster county, and was licensed by the Court 
 in 1730 to sell liquor by the small ; and by the Governor, as 
 an Indian trader, which latter . occupation he pursued for a 
 number of years thereafter. His sons, John and Daniel 
 Lowery, were also Indian traders; Having made frequent 
 trips to the far west to trade with the Indians, Alexander 
 probably accompanied them. He became a great favorite 
 with the Indians, and exercised an influence over them which 
 he retained during his life. 
 
 About the year 1718 he formed a partnership with 
 Joseph Simons, of Lancaster, in the fur trading • business, 
 which lasted forty years. The fur traders usually made 
 annual trips to the Allegheny and Mississippi rivers, in con- 
 voys, for their mutual protection. The Indians knew about 
 the time they were expected, and brought their peltries from 
 their hunting grounds farther West, to certain points, where 
 they exchanged them for blankets, &c. Col.' Lowery was 
 a powerful man, and capable of enduring any amount of 
 fatigue. He was considered one of the fleetest " Indian run- 
 ners," and was frequently selected by the Government to 
 collect the chiefs of the various Indian tribes at Detroit and 
 other places, to make treaties. The only subsistence he was 
 able to obtain for weeks at a time, was that procured by his 
 trusty rifle. He was taken with inflammatory rheumatism 
 while amongst the Indians along the banks of the Allegheny 
 river, and was carried to a log cabin, situate in a lonely dell, 
 where he was nursed by an aged squaw for several days, 
 when an Indian doctor came along and carried him to the 
 river, where a hole was made in the ice — for it was mid- 
 winter — and ducked him in the river. The shock was so 
 great to his system, that he was cured instantly, and never 
 afterwards had a return of it. Col. Lowery accumulated 
 money rapidly, and about the year 1755 commenced purchas- 
 *Contributed by Samuel Evans, esq., Columbia. 
 
876 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 ing large tracts of land. In 1757 lie purchased of Joseph 
 Pugh, sheriff, four hundred acres, sold as the property of his 
 father, Lazarus Lowery, (deceased). In this purchase was 
 included the farm lately sold by James B. Clark to Cameron, 
 upon which the Lowerys resided from 1740 to 1758 or '59. 
 In 1759 he purchased of sheriff Smith, four hundred acres, 
 sold as the property of Daniel Lowery, his brother. (Duffy's 
 park farm is a part of this place.) He removed to it in 
 1760, and lived in a 'log house — which stood in the meadow 
 south of the barn — a few years. About the year 1762 he 
 commenced to build the present stone mansion. His partner, 
 Joseph Simons, brought carpenters from Lancaster and con- 
 ducted its erection. Col. Lowery went amongst the Indians, 
 and did not return until the building was completed. In 
 1763, at the time of the massacre at Bloody Eun, Col. 
 Lowery was sent back to Fort Bays, (Bedford,) in the even- 
 ing, to get something left there by the traders. In the 
 night the Indians murdered many of the traders and their 
 men, (amongst whom was Daniel Lowery, his brother,) and 
 destroyed an immense amount of goods. When he returned, 
 about daylight, he discovered the terrible havoc made by 
 the Indians, who attempted to capture him. He ran for the 
 timber and was hunted for several days amongst the moun- 
 tains; they finally discovered him when near the river, on 
 the York county side of where Vinegar's Ferry now is, and 
 made chase. He swam the river and made good his escape. 
 This was the only instance in which he was molested by the 
 Indians. He often remarked, that they were so frenzied that 
 they knew not friend from foe. 
 
 In 1770 he purchased of sheriff Stone, eight hundred 
 acres, and the ground rents in Maytown, and a tannery adjoin- 
 ing, sold as the property of Jacob Downer. This land ran 
 from Maytown to the river, and was afterwards sold to Alex- 
 ander Boggs, Longenecker, and others. In 1774, when 
 hostilities broke out with the mother country, Col. Lowery 
 at once became very active on the side of the colonies. In 
 July, 1774, he was placed on a committee of correspondence, 
 to consult with other committees of conference in the 
 province, who met in Philadelphia, July 15th, 1774. De- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 377 
 
 Cembef 16th, 1774, he was appointed on a committee to 
 watch the suspected persons, and prevent, if possible, the 
 purchase and use of tea. Mrs. Lowery, being a member of 
 the Church of England, sometimes induced the teamsters 
 when they went to Philadelphia, to procure her some tea. 
 When Col. Lowery discovered it, he invariably destroyed it. 
 On another occasion, when he was from home, she procured 
 a " Coat of Arms," and placed it upon his carriage; when he 
 returned he destroyed it, and every other emblem of aris- 
 tocracy. He was elected a member of Assembly in 1775, 
 and served on many important committees. He was also 
 elected colonel of the Lancaster county militia, 3d battalion ; 
 and in 1776 a member of the Assembly, and a member of 
 the convention which framed the first Constitution of Penn- 
 sylvania. In 1777 he was appointed, with others, by the war 
 of&ce, to supply the army with blankets, the army being en- 
 tirely destitute of clothing during the winter of that year. 
 He commanded the Lancaster county militia at the battle of 
 Brandywine. He was elected a member of Assembly in 
 1778-80, and a member of the Senate to fill an unexpired 
 term of one who died. After the Revolutionary war, Col. 
 Lowery retired to his farm at Marietta. August 29th, 1791, 
 Gov. Thomas Mifflin commissioned him a justice of the 
 peace for the townships of Donegal, Mount Joy and Rapho. 
 Maytown being a lively place at that time, fights were a 
 common occurrence. The parties often came to Col. Lowery 
 to settle their disputes. His manner of dealing with them 
 suited the times, and saved the county unnecessary expense. 
 He usually placed the combatants upon the green sward in 
 front of his house and made them fight it out, he standing 
 by to see that there wa,s fair play and no gouging. Some- 
 times he turned in and whipped both of the parties. This 
 novel and summary way of dealing out justice, put a stop to 
 the quarreling, and especially their complaints before Col. 
 Lowery. Daniel Clark, the father of Myra Gaines, widow of 
 the late General Gaines, was a wagon-boy of Col. Lowery's, 
 and usually accompanied him on his western trips amongst 
 the Indians. After attaining his majority, he went down the 
 Mississippi river and settled at New Orleans. It is said, 
 27 
 
S75 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ■when trading with the Indians, in the absence of weights, 
 that Col. Lowery used his hand, which weighed two pounds, 
 and his foot, which weighed four pounds. 
 
 About the close of the Revolutionary war James Cun- 
 ningham, of Lancaster city, (who was lieutenant colonel in 
 Col. Lowery's battalion, and served many years in the Legis- 
 lature with him, and was a companion in his western trips,) 
 died. An express was sent to Col. Lowery, notifying him of 
 the sad event. He hastened to Lancaster, and arrived there 
 just as the remains of his departed friend was about to be 
 placed in the grave. The coffin was opened to permit the 
 friend of his life to gaze once more upon his features. He 
 -advanced with tears in his eyes, and grasped the hand of the 
 ■corpse, and exclaimed, "honest Jimmy Cunningham, that 
 never told a lie, or did a dishonest or mean action, has gone 
 to his fathers." It has been related by those who were at 
 this funeral and witnessed this, that it was a most affecting 
 scene, and drew tears from all present. Col. Lowery was a 
 bluff' man, with a commanding voice. He spoke as he 
 thought. When in conversation with a friend, and about 
 to enter the church at Donegal, of which he was a member, 
 he walked in, continuing the conversation, and in the same 
 tone of voice, which was unusually loud, until, he had 
 finished what he had to say. When Congress sat in York, 
 Anderson's ferry, now Marietta, was the principal crossing 
 along the river. Often boats were prevented from crossing 
 by reason of the floating ice. Col. Lowery's house during 
 these occasions was filled with officers and members of Con- 
 gress, who were on their way to York. General Gates and 
 lady, with some staff' officers, were thus delayed and invited 
 by Col. Lowery to his home. He placed them in the hall 
 and proceeded to the kitchen, to enquire of Mrs. Lowery 
 whether she could entertain them. She at once declared 
 she could not think of it — when her husband told her 
 to hush, that the party was at his heels and would hear 
 her if she made much noise. Alex. Lowery was married 
 in 1752, to Miss Mary Walters, by whom he had six 
 living children. In 1772 he married Ann Alricks, widow 
 of Hermanns Alricks, who was prothonotary, register, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 379 
 
 recorder, clerk of the court, and justice of the peace for 
 Cumberland county, and grandmother of Herman and 
 Hamilton Alricks, esqs., of Harrisburg. When he married 
 her, he had been a widower but six months, and she a widow 
 but ten months. He promised to say nothing about the 
 affair, but when they arrived in the vicinity of Maytown, 
 several hundred persons turned out in all sorts of convey- 
 ances, and lined the public road for several miles to receive 
 them, to the mortification of his bride. The colonel, being 
 fond of a joke, evidently sent word in advance of his coming. 
 She was a sister of Francis West, the grandfather of chief 
 justice Gibson. Congress having made the continental 
 money a legal tender, Col. Lowery sold the Clark farm to 
 James Anderson, (who sold to Brice Clark,) and most of the 
 Downer lands for that kind of money. When absent from 
 home, James Polk, uncle of the late President Polk, a resident 
 of Sherman's valley, Cumberland county. Pa., came and ofi'ered 
 to pay a judgment note, held by Col. Lowery against him, 
 in continental money. Mrs. Lowery, who was a spirited 
 woman, refused to take the money, when Polk deliberately 
 put his horse in the stable and declared his intention of 
 staying until the colonel- came home. He actually remained 
 several days, and badgered and annoyed Mrs. Lowery so 
 much, that she took the money, and bade him clear out and 
 never show his face there again. Frances Evans was the 
 only child by this marriage; she married Samuel Evans, a 
 member of the Legislature from Chester county. John 
 Evans, his ancestor, a native of Wales, landed in Philadel- 
 phia in 1690, with a family consisting of seven persons, viz : 
 his father, mother, wife and daughter, brother and sister. 
 In the spring of 1696 John Evans purchased a tract of land 
 in the State of Delaware, called the " Welsh tract." In 1715 
 he purchased four hundred acres on the white clay creek, in 
 Chester county, Pa., now owned by Esquire Niven. In 1718 
 John Evans, jr., married Eeynold Howell, amative of Wales, 
 who came to this country the same year. They left a family 
 of six children, all of whom died young, except Evan, George 
 and Peter. Evan was the father of Samuel Evans ; Evan 
 had three sons and three daughters. George served as a 
 
880 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 sergeant in Bailey's regiment during the Eevolutionary war, 
 and was wounded at New York, by a bayonet which was 
 thrust through his body ; he lived many years thereafter. 
 His daughter married Johnson, the Napoleon of the turf in 
 this country. The first fee received by the late Judge 
 Yeates, was from Col. Lowery. He had a wonderful memory, 
 and was frequently called upon in different parts of the State- 
 to settle disputes about the title of lands. A few years 
 before his death, he and Joseph Simons selected referees, one 
 of whom was the late Adam Reigart, to settle the partner- 
 ship affairs, which ran through more than forty years. 
 Strange as it may appear, there was not a solitary record or 
 scrap of paper to show the transactions between them, which 
 must have amounted to many thousand pounds. Colonel 
 Lowery would call Mr. Simons' attention to an amount of 
 money paid him on a certain log, perhaps thirty or forty 
 years before, when Simons would give his assent thereto, 
 and in return remind Col. Lowery that he paid him a certain 
 sum of money at a certain spring many years before, and 
 thus these honest men recapitulated circumstances which 
 covered forty years of time, without one word of dispute, 
 and settled up their affairs. Mr. Reigart often remarked, 
 that he never saw or heard of such a settlement. 
 
 Col. Lowery was married a third time to Sarah Cochrane, a 
 widow, who lived near York Springs, in 1793. Samuel 
 Eddie wrote the marriage contract. Col. L. had been on a 
 visit to the Gibsons, in Sherman's valley. On his way home 
 he stopped at York Springs; some of his friends, whom he 
 met there, intimated to hiin that there was a spry widow, 
 named Cochrane, at the springs, for whom he had better " set 
 his cap." He hastened home and returned with his carriage,, 
 and at once proposed to the widow to marry; promptly she 
 responded that she would. While crossing the mountain, on 
 his way home, she manifested great fears lest the carriage 
 would be overturned, and intimated that she would rather 
 walk. The Colonel told Sammy, her son, who was driving, to 
 stop and let his mammy out ; he drove on and halted at the foot 
 of the mountain, and remained there until his wife came up. 
 She was a large woman, and suffered very much; she car- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 381 
 
 ried her shoes in lier hand ; she never thereafter mani- 
 fested her fears by expressing a desire to walk. It turned 
 out that a trick had been played upon the old man, who was 
 nearly seventy years of age. This Mrs. Cochrane was not 
 the widow of that name who was first at the springs, but a 
 very inferior woman. When he discovered the trick which 
 had been played upon him, he built the house, (afterwards 
 owned by Duffy), and placed her there, and never after- 
 wards lived with her. Her sons, who were sporting men, 
 robbed the old man of many hundred pounds, which they 
 squandered at the races, &c. He died January 31st, 1805. 
 leaving a large landed estate in different parts of the State. 
 Col. Lowery was in the habit of saying that James Wilson, 
 a member from Pennsylvania, of the convention which 
 framed the Constitution, was the author of it. He knew the 
 persons engaged in the murder of the Conestoga Indians, at 
 Lancaster, and told his daughter, Mrs. Evans, that many of 
 those engaged in it died a violent death. 
 
 M. 
 
 MACKB Y, James, was elected a member of the Legislature 
 in the years 1831 and 1882. 
 
 MAESTELLER, Philip, a member of the Legislature in 
 1776. He was also a delegate in 1776 to the convention 
 which adopted the first State Constitution. 
 
 MAETIN, B."F., elected a member in the Legislature in 
 1851. 
 
 MAETIN, David M., elected Clerk of Quarter Sessions 
 in 1848. 
 
 MAETIISI, George, elected Sheriff of Lancaster county in 
 1854. 
 
 MAETIN, Hugh, was a farmer of Drumore township, 
 and was elected to the Legislature on the Federal ticket in 
 1816 and 1817. His brother, Samuel Martin, was a clergy- 
 man, who had received his education at the Eev. Mr. Latta's 
 
382 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 academy, at Cliestnut Level. He ministered at the Presby- 
 terian cliurch, at Chanceford, in York county. He was a 
 man of good ability and ripe scholarship. 
 
 *MAETI]Sr, Hon. Peteb, was born in January, 1805, in that 
 part of Elizabeth township which, since its division, is called 
 Clay township, Lancaster county, Pa. He was of Swiss de- 
 scent. His grandfather, John, or Johannes Martin, immi- 
 grated from Switzerland, and settled about two miles from 
 Woodstock, Shenandoah county, Va. Here his father, Peter 
 Martin, sr., was born, and resided until the Indians became 
 very troublesome and rendered the residence of white settlers 
 utterly unsafe. The s abject of this sketch frequently listened 
 to the relation of his parents concerning nightly surprises, 
 habitations in flames, murdered husbands and fathers, and 
 women and children hiding in grain iields, seeking safety 
 from the murderous savages. These dangers induced his 
 grandfather to remove to a place more remote from the 
 Indian frontier. He chose the quiet and peaceful scenes of 
 old Ephrata, Lancaster county. Pa. Here, after the grand- 
 father's death, Peter Martin, sr., the father of the subject of 
 our sketch resided for a number of years, following the 
 business of a shoemaker and country merchant. He was 
 appointed a justice of the peace by Governor Findlay, and 
 afterward moved to Elizabeth township, Lancaster county, 
 where he acted as juh>tice of the peace, and followed the 
 business of a surveyor and conveyancer, and also kept a 
 country store. 
 
 Here his son, Peter Martin, jr., was born. Concerning his 
 early years little is known. He received such education as 
 the schools of his time and neighborhood afforded. It is 
 well known that the facilities for obtaining a good common 
 school education were, at that time, far inferior to what they 
 now are. He assisted his father in his store, and also in his 
 business as a surveyor and conveyancer. His father's in- 
 structions and training, in a great measure, supplied the want 
 of early education. He acquired the facility of handling his- 
 pen rapidly, and of drawing an article of writing with care and 
 skill. He was frequently heard to talk of his youthful ex- 
 *Conti-ibutecl by J. B. Good, esq. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 383 
 
 ploit of drawing an executor's deed for his father, without a 
 blot or flaw on its face. The achievement was considered 
 by him as a great triumph, on which his memory in after 
 years delighted to dwell. 
 
 As his father advanced in years, the weight of business 
 gradually shifted on his son's shoulders. The Governor 
 appointed the son a justice of the peace, in the room and 
 stead of his father, whose mantle thus fell on worthy shoul- 
 ders. To the new incumbent the ordinary business of a 
 magistrate's office had no attractions. In fact, he scarcely 
 transacted any criminal business at all. This resulted partly 
 from the moral condition of the community around him, and 
 partly because his time was occupied with business more 
 congenial to his taste. In his extensive practice as a sur- 
 veyor and scrivener, he was constantly consulted in regard 
 to the many legal questions which continually arise in the 
 course of its pursuit. He was the friend and guide of execu- 
 tors, administrators, guardians and trustees of every kind. 
 His mind became familiar with the statutes relating to these 
 subjects, and with the decisions of the courts made under 
 them. Whenever his advice was desired, he was indefati- 
 gable in examining the point in question in order to reach a 
 correct conclusion. Although he never pursued a regular 
 course of legal stady, yet such was his industry and natural 
 aaumen, added in later years to his extensive experience, 
 that hia opinion was generally entitled to a great deal of 
 respect. This was more especially the case in that branch 
 of the law relating to the practice in the orphans' court and 
 the settlement of estates of decedents. Every change in the 
 acts of Assembly, or a new ruling of court, was watched by 
 him with an eagle eye, as he took a laudable pride in keep- 
 ing up with the times, and having his mind amply stored 
 with useful knowledge. It has been objected to his method 
 of drawing instruments of writing, that he was unnecessarily 
 prolix, and more especially in drafting wills, too circum- 
 stantial in detail. His own apology for this was, that if you 
 confine yourself strictly to the truth, you cannot say too 
 much, and that it is better to be tedious than ambiguous. 
 In the latter years of his life he frequently declared, that he. 
 
884 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 knew of no instance in whicli a law suit originated out of any- 
 ambiguous or uncertain directions contained in a last will 
 drawn by him. 
 
 He held his commission as a justice of the peace till the 
 amended constitution came in force, under whose provisions 
 he was twice reelected, although the party with which he 
 acted was in a minority in the district where he resided. In 
 1850, however, he declined a reelection, and he never after- 
 wards held a magistrate's commission. He had early identi- 
 fied himself with the Democratic party, and always claimed 
 that, however party names and circumstances- had changed, 
 he still remained faithful to his old political principles, and 
 that he never was or had been anything but a genuine Jack- 
 son Democrat. In the local politics of Lancaster county he 
 soon succeeded in obtaining a very prominent position, which 
 he maintained for a long time. He, at several times, was 
 the Democratic candidate for Congress, but on account of 
 his party being in a hopeless minority in the county, always 
 failed of an election. In the fall of 1843 he ran the last 
 time for Congress on the Democratic ticket. The late Jere- 
 miah Brown was the Whig candidate, and the Hon. A. E. 
 Roberts the Anti-masonic standard-bearer. Mr. Brown was 
 elected in this triangular contest. Upon the inauguration of 
 the American, or Know-nothing movement, he identified 
 himself with that party, and was their candidate for pro- 
 thonotary in the year 1854, when Joseph Bowman, the "Whig 
 candidate, was elected, B. F. Holl having been the Demo- 
 cratic candidate for the same office. 
 
 Mr. Martin always was a friend of the late Col. Eeah 
 Frazer, famiharly known as the " Democratic War Horse." 
 When the anti-Lecompton or Kansas troubles commenced, 
 which culminated in the organization of the Eepublican 
 party, it was natural that he should cast his lot with them, 
 and oppose the election of Buchanan to the Presidency in 
 1856. , In this step, those of his friends who knew him best, 
 believed he acted conscientiously and from principle, how- 
 <ever his notions may have been impugned by his old friends, 
 whose party he left, or by his political enemies, with whom 
 lie now af&liated. The Eepublican county convention, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 385 
 
 Tvhicli met at Lancaster in the fall of 1857, nominated him as 
 their candidate for the office of prothonotary. It may easily 
 be imagined that this action of the convention was not 
 approved by a great number of the old line Whigs, with 
 whom Mr. Martin had fought so many political battles. The 
 consequence was, that William Carpenter, one of their num- 
 ber, received and accepted the Democratic nomination for 
 the same office. A very spirited and somewhat acrimonious 
 canvass ensued, and when the election was over and the 
 votes counted, Mr. Carpenter was returned as having a small 
 m.ajority. As usual, each party accused the other of fraud. 
 The election was contested, and the Court, after a patient 
 investigation, decided that Mr. Carpenter was elected by a 
 majority often votes. 
 
 To most men such a series of political defeats would have 
 proved so disastrous that their prospects would have been 
 irretrievably ruined. But such was not the case with Mr. 
 Martin. He himself attributed his recuperative powers to 
 the fact that he constantly retained the esteem and support 
 of his neighbors, and never committed any act by which he 
 forfeited their confidence and friendship. He understood 
 the local politics of his county as well, perhaps, as any other 
 man living at that time. His policy was to concentrate 
 several of his neighboring districts, so that their weight and 
 influence should go together. His next step was to seek 
 alliances with other candidates in different parts of the county 
 who controlled similar powers, thus effecting what he was 
 accustomed to call " a concentration of strength." The prac- 
 tical result of these tactics was, that Peter Martin and his 
 friends were all but irresistible in county conventions. 
 The most difficult part of this, as of many other programmes, 
 was to begin right — that is, to have the votes and influence 
 of your neighbors ; thus illustrating the wisdom of one of 
 Mr. Martin's favorite maxims, that to a politician it was im- 
 portant, above all other things, to be " right with his neigh- 
 bors at home. 
 
 From what has been said, it may be inferred that he had 
 not much apparent trouble in obtaining his nomination for 
 the office of prothonotary by the Eepublican county con- 
 
386 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 vention of 1860 ; but there were still some of his party who 
 objected to his nomination, and when his name was an- 
 nounced as the successful candidate in the convention, it 
 induced the Democrats to nominate Mr. Gerardus Clarkson, 
 who had previously always been regarded as a Republican, 
 as their candidate for the same office, hoping that the result 
 of the election held three years before might again be real- 
 ized. In these expectations, however, Mr. Clarkson and his 
 friends were disappointed, and Mr. Martin was elected by a 
 large majority. He served the office of prothouotary for 
 the term of three years, to the satisfaction of his constitu- 
 ents and with honor to himself After its close he retired 
 to his home at Lincoln, where he remained in private life 
 until the fall of 1866, when he was elected associate judge of 
 the several courts of the county of Lancaster. This posi- 
 tion he held at the time of his death, which occurred rather 
 suddenly, on the 16th of August, 1867, at his home, having 
 been sick only for a few days previous to his death. In 
 person Mr. Martin was of medium height, inclining to corpu- 
 lency. He had fine eyes, beaming with intelligence. He 
 wore his hair short, which in his later years was entirely 
 white. His face and chin were smoothly shaved. Though 
 his manners were simple and unaffected, there was a certain 
 native dignity in his bearing which at once impressed the 
 beholder that he was a person of more than ordinary force 
 of character. 
 
 MATHIOT, John", was elected sheriff of Lancaster 
 county in the year 1818. He was an alderman of Lancas- 
 ter and carried on the business of a scrivener. He was 
 elected in 1831, by citycouncils. Mayor of the city of Lan- 
 caster, and eleven times reelected. He died January 22d, 
 1843, in the 58th year of his age. 
 
 MAXWELL, Hugh, was born in Ireland, December 7th, 
 1777. When quite a youth he came to Philadelphia, and at 
 the age of nineteen he entered in partnership in the book 
 publishing business with Matthew Carey, and with him pub- 
 lished one of the first literary magazines in the city of 
 brotherly love. He afterwards edited the Port-Folio, a 
 magazine of some repute in its day. Whilst in the book 
 
OF LAKOASTEE COUNTY. 387 
 
 publisMiig business, he cast his own type and made his own 
 wood-cuts. Having met with severe losses in the financial 
 crisis that succeeded the war of 1812-14, he for a time 
 abandoned the editorial career and followed agricultural pur- 
 suits. His active temperament, however, soon introduced 
 him into other editorial enterprises. In 1817 he removed 
 to Lancaster and established the Lancaster Gazette, which he 
 conducted with decided ability for several years. He next 
 purchased the Lancaster Journal, one of the oldest Demo- 
 cratic papers of Pennsylvania, and this he published up to 
 1839. As a citizen, he ever ranked amongst the most active 
 and enterprising in all projects looking towards the estab- 
 lishment and promotion of public improvements. He was one 
 of the most active members of the company organized in 
 1820 for the improvement of the Oonestoga navigation; and 
 he it was who called the first meeting at Columbia, which 
 discussed the project of uniting that place and Philadelphia by 
 a railroad. He was gratified to live to see this enterprise com- 
 pleted in spite of much opposition and ridicule. The " Me- 
 chanics' Literary Association" of Lancaster, of which he was 
 the first president, greatly owed its foundation to his spirit 
 and enterprise. Hugh Maxwell was a man of considerable 
 mechanical ingenuity, and among his inventions the 
 " printer's roller," patented in 1817, was a fruit of his genius. 
 He drew such attention to the cause of boiler explosions as 
 elicited great praise in his day. With Wm. White, ex-sheriff 
 of Lancaster, he discovered the Lykens Valley and Short 
 Mountain coal fields, and shipped the first coal to market from 
 those mines. As editor of a newspaper, Mr. Maxwell had few 
 superiors in his day. He was a vigorous writer, and could 
 pen an editorial of great power, and withal, couched in 
 smooth and graceful language. He was a bold and inde- 
 pendent thinker and fearless leader in public afl'airs. He 
 died November 1st, 1860. 
 
 MAXWELL, EOBEET, was a citizen of Drumore town- 
 ship, and died November 6th, 1819, in the 80th year of his 
 age. He was elected county commissioner in the year 1798. 
 He was elected to the Legislature of Pennsylvania in 1806, 
 1807, 1808, 1809, 1812 and 1813. 
 
S88 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 MAY, David, elected Clerk of the Orphans' Court in 1848. 
 
 MAYBE, Christian, was elected State Senator in 1804, 
 and reelected to the same position in 1808. 
 
 MAYEE, GrEORGE, a merchant of Lancaster, and brother 
 of Dr. Mayer. He was possessed of a fine memory, and 
 when a member of the Legislature in 1835, he took quite an 
 -active part in legislative proceedings. Abraham Kaufi'man, 
 who was cotemporary with him in the Legislature, speaking 
 of him said: '' I once heard one of the canal commissioners 
 remark of him after he had given some testimony before the 
 House : what a mind and memory Colonel Mayer possesses; 
 his language is iit for the press just as he speaks from recol- 
 lection." He died September 9th, 1862, in the 82nd year of 
 his age. 
 
 MAYBE, Eev. Dr. Louis, an able divine, was born in 
 the city of Lancaster, March 26th, 1783. His father was 
 a gentleman of liberal culture. After he had made such 
 proficiency in education as boys of his grade usually 
 obtained, he resolved upon business, and made the experi- 
 ment in Fredericktown, Maryland ; but having no aptitude 
 for secular pursuits this result was not flattering. About 
 this time his mind became aroused as to spiritual affairs, and 
 he seemed to recognize in his internal feelings a call to the 
 ministerial career, for which he cherished a peculiar fond- 
 ness. He now entered upon the preparatory studies neces- 
 sary as a preparation for this field of service. His mind 
 being formed of solid material, he made rapid progress in 
 his classical and theological studies, and he was licensed to 
 preach in the year 1807, by the Eeformed Synod of Penn- 
 sylvania. In 1808 he accepted a call from the Shepherds- 
 town charge, including MartiHsburg and Smithfield congre- 
 gations. IJere he labored with great zeal and efficiency for 
 twelve years. Whilst serving these oongreg^tions several 
 efforts were made to obtain his services, but without success. 
 In 1821 he was induced to accept a call from the Eeformed 
 church of York, Pa., where he continued to officiate until he 
 was called upon to preside over the theological seminary of 
 the German Eeformed church. In 1825 he resigned his 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 389 
 
 charge in York, moved to Carlisle, Pa., and began his duties 
 as professor in the seminary. The new institution was fortu- 
 nate in obtaining the services of Dr. Mayer, at a time when 
 everything depended upon those interested with its control 
 and management. The new professor was popular and dis- 
 charged his duties with great fidelity. The infant institu- 
 tion, however, was but poorly endowed, and this, in connec- 
 tion with other circumstances needless to detail, proved very 
 embarrassing to the incumbent of the theological chair, 
 and indeed to the Synod itself. In 1829 the seminary was 
 removed to York, Pa. A second professor of the seminary 
 was found necessary, and it was also resolved to connect a 
 classical school with the seminary. This latter department 
 was committed to Frederick A. Eauoh;^ a distinguished 
 German scholar, and afterwards President of Marshall Col- 
 lege, in Mercersburg, Pa. Dr. Mayer faithfully served the 
 church in the capacity of professor in the seminary, until 
 1835, when it was removed to Mercersburg. Not choosing 
 
 ' A few remarks and reflections will not be untimed as regards the 
 career and influence of Dr. Frederick Augustus Rauch, who, although 
 never living in our midst, yet whose ashes lie amongst us, and whose 
 influence is felt sweUiug the intellectual gales of our country. His 
 monument reared on Franklin and Marshall campus, will, in coming 
 time, be one of the objects of interest for visitors to the inland city of 
 Lancaster. In the coming of Dr. Rauch to the United States, there was 
 freighted into our country a cargo of philosophical thought that, in a 
 great measure, has served to arouse American life to the existence of the 
 gigantic intellectual revolution that had been fought across the waters 
 in the fatherland. Prior to the arrival of this scholar in America, httle 
 was known as regards the state of opinion in Europe, and the little that 
 it was came by way of England, that had itself scarcely waked up to a 
 knowledge of the great world-battle that had been fought on German 
 soil. From the time that Dr. Rauch was made President of Marshall 
 College in Mercersburg, in 1885, a new era dawned upon the American 
 mind, and a tide of thinking set in which from that period has flowed 
 onward with gathering strength. The names of Kant, Jacobi, Pichte, 
 Schellini;, Hegel, Schleiermacher and Daub, are familiarized to a circle 
 of American auditors, and the thoughts of these world-famed thinkers 
 are made to take hold upon our cis- Atlantic intellect. Dr. Rauch, in the 
 works he brought with him, was as by charts enabled to point out the 
 respective positions of the contending hosts of European thought, and 
 as one who had surveyed the whole field of the contest, could say what 
 had been severally gained by the one, and lost by the other. 
 
 America, at that time, was still adhering to the nude dogmatism of 
 
390 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOKT 
 
 to leave York, lie resigned his professorship in the seminary, 
 but upon the earnest solicitation of Synod, was afterwards 
 prevailed upon to resume his professorship. He did so, 
 however, with the distinct understanding, that his services 
 should simply be regarded as temporary. In October of 
 the following year, at the meeting of the general Synod, Dr. 
 Mayer again tendered his resignation, which was accepted. 
 From that time till his death he continued to reside in York, 
 and was engaged, as far as health would permit, in preparing 
 several works for the press. 
 
 As a preacher, Dr. Mayer was learned and faithful. In 
 the early part of his ministry it was his custom to write and 
 commit his sermons ; but in his later years he preached chiefly 
 extemporaneously. His preaching was plain, practical and 
 impressive. In the delivery of his sermons he was mea- 
 sured, earnest, -and always very serious. His style was clear, 
 chaste, and adapted to the comprehension of his auditors; 
 often argumentative, and at times very powerful. Being 
 possessed of a clear, logical mind, he was very happy in his 
 
 creeds, abandoned by the philosophic mind of the world for near a cen- 
 tury. Its intellectual status at that period, was but little developed 
 in the direction of metaphysical inquiry and philosophical research; and, 
 indeed, the grade of collegiate training seemed to aim at nothing higher 
 than a preparation for practical life and the distribution of inherited 
 opinions. That, it must be confessed, is too truly even yet the case; but 
 with the meeting of Drs. Eauch and Nevin at Mercersbixrg, a new spirit 
 arose upon American soil. It was the spirit of inquiry, and the same 
 that served in Descartes for the complete overthrow of scholasticism. 
 The new spirit grew and advanced, and some years afterwards found its 
 main foothold in Lancaster county. It germinated in what is known as 
 the Mercersburg school of theology, but that is simply one phase of the 
 influence following the dissemination of the new principle. 
 
 The war of the American scholastics against the new school of thought 
 was commeuced, and, with scarce an intermission, has been continued up 
 till the present. Our county in the removal of the Theological seminary 
 of the German Reformed church, during 1871, from Mercersburg to Lan- 
 caster, has become a centre of thought-distinction, whose existence 
 dare not be unrecognized. From it will continue to emanate an iirflu- 
 ence potent on American life and thinking, towards the building up of 
 a clear systematic and rounded jihilosophy which can turn all the 
 weapons of a puerile scholastic dogmatism. 
 
 The man from whom, in a large measure, this influence has flown, 
 Dr. Frederick A. Ranch, and whose remains lie in Lancaster, was born 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 391 
 
 explanations of the Scriptures, and in setting forth their true 
 sense. He had somewhat a taste for lecturing, and his ex- 
 positions of the sacred oracles were, in general, very clear 
 and forcible. 
 
 As a professor. Dr. Mayer was eminently qualified. For 
 thirteen years he filled the chair of professor of theology, 
 and a part of this time gave instruction also in the Hebrew 
 language and church history. Like many of our eminent 
 men, he was chiefly indebted to his untiring industry for his 
 ripe scholarship. He was a fine linguist, and had made him- 
 self familiar with the various European systems of theology 
 and philosophy. He was a fine German scholar, and he per- 
 used many of the works which emanated from that land of 
 scholars and deep thinkers. His mind was admirably 
 adapted to the study of biblical antiquities, hermeneutics, 
 exegesis, and didactic and pastoral theology. Few, perhaps, 
 surpassed him in sermonizing, and in preparing and dictating 
 skeletons of sermons. If a skeleton prepared and read by a 
 student was not.au fait, it underwent a remodeling immedi- 
 
 in Hesse-Darmstadt, July STtli, 1806. At the age of fifteen he became 
 a student of Marburg, where he took his diploma in 1837. Afterwards 
 he spent some time at Giessen and Heidelberg. Upon leaving Heidel- 
 berg he became professor extraordinary in the university of Geissen, 
 being at the time twenty-four years of age. Possessing a temperament 
 that could ill repress real sentiment, he gave utterance to views offensive 
 to the governing powers, and his safety required on his part a voluntary 
 self-expatriation. He came to America in the fall of 1831, having just 
 completed the twenty-fifth year of his age. He spent his first year in 
 Easton, Pa., where he applied himself assiduously to the learning of the 
 English language. His stores of classical and philosophical learning 
 were at this time of little avail, and he derived the most immediate 
 advantage to himself from his knowledge of music, of which he was a 
 master. He procured his support by giving lessons on the piano. In 
 June, 1832, he went to York, Pa., and took charge of the classical school, 
 then an appendage of the Theological seminary, in which capacity he 
 labored up to 183.5. In this latter year he moved to Mercersburg, and was 
 chosen president of Marshall College. In this responsible position he 
 continued to labor, in the midst of great difliculties and discouragements, 
 up tiU the time of his death, which occurred March 2d, 1841. His 
 remains, after resting in Mercersburg for eighteen years, were brought 
 to Lancaster in 1859, and now lie in front of Erankhu and Marshall 
 coUege edifice. Lancaster you should be proud that your earth forms 
 the urn of one of Germany's noble band of philosophic thinkers. 
 
392 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ately, or was altogether laid aside and another dictated at once. 
 To his class he seemed always prepared on the topics of the 
 recitation, and perfectly at home on all collateral matters 
 claiming attention. On subjects connected with personal 
 piety, he was in the habit of speaking to the students, and 
 embraced every fitting opportunity to give them counsel 
 and to urge upon them the importance of a prayerful and 
 holy life. 
 
 Dr. Mayer edited for many years, with great acceptance, 
 the Magazine and Messenger of the German Reformed church, 
 and occasionally contributed ably written articles for some 
 of the leading American reviews. Among his published 
 works, are those on the Sin against the Holy Ohost ; Lec- 
 tures on Scriptural Subjects, and his History of the German 
 Reformed church. . He died August 25th, 1849. 
 
 MAYEE, Nathaniel, was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in the years 1862 and 1863. 
 
 McALISTBR, Aechibald, was a member of the Legisla- 
 ture in the year 1820. 
 
 McALISTBR, Jacob, was elected County Commissioner in 
 the year 1882. 
 
 McCAMANT, John, was a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 182-4 and 1827. In 1826 he was the Democratic 
 competitor of James Buchanan for Congress. 
 
 McCLBBRY, Carpenter, was elected Clerk of Quarter 
 Sessions and Oyer and Terminer in the year 1845. 
 
 McCLURB, Joseph, was elected to the Legislature in the 
 years 1840 and 1841. 
 
 McCULLOCH, Wm., was a member of the Legislature in 
 the year 1820. 
 
 McEVOY, Patrick, an extensive contractor and banker, 
 was born at Millick, Queens county, Ireland. He emigrated 
 to America friendless, and found employment with a rail- 
 road contractor in a subordinate position. Having shown a . 
 rare acuteness in business, he was encouraged to embark in., 
 contracting, and in this he proved remarkably fortunate. In 
 a few years he became one of the most extensive contractors 
 in the country, and had large contracts in the construction. 
 
OF LAiSrCASTBR COUNTY. 393 
 
 of the Pennsylvania railroad, the New York and Brie rail- 
 road, and the Susquehanna and Tide Water canal ; he was 
 also a contractor on a railroad in New Jersey. It was he, 
 who built the section of the Pennsylvania Central railroad 
 at Kittaning point, which is regarded by railroad men as one 
 of the finest pieces of work in the United States. Mr. Mc- 
 Evoy lived many years near the city of Lancaster, and was 
 a man highly 'esteemed and respected. In 1864 he was the 
 Democratic elector for this district on the Presidential ticket. 
 He was a director of the old Lancaster bank, and filled 
 numerous other of&cial positions of trust. At the time of his 
 death he was engaged in completing a very heavy contract 
 for the Philadelphia and Erie railroad company, in construct- 
 ing Bennet's branch railway, eighteen miles in length, at 
 Driftwood. He died February 1st, 1870, in the sixty-fifth 
 year of his age.. 
 
 *McGOW AN FAMILY. John McGowan emigrated from 
 Ireland about the time of the last war with England, when 
 quite young. He was an enterprising and intelligent man, 
 and by his persevering industry and good character, rose 
 from being a clerk to an extensive manufacturer of iron in 
 Sadsbury township. He was united in marriage about the 
 year 1830 with Catharine, the daughter of William and Sarah 
 Knott, and settled on a farm which he purchased in the 
 valley. He died in the year 1851, leaving his widow with 
 nine sons and five daughters, who are all living at the pres-. 
 ent time (except one which died in infancy.) The family 
 now own most of the original tract of Moses Musgrove in the 
 valley. They are the well-known, highly respectable Mc- 
 Gowan family, among whom are William McGowan, esq., 
 John McGowan and Joseph McGowan, late assistant asses- 
 sor of internal revenue. 
 
 McGEANN, John, brother of Richard McGrann, was an 
 enterprising business man and contractor. 
 
 McGRANN, EiCHARD, a prominent contractor, who died 
 October 14th, 1867, aged seventy years. The following is 
 from the Philadelphia Press : 
 
 "Kichard McGrann was well known in Pennsylvania as one of the 
 *Contributed by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. 
 28 
 
894 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 most enterprising and courageous contractors in the State. The elegant 
 bridge which spans the Scliuylkill at the end of Chestnut street, Phila^ 
 delphia, is a lasting and most creditable monument of his labor. The 
 Pennsylvania and Northern Central railroads, as well as many other lines 
 testify to his energy and success. At the time of his death he was en- 
 gaged on a large and handsome railroad bridge near Easton. He came 
 from Ireland when a young man, poor and friendless. He was a man of 
 •controlling weight in his county, and the head of a large and substantial 
 family connection. He was a gentleman of warm impulses, unimpeach- 
 able integrity, and great public spirit. ' ' 
 
 He was a delegate to the Democratic State Oonvention in 
 1863. 
 
 McLENBGAN, Zephaniah, appointed Prothonotary in 
 1839. 
 
 McMillan, John, a member of the Legislature in 1776. 
 
 McSPARRBN, James, elected Commissioner in 1806. 
 
 MBHAFFBY, George W., was elected Commissioner in 
 1871. 
 
 MBHAFFBY, Hugh, was appointed Register of Wills in 
 1836. 
 
 MERCER, Capt. J. Q., was born in Sadsbury township, 
 and belongs to Quaker ancestry. He was engaged in teach- 
 ing school when the firing upon Fort Sumpter roused the 
 country to arms. He immediately enlisted for the three 
 months' service in company K, of 20th regiment (Scott 
 Legion). Upon the expiration of this service he reenlisted as 
 8d duty sergeant in company P, 28th Pennsylvania volunteer 
 infantry, and served in the same until after the battle of An- 
 tietam, when the company was transferred and made a part 
 of the 147th volunteer infantry. His company afterwards 
 formed part of the ariny of the Cumberland, under the com- 
 mand of Gen. Hooker. He was with his company and a 
 participant in many of the hard fought battles of the rebel- 
 lion, and amongst these. Lookout Mountain, Antietam, Mis- 
 sion Ridge, Chancellorsville, Ringgold, Resaca, Gettysburg, 
 Snicker's Gap, and Pine Knob. In the latter engagement he 
 was wounded in the right leg above the knee, June 16th, 
 1864, having been previously commissioned captain of his 
 company, June 8th of the same year." On account of this 
 wound he was necessitated to suffer amputation of his right 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 895 
 
 leg, and after a hospital confinement of some months was 
 discharged from service, March 2d, 1865. In October of 
 1866 he was nominated and elected clerk of the orphans' 
 court of Lancaster county, the duties of which oiSce he dis- ' 
 charged to the satisfaction of the public. 
 
 MERCER, James, was a member of the Legislature in 
 the y^ars 1781, 1782, 1783 and 1784. 
 
 MICHAEL, William, was elected clerk of the Quarter 
 Sessions in the year 1830. 
 
 MILLER, David, was elected Sheriff of Lancaster county 
 in the year 1785, and held the same for three years. He was 
 elected to the Legislature in 1789. He was also elected to 
 the State Senate in 1794, and in 1801 returned again to the 
 Legislature. 
 
 MILLER, Gen. Heney, a native of Lancaster county, was 
 a conspicuous officer of the American army during the 
 Revolutionary war. He was engaged in many of the hard 
 fought battles of that stirring period. He was born in the 
 year 1741, and died at Carlisle in the year 1824. 
 
 *MILLER, Henry, was born in Reading, Berks county, 
 Pa., December 18th, 1774, came to Manheim in 1803, where 
 he carried on the hatting business. During life, being of a 
 ■domestic, quiet disposition, he meddled little with public 
 affairs. In 1826 the Federal party, to which he belonged, 
 nominated him for a seat in the Legislature without his 
 knowledge or consent. When apprised of it, he first de- 
 clined ; after considerable persuasion, his friends succeeded 
 in having him accept the nomination. He was elected and 
 served the session of 1826-27. In 1827 he was again 
 nomitiated for the same position. At this time parties 
 were closely divided between Democrats and Federals. 
 Oeneral Jackson being nominated for President, strengthened 
 the Democratic party considerably in the county, and he was 
 this time defeated. He spent the remainder of his life in 
 private, much respected in the community in which he was 
 so well known. He died May 11th, 1847, aged 73 years, 
 7 months and 21 days. 
 
 *Coiitributed by Abraham Kauffman. 
 
396 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 MILLBE, John, a farmer of Manheim township, was 
 elected County Commissioner in the year 1839. He was one 
 of the early anti- slavery men of his district; a great friend 
 of the free school system, when his township was opposed 
 to it ; and an advocate of the cause of temperance. He was 
 one of the most devoted friends of Thaddeus Stevens in the 
 county. Besides agricultural pursuits, he latterly carried on 
 the business of milling.- 
 
 MILLER, Martin, was elected County Commissioner in 
 the year 1848, 
 
 MILLBE, Tobias H., was elected Recorder of Deeds in. 
 the year 1854. 
 
 MILBS, Colonel David, is a native of Franklin county. 
 Pa., born in 1831. In his youth he worked upon a farm, 
 then learned the tin and sheet-iron business, which he fol- 
 lowed till the breaking out of the rebellion. He went out 
 as orderly sergeant of the Lancaster Fencibles in the three 
 months service, and after this term of duty had expired, he 
 again marched as First Lieutenant of company B of the 69th 
 regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers, under Captain Duch- 
 man. Upon the promotion of Captain Duchman to be Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel of the regiment. Lieutenant Miles took his 
 place as Captain, and afterwards succeeded him as Lieutenant 
 Colonel when the former left the army. He participated in 
 the battles of Perryville, Stone River and Ohickamauga, in 
 which last he was taken prisoner, and was detained as such in 
 Libby Prison, Richmond, at Macon, Georgia, and at Charles- 
 ton, South Carolina. After being exchanged, he served in 
 Sherman's famous march to the sea in command of a brigade, 
 and fought in the battle of Bentonville, where he was 
 wounded, besides many other minor engagements. H/was 
 discharged from service with the rank of Colonel by brevet. 
 In 1866 he was nominated and elected register of wills of 
 Lancaster county, the duties of which he discharged for 
 three years. 
 
 MITCHELL, James, was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in the years 1729, 1744, 1745 and 1746. 
 
 MOHLBR, John, was a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1801 and 1802. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 397 
 
 MOHLEE, Samuel, was a member of the Legislature in 
 the year 1827. 
 
 MONTGOMERY, John R.,i was one of the ablest lawyers 
 and finest pleaders that ever practiced at the Lancaster bar. 
 A cotemporary, writing of him, says : " His mind was well 
 schooled and disciplined in a knowledge of all of our politi- 
 cal institutions, in the varied systems which prevail under 
 the constitutions and legislation of the different States ; with 
 a thorough knowledge of the adjudications of the _ national 
 and State tribunals, and with all these qualifications he 
 possessed, in an eminent degree, that untiring assiduity, 
 -energy and integrity which are necessary to discharge the 
 high responsibilities that devolve upon the profession. In 
 the inferior and in the superior courts, in every position in 
 which he was placed in the profession, he displayed that 
 legal learning that marked him as one of the ablest men of 
 the State and nation." James Buchanan, in speaking of the 
 case of Reichenbaoh vs. Reichenbach, which was the last in 
 which he ever appeared as an attorney, and which had been 
 prepared for trial by John R. Montgomery, said it was the 
 best prepared case he had ever known. On another occa- 
 sion he remarked to a legal friend, that "of all the lawyers 
 he had ever encountered in the trial of a cause, John R. 
 Montgomery seemed to him the weightiest." He died Novem- 
 ber 3d, 1854:. The subject of our notice yet lives fresh in 
 the memory of the members of the profession and people 
 of Lancaster city and county, and throughout Pennsylvania ; 
 and whenever ability with oratory combined are being esti- 
 mated, as to members of the Lancaster bar, amongst groups 
 of legal gentlemen, a trio of brilliant names always associated 
 are sure to be mentioned, those of John R. Mongomery, George 
 Washington Barton and Washington Hopkins. 
 
 MONTGOMERY, Joseph, thd father of John R. Mont- 
 gomery, esq., was a member of the Legislature in the year 
 
 ■ Wlien, in September, 1834, Gen. Lafayette visited Lancaster, John 
 E. Montgomery . engrossed much of his attention; and when he left 
 Lancaster the latter escorted him in his carriage, drawn by match greys, 
 as far as Port Deposit, Maryland. On their way they stopped at the 
 Black Bear tavei-n, and at that place met witli several of his old soldiers 
 of the Revolution, and he shook hands with them for the last time. 
 
898 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 1782. He carried on the busines of blacksmithing, and also 
 farming. The following anecdote is told as regards him : 
 Being a strict Presbyterian, his family had been in the habit 
 of never preparing supper on Sunday. Having an Irishman 
 as a journeyman blacksmith in his employ, the latter was 
 told that it was the custom of the family to have no supper, 
 as there was no work going on. The journeyman had been 
 used to Sunday suppers, and, going out to the blacksmith 
 shop, he began work hammering upon the anvil as usual. Mr. 
 Montgomery going to the shop, asked the Irishman what all 
 that meant, as he did not allow working on Sunday, The 
 Irishman replied, that he had been told that he could get no 
 supper unless he worked, and that ^e desired. The journey- 
 man had no occasion further to begin working in order to 
 get his Sunday supper. 
 
 MOOEB, Andeew, brother of John and Thomas Moore, 
 came from Ireland in the year 1723, and settled near Sads- 
 bury township, Lancaster county. He was a man of great 
 piety, of indomitable courage and energy of character, and 
 was in possession of considerable means. He purchased 
 large tracts of lands lying on both sides of the Ootoraro, 
 and shortly after his arrival built the first mill in the south- 
 west, near Penningtonville, Chester county, the old remains 
 of which are yet visible. Although his own residence was 
 on the Chester county side, yet his improvements extended 
 into both counties. He erected another mill on the west 
 side of the creek, and other substantial buildings, some of 
 which are yet standing. He was chiefly instrumental in 
 establishing the Friends' meeting-house, at " Old Sadsbury," 
 in 1724, and his descendants stood at the head of the society 
 for upwards of one hundred years.* He had seven sons and 
 two daughters, all of whom reared families. His sons were 
 James, David, John, Eobert, Andrew, William and Joseph; 
 and his daughter, Sarah, married to William Truman, and 
 Eachel, the wife of John Truman. Andrew Moore lived to 
 a very advanced age, and left sixty-seven grandchildren, 
 several of whom attained to the age of 100 years. The 
 only survivor among the grandchildren, is Phoebe Wicker- 
 *Retrospect of early Quakerirm, by Dr. Michener. 
 
Oi" LANCASTER COUNTY. 399 
 
 stam, wlio, in 1870, was in the 85th year of her age. Andre-w- 
 and Isaac Moore, of Sadsbnry, Lancaster county, and Henry 
 Moore, of Chester county, are amongst his descendants, who 
 still own and occupy parts of the original purchases of land 
 made by their early ancestor. 
 
 *MOOEB, James, son of Andrew Moore, was born in Ire- 
 land, 1716, and came over with his parents- in 1723. He 
 married Ann, daughter of Jeremiah and Rebecca Starr, about 
 1740. He was among the leading pioneers in the settlement 
 of Sadsbury,' and was a very pious and worthy man. The 
 old mill below Christiana was re-built by him, and he erected 
 those substantial stone dwellings along the Octoraro whicli, 
 together with the mill, have been standing in good condition 
 for more than one hundred years. Most of the old improve- 
 ments in that neighborhood were built by himself and his 
 family. James Moore was a minister in the society of 
 Friends, and labored greatly for the advance of truth and 
 righteousness, not only among those of his own society, but 
 amongst others. He contributed largely for the purpose of 
 erecting the present meeting-house at Sadsbury, about the 
 year 1760, and afterwards bequeathed a large sum of money 
 in care of the society, the interest of which was to be applied 
 
 ' The first land purchased from the proprietors in Sadsbury township, 
 and perhaps within the present limits of Lancaster county, is part of 
 what is known a^ present as the ' ' Pownall tract, ' ' lying west of the 
 Octoraro, in the great valley about one mile south of Christiana, and 
 containing about 300 acres. It was conveyed by William Penu to John 
 Kennerly, of Shawangta, (or Shawanatown), and the deed bears the 
 date of the year 1691. The deed is still retained in the Pownall family 
 with the name of William Penn attached thereto. This tract was after- 
 wards purchased from Kennerly by Constantine Overton in the yearl796, 
 and by him re-sold in the year 1708 to George Pierce, of Concord, Ches- 
 ter county. The latter, in company with Robert Pyle, was appointed 
 by the quarterly meeting at Chester, to go down to Nottingham for 
 the purpose of establishing a meeting there. Retrospect of Early 
 Quakerism, p. 254. While at Nottingham he met with friends who 
 expressed a desire to visit the Indians in the western parts of Chester 
 county and at the Susquehanna, and he accompanied them. They 
 traveled through the woods and were kindly received by the Indians at 
 Conestoga. 
 At that time the Shawanese had wigwams along the banks of the 
 *The sketches of the Moore Family were contributed by Isaac Walker, 
 of Sadsbury. 
 
400 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 to the education of tlie children of members in low circum- 
 stances ; but provided it was not needed in the society, then 
 it should be appropriated for the education of others who 
 were not members, without regard to color ; this money re- 
 mains a school fund in the hands of the society to the pres- 
 ent day. Mr. Moore was a man of herculean strength, who 
 "was able to carry nine bushels of corn up the mill steps at 
 one time. He was able to take a fifty-six pound weight on 
 each of his little fingers and touch them together over his 
 head.* 
 
 He married his fourth wife when 75 years of age, and also 
 ■survived her. He died in the year 1810, aged 94 years, and 
 his descendants comprise a large and respectable portion of 
 the citizens of Sadsbury, Lampeter, Columbia, and many other 
 places. James Moore had, by his first wife, four sons and 
 two daughters, all of whom attained to considerable age and 
 raised families. His sons were Andrew, Jeremiah, John, 
 and Doctor James Moore ; and the daughters, Rebecca inter- 
 married with John Cooper, the father of Calvin, Jeremiah, 
 James, John, and William Cooper ; and Ann, who was married 
 to Asahel Walker, the grandfather of Joseph C. Walker, of 
 Salisbury, and of Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. 
 
 MOORE, John, brother of Andrew and Thomas Moore, 
 Octoraro, and an Indian village called "Old Shawana town." Rupp's 
 History of Lancaster, p. 42. It was probably on this visit that George 
 Pierce first discovered this tract of land, which he purchased and settled 
 on two years afterwards. He was among the very first pioneers who 
 made a substantial settlement in Lancaster county. Meetings of wor- 
 ship were held at the house ©f George Pierce, near the residence of the 
 late Joseph Pownall, many years before the meeting at "Old Sadsbury' ' 
 was established, and these meetings were attended by the Musgroves, 
 the Leonards and other early Quakers. The old grave yard which had 
 been laid out on land now owned by Levi Scarlet, 4 rods square, was re-, 
 served in the patent given by WiUiam Penn to JMoses Musgrove, (the 
 original patent is now in the hands of the McGowan family.) At the 
 (time of the organization of Lancaster county, Caleb Pierce, son of 
 (George Pierce, was appointed one of the associate justices of the Lan- 
 .caster county Court, and held other imiiortant trusts. Some years after- 
 wards they sold out to the Musgroves and removed to Fallowfield, Ches- 
 ter county, and their descendants in both counties are numerous and 
 respectable ; among the number is the well known George Pierce, (^ 
 Bart to^ynship. 
 
 *Friends Miscellany, vol. vi., p. 45. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 401 
 
 purchased the Christiana tract in the year 1727, which had 
 been patented by Philip Howell in 1702 and 1703. John 
 Moore left no children, and willed his property to Thomas 
 Moore, his brother, in 1728, who sold it to Calvin Cooper 
 about six years afterwards. 
 
 MOORE, Thomas, brother of Andrew and John Moore, 
 was an early pioneer in the settlement of the eastern section 
 of Lancaster county. He came from Ireland and settled in 
 Sadsbury township, at a very early day. He had erected 
 the first grist mill on the Brandywine creek before the year 
 1718, from which a public road led to Philadelphia, called 
 the King's highway.* At a council held at Philadelphia, 
 May 29th, 1718, a petition of several of the inhabitants of ■ 
 «,nd near Gonestoga, was presented, setting forth the great 
 necessity of a road to be laid out from Conestoga to Thomas 
 Moore's mill and the Brandywine; and the board having 
 taken said petition into consideration, appointed Isaac Tay- 
 lor, John Taylor, John Cartlidge, Ezekiel Harlen, Thomas 
 Moore, Joseph Cloud, (of Pequea), and William Marsh, to 
 lay out said road, and make report thereof to the Board, in 
 order to be confirmed.f 
 
 MORRISON FAMILY. Samuel and James Morrison, 
 brothers, settlers originally in Drumore township, about 
 1717 or 1718. They emigrated from the North of Ireland. 
 Each of them took up considerable tracts of land. Samuel 
 lived with his brother and his family, and died leaving no 
 heirs. James Morrison had two sons, named James and 
 Daniel, both of whom were prominent men in their day. 
 James Morrison, jr., was a captain of the militia, and served 
 for a time as a soldier of the Revolution. He was a member 
 of the Legislature in the years 1791, 1792, 1793, and 1795. 
 His son, Daniel, was also a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1818 and 1819. Samuel Morrison served in the Legis- 
 lature in the years 1822 and 1824 ; and George Morrison in 
 the years 1845 and 1846. George was born in 1789, and 
 ■died in 1860. George Morrison was an extensive cattle and 
 sheep grazier, and an influential man in the community. 
 
 *Col. Records, vol. iii., p. 143, fCol. Records, vol. iii., p. 43. 
 
402 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 MOSHEE, Jeremiah, a blacksmith in Lancaster for many- 
 years. He served under Arnold in the attempt to storm 
 Quebec, and was one of the forlorn hope which penetrated 
 to the works in what was called the lower town. All his 
 companions were killed or wounded but himself, and being 
 taken prisoner, was afterwards released, and served in the 
 American "ariuy till the close of the Eevolution, and then 
 retired covered with honorable scars. He carried on black- 
 smithing extensively in Lancaster, and did most of the work 
 for the different stage lines running from Philadelphia 
 through Lancaster to Pittsburg. He was a man of excellent 
 character and good judgment. He was a member of the 
 , Legislature in 1815 and in 1818. He was elected colonel in 
 1812. He was buried with the honors of war, and a horse 
 upon which his regimentals were placed, was led in his 
 funeral procession. 
 
 MUHLENBBEG, Frederick Augustus, M. D., was born 
 in Lancaster city, Pa., March 14th, 1795. Having attained 
 an education, he studied medicine under the instruction of 
 the celebrated Dr. Eush, and graduated with high honors at 
 the university of Pennsylvania, April 9th, 1814. He im- 
 mediately began the practice of his profession in Lancaster, 
 being but 19 years of age ; and he was not slow in winning 
 his way to public confidence, and establishing for himself a 
 large and lucrative practice. In 1821 he received from Gov- 
 ernor Hiester the appointment of prothonotary of Lancaster 
 county, an of&ce he held until succeeded in 1823 by N.W. Sam- 
 ple. He was for many years president of the old Lancaster 
 Bank, and to himself and James Evans, cashier of the institu- 
 tion, was it owing that the old corporation enjoyed for a long 
 time a high degree of popularity and business prosperity. 
 He served as trustee and treasurer of' the old Franklin, 
 college for many years, and exerted the weight of his influence 
 in securing the removal of Marshall college to this place, 
 and the consolidation of the two institutions into the present 
 Franklin and Marshall college. Upon the establishment of 
 the State Lunatic Asylum at Harrisburg, he was named as 
 one of the trustees, a position he held until relieved at his 
 own request. He had no political aspirations, but owing to 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 403 
 
 his great personal popularity, he was often urged to become 
 the candidate of his party for office, but usually declined. 
 On one occasion he was the candidate of the Democratic 
 party against Thaddeus Stevens for Congress. He gaye his 
 steady attention to the business of his profession for a period 
 of over fifty years, and for a long time ranked as one of the 
 two leading physicians of Lancaster. Even in his later years, 
 when physical infirmity required of him to relinquish the 
 most of his business, a large number of his old patients still 
 clung to him, and anxiously sought his professional advice. 
 , Upon the breaking out of the Southern rebellion, he gave 
 his adhesion to the war party in favor of the restoration of 
 the Union of the States, and thenceforth acted with the. 
 Republican organization. He lent his influence towards the 
 establishment of the Union League in Lancaster, and acted 
 as its first President. For many years he was, perhaps, the 
 leading member of the Trinity Lutheran church, of which 
 he was a steady and consistent member. In all charitable 
 and benevolent movements. Dr. Muhlenberg always bore a 
 prominent part, and but few enterprises of importance were 
 inaugurated unless he was first consulted. He died July 5th, 
 1867, in the 73d year of his age. 
 
 MUHLENBERG, Henky Ernst, the youngest son of 
 Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg and his wife, Anna Maria, (a 
 daughter of the celebrated Conrad Weiser,) was born in 
 Montgomery, Pa., November 17th, 1753. He attained the 
 rudiments of an education in his native village, and after 
 his parents removed to Philadelphia, he attended the schools 
 of that city. In 1763 he and his elder brothers were sent to 
 Europe, and were entered as pupils in the orphan house of 
 Halle. He here pursued his studies, and obtained a know- 
 ledge of the Latin, Greek, Hebrew and French languages. 
 In 1769 he entered the university, where he remained for 
 one year, and returned to America in September, 1770. In 
 the following month he was ordained by the Synod of Penn- 
 sylvania, at Reading, and became his father's assistant, 
 preaching in Philadelphia, Barren Hill, and in the churches 
 on the Raritan. On the 4th of April, 1774, he was elected 
 minister of the Philadelphia congregation, which position he 
 
404: BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 held until the British obtained possession of Philadelphia, 
 when he retired to New Providence. During the period of 
 the Revolution his situation was tra,nsitory for a time, and until 
 he accepted the charge of the Trinity Lutheran Church in 
 Lancaster, in 1780. Here he spent thirty-five years of useful 
 and active life in ministerial duty, and until the shaft of 
 death removed him from the sphere of his usefulness. May 
 23d, 1815. The University of Pennsylvania conferred upon 
 him the degree of doctor of divinity, a merited tribute to 
 his learning and varied attainments. As a theologian, he 
 ranked amongst the ablest in the Lutheran church of 
 America. In the study of natural science he evinced a great 
 fondness, especially in botany, and was named by Dr. Bald- 
 win, the American Linneeus. He was, in 1804, honored by 
 a visit from the distinguished scientist and traveler, Alex- 
 ander von Humboldt. He prepared and published an 
 English and German lexicon and grammar, in 2 vols. He 
 wrote the " Gatalogus Plantarum " and the " Descriptio 
 Uberior Graminum," works frequently quot^"d by botanical 
 writers in Europe and America. He has also left consider- 
 able manuscript materials on theology and ethics. 
 
 *MUSGROVB FAMILY. John, Aaron, Moses, Thomas 
 and Abraliam Musgrove, were the first settlers in the valley 
 of Sadsbury, Lancaster county. Their warrant bears date 
 in the year 1713. They purchased nearly all the land in that 
 jich valley from George and Caleb Pierce, cleared off their 
 land, and erected themselves residences, some of which stand 
 to the present day. They were members of the society of 
 Friends, and attended the meetings for worship at the house 
 of George Pierce for many years before the establishment of 
 the meeting-house at old Sadsbury. The old Musgrove bury- 
 ing grouud was expressly reserved by Moses Musgrove, when, 
 in 1747, he sold the .land to Samuel Williams. It was on 
 the southeastern part of the place, and is now on the land of 
 Levi Scarlet. It was kept enclosed with a fence within the 
 recollection of the oldest inhabitants, but having fallen into 
 sacrilegious hands, it was plowed up long since with the 
 cultivated field. 
 
 *Contributed by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 405- 
 
 John Musgrove, sr., was a valuable and worthy member 
 of society, and stood among the most prominent of the early 
 pioneers in the settlement of Lancaster county. At a coun- 
 cil held at Philadelphia, October 15th, 1726, a petition of 
 divers inhabitants about Pequea, in the county of Chester,. 
 was presented, setting forth that, by an order of Chester 
 court, a road had been laid out through the township of 
 Pequea, over hills, swamps, rocks, &c., to the great inconve- 
 nience of travelers and the said inhabitants, which road is 
 that which leads from Thomas Mill's place towards the town- 
 ship of Donegal, and therefore the petitioners pray, that six 
 good men may be appointed to view the said road, and 
 make such alterations therein as may be necessary for the 
 public service. This petition being considered, it was 
 ordered that John Wright, George Aston, Samuel Blunston, 
 Samuel Eutt, John Musgrove and Edmund Cartlidge, or a 
 majority of them, view the same road, and particularly that 
 part leading through the township of Pequea, (now Stras- 
 burg, &c.) and make such alterations therein as may seem to 
 them most just and reasonable for the public service, and 
 make return of their proceedings herein to this board. 
 Colonial Record, Vol. iii, p. 263. 
 
 John Musgrove was appointed a commissioner in the year 
 1728-29, to divide the county of Chester, at the time that 
 Lancaster county was stricken off' from Chester and organ- 
 ized. He was elected a member of the general Assembly 
 for the years 1730-31. His son, John Musgrove, sr., 
 served on the first grand jury in Lancaster, November, 
 1730. After having conveyed his lands to his sons, the old 
 homestead to his son James Musgrove, he died about the 
 year 1737, and was buried in the valley, at Musgrove's old 
 burying-place. He was in all respects one of the most 
 worthy and exemplary men of his time. 
 
 Aaron Musgrove was also a worthy and serviceable citi- 
 zen among the early settlers of Sadsbury. He was the. orig- 
 inal purchaser of a large tract of land in the valley (includ- 
 ing that now owned by Levi Pownall.) He was one of the 
 most influential men in that early settlement, and was greatly 
 instrumental in procuring roads to be laid out, some of 
 
406 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 wMch yet liear his name. In tlie year 1738 he became a 
 member of the Sadsbury meeting of Friends. In 175-4 he 
 sold his lands and removed and settled at New Garden, Ches- 
 ter county, Pa. His son, Aaron Musgrove, was married to 
 Ann, the daughter of James and Alice Smith, of Lampeter 
 township, in 1757. His grandson, Aaron Musgrove, was the 
 leader of the party that captured, in the year 1788, those 
 notorious desperadoes and outlaws, Abraham and Levi 
 Doane, who were hanged at Philadelphia on the 24th of 
 September of that year.' See Col. Eecord, vol. xv., p. 502. 
 
 Moses Musgrove was also a valuable member of society 
 among the first settlers of Sadsbury. He was well educated 
 and did much to render the wilderness a fit dwelling-place 
 for civilized men. After he had labored for more than thirty 
 years in the settlement of Sadsbury, in his declining years 
 he sold his estate to Samuel Williams, and removed to 
 Fallowfield, in Cheater county. It is now owned and occu- 
 pied by Levi Scarlet, and that large and respectable family 
 of the McGowans. 
 
 Thomas and Abraham Musgrove were also valuable 
 members of the Friends' society, about the time Sadsbury 
 monthly meeting was first established; and after having the 
 names of their sons and daughters enrolled in the records of 
 that meeting, they removed and settled at Darby, near Phil- 
 adelphia, in 1749. Their lands are now owned by Truman 
 Cooper, J. D.. Carothers, esq., William Spencer, esq., Levi 
 and Henry Pownall, the McGowans, John Allen, Calvin 
 Carter and others. But a small remnant of their descend- 
 ants reside at the present time in Lancaster county. 
 
 MUSSBR, George, was born July 11th, 1777, and died 
 May 26th, 1868. He went out as a Lieutenant in the war 
 
 1 Philadelphia, Thursday, July 31st, 1788, before the Hon. Peter 
 Muhlenberg, esq., Vice President, and the Board : Upon the opinion 
 of the Attorney General, now received in favor of the claim of Aaron 
 Musgrove and others, to the reward offered by proclamation of Council, 
 dated the 26tli of July, 1784, for apjirehending and securing Abraham 
 Doane and Levi Doane. Resolved, that two orders be drawn on the 
 Treasurer in favor of Aaron Musgrove, Thomas Taylor, Benjamin Mil- 
 ler, William Webb and John Morrison, for the sum of one hundred 
 pounds each, being the reward offered as aforesaid, for appVehending 
 and securing Abraham and Levi Doane. 
 
OF LAlSrCASTEK COUNTY. 407 
 
 of 1812, and was promoted to the rank of Captain. He was 
 for many years a director of the branch bank of Pennsyl- 
 vania, located at Lancaster. He was elected one of the 
 board of county commissioners in 1814. He was, with 
 Wm. Cooper and John Bomberger, security for Wm. Ham- 
 ilton, when, he was elected treasu«er of Lancaster county. 
 He served for many y^ars as an alderman of Lancaster. 
 He was for nearly sixty years a member of the vestry of • 
 Trinity Lutheran church, and for a number of years one of 
 the three trustees, an of&ce only bestowed upon the oldest 
 and most respected members. 
 
 MUSSBR, Henry, elected Clerk of Quarter Sessions in 
 1860. 
 
 MUSSEE, John, a member of the Legislature in 1820. 
 
 MUSSER, Michael, elected County Commissioner in 
 1802. 
 
 MUSSBLMAlSr, Henby, elected County Commissioner in 
 1848. 
 
 MUSSELMAN, Michael, elected County Commissioner 
 in 1830. 
 
 MYERS, Feedebick, elected Sheriff of Lancaster county 
 in 1869. 
 
 MYERS, James, is a leading citizen and iron-master of 
 Lancaster county, and widely reputed for his benevolence 
 and Christian charities. His sympathies have ever strongly 
 manifested themselves in behalf of the poor and down- 
 trodden. He has on several occasions been spoken of as a 
 candidate for Congress, but has informily declined a nomina- 
 tion for this position. He was elected to the Legislature of 
 Pennsylvania in 1861. 
 
 MYERS, Samuel M., was born in Rapho township, Lan- 
 caster county, October 24th, 1824. He is of German de- 
 scent. His great grandfather emigrated from Germany at an 
 early day, and settled in the northeastern part of the county. 
 He served about six months as an apprentice to the tailor- 
 ing business, and afterwards went into the mercantile busi- 
 ness, in ^hich he continued up to 1860, when he was elected 
 Clerk of the Orphans' Court. 
 
408 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ATAUMAN, Col. Geoege; U. S. A., was born in Lancas- 
 1> ter, October 7th, l802. He entered the U. S. Military 
 Academy at West Point, as a cadet, in 1819 ; in 1821 was 
 acting assistant professor of French in that institutioin ; in 
 1823 he graduated, and the same year was appointed second 
 lieutenant of the first regiment of artillery ; was assistant in- 
 structor of French at West Point, from September, 1828, to 
 August, 1829 ; promoted first lieutenant. May, 1882. He 
 served continuously in the Florida war from February, 1836, 
 to May, 1838, and was distinguished particularly in the 
 battle of Wahoo Swamp ; captain of first artillery, Febru- 
 ary, 1837 ; served through the Mexican war under Generals 
 Taylor and Scott ; brevet-major for gallant and meritorious 
 conduct at the battle of Cerro Gordo, April 18th, 1847 ; 
 brevet-lieutenant colonel for gallant and meritorious conduct 
 at the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco, August 20th, 
 1847 ; and was wounded in the battle of Chapultepec, Sep- 
 tember 8th, 1847. He commanded the first regiment of 
 artillery, and was commissioner of prize, at Vera Cruz, at 
 the close of the war, and conducted the evacuation of that 
 city by the U. S. army. He served on the Pacific coast from 
 May, 1854, to January, 1861; was promoted major of the 
 third regiment of artillery, December 24th, 1843, and com- 
 manded that regiment from May, 1854, to March, 1857, and 
 for seven months in 1860 ; was inspector of artillery for the 
 department of Oregon and California, from 1859 to 1861, 
 and conducted the artillery school at Fort Vancouver in 
 1860. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the first artil- 
 lery, July 23d, 1861, and was chief of artillery at Newport 
 News, in March, 1862, during the engagement with the 
 Merrimao, Yorktown, Jamestown, and other rebel steamers, 
 on which occasion he was favorably mentioned by General 
 Mansfield, in his report of the affair. He was stationed at 
 Fort Warren, in the harbor of Boston, in 1863, engaged in 
 placing that important work in a proper state of defence.. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 409 
 
 He was promoted colonel of the fifth artillery, August 1st, 
 1863, and died in Philadelphia, August 11th, 1863, of sun- 
 stroke, his health having been much impaired by exposure 
 and hardships incident to his long and faithful services. 
 
 For forty years he served the United States, and had been 
 stationed in every section of the Union, participating in three 
 wars, and in every capacity acquitted himself with honor 
 and distinction. He had just left California, and was with 
 his family, then residing in Florida, when the rebellion broke 
 out. He was offered high rank and command by the men 
 then organizing the new confederacy, but he spurned the 
 offer, preferring to stand by the flag under which he had sO' 
 often fought. As a compliment to his long and distinguished 
 services, the war department issued the order promoting him 
 colonel of the fifth artillery, after they had received official 
 notice of his death. 
 
 KBALB, Thomas, was a member of the Legislature in 
 1835. 
 
 NEVIN, John "Williamson, D.D., was born February 
 20th, 1803, in Franklin county, Pa. He is descended from 
 Scotch-Irish ancestry, and one conspicuous in statesmanship 
 and literature. His paternal grandmother was a sister of 
 the distinguished Hugh Williamson, LL. D., one of the framers 
 of the United States Constitution, and a man noted in the re- 
 public of letters. His parents were strict members of the 
 Presbyterian church, and the subject of this notice was early 
 indoctrinated into the religious principles of this influential 
 and respectable body of Christians. His father was a farmer 
 and a man of strong native ability, who had received a liberal 
 education, having gradiiated at Dickinson college, Carlisle, 
 Pa., then under' the presidency of the celebrated Dr. John 
 Nesbit. The subject of this notice being designed by his 
 father for one of the learned professions, he was early intro- 
 duced by that parent to the knowledge of the Latin and 
 Greek languages, preparatory to his entering upon a college 
 career. In the autumn of 1817 he was matriculated as a 
 student in Union college. New York, then under the presi- 
 dency of Dr. Nott. Although the youngest in his class, he 
 was able to rival in study any of his classmates, and gradu- 
 29 
 
410 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ated with honor in 1821. His college course was a severe 
 ordeal for him. Owing to his youth and the close applica- 
 tion he had given to study (for his ambition would not allow 
 him to be outstripped by his classmates), he left his Alma 
 Mater with health prostrated, and for the next two years was 
 sickly and unable to engage in any avocation. When at 
 college, he attended a series of revival meetings conducted 
 ■ hj a Mr. Nettleton, and professing a change of heart, he 
 united himself as a member of the visible church of Christ. 
 
 The bodily prostration that followed his classic career, was 
 accompanied with dyspeptic ailments, and being advised to 
 take plenty of exercise upon his father's farm in his wander- 
 ings amongst the fields and woods, he acquired for a time a 
 taste for botanical pursuits. He was in the habit of peram- 
 bulating for days upon horseback and upon foot in search of 
 plants and flowers ; and of these, in a short time, he acquired 
 quite a collection. This course of life was at the time just 
 what was required; and as health began to return, his 
 thoughts recurred to the fancy scenes of Greece and Eome 
 once more. Gradually the study of Cicero and Homer was 
 again taken up ; and the sweet flowing language of Fenelon 
 -and Bossuet,'for which he had an especial taste, was now 
 . prosecuted with greater zeal than ever. Martial arder came 
 in for a share of recognition also from our youthful ad libitum 
 'Student, and having united himself in a military company, 
 he was unanimously chosen orderly sergeant. 
 
 After his health was found to be quite well restored, and 
 it was perceived that he was again giving much of his atten- 
 tion to study, he was induced, in conformity with the wish 
 of his father, to take up the study of theology. This had 
 from the first been the wish of his parent, but was aban- 
 'doned when he returned from college, utterly bankrupt in 
 health, and for a long time showed scarcely any signs of re- 
 turning strength. Accordingly, in pursuance of this view, 
 he entered the theological seminary at Princeton, in the 
 fall of 1823. Ever impelled with a longing and thirst for 
 knowledge, he felt an inexpressible pleasure as soon as the 
 consecrated walls of the seminary had enclosed him. He 
 .thereupon made no haste to prosecute his career with great 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 411 
 
 celerity through the seminary, feeling that in this institu- 
 tion a more congenial home existed for him as a student 
 than might be found in any other pursuit of which, as yet, 
 he had any knowledge. In the regular theological course 
 of the seminary, he took a special interest in oriental and 
 biblical literature, and made great progress in the study of 
 Hebrew, outstripping in this branch all his classmates. 
 Before the close of his seminary course, he had read the 
 whole Bible in Hebrew, and secured the flattering distinc- 
 tion of being universally admitted as the best Hebrew scholar 
 in the institution. This distinction in Hebrew scholarship 
 was what formed the turning point in his life, and contrib- 
 uted to mould his whole subsequent career. It was owing 
 to this distinction that he was, in 1826, invited to supply 
 the place of Dr. Hodge, who had gone on a visit of two years 
 to Europe for the benefit of the institution. This occupied 
 his attention for the next two years, at the small salary of 
 $200 per annum, and it was during this period that he wrote 
 his Biblical Antiquities, an excellent hand-book of Bible 
 knowledge, and one which has obtained an extensive circu- 
 lation, not only in America but also in Europe. Upon the 
 return of Dr. Hodge from Europe in 1828, his duties ex- 
 pired at Princeton, and in October of the same year he was" 
 licensed to preach the Gospel by the Carlisle Presbytery ; 
 and to this he now devoted himself for the next year in a 
 more or less itinerant manner. 
 
 Before leaving Princeton, he had been selected as the 
 person who should fill the chair of biblical literature in the 
 new "Western Thelogical Seminary in Allegheny city, which 
 the general assembly of the Presbyterian church were taking 
 steps to establish. During this time he became enlisted in 
 the cause of temperance, and, as a consequence, his sermons 
 breathed more or less frequently denunciations of the 
 sin of manufacturing and selling intoxicating liquors. He 
 became exceedingly ardent and condemnatory at times of the 
 dram-shops, and he was by no means careful to discriminate 
 whether his remarks might occasion offence, should some be 
 present whom his castigation might personally affect. This 
 proved to be the case in fact, and in one instance turned 
 
412 BIOGRAPHICAL fliSTOEY 
 
 out to his disadvantage. A call of a large and -wealthy con- 
 gregation was about being extended to him, but because he 
 had preached a sermon which inflicted severe censure upon 
 the liquor-selling members, these feeling themselves person- 
 ally aggrieved, exerted their influence in preventing the call 
 being made. In the spring of 1829 he set out au cheval to see 
 after the theological seminary in Allegheny city, and so 
 shaped his arrangements that he should return in the fall 
 and undertake the duties assigned for him in the new insti- 
 tution. On retiirning home he became stated supply to the 
 congregation at Big Spring, Cumberland county, for four 
 months, and was strongly urged to become the pastor of this 
 congregation. He also, about this time, received a pressing 
 invitation to return to Princeton and become a writer of 
 books for the Sunday School Union ; but his mind was now 
 fully made up to go to Allegheny city. 
 
 The father of the subject of our notice died in 1829, and 
 this devolved on him, as the oldest of the family, a weight 
 of responsibility he had not heretofore felt. This necessi- 
 tated him to give some of his time to business affairs, 
 although up to the present period he had charged himself 
 little with matters of this kind. In consequence of the new 
 relations thus devolved upon him by the death of his father, 
 he was not in condition to set out for Allegheny until the 
 beginning of December of this year. When he entered 
 upon the discharge of his duties as instructor in the Western 
 Seminary, he was in the twenty-seventh year of his age. At 
 the time Dr. Nevin entered upon this field of labor, the 
 Western Seminary was but a feeble institution. It " had no 
 buildings, no endowments, no prestige from the past, and 
 only doubtful and uncertain promise for the future." The 
 movements that had secured the establishment of this semi- 
 nary had met with great opposition ; the affections of 
 the east were wedded to Princeton; and in the west great 
 dissatisfaction was felt in its being thought not sufhciently 
 central to meet western wants. Upon western Pennsylva- 
 nia, as a consequence, devolved the whole responsibility as 
 to the support of this institution. Prof. Luther Halsey and 
 Dr. Nevin labored in the building up of this seminary, and 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 413 
 
 their labors were crowned with good success. The Western 
 Theological Seminary, which has now become a power in 
 the Presbyterian church, owes much of its prosperity to the 
 assiduity and ability of the subject of our notice. For the 
 three first years of his life in Allegheny, Dr. Nevin made 
 his home in the house of Dr. Francis Herron, president of 
 the board of trustees, and until his mother and her family 
 removed thither. 
 
 In 1835 Dr. Nevin was united in marriage with Martha, 
 the second daughter of Hon. Robert Jenkins, . of Windsor 
 Place, in Lancaster county. During his whole ten years 
 connection with the Western Seminarj^^ Dr. Nevin continued 
 to preach in different churches, almost as regularly as if in 
 charge of a congregation. At first he officiated simply as a 
 licentiate, but after some time was ordained in full to the 
 ministry by the Presbytery of Ohio. During part of the time 
 he preached with considerable regularity at a young ladies' 
 seminary, at Braddock's Field, near Pittsburg, and afterwards 
 served as stated supply for the congregation of Hilands, some 
 iniles out of Pittsburg. He frequently appeared as con- 
 tributor to the press during his connection with the Western 
 Seminary, and many sermons, delivered by him on special 
 occasions, were published by request of the congregations 
 before whom the.y were delivered. In 1833-34 he con- 
 ducted the editorial management of the Friend, a literary 
 and weekly journal in the service of the young men's society 
 of Pittsburg and vicinity. This journal, while under the 
 guidance of Dr. Nevin, was the unreserved opponent of infi- 
 delity, fashionable amusements, ladies' fairs, and theatrical 
 entertainments ; and the view^ of the editor upon these 
 topics proved the occasion of considerable offence. On ac- 
 count of the opposition made by this journal to the move- 
 ment set on foot to get up a theatre in Pittsburg, he was 
 threatened with cowhiding ; and on another occasion fears 
 of a rnob were apprehended, on account of the supposed 
 incendiarism of the Friend upon the subject of slavery. 
 For no other reason than the pro-slavery proclivities of the 
 community at that time, was the journal obliged ultimately 
 to succumb, the last issue appearing March 12th, 1835. 
 
414 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Dr. Nevin was ever the staunch and outspoken opponent 
 of slavery in every form, and battled in favor of abolitionism 
 in a truly Christian spirit. He, however, never sympathized 
 with the so-called abolition party of the North, and openly 
 condemned Garrison and his followers as .irreligious in spirit 
 and unpatriotic. But the system of slavery, as it existed in 
 the southern States, was, in his opinion, a vast moral evil, 
 and one especially deserving criticism and censure. He 
 never spared the institution in his articles in the Friend; and 
 on one occasion he was denounced for this cause by a promi- 
 nent physician of the place, as "the most dangerous man in 
 Pittsburg." That his opinions upon this point may appear, 
 some extracts from the Friend are here adduced. In the jour- 
 nal of April 17th, 1834, he speaks as follows : "We trust that 
 the time is not far distant when, what has been rashly spoken 
 by abolitionists and colonizationists may be forgotten, and 
 the friends of humanity will find themselves able to stand 
 on common ground in regard to the great evil of slavery, 
 without denouncing either the one interest or the other. 
 That abolitionism has exhibited, in some cases, a wildly ex- 
 travagant form, we have no doubt ; but we have just as 
 little doubt that great and powerful principles of truth have 
 been all along laboring underneath its action, and struggling 
 to come to clear and consistent development by its means." 
 In the valedictory issue of the Friend, Dr. Nevin thus dis- 
 courses : " Slavery is a sin as it exists in this country, and 
 as such it ought to be abolished. There is no excuse for its 
 being continued a single day. The whole nation is involved 
 in the guilt of it, so long as public sentiment acquiesces in 
 it as a necessary evil. That which is absolutely necessary 
 for its removal, is the formation of such a public sentiment 
 throughout the country as will make slaveholders ashamed 
 of their wickedness, and finally reform the laws under which 
 the evil now holds its power in the different States. Such a 
 sentiment has not heretofore existed, and it is plain that 
 much discussion and thought are needed to call it into being. 
 There is, therefore, just the same reason for the system of 
 action pursued by the abolition society, with reference to 
 this subject, that there is for the system of the temperance 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 415 
 
 society with regard to the curse of ardent spirits. The 
 institution and the effort are among the noblest forms of 
 benevolent action witnessed in the present age. We glory 
 then in being an abolitionist, and count it all honor to bear 
 the reproach for such a cause. It is the cause of God, and; 
 it will prevail." 
 
 When the above sentiments were penned by Dr. Nevin^ 
 the Presbyterian church, along with the other churches of 
 the country, was fully committed to the southern side of the- 
 slavery question, and considered it a religious, as well as a 
 moral wrong, to meddle in the discussion of this question^ 
 The leading religious newspapers were, likewise, hostile to 
 the anti-slavery movement in every form. All the ecclesi- 
 astical judicatories, as well as the anniversary meetings of all 
 the great national religious societies, made it a point from 
 year to year to ostracise and repress, by all manner of 
 means, every attempt to get the question of slavery before- 
 them. The merest whisper of abolitionism was enough tO' 
 throw a whole general assembly into agitation. In 1837" 
 Dr. Nevin was unqualified in his dissent from the ecclesias- 
 tical policy which divided the Presbyterian church. In the 
 struggle between the two great parties in the church, his 
 sympathies were upon the side of the old school ; but he 
 nevertheless entertained the opinion, that the controversy on: 
 that side was in certain quarters urged forward in an ex- 
 treme way. He deprecated especially, the idea of the Pitts- 
 burg Synod being forced to take part in the eastern quarrel 
 with regard to Mr. Barnes ; and he went so far as to urge 
 seriously, through the Christian Herald, Dr. Alexander's plan 
 of relatively independent Synodical jurisdiction. It was 
 during Dr. Kevin's connection with the Western Seminary 
 that he began the study of the German language, which hfe 
 has succeeded in mastering, and now reads with equal ease 
 and satisfaction as his vernacular. This study he undertook 
 in order to reach the contents of the theological a-nd philo- 
 sophical works of the deep thinkers of Germany, the land of 
 profound erudition and ripe scholastic attainment. The first, 
 work read by him in the German, was Neander's " Geist des- 
 Tertullianus." Dr. Nevin by this time had become a man 
 
416 BIOGEAPHIOAL HISTORY 
 
 widely reputed for his attainments in biblical science, and as 
 a theologian of rare penetration and deep philosophical mind. 
 His reputation had far passed the boundary of his own re- 
 ligious persuasion. His services, therefore, became a prize 
 in the eyes of many, and he was tendered on the part of the 
 Synod of the German Eeformed church, the professorship of 
 theology in the theological seminary at Mercersburg, Pa. 
 In this call Dr. Nevin seemed to recognize the summons of 
 his Divine Master, to a field in which he might be able to 
 perform more effective service than in the one where he then 
 labored. Accordingly, after mature and serious deliberation, 
 he concluded to accept the position tendered him, and 
 entered upon the duties thereof in May, 1840. 
 
 This change of position was not considered to be of itself 
 any change of denominational faith. It was simply a tran- 
 sition from one section of the general Reformed Confession to 
 another, and took place accordingly with the full approba- 
 tion and favor of the friends &f Dr. Nevin in the Presbyte- 
 rian church. It was under the advice and recommendation 
 in particular, of his former theological instructor, the late 
 venerable Dr. Archibald Alexander, of Princeton. Still, 
 like change of position in all cases, it exerted a material in- 
 fluence on the subsequent progress of his spiritual life, and 
 became thus a central epoch for his history. Without tak- 
 ing him out of the Eeformed church, it widened his view of 
 its proper constitution and history, enlarged the range of his 
 German studies, brought him into new and closer communi- 
 cation with the theological life of the Lutheran Confession, 
 and in this way made room in his mind more and more for 
 a sense of the catholic, the historical, the objective in Chris- 
 tianity, which may be taken as the key to the whole course 
 of his thinking and working in the church afterwards, down 
 to the present time. 
 
 In the theological seminary at Mercersburg, he found 
 himself associated with the well-known German scholar, 
 Frederick Augustus Eauch, who was at the same time pres- 
 ident of Marshall college in the same place. The death of 
 Dr. Eauch, March 2d, 1841, left Dr. Nevin in sole charge of 
 the seminary, and made it necessary for him besides to 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 417 
 
 assume tlie presidency of tlie college also ; a provisional 
 arrangement in the first place which, however, the wants of 
 the infant institution converted into a permanent one ; the 
 office being held by Dr. Nevin, in fact, for ten years after- 
 wards without any salary. 
 
 In 1843 Dr. Nevin became involved in what has been 
 known as the '' anxious bench controversy,'' through the 
 publication of his tract called the Anxious Bench, directed 
 against the use of certain means and methods (new measures), 
 ■employed extensively at the time among different denomina- 
 tions in the service of religious revivals. This may be 
 looked upon as the beginning of the movement which has 
 since come to be spoken of as the Mercersburg theology ; a 
 movement whose ultimate bearings and consequences were 
 not dreamed of at the time by either side in that first con- 
 troversy, while they can easily be seen since, nevertheless, 
 to lie all in one and the same direction. The controversy, 
 while it lasted, was carried on with great activity, partly 
 within the German Eeformed church itself, but mainly in 
 the end, as between this body and surrounding religious 
 communions. 
 
 The same view of Christianity which led to the publica- 
 tion of the Anxious Bench, appears also in Dr. Nevin's 
 opposition to another new measure, as we have it represented 
 in his tract on Religious Fairs, published towards the close 
 of the same year. This, however, was in the main but little 
 more than what he had published on that subject ten years 
 before, in Pittsbiirg. 
 
 In the fall of 1844 Dr. Nevin received as his colleague 
 in the seminary. Dr. Philip Schaff, who had been brought by 
 special call from Germany to fill the place whose name has 
 since become famous throughout the world, and who is now 
 honored as professor of church history in the Presbyterian 
 theological seminary of New York. On the 25th of Octo- 
 ber this gentleman delivered his inaugural address at Bead- 
 ing, in the German language, a truly able discussion of the 
 distinctive, original and fundamental meaning of the great 
 Reformation of the sixteenth century. It was the first fair 
 attempt to vindicate the historical right of Protestantism in 
 
418 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 this country, and went full against the unhistorical spirit 
 which has all along formed the life and strength of our 
 American sectarianism. This work Dr. Nevin translated 
 and published in 1845, under the title, The True Principle of 
 Protestantism as related to the Present State of the Church, 
 with an introduction from his own pen, and by Dr. Schaff's 
 particular desire, with the appendage also of a sermon on 
 Catholic Unity, preached by Dr. Nevin the previous year, 
 before a convention of the Dutch and German Reformed 
 churches in Harrisburg, the whole forming a volume of more 
 than 200 pages. Here, of course, was new offence to the 
 general sect-spirit of the land. Anti-popery began to take 
 the alarm, and a formal attempt was made in a Synod held 
 at York, to make out a charge of heresj against the Mercers- 
 burg professors, particularly Dr. Schaff, but the result was 
 their triumphant vindication. 
 
 The following year, 1846, Dr. Nevin published the " Mysti- 
 cal Presence; a vindication of the Reformed or Calvinistio 
 doctrine of the Holy Eucharist." This also led to contro- 
 versy. Strangely enough, Lutheranism, in certain cases, 
 contended against it by openly forsaking Luther, while 
 Presbyterianism did the same thing, by trying grossly to 
 falsify Calvin. 
 
 Looking in the same general direction, we have from the 
 pen of Dr. Nevin, in 1846, The Church, a sermon preached 
 at the opening of the German Reformed Synod, at Carlisle ; 
 in 1847, The History and Genius of the Heidelberg Catechism ; 
 and in 1848, a tract, entitled Antichrist, or the Spirit of -Sect and 
 Schism. From January, 1849, to January, 1853, he edited 
 the Mercershurg Revieio, published by the alumui association 
 of Marshall college, being himself, during all this time, the 
 chief contributoi' to its pages. And he has written largely 
 since, also, for the same periodical, as well as for the Reformed 
 Church Messenger. 
 
 At the close of 1851 Dr. Nevin, much against the wish of 
 the church, resigned his situation as professor in the theo- 
 logical seminary, continuing however to act as president of 
 Marshall college until its removal to Lancaster, in 1853, 
 when it became consolidated with Franklin college, under 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 419 
 
 the title of Franklin and Marshall college. He was offered 
 the presidency of this new institution, and the place was 
 kept vacant for a whole year, with the hope of his being 
 induced to accept it ; but in conformity with his previously 
 declared intention he declined the service, and withdrew into 
 private life, being now in truth much worn out, both in body 
 and mind, and not expecting to take upon him again any 
 public charge. He delivered, however, by special request, . 
 a baccalaureate address to the first graduating class of the 
 new college, on the 31st of August, 1853, which was pub- 
 lished as a tract, under the title of Manls True, Destiny. 
 
 Leaving Mercersburg, after the removal of the college, 
 Dr. Nevin lived for a year in Carlisle, where he stood in 
 close and pleasant social relations with the professors of 
 Dickinson college. He then came to Lancaster county, 
 residing for a year first in the city ; in the next place, from 
 the fall of 1856 to the spring of 1858, making his home, for 
 domestic reasons, at Windsor Forge, near Churchtown, the 
 old mansion property of his wife's father ; and finally set- 
 tling himself permanently, where he has since continued to 
 reside, in the immediate neighborhood of Lancaster city, at 
 Caernarvon Place. Through these years he still continued to 
 preach frequently, and also to perform occasional work with 
 his pen. He had much to do, in particular, with the long 
 and dif&cult task of bringing to completion the new Liturgy., 
 which engaged for so many years the best energies of the 
 Eastern Synod of the German Eeformed church. 
 
 In the end, as advancing age seemed to bring with it for 
 him a renewal rather than a decline of health and strength, 
 Dr. Nevin yielded to the desire there was to haye him back 
 again in the college, and in the fall of 1861 took upon him 
 partial service in its faculty, as professor in particular of 
 History and J3sthetics. Five years later, in 1866, he became 
 once more president of the institution, with full charge, a 
 ■ position which he has continued to occupy since with all the 
 vigor tjftf his best days. In connection with the Sunday 
 services, which devolve upon him as the pastor of the college 
 church, his department of instruction embraces now, mainly 
 by lectures, the Philosophy of History, the Principles of 
 
420 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Mental, Moral and Social Science, and the Science of Esthet- 
 ics in its modern German character and form. 
 
 No biographical account of Dr. Nevin, however brief, 
 can be complete without some notice taken of the so-called 
 Mercersburg system of theology, which it has been common 
 on all sides to associate with his name. This has never 
 claimed to be an original system or rounded whole in any 
 .way ; neither has it owed its existence to any spirit of phi- 
 losophical speculation, as has sometimes been imagined. It 
 has grown forth historically from an interest in the felt 
 needs of the Christian life itself "Without going into details, 
 let it suffice here to present the following comprehensive 
 outline of the system, taken from an article on the subject 
 in vol. sii. of the new American Encyclopedia, published 
 in 1863. 
 
 " The cardinal principle of the Mercersburg system, is the 
 fact of the incarnation. This, viewed not as a doctrine or 
 speculation, but as a real transaction of God in the world, 
 is regarded as being necessarily itself the sphere of Chris- 
 tianity, the sum and substance of the whole Christian re- 
 demption. Christ saves the world, not ultimately by what 
 He teaches, or by what He does, but by what He is in the 
 constitution of His person. His person, in its relations to the 
 world, carries in it the power of victory over sin, death, and 
 hell, the force thus of a real atonement or reconciliation be- 
 tween God and man, the triumph of a glorious resurrection 
 from the dead, and all the consequences for faith which are 
 attributed to this in the Apostles' Creed. In the most literal 
 sense, accordingly, Christ is here held to be ' the way, the 
 truth, and the life,' ' the resurrection and the life,' the prin- 
 ciple of ' life and immortality,' the ' light' of the world, its 
 'righteousness,' and its 'peace.' The 'grace which bringeth 
 salvation,' in this view, is of course always a real effluence 
 from the new .order of existence, which has thus been called 
 into being by the exaltation of the Word made flesh at the 
 right hand of God. It must be supernatural as M/tell as 
 natural, and the agency and organs by which it works, must, 
 in the nature of the case, carry with them objectively some- 
 thing of the same character and force. In this way the 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 421 
 
 clmrch is an object of faith; the presence of the new 
 creation in the old world of nature ; the body of Christ, 
 through which as a medium and organ He reveals Himself 
 and work's until the end of time. It mediates with super- 
 natural office, instrumentally, between Christ and His peo- 
 ple. Its ministers hold a divine power from Him by apos- 
 tolic succession. Its sacraments are not signs merely, but 
 the seals of the grace they represent. Baptism is for the re- 
 mission of sins. The eucharist includes the real presence of 
 Christ's whole glorified life, in a mystery, by the power of 
 the Holy Ghost. The idea of the church, when it is thus 
 held as an object of faith, involves necessarily the attributes 
 which were always ascribed to it in the beginning, unity, 
 sanctity, catholicity, and apostolicity. The spirit of sect, as 
 it cleaves to Protestantism at the present time, is a very 
 great evil, which is of itself sufficient to show that if Protest- 
 antism had any historical justification in the beginning, its 
 mission thus far has been only half fulfilled, and that it can 
 be rationally approved only as it is taken to be an interme- 
 diate preparation for some higher and better form of Chris- 
 tianity hereafter. The distinguishing character of the Mer- 
 cersburg theology, in one word, is its Christological interest, 
 its way of looking at all things through the person of the 
 crucified and risen Saviour. This, as the world now stands, 
 embraces necessarily all that enters into the conception of 
 the church question, which this system holds to be the great 
 problem for the Christianity of the present time." 
 
 These views in the natiire of the case, could not be other- 
 wise than distasteful to much of the popular religionism of 
 the country. For years, accordingly, as is well known, it has 
 been the fashion in certain quarters to stigmatize them in the 
 most contradictory terms of reproach, as rationalism, mysti- 
 cism, pantheism, transcendentalism, Eomanism, Irvingism, 
 Swedenborgianism, and much else of like bad sound. 
 By Dr. Nevin himself the system has been maintained all 
 along as being, in his view, neither more nor less than the 
 simple theology of the Apostles' Creed. Among his more 
 important publications relating to it, and not yet named, 
 may be mentioned the following : 1. The Doctrine of the Be- 
 
422 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 formed Church on the Presence of Christ in the Lordh Supper ; 
 an extended answer to Dr. Hodge's review of the " Mystical 
 Presence" in 1848. 2. The Apostles' Greed: Its Origin, Con- 
 stitution and Plan, 1849. 3. Early Christianity', 1851. 4. 
 Cyprian, 1852. 5. The Dutch Crusade, 1854. 6. Review 
 of Dr. Hodge^s Commentary on the Ep)hesians, 1857. 7. The 
 Liturgical Question, 1862. 8. Christ, and Him Crucified; a 
 ooncio ad clerum, preached at the opening of the first gen- 
 eral Synod of -the German Eeformed church in Pittsburg, 
 1863. .9. Vindication of the Revised Liturgy, 1867. 10. 
 Answer to Professor Dorner, of Berlin, Germany, 1868. 11. 
 Once for All; based on a sermon preached before the Synod 
 at Danville, Pa., 1869. 12. Revelation and Redemption; 
 opening sermon before the Synod at Mechanicsbnrg, 1870. 
 13. The Revelation of God in Christ ; anniversary discourse 
 before the theological seminary at Mercersburg, 1871. 14. 
 Christ and His Spirit, 1872. 15. Baccalaureate Discourse on 
 John Hi: 13, 1872. 
 
 Dr. Nevin, as a theologian, is one of no ordinary cast. 
 His strong dialectic acumen has led him far beyond the 
 range of mere theology, and has enabled him to unravel the 
 mazes that metaphysical subtilty has drawn around the 
 Christian faith. His own mind is a deeply metaphysical one, 
 and his profound inquiries into this department have led him 
 to scan the whole range of philosophy, and to investigate it 
 on the metaphysical side from Aristotle to Hegel, as well as 
 on the metaphysico -theological side, from Plato to Schleier- 
 macher. The argumentations and reasonings of an Origen, 
 an Augustine, an Anselm, and an Aquinas, are to him no 
 longer mysteries. The thoughts of these world-renowned 
 thinkers he has made his own. Nor is he unfamiliar with 
 the range and results of modern German metaphysical ratio- 
 cination. He has, although an American, after having made 
 himself familiar with ancient forms of thought, and, after 
 grasping the results of the Kantian problems, kept pace with 
 the latest developments of the German mind. Like Jonathan 
 Edwards, unfavored with European university culture, who, 
 by his own innate strength of intellect, could grasp and 
 solve the problems of the philosophers of whom he had 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 423 
 
 never heard, and who ranks as the first metaphysician of his 
 century, the subject of our notice has also probed the depth 
 of the human understanding ; and to his comprehensive 
 mind metaphysical difficulties retire, and faith and reason 
 stand harmonized in gospel revelation. To Dr. Nevin will 
 history also accord, if not the highest niche in the temple of 
 the metaphysical fame of the century, at least a very high 
 one. 
 
 It is because he has made the different theological and 
 metaphysical systems so thoroughly his own, and has by 
 long usage and reading acquired their entire terminology, 
 (which has now become a part of his own thinking), that his 
 sermons and writings appear to those unfamiliar with such 
 forms of thought, mazy and unintelligible. Often will his 
 auditors confess that they do not comprehend his ideas. 
 This is not strange. Whoever comprehends in a remote 
 degree the vast revolution that theology has undergone in 
 Germany during the last one hundred years, will not be 
 surprised at this terininology made use of by Dr. Nevin. It 
 is necessary if he be true to the feelings of his own soul, that 
 he use no other manner of expression, for no other language 
 conveys the deep import of evangelical truth as illuminated 
 by the christological and philosophical developments of later 
 ages. Not that any new truth is thereby promulgated, but 
 modern thought is but fully awakening to the full comprehen- 
 sion of the great truths of revelation ; those truths that ages 
 ago to the mental eye of a St. Anselm and ^ Duns Scotus 
 were looming into view. These intellectual giants were 
 simply ages in advance of their times, and the moderns are 
 but beginning to recognize the truths they so fervently at- 
 tested. 
 
 Later ages, as they will come to take up in their con- 
 science-preceptions, the discoveries of those now standing 
 upon the highest pinnacles of mental vision, will see the 
 rectitude of doctrines that are being promulgated and that 
 are now so seemingly obscure. And in the march of ages, 
 instead of Dr. John W. Nevin being found to have been the 
 advocate of pantheistic absorption, he will gradually be ele- 
 vated upon a pedestal in the Schleiermaoherian school along 
 
424 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 with the brave leaders who strove to turn aside by the light 
 of scientiiic and philosophical progress the stream of human- 
 itarian error, and enable the faithful soldiers of the cross to 
 capture the great Babylon of modern infidelity. 
 
 Dr. Nevin, as a critical scholar, has but few equals. He 
 reads the Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French and German, with 
 ease. Before taking up the study of German, he chiefly read 
 theological works in the Latin; but for many years past, 
 since his mastery of the German, he reads the most theo- 
 logical works in this latter language. In this he has perused 
 the master-pieces of modern composition. He has a fine 
 memory, and therefore retains most that he reads. His 
 articles upon "Cyprian and His Age," published in the 
 Mercershirg Beview, evince his deep stady of ancient Christi- 
 anity, and are of themselves sufficient to give him a high 
 rank in the theological world. They are quoted and cited 
 as standard authority even in Europe. 
 
 Dr. Nevin, deservedly, is entitled to rank amongst the 
 first, if not as the very first theologian and metaphysician 
 of America, after Jonathan Edwards. Had circumstances 
 thrown him in a different sphere, where vast libraries would , 
 have surrounded him, and should he have chosen the field 
 of history, he might have ranked with Mosheim and Neander. 
 Choosing, however, to keep aloof from great metropolitan 
 centres, he has attained to the merited distinction of being 
 intelligently ranked amongst the first thinkers of his age ; 
 and after generations will universally concede to him a place 
 in the category of a De Wette, a Dorner, a Daub, and at 
 Marheineke. 
 
 In conversation, he is exceedingly entertaining, especially 
 when the subject turns upon metaphysical questions ; for in 
 this department he seems especially at home. Any question 
 propounded in theology or metaphysics will receive a minute 
 and lengthy explanation, which serves more than all else to 
 show the great depth and wonderful profundity of his mind. 
 German, French and English schools of philosophy and the- 
 ology will be cited, their diverging opinions presented and 
 compared, and the correct conclusions of reason educed 
 therefrom. In his lectures to the students of his classes, his 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 425 
 
 breadth of mind and compreliensive grasp of the subject in 
 hand are constantly apparent. In his deportment no trivi- 
 ality is ever perceptbile, but a gravity upon all occasions 
 marks his demeanor. 
 
 In personal appearance Dr. Nevin is tall, spare and slen- 
 der, and in the pulpit is not at once attractive. In his delivery 
 of a sermon no indications of oratory appear. He is by no 
 means fluent, and none but those who can follow an argument 
 are much attracted by his preaching. His sermons, however, 
 are pregnant with thought from beginning to end, showing 
 complete mastery of his aubject and great research. He has 
 ever been a close student, and this his appearance indicates. 
 Thought is marked upon every lineament of his countenance. 
 NISSLBY, C. H., elected County Commissioner in 186&, 
 NISSLEY FAMILY. Jacob Nissley, the original set- 
 tler of this family, came to this country at an early day 
 and settled in Mt. Joy township. He had five children — 
 two sons and three daughters, viz : John, married a Sechrist, 
 Martin, a Snyder ; the daughters married, one a man named 
 Buhrman, another an Eversole, and the other a Steward. 
 John had six sons and one daughter, viz : Michael, Abra- 
 ham ; John, married to a Hertzler, born 174(3 and died 1825 ; 
 Jacob, father of Martin, of Conewago, died 1796; Eev. Sam- 
 uel, his wife a Kreider, born 1761, died 1888 ; Martin, his wife 
 a Lehman, born 1763, died 1825 ; and Fanny, her husbands, 
 a Frantz, a Long, and a Hiestand, born 1759, died 1818. The 
 children of Rev. John, of Paxton, were : Jacob, his wife, a 
 Nissley ; John, his wife, an Ober ; Martin, his wife, a Landis, 
 born 1786, died 1868 ; and Maria, her husbands, a Frantz 
 and Rudy Martin. Jacob Nissley's children were: Martin, 
 married to a Kreider; Fanny, to C. Mumma, born 1789; 
 Elizabeth, to Long and Hershey, born 1794 ; and Maria, to 
 a Bear, born 1784. The family of Rev. Samuel Nissley 
 were : John, (Rapho), married to a Hershey, born 1786, 
 died 1847 ; Martin, married to a Bomberger, born 1788 ; Sem, 
 married to an Eby, born 1792, died 1868 ; Rev. Christian, 
 married to a Bomberger, born 1794; Jacob, (Sporting Hill), 
 married to a Witmer ; Henry, married to a Nissley ; and 
 Fanny, married to Jonas Eby, born 1798, died 1839. The 
 30 
 
426 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBY 
 
 f9,inily of Martin Kissley, (of Paxton), are : Jolin, married to 
 a Eupp ; Samuel, married to a Wissler ; Maria, married to a 
 Heiges; and Catharine, married to an Overholt. The family 
 of Martin, (of Middletown), are : Nancy, born 1808, died 1841 ; 
 John, married to a Heiges, born 1811 ; Martin, born 1812; 
 Felix, born 1814, died 1864 ; Mary, born 1816, died 1847 ; 
 Fanny, born 1820; Isaac, born 1822 ; Solomon, born 1825 ; 
 Jacob, born 1828 ; and Joseph Herman, born 1831. The 
 family of John, (Rapho), are : Elizabeth, married to 0. New- 
 comer, born 1808 ; Nanoy, married to Levi Eby, born 1810, 
 died 1866 ; Fanny, married to 0. Nolt, born 1812 ; John, 
 married to B. Gerber, born 1819; Catharine, married to John 
 Musser, born 1827 ; Sarah, born 1829, and died 1843. The 
 family of Martin Nissley, (Rapho), are : Martha, married to 
 Sem Brubaker, born 1814; Barbara, married to J. W. Niss- 
 ley, born 1818, died 1868 ; Nanoy, married to Emanuel Cas- 
 S'l, born 1819, died 1845 ; Fanny, married to J. W. Snyder, 
 born 1821 ; and Maria, married to Benjamin Musser, born 
 1824. The family of Sem Nissley, (Rapho), are : Henry, 
 married to Ann Hostetter, born 1814, died 1851 ; Fanny, 
 married to Samuel Snyder, born 1816 ; Christian, married to 
 a Breneman, born 1818; Samuel, married to Long and 
 Hershey, born 1818 ; Jonas, born 1821, died 1848 ; Benja- 
 min, married to Susan Stauffer, born 1823 ; Catharine, bora 
 1826 ; and David, married to a Rutt, born 1829. The fam- 
 ily of Rev. Christian Nissley, (Chiques), are : Samuel, born 
 1817, died 1824 ; Joseph, married to Martha Sherch, born 
 1821; Christian, born 1825, died 1844; Martin B., born 
 1829 ; Martha, married to Andrew Gerber, born 1818. 
 Abraham Nissley moved from Conoy to Franklin ccJunty in 
 1800, and died in 1823. He had six children — three sons 
 and three daughters, viz : Elizabeth, married to Samuel 
 Ott ; Jacob, married to Susanna Rutt ; Mary, married to 
 Jacob Leidig ; Herman, married to Elizabeth Witmer ; 
 Joseph, married to Sarah Schwartz ; and Fanny, married to 
 Abraham Metz, born 1800, died 1838. The family of Mar- 
 tin Nissley, (Mt. Joy) ; he had two wives, the first a Snyder, 
 and the second a Stauffer ; and eight children — four sons 
 and four daughters, viz : Jacob, married to a Detwiler ; 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 427 
 
 Martin, married to Barbara Reist, bora 1747, died 1799 ; 
 John, married to Gertrude Shearer ; and B. Neff, born 1750, 
 died 1819 ; Christian, married to a Stauffer, and Catharine 
 Bossier, born 1759, died 1822 ; Barbara, married to a Shelly ; 
 Anna, married to Abraham Stauffer, of Fayette county, born 
 1752, died 1817 ; Fanny, married to J. Shallenberger, of 
 Ohio, born 1756, died 1840 ; Maria, married to Christian 
 Musser, born 1763, died 1811. The family of Jacob Nissley, 
 (Dauphin county), are : Martin, married to a Rutt ; Barbara, 
 married to J. Hershey, of Swatara, born 1773, died 1823 ; 
 Esther, married to Jacob Nissley, of Highspire ; and Fanny, 
 married to Joseph Bossier. The family of Martin Nissley, 
 (Dauphin county), are : Jacob, married to Charlotte Books ; 
 Martin, married to B. Mumma ; Bsther, married to Abra- 
 ham Long, of Franklin county, born 1799, died 1865. The 
 family of Martin Nissley, jr., (Mt. Joy township), are : Anna, 
 married to Jacob Stauffer, born 1774, died 1856 ; Eev. 
 Christian, married to Maria Kreybill, born 1777, died 1831 ; 
 Rev. Martin, married to Anna Witmer, born 1784, died 
 1834 ; Peter, born 1787, died 1799 ; Barbara, bom 1780, 
 died 1799 ; Veronica, born 1792, died 1799. 
 
 The family of Rev. Christian Nissley and of his wife, Maria 
 Kreybill, are: John, married to Barbara Snyder, born 1800; 
 Rev. Peter, married to a Witmer, a Kreider, and a Sherch, 
 born 1802 ; Jacob, married to Blizabeth Kreybill, born 1808, 
 died 1862 ; and Barbara, born 1812, died 1812. The family 
 of deacon John Nissley, sr., (Mt. Joy,) and his wife, B. 
 Snyder, are : Henry S. Nissley, married to Anna B. Reist, 
 born 1827 ; Mary S., married to Martin W. Nissley, born 
 1828 ; Fanny S., married to C. K. Hostetter, born 1832 ; 
 Christian S., married to Mary N. Eby, born 1835 ; Sarah S., 
 born 1837 ; John S., married to Sarah N. Bby, born 1839 ; 
 and Barbara S., married to Samuel S. Carver, born 1843. 
 The family of Rev. Peter Nissley, of East Donegal, are : 
 Mary K., married to Solomon L. Swartz, born 1830, died 
 1856 ; Bsther K., born 1832, died 1853 ; John K., married to 
 Maria B. Reist, born 1834 ; Leah K., married to David L. 
 Miller, born 1835; Christian K., born 1838, died 1867; 
 Barbara K., married to C. F. Hostetter, born in 1840; 
 
428 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBY 
 
 Cafharine K., born 1844, died 1862 ; Anna K., born 1848, 
 died 1850. The family of Jacob Nissley, of Mt. Joy town- 
 ship, and Elizabeth Kreybill, his wife, are : Christian, born 
 1830, died 1833; Jacob K., married to Anna Eissor, born 
 1831 ; Martha, married to Blias Eby, born 1833 ; Amos, 
 born 1835, died 1843 ; Barbara, married to Jonas E. Hostet- 
 ter, born 1837 ; Mary, born 1839, died 1842 ; Catharine, 
 married to Michael H. Engle, born 1840 ; Elizabeth, mar- 
 ried to David Eutt,- born 1843 ; Anna, married to Jacob 
 Good, born 1845 ; Samuel, born 1847, died 1855 ; Eebecca, 
 married to Jacob Mumma, born 1848 ; and Simon K., born 
 1854. The family of Hans or John Nissley, who lived on 
 the first mansion farm, his first wife being Gertrude Shearer, 
 born 1754, died 1794; and his second, Elizabeth Neff, born 
 1757, died 1815, are : Martin, (miller,) married to E. Hershey, 
 born 1784, died 1854; Henry, married to Elizabeth Hershey, 
 born 1795, died 1860 ; Abraham, married to Nancy Wissler, 
 born 1798 ; Samuel, married to Mary Hershey, born 1800; 
 Barbara died single ; Fanny, married to C. Witmer, born 
 
 1779, died 1807 ; Gertrude, married to David Bversole, born 
 
 1780, died 1821; Anna, born 1782, died unmarried, 1861; 
 Elizabeth, married to Peter Kreybill, born 1787, died 1826 ; 
 Mary, married to Christian Kreybill, born 1790. Family of 
 Martin Nissley, (miller,) of Mt. Joy township, are : Eliza- 
 beth, married to Jacob Eutt, born 1813, died 1858 ; Anna, 
 married to Christian Mumma, born ]815; Maria, married to 
 Christian Eissor, born 1816 ; Barbara, married to Joseph 
 Wolgamuth, born 1819 ; Fanny, married to Joseph Eissor, 
 born 1820; Susan, born 1823, died 1823; Christian H., 
 married to Barbara Lindemuth, born 1824 ; Martin, born 
 1826, died 1843 ; Catharine, married to Jacob Eissor, born 
 1828, died 1852. The family of Henry Nissley, of Mt. Joy 
 township, and his wife, Elizabeth Hershey, born 1795, are: 
 John H., married to Anna Gisch, born 1820, died 1867; 
 Henry H., married to Jane Wolgamuth, born 1822 ; Chris- 
 tian, married to Anna Wanner, born 1824, died 1866 ; Isaac, 
 born 1825, died 1850 ; Abraham H., married to Susan Gar- 
 ber, born 1828; David, born 1831, died 1852; Mary, mar- 
 ried to Abraham Eissor, born 1819 ; Elizabeth, married to 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 429 
 
 Jacob Shenk, born 1825. The family of Abrabam Nissley, 
 of Mt. Joy township, and his wife, Nancy Wissler, born 
 1800, died 1867, are : John W., married to Elizabeth Berry, 
 born 1823 ; Jacob W., married to Mary Lindemuth, born 
 1825 ; Anna, married to Henry Breneman, born 1827 ; Mary, 
 married to Peter Gisch, born 1831 ; Fanny, married to 
 Abraham Bachman, born 1833 ; Henry W., married to a 
 Miss Horst, born 1835; Abraham W., born 1838; Daniel, 
 married to Elizabeth Musser, born 1840, died 1867 ; and 
 Sarah, married to Henry Heisey, born 1842. The family of 
 Samuel Nissley, of Mt. Joy township, and his wife, Maria 
 Hershey, are: Joseph H., married to Mary Brubaker, born 
 1826'; Samuel H., born 1831 ; Elizabeth, born 1885, died 
 1867 ; Mary, born 1837, died 1848. The family of Christian 
 Nissley, (above May town), first married to a Staufi'er, and 
 next to Catharine Bossier, are : John, married to Mary Her- 
 shey, born 1788, died 1823 ; Christian, married to Fanny 
 Hershey, born 1790, died 1822 ; Jacob, married to Mary 
 Miller, born 1797, died 1869 ; Martin, married to Anna 
 Bachman, born 1798, died 1833 ; Joseph B., married to Mary 
 Snyder, born 1804, died 1857 ; Nancy, born 1791, died 1809; 
 and Barbara, married to Jacob Kreybill, (miller), born 1795, 
 died 1814. The family of John B. Nissley, near Bossier's 
 meeting-house, are : Catharine, married to John Bngle, born 
 1809, died 1871 ; Rev. Jacob H., married to a Brubaker, 
 born 1810 ; Elizabeth, married to Benjamin Martin, born 
 1811 ; Barbara, married to an Bshleman, born 1813, died 
 1841 ; John, married to a Brubaker, born 1815, died 1849 ; 
 Christian, married to a Musser, born 1820, died 1849 ; 
 and David, born 1824, died 1824. The family of Jacob 
 Nissley, of Cumberland, and his wife, Mary Miller, born 
 1802, are : , Elizabeth, married to an Eberly, and afterwards 
 a Sener, born 1819 ; Benjamin, married to a Felsenhard, born 
 1821; Jacob, married to Leah Fetroe, born 1824; David, 
 married to Anna Brintle, born 1827 ; Maria, married to a, 
 Belshofifer, born 1829 ; and Christian, married to Mary 
 Markle, born 1834. The family of Martin Nissley and his 
 wife, Anna Bachman, born 1799, are: Peter B., married to 
 a Huffman, afterwards a Huffert, born 1823, died 1869 ; 
 
430 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTOKY 
 
 Nancy, born 1825, died 1830; Christian, married to Christi- 
 ana Hilty, born 1827 ; Daniel B., married to Sallie Linde- 
 muth, born 1829 ; and Jacob, born 1831, died 1851. The 
 family of Joseph B. Nissley, (Donegal meeting-house), and 
 his wife, Mary Snyder, born 1808, are : Samuel S., married 
 to Martha Kreider, born 1830; John S., born 1832, died 
 1839 ; Joseph S., married to Maria Stauffer, born 1834, died 
 1861 ; Catharine, married to Christian Stauffer, born 1838, 
 died 1863 ; Mary, married to Abram Euth, born 1842, died 
 1869; and Elizabeth, born 1849, died 1850. The family of 
 Eev. Martin Nissley, of Donegal, and his wife, Anna Witmer, 
 are: Anna, married to Joseph Bversole, born 1811 ; Joseph 
 W., married to Barbara Nissley, born 1813 ; Barbara, mar- 
 ried to Daniel Heisey, born 1816, died 1862 ; Fanny, married 
 to Jacob Snyder, born 1818 ; Maria, married to Philip 
 Greiner, born 1820; and Martin W., married to Mary 
 Nissley, born 1824. 
 
 NISSLEY, Jacob, elected a member of the Legislature in 
 1849 and 1850. 
 
 NOBLE, William, elected a member of the Legislature 
 in 1835. 
 
 NOETH, Hugh M., was born in Juniata county, Pa. He 
 read law in New Berlin, Union county, in the office of Hon. 
 Joseph Casey, Chief Justice of the Court of Claims at Wash- 
 ington city, D. C. He was admitted to the bar in 1849. He 
 located at Columbia, Lancaster county. Pa., about the year 
 1850, and engaged in the pursuits of the profession in which 
 he has been employed up to this time. He was elected to- 
 the Legislature in 1854, serving one session. He was dele- 
 gate to the National Democratic Convention at Charleston and 
 Baltimore in 1860, and represented Pennsylvania on the com- 
 mittee of credentials. He was the Democratic candidate for 
 Congress in 1864. He has served as a member of the 
 Columbia school board for upwards of thirteen years, and 
 for a time filled the position of president of that body. He 
 has been for years the confidential solicitor of several banks 
 and other corporations, and has for some time been the 
 solicitor of the Pennsylvania Eailroad company. Mr. North 
 is an assiduous, industrious and persevering business man. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 431 
 
 and has at this time a large and lucrative practice, and can be 
 regarded as a man of means and independence. He is a 
 sound, well-read lawyer, and prepares and tries a cause well. 
 
 o. 
 
 OBEE, Michael, was elected a member of the Legislature, 
 in the year 1860. 
 
 OLD, James, was one of the early iron-masters of Lan- 
 caster county, and an influential and leading man in his day. 
 He was elected a member of the Legislature in the years 
 1791, 1792 and 1793. 
 
 OETH, Adam, elected a member of the Legislature in 
 1783-84. 
 
 OVERHOLTZER, Henry D., a member of the Legisla- 
 ture in 1826. 
 
 OWEN, Benjamin, a member of the Legislature in 1821. 
 
 P. 
 
 PAEKE, Samuel, was a member of the Lancaster bar, 
 admitted in the year 1820. He was a leading lawyer for 
 many years, and was a man of considerable influence in po- 
 litical movements, fie was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in the years 1829-30. We find the following notice 
 of him, written February 18th, 1840 : 
 
 " The lecture of Mr. Parke on ' Matter, ' delivered before the Mechan- 
 ics' Institute on last Thursday evening, was listened to with profound 
 attention. The originality of his remarks respecting the formation of 
 coal beds, mountains and valleys, gave this production a degree of in- 
 terest of which lectures in general are not possessed. The subject 
 throughout was managed in the most skillful manner, fully sustaining 
 the high reputation which Mr. Parke enjoys as an able writei." 
 
 PARR, William, was a native of England, who emi- 
 grated to America at an early day, and settled in Lancaster. 
 ile read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1752. He was 
 
432 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 elected a member of the Legislature in the year 1783. He 
 was a man of considerable ability, and was noted in his day 
 as a skilled marksman. 
 
 PASSMOEB, John, a citizen of Lancaster, and a man of 
 remarkable corporeal proportions, weighing about 450 lbs. 
 He was appointed by Governor Snyder, in 1809, prothono- 
 tary of the Lancaster district of the supreme court, com- 
 prising the counties of Lancaster, Berks, York and Dauphin. 
 He was, in 1818, appointed one of the aldermen of the city 
 of Lancaster, and the same year was elected the first mayor of 
 the city, a position to which he was twice reelected, discharg- 
 ing the duties of the office for three years. 
 
 PATTEESOK, Arthur, a member of the Legislature in 
 years 1743, 1744, 1745, 1746, 1747, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1751, 
 1752, 1753 and 1754. 
 
 PATTEESON, D. W., is a native of Lancaster county, 
 and a graduate of Washington College, Pennsylvania. He 
 read law, and was admitted to the bar in the year 18^2. He 
 was elected a member of the Legislature in the year 1846. 
 In the year 1858 he was elected District Attorney of Lan- 
 caster county, the duties of which he discharged for three 
 years. He is engaged in the pursuits of his profession. 
 
 PATTEESON (James) FAMILY. James Patterson was 
 born in the north of Ireland in 1708, and emigrated to 
 y America in lj^28, and settled in Lancaster county. He was 
 a farmer by occupation. He married Mary Montgomery, 
 and had the following children, viz. : 'William, born March 
 14th, 1733, died June 29th, 1818 ; John, Hannah, Mary, 
 Samuel, Jane, Isabella, James, born November 14th, 1745.,__ 
 died August 17th, 1825 ; Elizabeth and Thomas, born Feb- 
 ruary 1st, 1754, died March 28th, 1829. James Patterson, 
 the first settler, died in Little Britain township in lIE2t_ 
 
 WiLLiAM Patterson, son of the first settler, married 
 Eosanna Scott, by whom he had the following children : Mary, 
 born January 7th, 1759; Moses, born October 16th, 1760; 
 Samuel, born October 7th, 1762 ; Thomas, born October 1st, 
 1764, died November 17th, 1841 ; and James, born March 
 1st, 1767. He, after the death of his first wife, married 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 433 
 
 Elizabeth Brown, born March 16th, 1747, died January 30th, 
 1826. With his second wife he had the following children : 
 John, born February 10th, 1771 ; Eosanna, born December 
 31, 1772 ; William, born April 8th, 1715^ died September 
 20th ISii; Nathaniel, born 1777 ; Eachel, born June 3d, 
 1778, died January 9th, 1817; Elizabeth, born January 8th, 
 1781 ; Josiah, born November 10th, 1783, died February, 
 18-43; Hannah, born May 22d, 1786; Nathan, born Septem- 
 ber 11th, 1788, died February, 1846 ; and BleajaQr,^ born 
 October 17th, 1792. W illiam Patterson ^settled _ in . Wash- 
 ington county, Pa. Two of his sons, John and Thomas, 
 were members of Congress during the contest between 
 Jackson, Adams, and Crawford for the presidency. 
 
 John Patterson, second son of the first settler, was a 
 farmer in Little Britain township, but late in life removed to 
 Ohio. He was married to Eleanor Milligan, and had the 
 following children : Mary, born April 24, 1765; James, Mar- 
 tha, John, Hannah, Eleanor, William and Elizabeth. 
 
 Samuel Patterson, third son of the first settler, lived in 
 Little Britain township, where he also died. He married 
 Mary Wylie, and had two children, Elizabeth and Mary. 
 The first married Dr. Smith, of Westmoreland county. Pa., 
 and left a large family. 
 
 James Patterson, fourth son of the first settler, lived in 
 Little Britain township, and was a member of the Legisla- 
 ture in the yea.rs 1802, 1803 and 1804. He married Letitia 
 Gardner, and had the following children: Isabella, born 
 April 29, 1788; died December 24, 1818; Francina, born 
 May 17, 1785; died December 1, 1823; Eobert, born March 
 21st, 1787, died March 31, 1861; Mary, born April 17, 
 1789, died May 1, 1848 ; Elizabeth, born April 26, 1791, 
 died July 26, 1830; .[aue, born February 28, 1794; James, 
 born March 7, 1796; Letitia, born May 29, 1798, died No- 
 vember 12, 1823; Eachael, born May 20, 1803. 
 
 Thomas Patterson, fifth son of the first settler, married 
 Mary Tannehill, by whom he had the following children : 
 Eebecca, born August 13th, 1778 ; Elizabeth, born March 
 18th, 1780 ; Samuel, born March 3d, 1782 ; Nathan, born 
 
434 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 February 20th, 1784; died January 24tli, 1792; Mary, 'born 
 March 3d, 1786; died June 5th, 1854; Margaret, born June 
 10th, 1788 ; died March, 1821 ; Thomas, born February 
 13th, 1790; died July 30, 1857 ; James, born January 11th, 
 J.792j_a3d Jane, born May lOth^ 1796. 
 
 PATTEESON (Arthur) FAMILY. This branch of 
 the name in Lancaster county, all descended from Arthur 
 Patterson, who emigrated from the north of Ireland in 1724, 
 and settled, with his wife, (who was Ann Scott,) the same 
 year, on the banks of the Big Chiquesalunga, in Rapho 
 township, Lancaster county, then a wilderness. He pur- 
 chased and located a large tract of land and commenced 
 farming. He had acquired in the old country the trade of 
 blacksmithing, and which trade he found almost indispensa- 
 ble to the success of farming, after coming to this country. 
 Mechanics of all kinds were then very scarce here, not less 
 so the blacksmith; and Arthur Patterson, at first for his own 
 convenience and economy, performed his own smithing; 
 afterwards the wants of his neighbors and the settlements, 
 still farther west of him, demanding it, he carried on the 
 blacksmithing very extensively, in connection with his farm- 
 ing. Often did it occur that the farmers composing the set- 
 tlement in Cumberland valley, in the vicinity of Carlisle, 
 sent their plow-irons, &c., on pack-horses, all the way down 
 to Arthur Patterson's, to b.e sharpened and repaired, the 
 messenger waiting until they were done, then would return, 
 taking them with him. Arthur died leaving nine children, 
 four sons and five daughters. One son, Arthur, the youngest, 
 died while quite young ; Samuel, James_ajid_S!jIliani_grew 
 up to manhood, and all served their co.untry-In_-the_ war^of 
 the Eevolution., The latter was taken prisoner by the 
 British, and died while held a prisoner in tlie prison-ship, on 
 Delaware bay, the fate of many of our patriotic army who 
 were unfortunate enough to be taken prisoners, and where 
 the American officers openly charged the British with de- 
 liberate murder, by means of supplying their prisoners with 
 unhealthy and spoiled food. Samuel and James both sur- 
 vived their campaigns; the last severe conflict they partici- 
 pated in being the battle of Princeton, after which James 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 485 
 
 returned home, having in charge the prisoners taken by our 
 forces in that engagement. They were also members of the 
 committee of safety for Lancaster county, in 1775, a 
 body chosen from the several townships to concert measures 
 to defeat the machinations of the tories, and to resist the 
 unjust and tyrannical edicts of the British Parliament. James 
 also served several sessions in the Provincial Assembly of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Samuel Patterson, son of Arthur, married Martha 
 Agnew, and died November 15, 1820, at the advanced age 
 of (^3 years, having left four children, Arthur, Eebecca, 
 James and Samuel. Arthur married Elizabeth Moore, and 
 died, leaving two^ daughters, one of whom married Benjamin 
 Osbourne; and left two sons, James and Patterson Osbourne^ 
 who reside now in Ohio ; the other died young. Eebecca 
 married Eev. Matthew Henderson ; James married Eliza- 
 beth Witherow, and died near Mount Joy, October 29, 1852, 
 and left two children, viz : Sarah, who died in her 18th 
 year, and Samuel Smith Patterson, who is still living, and 
 now a citizen of Sterling, Illinois, where, by engaging first 
 in merchandizing and latterly in banking, he has acquired 
 large wealth, and is much respected for his amiable qualities 
 of character. He had married Mary McJimsey, by whom 
 he had a large family, six of whom still survive, viz : five 
 sons, all successful business men, Joseph M., James B.j 
 Smith, Frank and John ; and one daughter, Martha Eebecca, 
 who married Doctor Thos. Gait, once a citizen of this county, 
 and now residing in Eock Island, Illinois. Samuel Smith 
 Patterson succeeded his father. Major James Patterson, at 
 farming, near Mount Joy, and spent a large part of his life 
 there, taking an active part in local and State civil affairs. 
 He ably represented Lancaster county in the State Legisla- 
 ture for two successive sessions, in the years of 1834-35. 
 His son, Samuel, married Mary Ann McJimsey, and 
 died October 27th, 1831, at his farm, below Mount Joy, 
 leaving ten children, six sons and four daughters. Of the 
 sons, Samuel Patterson, now a successful merchant of Mari- 
 etta, is the sole survivor. John Patterson, late of Mount 
 Joy, and a successful and much-esteemed coal and lumber 
 
486 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 merchant there, was another son ; also James M., and Thos. 
 Jefferson Patterson, formerly of Mount Joy. Robert died 
 young, as did S. Alexander and Elizabeth. Martha inter- 
 married with Thomas Sterrett, Mary Ann with Jas. B. Fer- 
 ree, and Rebecea Jane with William Spangler. 
 
 William Patterson, son of Arthur, who died a prisoner, 
 had married Elizabeth Dysart, and left three children ; one a 
 daughter, Eleanor, who married Alexander Dysart, and set- 
 tled in Huntingdon county, where some of her descendants 
 still reside, respected by all who knew them; and two sons: 
 ^Arthur, the father of W illiam, Douglass and Alexander 
 Patterson, the two latter now residents of Mount Joy, the 
 former residing in the west, and several daughters; and 
 Alexander, who died February 2d, 1842, and who intermar- 
 ried with Jane Pedan, leaving three children, two of whom 
 died young ; and one, a daughter, Sarah, grew up to woman- 
 hood, and married Abrm. Hatfield, both now residing in 
 Chester county. Pa. The daughters of Arthur were five : 
 Catharine, married Robert Hays ; Elizabeth married Mr. J. 
 Thomas ; Eleanor married Bphraim Moore ; Ja,ne and Re- 
 becca died unmarried. 
 
 James Patterson, son of Arthur, intermarried with Mar- 
 garet Aguew, by whom he had nine children, viz : Arthur, 
 who married Mary Witherow, died September, 1822, 
 leaving seven children, and whose three sons located in 
 Eranklin count), Pa.; Rebecca intermarried with James 
 Scott, and again as a widow, married Col. James Agnew, of 
 Bedford county. Pa. ; James, who married Mary Watson, 
 died May 30th, 1863, leaving seven children; Martha, 
 who intermarried with John Scott, lived and died in 
 Washington county, Pa., where she left a large family ; Sam- 
 uel, who married and resided in Steubenville, Ohio, where he, 
 died, leaving one child, Samuel ; Margaret, who married 
 John McConaughy, a lawyer of Grettysburg, Pa., had 
 five children, viz : Robert and David, both of whom studied 
 and practiced law in Adams county, the latter of whom 
 represented that district in the Senate of Pennsylvania for 
 three years, commencing in 1868. James resides in Johns- 
 town, Pa., and successfully carries on a large steam tannery. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 437 
 
 Hannah Mary intermarried witli the Hon. Moses McClean, 
 an attorney of Adams county, who represented that dis-. 
 trict in the United States Congress. Elizabeth married 
 Prof. M. S. Stoever, late of Gettysburg college ; and Erne- 
 line married the Eev. D'. Wilson ; the three remaining • 
 children of James, Ann, William, who., waa. a p hy sicia n ; 
 John died unmarried. The foregoing constitute the greater 
 portion of four generations, descending from their ancestor, 
 Arthur Patterson. 
 
 PATTEESON, Col. James, the subject of this sketch, 
 was born in Eapho township, Lancaster county, Pennsylva- 
 nia, on the 7th day of October, 1775., and died, after a brief 
 illnesS; in Mount Joy, where he spent his last years, after 
 retiring from farming on the 30th of May, 1863, in the 88th 
 year of his age. He was the son of James Patterson of 
 revolutionary times, who was a devoted soldier in that war in 
 behalf of the colonies. His grandfather was Arthur Patterson, 
 who emigrated from Dont gal county, Ireland, in 172i, and 
 settled in Eapho township, Lancaster county, where he after- 
 wards lived and died. Col. James, therefore, sprang from 
 Scotch-Irish ancestors, and was one of a family of nine 
 children. His father being a farmer, his son James was reared 
 to out-door labor and exercise, and in consequence grew up 
 to manhood with a strong and vigorous constitution. In 
 the days of his boyhood there were no common schools, 
 and the opportunities to obtain even a good oommon school 
 education, were exceedingly limited. The entire time 
 afforded to him to acquire learning in school, was all em- 
 braced in the short period of ten mo'nths. At the age of 
 about fifteen years, and just on the eve of the troubles 
 incited by the whiskey insurrection in Western Pennsylva- 
 nia, his father died, and he was left without the directing 
 hand and cherishing culture of paternal affection. His older 
 brother, Arthur, and the adult population generally of his 
 native section, being shortly after called out to military 
 service by the United States government, to quell the 
 whiskey insurrection, James was left to take the sole charge 
 and direction of a large farm, and to manage it the best he 
 could. This, and the many incidental ret^ponsibilities, threw 
 
438 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Mm quite young in life on bis own resources, and gave him 
 a maturity in experience and a decision of character, long 
 before he attained to years of manhood. As may be sup- 
 posed, therefore, when he arrived at adult age he had ac- 
 quired an enviable reputation amongst his neighbors for 
 good practical common sense, and fearless candor in express- 
 ing his convictions. These traits, united with a natural 
 cheerful disposition and genial social qualities, caused him 
 to be held in high esteem by all his neighbors. Although 
 deprived of school privileges, and his time devoted to con- 
 stant labor, his love of learning made him seek opportunities 
 for acquiring knowledge. This, added to fine natural abili- 
 ties, gave him great success in acquiring information on all 
 topics. His stock of knowledge and experience made him 
 a wise counsellor and a judicious adviser; and on many 
 occasions, both of public and private interests, his counsel 
 was sought and obtained. On attaining to his majority he 
 took charge of his own farm, and commenced clearing away 
 the heavy timber and erecting the necessary buildings. In 
 the year 1805 he was united in marriage to Mary Watson, a 
 daughter of the late Dr. John Watson, of Donegal. By her 
 he had seven children. One, a son, died in his youth ; another, 
 ^ daughter, died just as she verged into womanhood. The 
 five remaining children grew up to mature years, four of 
 whom still survive — James A. Patterson, whose occupation 
 was that of a farmer, but now retired and residing in Mount 
 Joy; David W. Patterson, a member of the legal profession 
 at the Lancaster bar ; Harriet B., now the wife of Dr. J. L. 
 Zeigler, of Mount Joy- Each el J. Patterson, and the remain- 
 ing daughter, Anna Mary, who was intermarried with Robert 
 S. Mcllvain, of Paradise township, and died in the year 1855. 
 No man excelled Col. Patterson in public, spirit and disin- 
 terested sacrifice for the public good. He occupied important 
 positions, both civil and military. When the war of 1812, 
 between this country and Great Britain broke out, he 
 immediately left his farm and family and volunteered for the 
 war. A battalion of troops having been raised by his exer- 
 tions. Gen. Nathaniel Watson, major-general of the division, 
 composed of Laafjaster and York counties, commanding, 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 439 
 
 made Col. Patterson (then major) one of the aids on his staff. 
 He remained in the service until peace was declared, having 
 most of that time commanded a regiment of Pennsylvania 
 volunteers as lieutenant-colonel, and returned home holding 
 that commission. For a decade of 3'ears after that war, the 
 whole country, encouraged by liberal legislation, were active 
 in developing the militia system, then high in popular favor, 
 for home defence. Col. Patterson took a prominent part in 
 organizing and commanding that strong arm of the Repub- 
 lic. While his taste led him to take part in military 
 matters, a pure patriotism seemed to be the motor of his 
 action. An instance of that may be remembered by many 
 yet living. When the South inaugurated the late unnatural 
 and terrible rebellion, Col. Patterson, although then in his 
 ,€ighty-sixth year, said with all seriousness, " I wish I was a 
 little younger, I would go out myself and defend the life of 
 our government." 
 
 Ii? the civil affairs of his native State, he always took a 
 deep interest. Feeling the want of educational advantages 
 in his youth, he expressed the deepest anxiety to see those 
 advantages placed within the reach of all. These convic- 
 tions made him a warm and active supporter of our benefi- 
 cent common school system, declaring that school-tax was 
 the cheapest tax that any citizen could pay. As all kuow, 
 the school system was at first left to a vote of the people of 
 the several townships. This feature caused many warm 
 contests at the polls, in which Col. P. always took the side 
 of f!ree schools, although his own children were at the time 
 all advanced in their studies beyond the then standard of 
 common school education. Col. P. represented Lancaster 
 county in our State Legislature in the session of 1817-18, 
 and again for two successive sessions of 1832-33 and 1883- 
 34, taking an active part in the political questions of that 
 period. But the occupation of his life — farming — was his 
 favorite pursuit. He largely gave his personal attention 
 and labor to his farms; read extensively on the subject; 
 .studied the nature of the soil, and the character of the fer- 
 ,tllizers best adapted to produce the highest state of cultiva- 
 ,tion. And his neat farming and abundant crops, showed 
 
440 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 the wisdom of his conclusions. With him has gone another 
 of the landmarks between the present and the past, and he 
 is no longer seen amid his native and long-life familiar sur- 
 roundings. His last days, as well as his last moments of 
 dissolution, were calm and peaceful, for the well-grounded 
 faith of the Christian believer did not forsake him. His 
 remains rest in the old Donegal churchyard, with the dust 
 of his fathers ; and a long, honorable and useful life is at an 
 end. Our forefathers are at rest, a worthy band whose fine 
 virtues, honest purpose and high-toned morality make their 
 memories a richer legacy to their children than gold or silver, 
 or even the daring deeds of heroism. 
 
 PATTBESON, Jambs, was elected County Commissioner 
 in 1809. 
 
 PATTERSON, Thomas, elected County Commissioner iji 
 1845. 
 
 PAXSON, Joseph, was elected County Commissioner in 
 1838 and 1840. He was also elected a member of the- 
 Legislature in 1844. 
 
 PAXSOJSI, Eev. William, was born in Lancaster county, 
 April 1st, 1760. He devoted the early part of his lite to 
 agricultural employments, and served in two companies at 
 different times during the revolutionary war, in one of which 
 he was present, and participated in the battle of Trenton. 
 His love for knowledge afterwards induced him to seek the 
 advantages of a liberal education, and he began his prepara- 
 tory course when twenty-four years of age, in the Stra^burg 
 academy, then taught by the Eev. Nathaniel W. Sample. 
 He never obtained the advantages of a collegiate education, 
 but by diligent study he laid a foundation upon which he 
 accumulated a more than ordinary amount of knowledge, 
 literary, scientific and theological. He was taken under the 
 care of the New Castle Presbytery, April 29th, 1789, and 
 having passed, with great credit, through the several trials 
 assigned him, he was licensed on the 8th of April,' 1790 as 
 a candidate for the gospel ministry. On the 6th of October 
 following he was appointed stated supply to the churches of 
 West Nottingham and Little Britain. In this service, having 
 continued about six months, he received a call from these- ■ 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 441 
 
 congregations to become their pastor, whio-h, after delibera- 
 tion, be declined. In bis probationary visitations and preaeb- 
 ing, be accepted an invitation to preacb to tbe congregations 
 of Lower Marsb creek and Toms creek, in tbe Carlisle 
 Presbytery. Tbey bad recently become vacant by tbe trans- 
 fer of tbe Eev. Jobn McNigbt, tbeir late pastor, to tbe 
 collegiate Presbyterian cburcbes of tbe city of New York. 
 Mr. Paxson's services were so acceptable to tbose vacant 
 congregations, tbat they promptly and unanimously gave him 
 a call to become tbeir pastor. He accepted tbe call on the 
 4th of April, 1792, and was accordingly dismissed from tbe 
 Presbytery of New Castle to put himself under the care of 
 that of Carlisle. This took effect on tbe 7th of June, 1792, 
 and on tbe 3d of October following he was installed as pastor 
 of the churches above named. 
 
 On tbe 20tb of January, 1794, be was united in marriage 
 with. Miss Jane Dunlap, daughter of Col. James Dunlap, 
 then residing near Shippensburg. He ministered to tbe 
 united congregations composing his charge for several years, 
 until Lower Marsb creek congregation became desirous of 
 securing his entire services. To this change tbe other con- 
 gregation submitted with deep regret, and from that time 
 until his death bis labors were devoted to Marsh creek alone . 
 His service to this congregation was a devotion, indeed, being 
 one of larger duration than falls to the lot of most clergy- 
 men, and extending over a period of forty-nine years. Very 
 rarely, indeed, was be absent from the public duties of the 
 Sabbath, unless to assist a brother in the administration of 
 the Lord's Supper, and in one or two instances when, by 
 sickness, be was for a short time unable to render his 
 ordinary services. His ministrations were always character- 
 ized by decided ability and great faithfulness. By his con- 
 gregation they were always appreciated, and their attachment 
 to, and estimation of bim, suffered no abatement. To relin- 
 quish him as their pastor, was very unwelcome, even when 
 his bodily infirmities rendered it not only expedient, but 
 absolutely necessary. In 1826 the degree of doctor of 
 divinity was conferred upon bim by Dickinson college. He 
 severed his long connection with bis congregation by resign- 
 31 
 
442 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 ing his charge on the 19th of October, 1841. He, however, 
 afterwards preached to them occasionally, until they obtained 
 a successor. He died April 16th, 1845. 
 
 As a preacher. Dr. Paxson was highly interesting and 
 acceptable. His sermons were distinguished for appropi'iate 
 and well-digested thought, natural and lucid arrangement, 
 and thorough discussion. Far from being dry and merely 
 intellectual, they were lively and impressive ; and a well- 
 regulated imagination often added force and beauty to his 
 scriptural illustrations. In preparation for his public ser- 
 vices, he was conscientiously careful and punctual. His 
 manner of preaching was what is usually denominated 
 extempore ; but the matter was the result of mature thought 
 and exact preparation. In manner he was solemn, dignified, 
 commanding, graceful, wiihout any theatrical effort, and with 
 only those gestures which his feelings naturally prompted him. 
 As a pastor he was affectionate and faithful. In the exercise of 
 church discipline, he was strict and conscientious, yet con- 
 siderate and wise. In his habits, he was very domestic. He 
 was, however, eminently social in his , disposition, and fond 
 of the society of his brethren.* 
 
 PBAESOL, JoHX H., one of the editors of the Lancaster 
 Daily and Weekly Express, was born January 12tli, 1818, 
 near Waynesburg, Chester county. Pa. His parents be- 
 longed to the humblest of society. From Chester county 
 they removed to Sporting Hill, and from thence to Marietta, 
 Lancaster county. In this place, when he was but four years 
 of age, he had the misfortune to lose his mother, who was 
 shot by a drunken man, named Hamilton.' At the age of 
 
 ' William Hamilton, more familiary known, subsequently, as " BiUy 
 Hamilton," was a Nortli-Irelauder, wlio had settled in Marietta at an 
 early period of its history, and followed the occupation of hand-weaving. 
 Under ordinary circumstances he was regarded rather as a useful and 
 industrious citizen, but somewhat irritable and obstinate, and, when 
 under the influence of liqvror, a man of almost ungovernable passions. 
 Mr. Pearsol's mother was his nearest neighbor, and was known as a 
 remarkably mild and benevolent womair, who often acted as a peace^. 
 maker between belligerent neighbors, and possessed marked influence 
 as such. She had often used her influence previously in pacifying 
 Hamilton in his stormy moods, when they were directed against his 
 *Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, vol. 3. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 443 
 
 seven he was placed in the employ of Hugh Maxwell, pub- 
 lisher of the Lancaster Gazette, as errand boy, and con- 
 tinued in his service for seven years, and so long as to 
 partially acquire a knowledge of printing. Having left Mr. 
 Maxwell, he worked in Philadelphia several years, and made 
 himself fully master of his trade. When twenty-one years of 
 age he returned to Lancaster, and Bryson, Pearsol & Wimer 
 started the Semi- Weekly Gazette as a literary paper. With 
 this firm he continued for about a year and six months, and 
 then sold out his interest, losing in non-payments all the 
 products of the sale. On a borrowed capital of $500 he 
 began, February 10th, 1843, as a temperance organ, the 
 
 wife, his neiglibors, or other members of his family. On the unfortu- 
 nate occasion which so suddenly and so violently resulted in Mr. Pearsol' s 
 early orphanage, Hamilton was under the influence of strong drink, and 
 had an altercation with some one, and as is usu;^ on such occasions, 
 when he came home he directed his ire against his wife and other mem- 
 bers of his family. Mrs. Pearsol, either voluntary or through solicita- 
 tion, attempted to administer the oil of peace which she had so success- 
 fully administered on former occasions, but her benevolent mission only 
 seemed to have chafed him the more, if he did not come to regard it as 
 an impertinent interference ; he therefore ran up stairs into a room, and 
 declared he would shoot the first person who entered it. His terrified 
 family would fain have persuaded her not to approach him in his present 
 frame of mind, but she, perhaps, not knowing that he had a deadly 
 weapon, or fearing he might do violence to others if his stormy passion 
 was not allayed, nevertheless entered his room, when the phrenzied man 
 immediately shot her dead, and escaped from the house. It v? as some 
 days before Hamilton Tvas arrested, and having some very warm friends 
 in the place, who connived at his concealment, it was considered hazard- 
 ous to attempt his arrest, even if his whereabouts had been known. 
 
 At length suspicion fell upon the house of his friend, James Kane, or 
 McKane, familiarly known as "Jimmy Kane," and the "Marietta 
 Blues," a volunteer company, then under the command of Lieut. Elijah 
 Russel, was called out, to assist in making the arrest. The company 
 proceeded to the house aforesaid, and after a feeble resistance on the 
 part of the inmates, entered it with charged bayonets ; where, after a 
 thorough search, they found Hamilton concealed under the flooring of 
 the cellar. Kane, having been discovered with a gun in his hand, which 
 he had threatened to use, before Hamilton was discovered, was, with 
 another of his friends, also arrested as accessories after the fact, and the 
 three men were immediately lodged in the Lancaster jail. At the trial 
 which followed, his two friends were discharged, but Hamilton was con- 
 victed of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to eighteen years' 
 imprisonment in the old Arch street prison, in Philadelphia. 
 
444 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOBY 
 
 WeeMy Express,^ and continued its publication up to 1856, it 
 being the longest instance of the connected publication of a 
 temperance paper as yet known in Pennsylvania. During 
 1856 he associated with hini Mr. J. M. W. Geist, and the firm 
 started the Daily Exjiress, (and also continued the weekly), 
 which they have published up to this time. In the subject 
 of this sketch, we have an instance of a man rising from the 
 humblest origin to respect, influence and independence, by 
 dint of determined energy and steady perseverance, qualities 
 always sure to win when properly observed. The early 
 event that deprived him of his mother, was that which 
 originally gave him his first bias in favor of temperance, and 
 
 Hamilton became very penitent, and his conduct in i^rison was very 
 meek, exemplary and praiseworthy, so much so that the usual rigor of 
 the prison rules were relaxed in his case, and he was entrusted with 
 many minor duties, all of which were faithfully discharged. After 
 serving nine years in jarison he became a subject of executive clemency, 
 and, accordingly, i-eceived a free and full pardon from, Governor George 
 "VVolf, in 1S31. 
 
 After his discharge from prison he returned to Marietta, where he 
 married a widow Coble — his former wife having died in the meantime, if 
 she had not been released by his diabolical act and criminal conviction — 
 and led a rather c^uiet and industrious, if not a religious life, and died 
 in 1847. Notwithstanding his religious professions, the odium of hav- 
 ing committed a murder, ever attached to Hamilton — whether justly or 
 unjustly, he never outlived it — and, doubtless, on a multitude of occa- 
 sions, he realized that ' ' the way of the transgressor is hard. ' ' Many 
 people imagined that they could read murder in the lineaments of his 
 face, and herein perhaps consists as solemn a warning as the indulgence 
 in inebriation. Every indu.lgence in violent anger leaves not only a scar 
 upon the moral character, but also more or less impresses itself ulti- 
 mately upon the facial angles of a man. Intoxication, therefore, only 
 relaxes the bonds of moral and civil restraint, a violent breaking down 
 of these barriers, and letting the habitual inner man recklessly rush 
 forth in some act of violence. Early impressed with the fact, that it was 
 through the instrumentality of ardent spirits, as a primary cause, that 
 Mr. Pearsol was wantonly deprived of a kind and affectionate mother, 
 at the very period when he most needed a mother's care, it is not sur- 
 prising that he should have devoted the best energies of his life to the 
 advancement of the temperance cause. 
 
 ' When Jlr . Pearsol published the Express, as a temperance organ, the 
 tone of society was very different towards the tempei-ance cause from 
 what it afterwards became, and has been for years. During the thir- 
 teen years of its temperance career, he was prosecuted eight times for 
 libel, found guilty in every instance, and mulcted in fines and costs. In 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 445 
 
 the same wliich has ever intensified his support of this cause. 
 No more worthy instance of genuine worth and steady 
 adhesion to principle, triumphing over poverty and all accom- 
 panying obstacles, is presented in our county's history than 
 is afforded in the career of the man whose sketch we have 
 penned. 
 
 PBELOR, John, appointed Eecorder of Deeds in 1830. 
 
 PENNEL, Benjamin, was born ia Chester county, Pa., 
 June 26th, 1787. He served as a soldier of the war of 1812, 
 and was present at the battle of Baltimore. He was a wool- 
 carder and fuller by occupation. He settled in Warwick 
 township, being induced thither chiefly through the influence 
 
 every case he had simply published what he stood ready to prove, but this 
 the law forbade, aud for publishing the truth he was obliged to endure 
 the penalty. On one occasion he was found guilty of libel, and sentenced 
 to pay a fine of $200 and the costs, which nearly eqiialled the fine; and 
 not having the means to liquidate the penalty, he was committed to prison 
 in oompUance with the sentence of the court. So great, indeed, was the 
 the antipathy towards the temperance sheet, that some of the leading 
 business men of Lancaster refused to have the name of the temijerance 
 editor stand as an imprint upon their business bills. The cause of 
 temperance was in the lowest repute, and it even required a man of 
 courage to avow himself as its supporter. Mr. Pearsol was often threat- 
 ened with coWhidings for his support of the cause. This was the 
 passage through the fiery ordeal that tries the metal of which men are 
 composed. Such, to the unreflecting, however, would seem the lowest 
 ebb in one's career, but in this instance, as is often the case, it proved 
 the turning point in his life. The determined effort to ruin the 
 Uxpress and its owner, roused the friends of the cause, of which it was 
 the organ, and funds were immediately raised, the editor released, and 
 during .the same year the li.st of subscribers was increased from 500 to 
 8, 500. The struggling paper was at once placed upon a permanent and 
 enduring basis. It had passed the turning point, and its success was 
 established. Since the year 1856 many prosecutions have been insti- 
 tuted for libel, but all have uniformly been withdrawn and none prose- 
 cuted to judgment, with the exception of one case, in which a verdict 
 of not guilty was rendered. 
 
 It may be here added, that the lager beer trade was first started up 
 in Lancaster about the year 1843 or 1844. One of the first lager beer 
 saloons opened in Lancaster city was kept near where the Pennsylvania 
 .railroad depot now stands, and the beer was named Bavarian beer, 
 (bierish). Henry Franke was one of tlie first in the business in this 
 city, and afterwards went into its manufacture, which, in late years, has 
 developed into a large and profitable trade. It is now one of the growing 
 branches of manufacture. 
 
446 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 of Jacob Eeist, and he followed his trade there for some 
 years. He was appointed a justice of the peace by. Governor 
 Shultz, under the old Constitution, and served until the 
 adoption of the new. In 1840 he was elected to the House 
 of Eepresentatives, and reelected in 1841. He died August 
 12th, 1865, aged 78 years. Mr, Fennel was a man of a re- 
 markable memory, and was able in citing events that had 
 transpired, to name the year and day of its occurrence. He 
 was a strong friend of the temperance cause. He was per- 
 fectly honest and upright, and no man could sway him ia 
 any manner from what he regarded as right. Any corrupt 
 overture to him, when a member of the House, would have 
 been spurned, and would have received a fitting rebuke. 
 He chose to remain poor and leave an untarnished reputa- 
 tion in preference to the accumulation of pelf by base and 
 dishonorable means. Poor Benjamin Pennel was a man of 
 honor, and highly esteemed where honor is respected, and 
 by the few who appreciated his inner worth. Eaise an. 
 humble monument to his memorjr, for mausoleums have 
 decked less worthy ashes. 
 
 PETERS, Abeaham, was born August 29th, 1791, near 
 Millersville, Lancaster county. Pa. His father, of the same 
 name, emigrated from Alsace, in Prance, (now Germany), 
 about nine miles from Strasburg, when nineteen years of age, 
 and located in the vicinity of Millersville,^ then called Millers- 
 burg. He purchased ten acres of land, for which he paid £270 
 in the year 1777. He died February 5th, 1818, aged 77 years. 
 He kept tavern in an old log house, in which the subject of 
 this notice was born, and also carried on a distillery. Abra- 
 ham Peters, after the death of his father, still continued the 
 distilling business, and did so up to 1853. He was, at the 
 same time, engaged in farming. Up to 1851 he also kept 
 
 'Millersville, originally called Millerstown, afterwards Millersburg, 
 derives its name from the founder of the village, John Miller, wlio 
 owned a large body of land ujion which the village now stands. He 
 sold five-acxe lots, i-eserving gi-ound-rent. John Jliller erected a large 
 brick house, composed of extremely thick waUs, and displayed his taste 
 in having one of his rooms covered with beautiful and artistic carvings. 
 Miller, in after years failed, and his property passed into other hands» 
 His large house was torn down some thirty years since. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 447 
 
 tavern. He was married on the 16tli of October, 1825, to 
 Miss Fanny Gamber. Abraham Peters was one of the 
 leading movers with B. B. Martin, Lewis M. Hobbs, John 
 Brady, Jacob K. Shenk and others, in the establishment of 
 the Millersville Normal School. Mr. Peters was elected the 
 first president of the board of trustees, a position he has 
 held up to this time. The meetings that led to the founda- 
 tion of the Normal School, were held in the years 1853-54. 
 The institution was opened in 1855, as the Millerstown 
 Academy. After Mr. Peters retired from the distilling busi- 
 ness in 1853, he prosecuted the business of farming up to 
 1862. For many years he had carried on the business of 
 saw-milling, at Petersville, on the Conestoga Navigation. In 
 1861 Mr. Peters was nominated and elected on the Union 
 ticket, a member of the House of Eepresentatives, and dis- 
 charged the duties of this position with credit to himself 
 and to the satisfaction of his constituents. Since 1862 he 
 has retired from active pursuits, and resides on his place in 
 Millersville. 
 
 PETERS, Jacob G., son of Abraham Peters, was born 
 September 4th, 1884, in Millersville, Lancaster county, Pa. 
 He was educated at the schools of his district, and after- 
 wards pursued a collegiate career in Franklin and Marshall, 
 in the first years after the college was removed to Lancaster. 
 He was going to Marshall college, in Mercersburg, and was 
 the student selected by the faculty of the college to have 
 charge of the transportation of the college fixtures from 
 Mercersburg to Lancaster. After graduating at college, his 
 father having been engaged in the lumber business, and wish- 
 ing to retire therefrom, Jacob G. Peters continued the same 
 steadily up to 1866. From that time he has chiefly devoted 
 his attention to agricultural pursuits. When the Farmers' 
 Mutual Insurance Company of Lancaster county was re- 
 organized in 1870, Mr. Peters was elected as the general agent 
 of the company, with full power to remodel the same, and he 
 is clothed with authority to issue new policies to insured. 
 During 1870 he acted as superintendent of the Lancaster and 
 New Danville Turnpike Company of Lancaster county ; also 
 as superintendent for the erection of a bridge across the Con- 
 
448 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 estoga creek. Up to the breaking out of the war, Mr. Peters 
 was an active and influential Democrat, but since that time he 
 has operated with the Eepublican party. He was, by this 
 latter party nominated in 1868, and elected a member of the 
 House of Representatives. He has been a frequent delegate 
 of his party to the nominating conventions, and was a 
 member of the State Convention at Philadelphia, which 
 placed Gen. Grant in nomination for the Presidency. Mr. 
 Peters has for several years been an active member of the 
 board of trustees of the' Millersville Normal School, and 
 acts as chairman of the household committee. 
 
 PORTBE, Geoege B., a son of General Andrew Porter, 
 of revolutionary memory, was born in Lancaster, February 
 9th, 1791. He read law and was admitted to the bar in the 
 year 1813. He speedily won a front rank in the profession, and 
 was for several years one of the leading lawyers at the Lan- 
 caster bar. He was, in April, 1818, appointed prothonotary 
 of Lancaster county, succeeding J. Passmore. He was a 
 leading Democratic politician, and was recommended by the 
 convention of his party in Lancaster county as a candidate 
 for Governor of Pennsylvania. In 1824 he was appointed 
 adjutant-general of the State. He was an eloquent speaker, 
 and was chosen by the city of Lancaster to make the 
 reception speech to General Lafayette,^ when he visited 
 ■it in 1824. He was selected as the attorney to defend Walter 
 Franklin, when the latter was impeached before the Senate 
 of Pennsylvania. He was elected a member of the Penn- 
 sylvania Legislature in the year 1827. He was appointed 
 Governor of Michigan territory, the duties of which office 
 he discharged for three years. He died at Detroit, July 6th, 
 1834, in the 44th year of his age. 
 
 POETBR, Ja^iIES, was a delegate from Lancaster county 
 to the Reform Convention of 1837-38. 
 
 PORTER, James, was one of the early settlers of Lan- 
 caster county, lie owned a large body of land in the south- 
 
 1 At tlie lime Lafayette visited Lancaster, a ball was given in honor of 
 the nation's distinguished guest, \Nhich eclipsed everything which up to 
 that day had been seen iu the old inland city. . 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 
 
 449 
 
 ern section of the county. His son, William Porter, was a 
 member of the Legislature in the year 1779. 
 
 PORTER, John J., was elected Clerk of Quarter Sessions 
 in the year 1854. David Fulton filled the last year of his 
 office by appointment. 
 
 PORTER, Thomas, was a member of the Legislature in 
 1775. He was also a delegate from Lancaster county to the 
 convention of 1776, which framed the first State Constitution. 
 
 POWELL, Rev. Walter, a native of New York State, 
 and pastor of the Presbyterian church in Lancaster city, 
 from the year 1857 up to his death, in 1858. Rev. Powell was 
 a man of rare intellectual capacity, and one who had caught 
 the new spirit of liberal Christianity' which has so thoroughly 
 made its way into the churches of New England and some 
 ■other sections of America. His sermons to the old mem- 
 bers of the congregation seemed entirely strange, and many 
 of his congregation were unable to become reconciled to his 
 style of preaching. He was a close student, a deep reasoner, 
 and one who (had years been spared him) would have left a 
 
 ' Xhe religious tone of tlie peoijle of Lancaster county, is a matter of all 
 ■others that deserves some consideration. It may be said, perliaps, -with- 
 out exaggeration, that there is no inland county in Pennsylvania where 
 a greater variety of religious sects exists than in Lancaster. It.is owing 
 to this great commingling of sects and interchange of opinions, that Lan- 
 castei' county has risen to so comparative a height in the scale of tolera- 
 tion and liberality of sentiment, compared with many other sections of 
 our country ; for, it is a fact well known, that the entertaining of no 
 religious opinions (those of any sect) serves to arouse antagonism or 
 ill-will ui:)0n the part of any of opposite sentiments; Perfect harmony 
 and good-will prevail amongst all denominations ; even Roman Catho- 
 lics and those of the different Protestant sects live in the best social 
 relations toward each other. The liberalizing sentiments of modern 
 theological views have silently insinuated themselves, to a certain ex- 
 tent, into the midst of all the various religious denominations of the 
 county, and the harsh visage of the olden times has been driven in the 
 background. A large number of intelligent and influential citizens of 
 the county are scarcely nominally attached to any precise faith or mode 
 of worship, and yet many such rank amongst the most respected of our 
 people. Such are, nevertheless, benevolent, humane and charitable to an 
 extent that may cast the virtues of jirofessors in the shade; but a wide 
 tolerance is entertained by all such for opposite opinions, and with these 
 sincerity is accepted as the all-justifying requisite. Indeed, this senti- 
 ment, originally emanating from this independent class, has made its 
 
450 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 marked impress upon his age. He, however, for this locality 
 was beyond his time, but his spirit yet lives amongst us, and 
 will erow until in time it shall have reached its full developed 
 stature in the^current and progressive movement of our age. 
 
 POWNALL FAMILY. Levi Pownall, sr., of Salisburj^,', 
 was born in Bucks county, in the year 1765. He was the 
 son of Simeon Pownall, and the great-grandson of George 
 and Eleanor Pownall, who emigrated to this country with 
 William Penn, in the year -1682, and whose son, George 
 Pownall, jr., was born in Bucks county in the same year. 
 Levi Pownall was vmited in marriage with Elizabeth, the 
 daughter of Joseph and Martha Buckman, in the year 
 1782, and having reraoved to Lancaster county in the year 
 1784:, he^first erected a tannery at Simmonstown, (in Sads- 
 bury township,) where he carried on the manufacture of 
 leather for some years. He next purchased what is known 
 as the Christiana tract, which had been patented by Philip 
 Pownall in the year 1702, on which he resided a number of 
 years, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits ; and in the 
 
 way into churches ; and it would be difficult to-day to find au intelligent 
 churchman who would not concede that conscience is the guide of man. 
 This might be regarded as a vast innovation upon the opinions of the 
 past. The world moves, and we move with it. Opinions also move 
 steadily onwai'd, and the views of one age are no special index of what 
 those of the following age may be. The case cited, is but one of the in- 
 stances of the rise of the human mind over the inherited beliefs of the 
 past, and the banishment of the same amidst the superstitions of dark 
 ages. Rationalizing influences are felt and prevalent all around upon 
 men of every class and grade in society, and are heartily cherished by 
 those still clinging to the truth of revelation. But Avith all this liberal- 
 izing movement that falls in with the current of the age, there is in our 
 county but few who feel bold enough to step aside from the cherished 
 faith of the church, and avow themselves unbelievers in revelation. To 
 do so, requires more than ordinary courage, especially in view of the fact 
 that the American mind has not yet attained to that ultima tlmle of 
 toleration which will even be willing to extend equal respect and honor 
 to the Christian, Mohammedan, Jew and Infidel. An intelligent class 
 exists, however, amongst us, many of whom, members of our churches, 
 have already touched this height of toleration, and are ready to accredit 
 equal honesty, candor and respect to all sincere opinions that may be, 
 and are entertained. When all our people reach this, a progress will 
 have been made, indeed, and one that should seem as likely to usher in 
 the halcyon days of the long delayed millennium. 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 451 
 
 year 1803 he purchased what is known as the Pownall tract, 
 comprising about three hundred acres of land in the valley, 
 about one mile south of Christiana, a large part of which 
 land was purchased from William Penn, (in England), by 
 John Kennerly, in the year 1691. The original patent for 
 this tract was signed by William Penn, and is now in the pos- 
 session of Joseph D. Pownall, esq., of Sadsbury, and is 
 beyond question the oldest title in Lancaster county. He 
 was a liberal-minded and generous man, and a worthy and 
 exemplary member of the society of Friends. He had three 
 sons, Joseph, Levi, and Simeon, and two daughters, Eliza- 
 beth and Catharine. His son Joseph was joined in marriage 
 with Phoebe, the daughter of Joseph, and grand- daughter of 
 Joseph, sr., and Elizabeth Dickinson. Levi and Simeon 
 were united in marriage with Sarah and Maria, the daugh- 
 ters of Thomas and Eleanor Henderson, of Sadsbury, and 
 the grand-daughters of Hattil and Abigail Varman, of 
 Leacock. He departed this life in the year 1840, in the 85th 
 year of his age. His grandsons, Moses and Joseph D. Pow- 
 nall, have served at different times in the Legislature of 
 Pennsylvania, and held various other public trusts. George 
 Whitson, late recorder of deeds for Lancaster county, and 
 Thomas Griest, late assistant assessor of internal revenue, 
 were both married to the grand-daughters of Levi Pownall, 
 sr.; and his grandsons, Levi, Ambrose and Simeon, still hold 
 the original properties in the valley, where he spent the 
 remainder of his useful and eventful life. His grandson, 
 Henry Pownall, one of the present prison inspectors of Lan- 
 caster county, was married to Deborah, the daughter of 
 Isaac and Deborah Walker, of Sadsbury. Moses Pownall, 
 the son of Joseph and Phoebe Pownall, and the grandson of 
 Levi Pownall, sr., was born in Sadsbury township, in the 
 year 1815. He inherited from his ancestors the old home- 
 stead at Solesbury, in^Bucks county, which had been pur- 
 chased from William Penn before his first arrival to the 
 province, in 1682. He was married in the year 1838, to 
 Susannah, the second daughter of Asahel and Sarah Walker, 
 of Sadsbury. He purchased the homestead of his grand- 
 father Dickinson, in Sadsbury, and was commissioned a 
 
452 BIOGHAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 justice of the peace in 1846. He was elected a member of 
 the Legislature in the year 1851, and reelected for 1852. 
 He was the Whig candidate for canal commissioner in 
 1853. He was an enterprising and serviceable man in the 
 community, and did much to improve the neighborhood. 
 He and Wm. Noble established the town of Christiana. He 
 died on the 13th of February, 1854, in the 38th year of his 
 age. His only son, J. D. C. Pownall, still holds his property 
 in Sadsbury. 
 
 PRICE, S. H., a member of the Lancaster bar, admitted 
 in 1852. He was elected to the Legislature in the years 
 1857-58. 
 
 PYFBR, Col. Feederick S., was born November 24th, 
 1832, in Martic township, Lancaster county. His father, 
 also named Frederick, was by birth a Prussian, and his 
 mother a descendant of one of the oldest families of the 
 county. After passing through the schools of his district, 
 be went to the Marietta Academy, taught by Prof. Wicker- 
 sham, where he continued two j^ears and six months. He 
 went for a short time afterwards to the Normal School at 
 Millersville. He taught the boys high school at Columbia 
 for three years, at the same time reading law, and completed 
 his legal studies in the office of Issac B. Hiester. He, was 
 admitted to the bar in 1857. He began the practice of the 
 profession in 1860, and was chosen chairman of the Demo- 
 cratic county committee, a position he retained up to the 
 breaking out of the rebellion. Upon the breaking out of 
 the war, he enlisted as a private in April, 1861, for the three 
 months service. The company in which he was serving 
 being soon afterwards attached to the 1st Pennsylania vol- 
 unteers, he was commissioned iJegimental Quartermaster, 
 with the rank of First Lieutenant. He served the period of 
 enlistment, (three months) and then returned home. He 
 immediately set to raising a company for three years, which 
 formed a part of the 77th Pennsylvania volunteers, and he 
 immediately was chosen captain of the same, it being com- 
 pany K of the regiment. The regiment was sent west to 
 the army of the Cumberland, and participated in all the 
 battles of that division, from Shiloh till the battle of Chicka- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 45S 
 
 mauga, in September, 1863, when he was taken prisoner 
 with nearly the whole regiment. He was in the battles of 
 Shiloh, Chaplin Hills, Murfreesboro, Laverque, Liberty 
 Gap, besides numerous minor engagements. After the 
 battle of Murfreesboro he was unanimously elected Lieuten- 
 ant-colonel of his regiment by the officers, and commis- 
 sioned by the Governor of Pennsylvania. He was at the 
 time the junior captain of the regiment. He was confined 
 in Libby Prison for nearly nine months, suffering all the pri- 
 vations incident to such a condition, and coming away with 
 a broken-down constitution, not yet recuperated. He was 
 released on parole until exchanged in June, 1864. Upon 
 resuming his command it was found that his health was too 
 much impaired to be able to endure the hardships of the 
 active campaign then in progress under General Sherman, 
 in his march to the Atlantic. He was therefore detailed by 
 general orders to preside as president of a general court-mar- 
 tial at Nashville, Tennessee, in which capacity he acted until 
 he was mustered out of service upon the expiration of his 
 term of enlistment, February 4th, 1865. Upon returning to 
 Lancaster, he resumed again the practice of his profession, 
 in which he has since been steadily engaged. In October, 
 1871, he was elected Mayor of the city of Lancaster, a 
 position he now holds. 
 
 RAMSEY, Db. David,* was born in Lancaster county, 
 Pennsylvania, on the second day of April, 1749. He 
 was the youngest child of James Ramsey, a respectable 
 farmer, who had emigrated from Ireland at an early age, and 
 by the cultivation of his farm, with his own hands, provided 
 the means of subsistence and education for a numerous 
 family. He was a man of intelligence and piety, and early 
 sowed the seeds of knowledge and religion in the minds of 
 his children. He lived to reap the fruit of his labor and see 
 *Froin National Portrait Gallery. 
 
454 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 his offspring grow up around him, ornaments of society and 
 props of his declining years. The early impressions which 
 the care of this excellent parent made on the mind of Dr. 
 Eamsey, were never erased. He had the misfortune to 
 lose an excellent and amiable mother very early in life; but 
 that loss was in some measure repaired by his father, who 
 took uncommon pains to give him the best education that 
 could then be obtained in this country. He was, from his 
 infancy, remarkable for his attachment to books, and for the 
 rapid progre^^s he made in acquiring knowledge. At six 
 years of age he read the bible with facility, and it is said was 
 peculiarly delighted with the historical parts of it. When 
 placed at a grammar school his progress was very remarka- 
 ble. It was no uncommon thing, says a gentleman who 
 knew him intimately at that time, to see students who had 
 almost arrived at manhood taking the child upon their knees 
 in order to obtain his assistance in the construction and 
 explanation of different passages in their lessons. Before 
 he was twelve years of age, he had read more than once 
 all the classics usually studied at grammar schools, and was 
 in every respect qualified for admission into college, but 
 being thought too young for collegiate studies, he accepted 
 the place of assistant tutor in a respectable academy in 
 Carlisle, and notwithstanding his tender years acquitted 
 himself to the admiration of every one. He continued for 
 upwards of a year in this situation, and then went to Prince- 
 ton. On his examination he was found qualified for admis- 
 sion into the junior class, but in consequence of his extreme 
 youth, the facility advised him to enter as a sophomore, 
 which he did, and having passed through college with high 
 reputation, he took the degree of bachelor of arts, in the 
 year 1765, being then only sixteen years of age. Having 
 completedthe usual college course at sixteen, he was enabled 
 to devote some time to the general cultivation of his mind 
 before he commenced the study of physic ; and he spent 
 nearly two years in Maryland as a private tutor in a respecta- 
 ble family, devoting himself to books and enriching his 
 mind with stores of useful knowledoe. 
 
 He then commenced the study of physic, under the direc- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 455 
 
 tion of Dr. Bond, of Philadelphia, where he regularly attended 
 the lectures delivered at the college of Pennsylvania, the 
 parent of the celebrated medical school which has since 
 become so distinguished. Dr. Eush was then'^professor of 
 chemistry in that college ; and this led''to"'a friendship be- 
 tween Dr. Eush, the able and accomplished master, and 
 Eamsey,' the ready, ingenious and attentive student, that was 
 fondly cherished by both, and continued to strengthen and 
 increase to the latest moments of their lives. For Dr. Eush, 
 young Eamsey felt a filial affection ; he regarded him as a 
 benefactor, while he entertained the highest veneration for 
 his talents. He never had any hesitation in declaring him- 
 self an advocate of the principles introduced^by Dr. Eush in 
 the theory and practice of medicine; and in his eulogium 
 on Dr. Eush, a last public tribute of respect to the memory 
 of his lamented friend, he declares that "his own experience 
 had been uniformly in their favor ever since they were first 
 promulgated;" and adds a declaration, that in his "opinion 
 Dr. Eush had done more to improve the theory and practice 
 of medicine than any one physician either living or dead." 
 Dr. Eamsey was graduated bachelor of physic — a degree at 
 that time uniformly conferred — early in the year 1772, and 
 immediately commenced the practice of physic at the " Head 
 of the Bohemia," in Maryland, where he continued to prac- 
 tice with much reputation for about a year, when' he 
 removed to Charleston. Dr. Eush, in a letter written 
 September loth, 1773, after stating that he would recom- 
 mend Dr. Eamsey to fill the opening which then existed at 
 Charleston, thas proceeds : " Dr. Eamsey studied physic 
 regularly with Dr. Bond, attended the hospital and public 
 lectures of medicine, and afterwards graduated bachelor of 
 physic with great eclat. It is saying but little of him to 
 tell you, that he is far superior to any person we ever gradu- 
 ated at our college; his abilities are not only good, but 
 great ; his talents and knowledge universal. I never saw 
 so much strength of memory and imagination united to so 
 fine a judgment. His manners are polished and agreeable, 
 his conversation lively, and his 'behavior to all men always 
 without offence. Joined to all these, he is sound in his 
 
456 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 principles ; strict, nay, more, severe in his morals ; and 
 attached, not by education only, but by principle, to the 
 dissenting interest. He will be an acquisition to your society. 
 He writes, talks, and what is more, lives well ; I can promise 
 more for him, in everything, than I could for myself." Such 
 was the character of Dr. Eanisey at the commencement of 
 his career in life. 
 
 On settling in Charleston he rapidly rose to eminence in 
 his profession and general respect. His talents, his habits 
 of business and uncommon industry, eminently qualified him 
 for an active part' in public affairs, and induced his fellow- 
 citizens to call upon him on all occasions when anything was 
 to be done for the common welfare. In our revolutionary 
 struggle he was a decided and active Whig, and was one of 
 the earliest and most zealous advocates of American inde- 
 pendence. On the 4th of July, 1778, he was appointed to 
 deliver an oration before the inhabitants of Charleston. In 
 this oration, the first ever delivered on the anniversary of 
 American independence, he bodly declares that " our present 
 form of government is every way preferable to the royal 
 one we have lately renounced." In establishing this posi- 
 tion, he takes a glowing view of the natural tendency of 
 republican forms of government to promote knowledge, to 
 call into exercise the active energies of the human soul ; to 
 bring forward modest merit ; to destroy luxury and estab- 
 lish simplicity in the manners and habits of the people; and 
 finally to promote the cause of virtue and religion. In 
 every period of the war Dr. Ramsey wrote and spoke boldly 
 and constantly; and by his personal exertions in the Legisla- 
 ture, and in the field was very serviceable to the cause of 
 American liberty. The fugitive pieces written by him from 
 the commencement of that struggle, were not thought by 
 himself of sufficient importance to be preserved, yet it is 
 well known to his contemporaries that on political topics no 
 man wrote better than Dr. Ramsey, in all the public journals 
 of the day. For a short period he was with the army as a 
 surgeon, and he was present with the Charleston ancient 
 battalion of artillery at the siege of Savannah. From the 
 declaration of independence to the termination of the war 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 457 
 
 lie was a member of the Legislature of South Carolina. For 
 two years he had the honor of being one of the privy coun- 
 cil, and with two others of that body was among those 
 citizens of Charleston who were banished by the British 
 authorities to St. Augustine. In consequence of an exchange 
 of prisoners Dr. Ramsey was sent back to the United States, 
 after an absence of eleven months. He immediately took 
 his seat as a member of the State Legislature, then convened 
 at Jacksonsboro. It was at this assembly that the vari- 
 ous acts confiscating the estates of the adherents to Great 
 Britain, were passed. Dr. Ramsey being conciliatory in his 
 disposition, tolerant and humane in his principles, and the 
 friend of peace, although he knew well that the conduct of 
 some of those who fell under the operation of these laws 
 merited all the severity that could be used towards them, 
 yet he remembered also that many others were acting from 
 the honest dictates of conscience. He could not, therefore, 
 approve of the confiscation acts, and he opposed tliem in 
 every shape. Dr. Ramsey continued to possess the undimin- 
 ished confidence of his fellow-citizens, and was in February, 
 1782, elected a member of the Continental Congress. In this 
 body he was always conspicuous, and particularly exerted 
 himself in procuring relief for the Southern States, then over- 
 run by the enemy. On the return of peace, he returned to 
 Charleston and commenced the practice of his profession ; 
 but was not permitted long to remain in private, and in 1785 
 was again elected a member of Congress from the Charleston 
 district. The celebrated John Hancock had been chosen 
 president of that body, but being unable to attend from in- 
 disposition, Dr. Ramsey was elected president, pro tempore, 
 and continued for a whole year to discharge the important 
 duties of that station with much ability and impartiality. 
 In 1786 he again returned to Charleston and reentered the 
 walks of private life. In the State Legislature and in the 
 Continental Congress, Dr. Ramsey was useful and influential. 
 He was a remarkably fluent, rapid, and ready speaker ; and 
 though his manner was ungraceful, though he neglected all 
 ornament, and neveF addressed himself to the imagination or 
 passions of his audience, yet his style was so simple and 
 82 
 
458 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 pure, his reasoning so cogent, his remarks so striking and 
 original, and his conclusions resulted so clearly from his 
 premises, that he seldom failed to convince. 
 
 He was so ready to impart to others his extensive know- 
 ledge on all subjects, that whenever consultation became 
 necessary, his opinion and advice were looked for as a matter 
 of course, and it was always given with great brevity and 
 perspicuity. Thus he became the most active member of 
 every association, public or private, to which he was attached. 
 In general politics he was thoroughly and truly republican. 
 Through the course of a long life his principles suffered no 
 ■change ; he died in those of his youth. Always disposed to 
 believe his opponents to be the friends of the country, he 
 endeavored by his language and example, to allay party 
 feeling, and to teach all his fellow-citizens to regard them- 
 selves as members of the same great family. Through the 
 whole course of his life, he was assiduous in the practice of 
 his profession. Whenever his services were required, he 
 never hesitated to render them promptly at every sacrifice 
 of personal convenience and safety. In his medical princi- 
 ples, he was a rigid disciple of Dr. Eush, and his practice 
 was remarkably bold. Instead of endeavoring to overcome 
 diseases by repeated efforts, it was his aim to subdue them 
 at once by a single vigorous remedy. This mode of prac- 
 tice is probably well adapted to southern latitudes where 
 disease is so sudden in its approach and so rapid in its effects. 
 In the treatment of the yellow fever. Dr. Eamsey is said to 
 have been uncommonly successful ; and it is well known 
 that he effected several remarkable cures in cases of wounds 
 received from poisonous animals. Those who knew him 
 best, and had the experience of his services in their families 
 for forty-two years, entertained the most exalted opinion of 
 his professional merits. His widely-extended reputation 
 induced many strangers, who visited Charleston in search of 
 health, to place themselves under his care ; and they always 
 found in him the hospitable friend as well as the attentive 
 physician. 
 
 We proceed to consider Dr. Eamsey as an author. It is 
 in this character he is best known and most distinguished. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 459 
 
 His reputation was not only well established in every part 
 of the United States, but had extended to Europe. Few 
 men in America have written more, and perhaps no one has 
 written better. The citizens of the United States have long 
 regarded him as the father of history in the New World; 
 and he has always been ranked among those on whom 
 America must depend for her literary character. He was 
 admirably calculated by nature, education and habit, to be- 
 come the historian of his country. He possessed a memory 
 so tenacious, that an impression made on it could never be 
 erased. The minutest circumstances of his early youth, facts 
 and dates relative to every incident of his own life, and all 
 public events, were indelibly engraven on his memory. He 
 was, in truth, a living chronicle. His learning and uncom- 
 mon industry eminently fitted him for the pursuits of an 
 historian. He was above prejudice, and absolute master of 
 passion. " I declare," says he in the introduction to his first 
 work, "that embracing every opportunity of obtaining 
 genuine information, I have sought for truth, and have as- 
 serted nothing but what I believe to be fact. If I should be 
 mistaken, I will, on conviction, willingly retract it. During 
 the whole course of my writing, I have carefully watched 
 the workings of my mind, lest passion, prejudice, or party 
 feeling should warp my judgment. I have endeavored to 
 impress on myself how much more honorable it is to write 
 impartially for the good of posterity, than to condescend to 
 be the apologist of a party. Notwithstanding this care to 
 guard against partiality, I expect to be charged with it by 
 both of the late contending parties. The suffering Ameri- 
 cans, who have seen and felt the ravages and oppressions of 
 the British army, will accuse me of too great moderation. 
 Europeans, who have heard much- of American cowardice, 
 perfidy and ingratitude, and more of British honor, clemency 
 and moderation, will probably condemn my work as the off- 
 spring of party zeal. I shall decline the fruitless attempt of 
 aimiog to please either, and instead thereof, follow the 
 attractions of truth whithersoever she may lead." From 
 these resolutions the historian never departed. 
 
 From the beginning to the close of the war. Dr. Eamsey 
 
460 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ■was carefully collecting materials for this work. After it 
 was completed it was submitted to the perusal of General 
 Greene, who having given his assent to all the statements 
 made therein, the history of the revolution in South Caro- 
 lina was published in 1785. Its reputation soon spread 
 throughout the United States, and it was translated into 
 French, and read with great avidity in Europe. It was ever 
 the wish of Dr. Eamsey to render lasting services to his 
 country ; and being well aware that 'a general history of the 
 Eevolution would be more extensively useful than a work 
 confined to the transactions of a particular State, want of 
 materials alone prevented him in the first instance from 
 undertaking the former in preference to the latter. When, 
 therefore, in the year 1785 he took his seat in Congress, 
 finding himself associated with many of the most distin- 
 guished heroes and statesmen of the Eevolution, and having 
 free access to all the public records and documents that could 
 throw light on the events of the war, he immediately com- 
 menced the history of the American Eevolution. Notwith- 
 standing his public duties, he found time sufficient to collect 
 from the public offices, and from every living source, the mate- 
 rials for this valuable work. With Dr. Franklin and Dr. 
 Witherspoon, both of them his intimate friends, he conferred 
 freely and gained much valuable information from them. 
 Anxious to obtain every important fact, he also visited Wash- 
 ington, at Mt. Vernon, and was readily furnished by him with 
 all the information required relating to the events in which 
 that great man had been the chief actor. Dr. Eamsey thus 
 possessed greater facilities for procuring materials for the 
 history of the Eevolution than any other individual of the 
 United States. He had been an eye witness of many of its 
 events, and was a conspicuous actor in its busy scenes. 
 He was the friend of Washington, Franklin, Witherspoon, 
 and a host of others who were intimately acquainted with 
 all the events of the war ; and it may be said with perfect 
 truth, that no writer was ever more industrious in collecting- 
 facts, or more honest in relating them. The history of the ■ 
 American Eevolution was published in 1790, and was 
 received with universal approbation. It is not necessary to 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 461 
 
 analyze the character of a work that has stood the test of 
 public opinion and passed through the crucible of criticism i 
 In 1801 Dr. Ramsey gave to the world his life of Wash- 
 ington; as fine a piece of biography as can be found in any 
 language. It will not suffer in comparison with the best 
 productions of ancient or modern times. Indeed, our 
 biographer had one great advantage over all others — we 
 mean the exalted and unrivaled character of his hero — a 
 character " above all Greek, above all Roman fame." In 
 1808 Dr. Ramsey published his history of South Carolina, in 
 two volumes, octavo. He had, in 1796, published an inter- 
 esting " sketch of the soil, climate, weather, and diseases of 
 South Carolina ;" and this probably suggested the idea of a 
 more minute history of the State. No pains were spared to 
 make this work valuable and useful. The author was him- 
 self well acquainted with many of the facts he has recorded ; 
 and by the means of circular letters addressed to intelligent 
 gentlemen in every part of the State, the most correct infor- 
 mation was obtained. Many important /acts thus preserved, 
 must otherwise have been soon forgotten ; and by this pub- 
 lication the author fully supported the reputation he had so 
 justly acquired. The death of his wife, in 1811, induced him 
 to publish a short time afterwards, the memoirs of her life. 
 This interesting little volume, which, in addition to the life 
 of Mrs. Ramsey, contains some of the productions of her pen, 
 is very generally read, and has been extensively useful. In 
 addition to the works already mentioned, Dr. Ramsey pub- 
 lished " an oration on the Acquisition of Louisiana ;" " A 
 review of the improvements, progress, and state of medicine 
 in the eighteenth century," delivered on the first day of the 
 new century; "A Medical Register, for the year 1802 ;" "A 
 dissertation on the means of preserving health in Charleston ;" 
 " A biographical chart, on a new plan to facilitate the study 
 of history';" and " A Bulogium on Dr. Rush." All these 
 works have merits in their several departments ; and partic- 
 ularly the Review of the Eighteenth Century, which con- 
 tains, perhaps, as much medical iaformation in a small space 
 as can be found in any production of the kind. He had also 
 committed to the press, a short time before his death, " A 
 
462 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Brief history of the Independent or Congressional Church 
 dn Charleston." To this church he had from his youth been 
 strongly attached, and this little work was meant as a tribute 
 of affection. 
 
 The increasing demand for the history of the American 
 Eevolution induced the author, several years before his death, 
 to resolve to publish an improved edition of that work. In 
 preparing this, it occurred to him that a history of the 
 United States, from their first settlement as English colonies, 
 including as much of the Eevolution as is important to be 
 known, brought down to the present day, would be more 
 interesting to the pablic as well as more extensively useful. 
 After completing this up to 1808, he determined to publish 
 it in connection with a universal history, hereafter to be 
 mentioned. Had not death arrested his progress, he would 
 have brought this work to the end of the late war. But the 
 last and greatest work of the American historian yet remains 
 to be mentioned. He had for upwards of forty years been 
 preparing for the press a series of historical volumes which, 
 when finished, were to bear the title of " Universal History 
 Americanized, or a historical view of the world from the 
 earliest records to the nineteenth century, with a particular 
 refereijce to the state of society, literature, religion and form 
 of government in the United States of America." ^ The 
 mind of Dr. Eamsey was perpetually grasping after know- 
 ledge ; and the idea so well expressed by Sir Wm. Jones, 
 " that it would be happy for us if all great works -were 
 reduced to their quintessence," had often occurred to his 
 mind. It was a circumstance deeply lamented by him that 
 knowledge, the food of the soul, should be in such a great 
 measure confined to literary and professional men; and he 
 has often declared, that if men of business would only employ 
 one hour in every twenty-four in the cultiva,tion of the 
 mind, they would become well informed upon all subjects. 
 It had also forcibly suggested itself to his mind, that all of 
 the histories that had been written were chiefly designed for 
 
 ' This work was j)ul)lished after liis death, by Carey & Lee, in nine 
 volumes, in connection with his history of the United States, in three 
 more, making in all twelve volumes. 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 463' 
 
 the benefit of the old -world, while America passed almost 
 unnoticed, and was treated as unimportant in the scale of 
 nations. With a view, therefore, of reducing all valuable 
 historical facts within a small compass, to form a digest for 
 the use of those whose leisure would not admit of more 
 extensive reading, this great work was undertaken. 
 
 The labor of such an undertaking must have been great, 
 indeed; and when we remember the other numerous works 
 which occupied the attention of the author and the inter- 
 ruptions to which he was constantly exposed from profes- 
 sional avocations, we are at a loss to conceive how he found 
 time for such various employments. But it has been truly 
 said of him, that "no miser was ever so precious of his gold 
 as he was of his time ;" he was not merely economical, but 
 parsimonious of it to the highest degree. From those avo- 
 cations which occupy so great a proportion of the lives of 
 ordinary men, Dr. Eamsey subtracted as much as possible. 
 He- never allowed for the table, for recreation, or repose, a 
 single moment that was not absolutely necessary for the 
 preservation of his health. His habits were those of the 
 strictest temperance. He usually slept four hours, rose be-, 
 fore the light, and meditated with his book in hand until he 
 could see to read. He had no relish for the pleasures of the 
 table. He always ate what was set before him ; and having 
 snatched his hasty meal, returned to his labors. His even- 
 ings only were alloted to recreation. He never read by the 
 light of a candle; with the shades of the evening he laid 
 aside his book and his pen, and, surrounded by his family 
 and friends, gave loose to those paternal and social feelings 
 which ever dwell in the bosom of the good man. The great 
 merit of Dr. Eamsey as a writer, is now generally acknow- 
 ledged. We are sure that we but embody the opinion of 
 literary men in this country when we say, that as an historian 
 Eamsey is faithful, judicious and impartial; that his style is 
 classical and chaste; and if occasionally tinctured by origi- 
 nality of idea or singularity of expression, it is perfectly 
 free from affected obscurity or colored ornament. Its energy 
 of thought is tempered by its simplicity and beauty of style. 
 As a man, the mind of Dr. Eamsey was cast in no common 
 
464 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 mould ; his virtues were of no ordinary stamp. He was 
 distinguished for philanthropy, enterprise, industry and per- 
 severance. He was altogether regardless of wealth and free 
 from ambition; and his active philanthropy only made him 
 an author. He was an enthusiast in everything which tended 
 to promote the moral, social, intellectual and physical state 
 of his country. 
 
 Want of judgment in the affairs of the world, was the 
 weak point of his character. In common with most emi- 
 nent literary men, he had studied human nature more from 
 books than actual observation. Hence, resulted a want of 
 that sober judgment and correct estimate of men and things 
 so essentially necessary to success in worldly pursuits. This 
 was the great defect in his mind ; as if to show the fatal 
 effects of a single error, this alone frustrated all his schemes, 
 and through the whole course of a long and useful life, in- 
 volved him in perpetual difS. 'ulties and embarrassments from 
 which he was never able to extricate himself As illustra- 
 tive of this part of his character, it will be sufiicient to men- 
 tion the zeal and perseverance with which he proposed and 
 urged the promotion of a company for the establishment of 
 the Sumter Canal in South Carolina, a work of great utility, 
 but attended with the most ruinous consequences to the in- 
 dividuals who supported it. In society he was a most 
 agreeable companion ; his memory was stored with almost 
 an infinite fund of interesting and amusing anecdotes, which 
 gave great sprightliness and zest to his conversation. He 
 never assumed any. superiority over those with whom he 
 conversed, and always took peculiar pleasure in the society 
 of young men of intelligence and piety. 
 
 Dr. Eamsey was killed with the bullet of a maniac, and 
 the narrative of this occurrence is thus detailed : A man by 
 the name of William Linnen having been thrown into 
 prison, it was on his trial represented to the court, that he 
 was under the influence of mental derangement. Dr. Eam- 
 sey and Dr. Benjamin Simons were appointed by the court 
 to examine and report on his case. They concurred in opin- 
 ion that Linnen was deranged, and that it would be danger- 
 ous to let him go at large. He was therefore removed to 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 465 
 
 prison, where he was confined until exhibiting symptoms of 
 returning sanity he was discharged. He behaved himself 
 peaceably for a time, but was heard to declare that he would 
 "kill the doctors who had joined in that conspiracy against 
 him." On Saturday, the 6th of May, Dr. Eamsey was met 
 in Broad street, about one o'clock in the afternoon, within 
 sight of his own door, by the wretched maniac who passed 
 by, and taking a large horseman's pistol, charged with three 
 bullets out of a handkerchief in which it was concealed, 
 shot the doctor in the back. The perpetrator was arrested, 
 committed to prison, where he remained confined as a maniac 
 until his death. Dr. Ramsey lingered two days, and died on 
 the 8th of May, 1815. 
 
 EAMSEY, William, a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1805, 1806, 1807 and 1808. 
 
 EATHVON, George, a lieutenant in the army of the 
 American Eevolution, born 1750 ; mustered into the service 
 under Capt. Nathaniel Page, in Colonel Mathias Slough's 
 battalion of Lancaster county militia, August 24th, 1776. 
 Being a superior mechanic, he was detailed in 1777 to make 
 guns for the army, in the factory of William Henry, esq., at 
 Lancaster. Died in 1819. 
 
 .EATHVON, Leonakd, a colonel in the Eevolutionary 
 army. Born in 1748. Chiefly employed in the commissary 
 and mustering service in Lancaster county, during the war. 
 Died in 1814. 
 
 EATHVON, Simon S., was born at Marietta, Lancaster 
 (County, April 24th, 1812. His father was Jacob Eathvon, 
 a gunsmith, who settled in that town in 1810, and died there 
 in 1839. His mother was Catharine Myers, of York county, 
 who died at Marietta in 1825. His grandfather was George 
 Eathvon, the subject of the above sketch, and his grand- 
 mother was a Kramer, of Warwick township. His great 
 grandfather was Christian Eathvon, who, with a brother, 
 named George, emigrated from South Germany, or Switzer- 
 land, about the year 1740, and settled in Conestoga town- 
 ship, near Conestoga Centre, where the original residence is 
 still pointed out, and from whom all in this country of that 
 
466 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 name have sprung. It may be necessary here to say, that 
 the name was originally spelled Rathfong, and that it has no 
 relational affinity with the Rathbones, Eathburns, Rathbuns, 
 or Ruthvens, which are of English or Scotch origin, unless 
 one may have been derived from the other in Europe before 
 their migration to America. The g, at the end of the name, 
 is now universally disused, although many retain the / in 
 preference to the v. It is stated, on the authority of an 
 emigrant from the canton of Berne, in Switzerland, that the 
 name still exists there, and this is the only accessible evi- 
 dence, in support of the supposition, that that country is the 
 fatherland of the subject of this sketch and his progenitors. 
 There was nothing in the early career of the subject of 
 this sketch to distinguish particularly him from the other 
 boys among whom he mingled. Inheriting a delicate con- 
 stitution from his mother, at the age of eight years he was 
 sent to a day-school, kept by a John Smith, in his native 
 town, where he continued two quarters, learning the alpha- 
 bet and spelling in one syllable. After an interval of three 
 months, he was sent two quarters to Samuel Eoss of the 
 same place, but did not make more than a very ordinary 
 progress. In the winter of 1821-22 he attended two quar- 
 ters at the school of George Briscoe, where he made more 
 progress in one month than he had during the whole pre- 
 vioas periods put together, and left school in the spring, able 
 to " read, write, and cypher" — at least as far as compound- 
 addition. Although possessed of industrious habits, 'a reten- 
 tive memory and ordinary perceptions, he did not seem to 
 have a very clear appreciation of the advantages of an ele- 
 mental education, until too late in life to avail himself of the 
 usual opportunities of obtaining it, and therefore, at ten 
 years he hired himself to different farmers in east and west 
 Donegal and Eapho townships, among whom he spent five 
 years doing farm work, alternating it during the spring sea- 
 son with working along the Susquehanna river at such labor 
 as boys of his age could perform. On the 9th day of July^ 
 1827, he bound himself an apprentice to John Bell, tailor, of 
 Marietta, for five years — wit;hout stipulating for any school- 
 ing- — ^and served him to the best of his ability to the end of 
 
OP LANOASTBR COUNTY. 467 
 
 the term. Bell was by no means a man of letters, and there- 
 fore his immediate opportunities for intellectual culture were 
 very limited. Moderately fond of reading, he was kindly 
 furnished with books by Jacob Grosh, esq., and Mr. Abra- 
 ham N. Cassel, from their private libraries, which was con- 
 tinued for two or three years. 
 
 A few weeks after the expiration of his term of service 
 with Mr. Bell, through a combination of circumstances which 
 he could not resist at the time, he commenced the tailoring 
 business on his own account, in his native town, on the first 
 of September, 1832, although he was not yet twenty-one 
 years of age. In a month or six weeks after this event, he 
 became a member of a thespian society, and was elected its 
 secretary, and also took a prominent part in its representa- 
 tions on the stage. Here he came in social contact with 
 some of the literary men of the town and vicinity, and then, 
 too, he became conscious of his own literary deficiencies, 
 and he availed himself of all the opportunities for intellectual 
 improvement which it afforded. Perhaps his whole subse- 
 quent scientific and literary advancement, received its first 
 impulse from his connection with this society, and his social 
 intercourse with these men. New planes of thought, new 
 avenues of intelligence, and new standpoints for meditation 
 seemed to be opened to him, and without always possessing the 
 discriminating ability to sift the wheat from the chaff, still he 
 made progress in intellectual culture, at least. This relation 
 continued until the first of November, 1833, when he dis- 
 posed of his establishment, and went to reside in Philadel- 
 phia, where he remained, principally in the employ of 
 Thomas McGrath, until May 20th, 1834, when he returned 
 to his native place, and reestablished himself in business. 
 At Philadelphia he fortunately fell into good hands, by the 
 selection of a boarding house conducted by three intelligent 
 Quaker ladies, who were sisters. The house contained none 
 but orderly inmates, and these were of different degrees of 
 intelligence, but from all of whom our subject was enabled 
 to learn something, or to receive a valuable impression. 
 On the 27th of May, 1834, Mr. Eathvon was married to 
 Catharine Freyberger, whose family had only been removed 
 
468 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 two generations from the fatherland, (the Grand Duchy of 
 Baden,) in the vicinity of Heidelberg, being the consumma- 
 tion of a long prior engagement. 
 
 Commencing married life TOth little more than twenty 
 dollars in his purse, and with no dependencies, save Provi- 
 dence and his own energies, many of its earlier years were 
 but a series of struggles to sustain a family — -which ulti- 
 mated in seven sons and four daughters— and to maintain 
 an intact integrity. On the 1st of September, 1839, he dis- 
 continued business again in Marietta, and took a situation in 
 the store of a brother who was in the dry goods business 
 in Lancaster city, where he continued until the 1st of March, 
 1841, when he returned to his native place and commenced 
 business there for the third time. He continued in business 
 with reasonable success until the 1st of November, 1848, 
 when he removed with his family and located permanently 
 in the city of Lancaster, and went into the employ of Mr. F. 
 J. Kramph, merchant tailor, on the corner of North Queen 
 and Orange streets, as foreman and book-keeper, and con- 
 tinued in his employ until his death, on the 18th of April, 
 1858. In the summer of 1842, at Marietta, he commenced 
 the collection of insects and the study of entomology, so far 
 as it was compatible with his attention to his usual occupa- 
 tion, which was his sole reliance for the support of his family. 
 Prior to that period, however, as early as 1837, under the 
 inspiration of Josiah Holbrook, a Lyceum of Natural Sci- 
 ence had been established in Marietta, and our subject be- 
 came a member of it, and made a collection of minerals and 
 a small one of birds. Trifling as these things may seem, yet 
 they were valuable intellectual and moral aids in elevating 
 his mind above mere sensual indulgence. In 1844 his first 
 literary composition was published in the cokimns of the 
 Argus, a weekly newspaper of the place. While in the 
 employ of Mr. Kramph, he became a writer of moral and 
 miscellaneous essays, and also of practical contributions to 
 entomology, which were published in the Farm Journal, the 
 Marrietiian, and various other papers. 
 
 In March, 1859, he purchased the stock in the establish- 
 ment of his late employer, and commenced the business of 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 469 
 
 a merchant tailor on his own account, devoting such inter- 
 vals from labor as he could conveniently command, to the 
 pursuit of his specialty in natural history, and in various 
 literary pursuits; and his miscellaneous writings, over the 
 pseudonym of Grani'ELLUS, as well as over his own proper 
 signature or initials, have appeared from time to time in the 
 various newspapers of Lancaster city and county. He has 
 for years been in the habit of contributing articles for many 
 of the leading scientific and literary journals of the country. 
 Several of his papers upon entomology have been published 
 in the State and national departments of agriculture. 
 
 Near the close of 1850, and after a conflict with the merely 
 worldly man, Mr. Eathvon identified himself, through re- 
 baptism, with the New Jerusalem church — perhaps better 
 known outside of that organization, as the " Swedenborgian 
 church" — having for some years previously been, to some 
 extent, a reader and receiver of its fundamental doctrines. 
 His father was of Moravian stock, his mother of Lutheran, 
 but his own earliest religious instruction was in the Presby- 
 terian church. It was not common in his childhood and 
 youth, for parents to inculcate any special doctrinal truths. 
 That was left to the Sunday-schools and the church. But 
 before reaching any definite theological conclusion, he passed 
 over what he has always since considered a rugged, a dark, 
 and a dangerous way. Indifference, '' nothingarian] sm," 
 nominal universalism, skepticism, pantheism, deism, and so- 
 called rationalism, all, by turns, suggested themselves to his 
 m-ind as the ultimatum of religious truth. But his mental 
 organization was such, that he could not divest his mind of. 
 the doubts usually involved in these and many other forms 
 of mere materialism. He was also more or less influenced 
 by that superficial and uncharitable assumption which con- 
 demns a creed because its receivers are faithless to its teach- 
 ings. If the sentiments involved in the various isms were 
 unsatisfying to his mind, so were also those of popular 
 orthodoxy. Therefore, when the doctrines of the new church 
 were presented to him, his first impression was that they 
 were beautiful, if true; and then that if they were not true 
 they ought to be true; and, finally, that they luere the truth. 
 
470 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 SO far as he was able to comprehend the truth. Although 
 convinced that they are the truth, without qualification, yet 
 he is just as fully convinced that no man rationally and 
 practically believes any farther than he truly understands. 
 
 Our subject, on his own individual account, has never 
 solicited social or political position, power or place, and, 
 indeed, through deafness, which gradually came upon him 
 after 1841, he has felt himself quite incompetent for the dis- 
 charge of many duties which otherwise he might discharge 
 with ability. Nevertheless, he has for forty years been a 
 member of different organizations, and has been honored 
 with the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens. In 
 1831, and while he was yet an apprentice, he was elected a 
 member of a volunteer company, and served in that capacity 
 for eight years, during the last four of which he was its com- 
 mander, holding his captain's commission from Joseph 
 Eitner, Governor of Pennsylvania. He was, in addition to 
 others named, a member of the borough council, and secre- 
 tary of the thespian society, the amateur band of Mari- 
 etta, and a performing member in both the latter ; a 
 member of the board of common schools, of the select 
 council, a trustee of the Children's Home, in Lancaster city. 
 He is now professor of entomology in the "Pennsylvania 
 Horticultural Society," corresponding member of the 
 "Academy of Natural Sciences" of Philadelphia, and of 
 the " American Entomological Society ;" honorary mem- 
 ber and entomologist of the "Fruit Growers' Society" of 
 Pennsylvania, and of the " Agricultural and Horticultural 
 Society" of Lancaster county; an honorary member of the 
 " Diagnothian Literary Society " of Franklin and Marshall 
 college, and of the "Page Literary Society" of the State 
 Normal School, at Millersville ; secretary and leader of the 
 New Jerusalem Society," chairman of the library committee 
 of the "Mechanics' Society," and treasurer of the "Linnsean 
 Society " ^ of Lancaster city. In several of these he is an 
 
 'Mr. Rathvon was one of the founders and incorporators of the "Lin- 
 nsean Society' ' of Lancaster county, and was one of its most active and. 
 punctual members, never having been absent from a single meeting 
 since its first organization in 1861. No other member has been instru- 
 mental iu contributing so largely and so continuously to its museum, its 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 471 
 
 active working member. He is also a member of Lodge No. 
 43, A. Y. M.; of Chapter 43, E. A. M.; of " Goodwin Coun- 
 cil," No. — ; and of " Lancaster Oommandery," No. 13, of 
 Knights Templar, and of the " Empire Hook and Ladder 
 Company." If wealth and political or social distinction, 
 however, be the only evidences of a successful career in this 
 world, then the life of the subject of this memoir can scarcely 
 be claimed as a success. 
 
 He is still delving quietly and unostentatiously, in his 
 professional calling, and in his usual literary and scientific 
 ■ pursuits, making no higher pretension than a mere amateur 
 in these. He is now in his sixtieth year, with his usual en- 
 ergy and health, and has seen most of the companions of 
 his youth one by one pass away ; himself, his wife, and eight 
 children, still surviving — five sons and three daughters. 
 
 Without any very special patronage, and with nothing 
 but untiring industry, he has not only supported and 
 moderately educated his large family, but has accumulated 
 a library of nearly a thousand volumes, costing nearly two 
 thousand dollars ; a clever mineralogical collection, and 
 nearly ten thousand species of insects of different orders, but 
 mainly coleoptera ; besides a comfortable home. Perhaps, 
 after all, such an example from the lower walks of life, will 
 be as a beneficial to posterity as one of more transcendant 
 talents and a higher social and pecuniary position. Those 
 in humble life are often overawed by the commanding 
 abilities of many occupying positions so far above theirs, and 
 they are also often deterred from making any attempt to 
 
 archives, and its library; scarcely a montli passing in which he has not 
 read one or more papers on natural science before it, or in some way 
 contributed to its material support. Much of that persevering thought 
 and carefulness of details so necessary in sustaining a society of this 
 kind, and the patient labor of carrying its resolves into effect, has de- 
 volved on him, and perhaps no society has made any more cheerful, con- 
 stant, and unselfish working member. He was also one of the founders 
 of the " Lancaster County Agricultural and Horticultural Society ;" and 
 of the Lancaster Parmer, a monthly periodical established under its 
 auspices, and devoted to its interests. He was its senior editor from its 
 very beginning, and no number of that journal has appeared in which 
 he has not been a contributor to its columns. Although, professedly, 
 neither an agriculturist or horticulturist, and without any immediate 
 
472 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 alter or better their condition, simply because they have not 
 a more advantageous starting point. If it is impossible for 
 all men to distinguish themselves, at least all may be better 
 than they are, and achieve more if they will. Perhaps 
 nothing has contributed more to the success of our subject, 
 so far as his life has been a success, than his industry and per- 
 severance, supported by an integrity that never repudiated or 
 evaded a pecuniary, social or domestic responsibility, or an 
 obligation ; and that alone ought to infuse into others, in 
 like circumstances, sufficient encouragement to " go and do 
 likewise." 
 
 . As a scientist, S. S. Rathvon is an ardent student and 
 lover of nature. In the department of entomology he is 
 ^specially distinguished, as he is also in the kindred sciences. 
 As a writer upon entomological subjects, he is justly en- 
 titled to rank amongst the first investigators of the science 
 in the whole country. He is diligent and devoted in the 
 pursuit of his favorite studies, and perhaps there is no in- 
 stance in America of such an incessant, self-sacrificing pur- 
 suit of knowledge, under adverse circumstances, as his has 
 been. After the ordinary business labors of the day are 
 past, he spends every night almost in his study until twelve, 
 two, three, and four o'clock in the morning enveloped in study ; 
 and then retiring for a few hours he rises and breakfasts, and 
 is at his place of business by the usual hour in the morning. 
 His are the ardor and application of a Cuvier, or a Hum- 
 boldt, and but for his surroundings and obstacles, a high 
 niche in the temple of fame could have been achieved. 
 
 peciTuiary interest in tliese vocations, yet lie has always given tlie weight 
 of his influence, so far as it might he useful to every enterprise that had for 
 its objeci the welfare and the advancement of these departments of human 
 lahor ; and this, too, without any pecuniary reward. He has been for 
 more than twenty years a member of the New Jerusalem Soeiety of Lan- 
 caster, and for two-thirds of that period has been its "leader" in pubUo 
 worship and the superintendent of its Sunday-school; and has uni- 
 formly been punctual in the discharge of the duties devolving upon 
 him in these capacities. Seeing that, for the greater part of the time, 
 he stands almost isolated in this community, deprived of the sustaining 
 influence of larger religious communities, our subject exhibits a con- 
 sistent adherence to religious principle, that is not always met with 
 where there are no ulterior worldly ends to accomplish. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 473 
 
 Fortune seems not to have bestowed upon him the con- 
 ditions necessary for the highest scientific attainment, yet 
 he has far outstripped others more favorably circumstanced. 
 His has been the school of difficulties, and nobly has he 
 risen, despite his surroundings, and achieved a higher degree 
 of moral worth than otherwise he might have been able to 
 attain. It is in this latter particular that he has risen to the 
 perfection of manhood, and exhibits a shining example of 
 high moral tone but seldom attainable by man. In this he 
 is a nobleman, indeed ; and but few know the great superi- 
 ority and high moral sublimity of this true example of 
 Christian manhood. Nobler sentiments than imbue hia 
 whole life and conversation, never influenced a Socrates, a 
 Seneaa, or a Confucius ; and not in act only, but in thought 
 does this high moral standard pervade his feelings. No 
 action that he feels to be wrong, could he be induced to com- 
 mit. Unkind feelings he entertains towards no specimen 
 of mankind ; no slander ever falls from his lips ; nor does he , 
 give utterance to any ungenerous remarks, it matters not 
 how any one may have injured him. Perfectly unselfish in 
 all his actions, his efforts instead of being incited by sinister 
 motives, are prompted alone by a desire to elevate mankind, 
 and diffuse generally the principles of morality. If there be 
 one man in our county who has endeavored with all his soul to 
 take up into the whole substance of his being, constitution 
 and actions, the moral excellence of Christ's teachings and 
 example, as recorded in the Evangelist, that man is the sub- 
 ject of our notice. He has done this so far as weak and 
 erring humanity is capable. Not for the applause of the 
 world is his conduct shaped ; his own internal sense of right 
 is his guiding star. What popular opinion may be, he 
 cares not ; only so far as it accords with the promptings of 
 that informed monitor of his bosom, does he give it audience. 
 He, however, condemns no man who may differ with him in 
 opinion, freely permitting others to enjoy their own senti- 
 ments as their consciences may dictate. His example and 
 life are worthy of imitation, and if a higher reward than 
 mere earthly be the lot of devoted aspiration to the subject 
 of our notice, a large inheritance will be his portion. 
 33 
 
474 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOKY 
 
 RAUOH, EuDOLPH F., was elected Prothonotary of Lan- 
 caster county in the year 1842. 
 
 EAWLINS, JoH^', elected a member of the Legislature 
 in 1853. 
 
 EEED, Blias, emigrated from Germany about the year 
 1761, and first settled with his family in Bucks county, Pa. 
 A few years afterwards he removed with his family to the 
 valley of the "Wyoming, where he took up four hundred 
 acres of land. He did little more, however, than build a log 
 cabin for himself and family, and a stable for his horses and 
 cattle, when he was compelled, by the hostility of the Indian 
 savages, to return to Bucks county, leaving behind him his 
 horses and cattle. His log cabin and stable were burned as 
 soon as his family had fled to save their lives. He had four 
 sons, one of whom enlisted under Gen. Wayne, and served 
 under him during the whole period of the Eevolution. 
 
 EBBD, John K., a banker of Lancaster city, and a man 
 of estimable and highly honorable character. He was in 
 1851 elected prothonotary of Lancaster county, and in Octo- 
 ber, 1870, elected one of the board of county commissioners. 
 He was elected commissioner by the vote of both political 
 parties. 
 
 EBBD, Peter, youngest son of Elias Reed, came and 
 settled in the town of Lancaster, (now city), about the year 
 1783. As a citizen he was highly honored and much 
 respected, and held several important of&ces in the county 
 of Lancaster. 
 
 EBBD, Peter, jr., son of the last named, was elected high 
 sheriff of Lancaster county, in 1836, and held the same for 
 three years. 
 
 EBBD, Thomas, one of the first legislative dele|-ates from 
 Lancaster county in 1829. 
 
 EBDDIG, Jacob, of West Cocalico township, was born 
 October 7th, 1794. His grandfather emigrated from near 
 Manheim, in Germany, and settled in Lancaster county at an 
 early day. His father was named Jacob, and died in 1854, 
 aged 84 years. The subject of this notice followed the 
 m.ercantile business from the age of eighteen years up till 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 475 
 
 1862, when he retired and has since been living in retire- 
 ment upon one of his farms. He was elected a member of 
 the Legislature in the year 1837. 
 
 *REICHBNBACH, John Christian William, was born 
 January 26, 1749, in Swartzburg-Rudolstadt, Upper Saxony, 
 Prussia. Little is immediately accessible in reference to either 
 his ancestry or his youth, but from the fact that he received 
 a liberal scientific and classical education, for that period, 
 the inference is, that his family occupied an easy, if not a 
 distinguished social position in his native country. This is 
 rendered further probable from the fact that he graduated, 
 or at least attended the university at Marseilles, in France. 
 In 1785 he left Germany, and spent some years in travel, or 
 engaged in some learned occupation. At all events, he 
 reached Lancaster, Pennsylvania, about 1780, and was imme- 
 diately appointed professor of mathematics and German 
 literature in Franklin college, then just going into opera- 
 tion. Soon thereafter he married Mrs. Elizabeth Graeff, 
 formerly Miss Schwartz, by whom he had a number of chil- 
 dren, all of whom are dead, and some of whom he survived. 
 In addition to his duties as professor in the college,^ and also 
 for some years subsequently, he practiced surveying and 
 gauging, in the county of Lancaster. He was originally a 
 member of the Moravian denomination, and sometimes 
 preached lay sermons in their church in Lancaster, and 
 otherwise made himself generally useful. 
 
 About the same time that Reichenbach arrived in Lan- 
 csster, Henry von Beulow, a German nobleman, and a native 
 of Prussia, who in his early years had adopted the military 
 profession, also arrived there, and spent some time in it. 
 Von Buelow had embraced the peculiar theological and 
 philosophical views of Emanuel Swedenborg. Eeichenbach 
 and Buelow soon became acquainted, and socially and intel- 
 
 1 Franklin college was originally located in North Queen street, Lan- 
 caster, near James street, and for many years was known as the "bar- 
 racks," the "old stone house," and subsequently as "Franklin row." 
 It was suspended finally for the want of pecuniary resources, and it is 
 probable that Reichenbach only engaged in the occupation of surveyor 
 a nd gauger after its suspension. 
 
 * Contributed by S. S. Rathvon. 
 
476 ■ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 lectually affiliated, and this soon led to a theological and 
 philosophical affiliation. The latter had brought with him 
 from Germany a number of the works of Swedenborg, for 
 gratuitous circulation and for sale. On examining these doc- 
 trines, Eeichenbach embraced them and avowed them openly. 
 He afterwards translated and published several works on the 
 doctrines of Swedenborg — otherwise called the "New 
 Church," — one of which was entitled Agathon, which was 
 published in both English and German, from the Latin 
 manuscripts of Yon Buelow, copies of which are still extant. 
 Eeichenbach was an extensive writer, and at his death left a 
 large mass of manuscript, which never was subsequently 
 utilized, and finally became extinct through age, mould and 
 mice. These consisted of theological and philosophical spec- 
 ulations, Latin and Greek translations, solutions of mathe- 
 matical problems, and sacred and sentimental poems. It is 
 fair tQ infer, that some of his compositions must have been 
 published under pseudonyms, not now recognizable in the 
 Halcyon Luminary, the Dawn of Light, and other new church 
 publications of his day. He led a peaceable and useful life, 
 universally respected, in the companionship of Damish, Eck- 
 stein, Carpenter, Bailey, Ehrenfried and others, who com- 
 posed the little band of " Eeceivers," after the return of Von 
 Buelow to Europe, and at last was gathered to his fathers 
 on the 15th of May, 1821, in the 73d year of his natural life. 
 How deeply impressed he was with the Swedenborgian 
 doctrine of the resurrection, may be inferred from the in- 
 scription on his tombstone : 
 
 "By a process which they call death, the earthly part sunk here pre- 
 cipitated; 
 The nobler part, by our good Lord, rose heavenly sublimated. 
 
 EEIGAET,^ Adam, was an innkeeper during the Amer- 
 ican Eevolution, keeping his house on the west side of North 
 Queen street, near Centre Square. His hotel was the Whig 
 headquarters during the Eevolution, and here the supreme 
 
 ■ It ■was at the house of Adam Eeigart that the lots were drawn in 
 order to determine upon which one of the British officers, held as pris- 
 oners of war at Lancaster during the Revolution, the execution of the 
 lex talionis should take place in retaliation for the murder of Captain 
 Hudy, who had been executed at New York in violation of military law. 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 477 
 
 Executive Council held its sessions when in Lancaster. He 
 was Lieutenant-colonel of a regiment under the command of 
 Colonel George Ross, and marched with his regiment to Am- 
 boy, in New Jersey, and served with it until the regiment 
 was discharged. He was in various encounters which his 
 regiment had with the British during his service as one of 
 its commanding officers. He was elected a member of the 
 Legislature for the year 1780. 
 
 EEIGART, Emanuel, son of Adam Eeigart, was a tanner 
 and currier by occupation, and carried on this business quite 
 extensively. He was elected repeatedly a member of the 
 Legislature, being a member during the sessions of 1813, 
 1814, 1815, 1817. He was cotemporary as a legislator in 
 1814-16 with James Buchanan, when the latter was making 
 Ms first debut in political life. In 1821 he was elected 
 sheriff of Lancaster county. He also served once in the 
 ofS.ce of coroner. 
 
 EEIGART, Emanuel C, son of Emanuel Reigart, was 
 born in Lancaster in the year 1797, and was for many years 
 one of the leading and influential men of the city. He read 
 law with Amos Ellmaker, and was admitted to the bar April 
 19th, 1822. Belonging to one of the old and influential 
 families of the county, Mr. Reigart soon took a leading rank 
 in his profession, and for many years was recognized as one 
 of the ablest lawyers of the city. In 1834 he was nominated 
 and elected to the Legislature, on what was known as the 
 Anti-Masonic ticket. While in the Legislature he submit- 
 
 The drawing of the lots was conducted by Colonel George Gibson, and 
 the lot fell upon Captain Sir Charles Asgill. As soon as Gibson per- 
 ceived upon whom the lot had fallen, he remarked to Captain Stake 
 (pointing to AsgiU), there is your prisoner. Asgill was immediately 
 ordered under the command of Captain Stake, who, upon the solicitation 
 and pledge of honor of Major Gordon, another British officer, suri-en- 
 dered Asgill to his keeping fof a few days. When Major Gordon was 
 conducting AsgiU away from the place where the lots had been drawn, 
 the latter partially fainted and fell prostrate. Major Gordon upbraid- 
 ingly remarked to him : "For God's sake don't disgrace your colors." 
 Through the interposition of lady Asgill, the mother of Sir Charles, the 
 French Minister used his influence with "Washington and obtained his 
 release, and thus rescued him from being executed, as otherwise he would 
 iave been, in obedience to the lea- talionis. 
 
478 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ted a minority report in favor of the school law of 1809, 
 instead of that of 1834. On the 24th of February, 1885, he 
 delivered a speech, favoring the resolution offered by Mr. 
 Stevens for the suppression of Masonic oaths.^ On Novem- 
 ber 14th, 1843, Emanuel 0. Eeigart addressed a letter to 
 Henry Clay (then the prominent candidate of the Whigs for 
 the presidential nomination), interrogating him as to his 
 connection with the institution of Free Masonry. To this 
 Clay replied, that he had joined the order in early life, but 
 that he had entirely retired from connection with the lodge 
 for upwards of nineteen years. In 1837-38 Mr. Eeigart was 
 a member of the State Constitutional Convention and took 
 a prominent part therein, generally cooperating with Thad- 
 deus Stevens — also a member of the Convention — on im- 
 portant questions. With him were associated in this con- 
 vention, from Lancaster county, Henry Gr. Long, William 
 Hiester, Lindley Coates, Jeremiah Brown, James Porter, 
 Dr. Cochran, and Joseph Konigmacher. In 1846 Mr. Eei- 
 gart was the Native American candidate for Congress from 
 Lancaster county, and in 1847 he was the Native American 
 candidate for Governor, against Shunk, Democrat, and Irwin, 
 Whig, and received 11,000 votes in the State. When a 
 young man, Mr. Eeigart enlisted in 1814 in the company 
 raised by Captain Edward Shippen, which marched for 
 the defense of Baltimore. In the same company were James 
 Buchanan, Molton C. Eodgers, Dr. E. A. Muhlenberg, and 
 in fact the elite of Lancaster. At a mass meeting held in 
 Lancaster in 1848, Mr. Eeigart nominated Thaddeus Stevens 
 for Congress, which was the first public iiomination Mr. 
 Stevens had ever received for that position. 
 
 In the year 1848 Mr. Eeigart retired permanently from 
 the practice of the profession. In 1851, having been ap- 
 pointed commissioner by President Fillmore, to attend the 
 
 ' The Anti-Masons were opijosed to the administration of extra judi- 
 cial oaths, such as were alleged by them to be imposed upon Masons, 
 and they desired the enactment of a law that would prevent such oaths 
 from being administered. They feared that these oaths would come in 
 conflict with the administration of justice. No oaths, they argued, should 
 be allowed to be administered that might in any wise oonflot with those 
 of a judicial character. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 479 
 
 World's Fair in London, he fulfilled the duties of this ap- 
 pointment, and next made a tour of the continent, visiting 
 all the places of interest that delight the intelligent tourist. 
 The latter part of Mr. Reigart's life was spent in retirement, 
 and in the management of his extensive estate.. A few years 
 before his death he was appointed by Judge Oadwallader, 
 United States Commissioner for this district, a position he 
 held at the time of his death. He died December 20th, 1869. 
 Mr. Reigart was a man of considerable benevolence. He 
 was the founder of the Lancaster Athenseum, having endowed 
 the institution with $2500. A few years before his decease 
 he gave to the Howard Association $1000, to be used for 
 the relief of the poor of the city of Lancaster. 
 
 EBIGtAET, Henry M., was elected commissioner of Lan- 
 caster county, in the year 1822. He was afterwards post- 
 master of the city of Lancaster. 
 
 REIGtART, Franklin, J., a native of Lancaster, and a man 
 of considerable intellectual vigor. He studied civil engi- 
 neering, and served in this business under Mr. Gay, from 
 1834 till 1836, on the Columbia and Philadelphia railroad. 
 He aided in the location of the Harrisburg and Lancaster 
 railroad. He was surveyor for Lancaster, and published the 
 first map of the city. He was the first to get up meetings 
 to start the Lancaster gas works, and also for the new 
 markets. He was appointed clerk of quarter sessions in the 
 year 1839. He served for some years as an alderman, and 
 also for some time as recorder of the city of Lancaster. He 
 is now engaged as patent agent in Washington city. 
 
 REINHOLD, Jesse, was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in the year 1855. 
 
 RE INGE HL, A. C, is a native of Lancaster county, and 
 a graduate of Franklin and Marshall college, Pennsylvania. 
 He served with credit to himself in the war of the rebellion. 
 After retiring from the army he read law, and was admitted 
 to the bar in 1866. In 1867 he was elected a member of 
 the Legislature, and twice reelected in the years 1868 and 
 1870. In the year 1871 he was appointed deputy secretary 
 of the commonwealth. 
 
480 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 EEIST FAMILY. Peter Eeist, the founder of this family, 
 was a native of Switzerland, whom religious persecution first 
 drove to the Palatinate, and afterward to America. While 
 in the Palatinate he married his wife, whose maiden name 
 was Anna Clara Boyer. He arrived in Lancaster county in 
 the year 1723, and became a convert to the Mennonite faith. 
 He built himself a cabin near Kissel Hill, which was claimed 
 by a man named Witmer. He relinquished possession of 
 this and went about two miles northwest, where he took 
 possession of six hundred acres of land. Two hundred acres 
 of this tract is yet in possession of John and Jacob Eeist, 
 great-great-grandsons of the first settler. Peter Eeist had 
 five sons and two daughters. The sons were Peter, Chris- 
 tian, Abraham, Jacob and John. Peter settled in Leb- 
 anon county, Pennsylvania, and Christian died without 
 heirs. Abraham acquired considerable property and left 
 numerous descendants. Abraham H. Eeist, of Lancaster, is 
 his great-grandson. Among his descendants are the Eeists 
 of ShaefiTerstown, Lebanon county, and those in Lingles- 
 town, Dauphin county, and in Canada are also of them. 
 His blood flows in the Eeigarts, Swarrs, Bears, Staufiers, 
 Hostetters and Hersheys, of Lancaster county. Jacob 
 Eeist was killed on Braddock's field, July 9th, 1755. 
 
 John Eeist retained the old homestead, with four hundred 
 acres of land, on which John Eeist, his great-grandson, yet 
 resides. John had five sons and three daughters, viz : Chris- 
 tian, Abraham, Jacob, John, and Peter. Christian retained 
 the old homestead, and Abraham procured an adjoining tract 
 of land. Ezra Eeist, prison inspector, is the latter's grand- 
 son. Jacob died unmarried ; and John left a son in Erie 
 county, New York, named John Eeist, a Eeformed Mennon- 
 ite clergyman. Peter settled between Oregon and Millport. 
 One of Peter's sisters was married to a man named Kauff- 
 man, and settled in Virginia ; another was married to a man 
 named Bomberger, grandfather of Eev. Christian Bomber- 
 ger. The other sister married a Hostetter, the father of 
 Henry Hostetter, a member of the Legislature in 1827. 
 Eev. Charles Hostetter, a Mennonite clergyman, is a grand- 
 son of Hostetter, fii-st named. 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 481 
 
 Peter Reist ^ had two sons, John and Jacob, and one 
 daughter, the mother of the wife of Greybill Bear, of Mount 
 Joy, and Joseph Brubaker's wife, of Warwick. John was a 
 well educated and talented young man. He was commis- 
 sioned a justice of the peace of Manheim township, and 
 died at the early age of thirty-two years. He was a surveyor, 
 and with Jacob Hibshman and Charles Montelius, laid out 
 the towns of Warwick and New Bphrata, now called Lincoln. 
 
 Joseph Ritner-, afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania, was 
 a hireling for some time in the employ of Peter Reist, then 
 being a poor young man. When he became Governor he 
 paid his old friends in Warwick township a visit, and spent 
 a night with Jacob Reist, who had been oft his playmate 
 when in the employ of Peter, his father. He made numer- 
 ous observations, and remarked the great changes that had 
 taken place on the farms since he had lived in that section. 
 Ritner, ^ on that occasion conversed freely on politics. 
 Having been for years a prominent Democrat, he remarked 
 the great strength of the Masonic order, and said that he 
 believed, had he been a Pree-Maso-n, he would have been 
 nominated for Governor by the Democrats at the time Wolf 
 was made their candidate. His conscientious scruples, how- 
 ever, prevented his being a Free-Mason. 
 
 The Reists were all originally Democrats, but left the 
 
 ' Peter Reist was an ardent Democrat, and wlien the news came that 
 Jefferson was elected President over Burr in 1800, hapijening to be in 
 Lancaster, and expressing his joy at the result, the Federalists fell upon 
 Mm, and he with difficulty made his escape to his home. 
 
 ^ When Josei^h Ritner was elected Governor in 1835, being free and 
 "untrammeled of pledges, he chose his cabinet officers without any pre- 
 vious bargaining. He had concluded in his own mind to tender the 
 Secretaryship of State to Amos Ellmaker, of Lancaster. Mr. EUmaker 
 declined the position, birt at the same time recommended Thomas H. 
 Bun-owes, who had studied law in his office, and to whom he felt 
 attached. He assured the Governor that Mr. Burrowes was fully com- 
 petent for the position, and if any assistance would be needed he would 
 cheerfully render him any aid. This recommendation of Mr. Ellmaker 
 made Thomas H. Burrowes Secretary of State, and was the foundation 
 of his prominence as a Pennsylvania school man. Had Mr. Ellmaker 
 recommended Henry G. Long or Emanuel C. Reigart, Mr. Burrowes 
 would never have been Secretary of State. The word of an influential 
 man is therefore potent. 
 
482 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 party at the same time that James Buchanan joined it. 
 Simon Heist, grandson of Peter, was one of the nine men in 
 1855, who organized the Eepublican party in Lancaster 
 county. 
 
 Jacob Eeist was somewhat an active politician in his day, 
 and is now living, a man of advanced years, in Petersburg, 
 Lancaster county. He had four sons, Simon, Peter, Levi 
 and Isaac ; also, five daughters, Elizabeth, married to Samuel 
 Eoyer ; Anna, married to Grreybill Bear ; Catharine, married 
 to Henry L. Landis ; Barbara, married to A. D. Greybill, and 
 Levina, married to H. H. Oberholtzer. Isaac died single, 
 and Simon died in 1862, near Lancaster, leaving four sons, 
 Henry, Linnseus, John and Simon. 
 
 EEIST, Levi S., of "Warwick township, was born April 
 13th, 1817. He was raised upon a farm, and has been en- 
 gaged in agricultural pursuits all his lifetime. In politica 
 he has always been a leading man in his district, and in 1848 
 was one of the delegates from Lancaster county to the State 
 convention of the Whig party that nominated a canal com- 
 missioner, and chose presidential electors which elected 
 General Taylor President of the United States. In 1851 he 
 was elected a justice of the peace for his township, a position 
 he filled for ten years. He was elected in 1859 one of the 
 board of county commissioners,^ a position he held for three 
 years. In 1866 he was one of three who signed a call for a 
 
 'The office of county commissioner was, during tlie rebellion espe- 
 cially, one of grave responsibility. New duties devolved upon the 
 board which required rare judgment to discharge with entire satisfac- 
 tion. The commissioners, together with two of the judges of the court, 
 were constituted a board of relief for distributing aid from the 
 public funds to the widows and families of soldiers in destitute circum- 
 stances. The commissioners were required to iirocure arms, and have 
 them in readiness for defense along the border, if occasion should 
 require. The first muskets received by them, were old flint-locks that 
 were lying idle in the State arsenal at Harrisburg, and which they had 
 altered into percussion locks by Henry E. Leman, gunsmith, of Lan- 
 caster. They were furnished at another time with one thousand new 
 muskets, for which the county gave bonds. They were frequently 
 soUcited to furnish quarters for soldiers in the national service, and on 
 several occasions did so ; at one time on the fair grounds, and on other 
 occasions soldiers were quartered in the court house and in the chiu-ches 
 of the city. In the beginning of the war the commissioners offered a 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 483 
 
 meeting, which laid the foundation of the Lancaster Agri- 
 cultural and Horticultural Society, and was the first president 
 of the same. He aided actively in the establishment of the 
 Lancaster Farmer, in January, 1869, and during the first year 
 was on the editorial corps, and has ever since been one of 
 its leading contributors. 
 
 EBITZBL, John, was appointed Eecorder of Deeds in 
 1821. 
 
 EEYNOLDS, John, a native of Lancaster county, was 
 the editor of the Journal for many years before its union 
 with the Intelligencer. After his retirement from editorial 
 life, he moved to Cornwall, and assumed the management of 
 the iron works at that place. He was chosen guardian of 
 the minor children of Thomas B. Coleman. He remained 
 the manager at Cornwall until about 1847, when he returned 
 to Lancaster. In 1822 he was elected a member of the 
 Legislature, and> reelected in 1823. He died in Baltimore, 
 May 11th, 1853, in the 67th year of his age. He is the 
 father of General John F. Eeynolds and James L. Eey- 
 nolds, esq. 
 
 *EBYNOLDS, Major General, John Fulton, was born 
 in Lancaster, Pa., on the 21st of September, 1820. He was 
 educated in the schools of his native city, and in 1837 was 
 
 bounty of fifty dollars for one regiment of ten companies for nine 
 months. Instead of ten companies fourteen companies were raised. 
 
 Muskets were distributed to tbe citizens by the commissioners, who 
 were enrolled pro tempore for the preservation of law while the drafting 
 process was being performed at the court house, in Lancaster, during 
 the year 1863. This was deemed necessary on the part of the authori- 
 ties, in order to repress strong indications of riot that were manifesting 
 themselves upon the occasion referred to. The reason of this was, that 
 as great difference of sentiment prevailed amongst the people of the 
 North as to the justice of the war against the South, many were un- 
 . willing to be compelled to fight in a cause that they regarded unjust 
 and unconstitutional. Those amongst whom the riotous proceedings 
 were manifested, were generally the German inhabitants of the city, 
 many of whom were in principle opposed to the war policy of the 
 government. A few citizens were arrested, but order was again re- 
 stored, when a number of the inhabitants of the city were armed with 
 muskets, and so detailed about the court house as to intimidate an 
 outbreak. 
 
 ♦Contributed by J. M. W. Geist. 
 
484 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 appointed a cadet at West Point. He graduated from tlie 
 Military Academy in 1841 ; in July of the same year he was 
 appointed brevet second lieutenant in the Third Artillery, 
 and was ordered to Fort McHenry, Baltimore ; three months 
 later he was promoted to a second lieutenancy; early in 
 1843 he was ordered to St. Augustine, and at the close of 
 the year was transferred to Fort Moultrie. In 1845 he was 
 sent to Corpus Christi, and afterwards to Fort Brown. In 
 June, 1846, he was promoted to iirst lieutenant, and marched 
 with his battery, accomjoanying General Taylor's army, into 
 Mexico; was engaged at the battle of Monterey, and two 
 days thereafter was breveted captain for gallant conduct. 
 On the 21st of February, 1847, he was in the battle of Buena 
 Yista, and received the brevet of major for meritorious ser- 
 vices. At the close of the Mexican war he was sent to the 
 forts on the coast of New England, where he remained four 
 years, when he was appointed a stafi" officer to General 
 Twiggs; and in 1853 went to New Orleans, but in the follow- 
 ing year returned to the east, and was stationed at Fort 
 Lafayette, until he was attached to an expedition which was 
 sent across the plains to Utah. He reached Salt Lake City 
 in August, 1854 ; in March, 1855, he was promoted to a 
 captainc}', and sent across the mountains to California. 
 During the year he remained on the Pacific coast, he engaged 
 in expeditions against the Indians, commanded posts, and at 
 one time was on a board to examine candidates for admis- 
 sion into the army from civil life. In December, 1856, he 
 arrived at Fortress Monroe, and in the summer of 1858 was 
 placed in command of battery C, of the Third regiment, and 
 was ordered to cross the plains with his command, to Utah. 
 The battery was one of the most e£S.cient in the service, and 
 hence Secretary Floyd sought to destroy it, by mounting it 
 and sending it across the Eockjr Mountains. The company, 
 however, arrived in safety at Fort Vancouver, in December, 
 1859. 
 
 In September, 1860, ■Major Keynolds was appointed com- 
 mander of cadets at West Point ; in May, 1861, he was ap- 
 pointed lieutenant-colonel of the Fourteenth Infantry, and 
 sent to New London, Connecticut, to recruit his regiment to 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 485 
 
 its 'maximum strengtli for service in the rebellion.' In 
 August he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general 
 of volunteers, and was ordered to command Fort Hatteras ; 
 but, at the request of Governor Curtin, General Reynolds 
 was assigned to the command of the first brigade of the 
 Pennsylvania Reserve Corps. He marched and fought with 
 his brigade on the peninsula, and in Pope's campaign. 
 General Pope says in his report : 
 
 "Brigadier-General John F. Eeyuolds, commanding the Pennsylvania 
 Reserves, merits the highest commendation at my hands. Prompt, 
 active and energetic, he commanded his division with distinguished 
 ability throughout the operations, and performed his duties in all situa- 
 tions with zeal and fidelity." 
 
 After the retreat of General Pope to the defences around 
 Washington, it became apparent that the enemy contem- 
 plated an invasion of Maryland, and probably of Pennsyl- 
 vania. Governor Curtin,therefore, on the 4th of September, 
 1862, issued a proclamation calling out 75,000 of the State 
 
 'The period of the Southeni rebellion was one that called forth a tone 
 of sentiment in Lancaster county which cannot, with due propriety, as 
 it seems to us, be passed over in silence. A state of feeling existed, 
 that it is to be hoped will never again be experienced. After the elec- 
 tion of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, in 1860, the Southern States, 
 one after another, prepared to put their long asserted resolves into exe- 
 cution ; and in December of that j'ear, South Carohna passed an ordi- 
 nance of secession, severing her allegiance from the Federal Union. 
 This step was looked upon by our people as an ebullition of anger that 
 would amount to nothing ; and when any one happened to express his 
 fears that the event betokened something serious, he was met by the 
 remark, " this will soon bloro over," or, "we can whip them in twoioeeks,^' 
 and language of that character, all going to show that no adequate idea 
 was entertained of the magnitude of the difficulties that were threaten- 
 ing the country. 
 
 When at length the bulletin board, on the morning of April 13th, 1801, 
 told the sad news that Fort Sumter had been fired upon, it was surrounded 
 by a crazed multitude, as it would have seemed, and threats were in 
 every mouth almost, that the Southern States should be wiped out of 
 existence. Even to intimate a doubt of the speedy downfall of the 
 rebeUioii, was accepted by the infuriated as evidence of treasonable 
 sentiments; and a remark made by an individual in presence of some 
 citizens: "Gentlemen, this will be a thi-ee years war, " was met with 
 such replies as, " Why, man, you are crazy," or, " my God, this means 
 nothing, it will be all over in a month." 
 
 The feelings of those favorable to the war, became speedily embittered 
 towards such as intimated the least doubt as to the success of the 
 
486 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 militia, and on the 12th General Eeynolds was relieved from 
 the command of the Eeserve Corps, and ordered to proceed 
 to Harrisburg, at the request of the Governor, to organize 
 and command these forces. He received the men, who were 
 pouring in incessant streams to the Capital, organized them 
 into brigades, and marched them up the Cumberland valley to 
 protect the borders of the State. After the battle of Antie- 
 tam the militia was disbanded, and General Reynolds re- 
 joined the Army of the Potomac, and assumed command of 
 the first corps ; he rendered distinguished service at the 
 battle of Fredericksburg, and carried the enemy's works on 
 the left. He was appointed military governor of that city, 
 and his administration of affairs was so vigorous and equit- 
 able, that the loyal citizens rejoiced in the establishment of 
 the authority of the United States in their midst. His troops 
 were present, but were not called into action at the battle of 
 Chancellorsville. When General .Meade moved the army 
 
 struggle. The great majority of the people appeared, and were in re- 
 ality, in favor of the prosecution of the contest for the restoration of' the 
 Union. No intimation that the abolition of slavery was an object, 
 was made by any of the war partisans; and when one opposed to the 
 war would claim that it was prosecuted for the purpose of freeing the 
 negroes, this was ever indignantly denied. The fact need not be con- 
 cealed, that a considerable number of the people felt averse to the prose- 
 cution of such a war, as they regarded all difficulties between the two 
 sections as capable of being settled without a collision of arms. But 
 the larger number of those who entertained such opinions were careful 
 to conceal them, as it was perceived that in the midst of the excitement 
 their persons and business were in jeopardy by the expression of opinions 
 then very unjjopular. The people were speedily divided into those favor- 
 able to and those opposed to the war. The shrewd and designing of 
 the latter division, simply allowed their opinions to be known by those 
 who agreed with them. They, as a consequence, were popular with 
 both parties, for they could easily vary their sentiments to suit the com- 
 pany in which they might happen to be. But there are always those 
 who are bold enough to express their real opinions, whether they be 
 popular or the contrary. Upon this small band the popular venom poured 
 itself. All who as a consequence expressed any sentiment that did not 
 accord with the popular opinion, were denounced as traitors, and de- 
 serving of being executed. They were required to meet frowning looks in 
 all their meanderings, 'and hear offensive and insulting remarks at many a 
 corner as they passed the streets. Oft would the man of honest opinions 
 cross the street sooner than encounter one whose hatred of him and his 
 opinions he felt was intense. Men that had been bosom friends for 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 487 
 
 from Frederick into Pennsylvania, expecting each hour to 
 encounter the rebel force, he selected General Reynolds, his 
 bosom friend, and the man of all others in whom he reposed 
 the most implicit confidence, to lead the advance wing, com- 
 posed of three corps, the First, Third, and Eleventh. Morn- 
 ing and evening, frequently during the day, and in the still 
 hours of night, these two distinguished soldiers, Pennsylva- 
 nia's noblest contributions to the army, could be seen in 
 close consultation and earnest discussion. The commanding 
 general communicated fully all his plans and intended move- 
 ments to his companion, and heard with deep interest the 
 comments of the great soldier. Reynolds, in turn, with the 
 whole ardor of his noble nature, entered into the work 
 assigned him ; he led forth his troops, marching at the head 
 of the great army as a patriot going out to battle for the 
 honor of his country and the liberty of his race. 
 
 When, on the morning of the 1st of July, he rose to the 
 summit of the hills in front of Gettysburg, he saw at a glance, 
 
 years before the war, would pass and repass without exoliangiiig recog- 
 nitions, because of diversity of political sentiment. Relations, and even 
 members of the same family, quarreled over the question of the war. After 
 an election, the vulgar of the winning party were always loud in their 
 taunts and insults of their discomfited partisans. A member of the 
 defeated party, on a morning after the election, was sure to hear plenty 
 of such remarks as : " the copiserheads hang their heads this morning." 
 This condition of feeling continued during the whole war, and had the 
 mob in some oases been permitted to have taken their way, the houses 
 of citizens who did not favor the war would have been burned over their 
 heads. But there were always men of influence; in the war party who 
 prevented acts of this kind from being i^erpetrated. 
 
 They knew the obnoxious individuals, and felt convinced that their senti- 
 ments were as honest and equally patriotic as their own. They simply 
 differed as to the manner of settling the national difficulties. At a time 
 during the rebellion when a couple of regiments were encamped near 
 Lancaster, loud threats were made against ex-President Buchanan, and 
 had not a few leading citizens interposed, his residence might have fallen 
 a victim to the rage of a heated soldiery, and himself subjected to such 
 indignities as have disgraced the annals of history. This long period of 
 war was sufficient to unfold to an observer almost a complete philosophy of 
 democratic society. Before the breaking out of the war. Democratic 
 leaders hastily penned resolves for conventions, denouncing all coercion 
 of the Southern States. They stood upon the Kentucky and Virginia 
 resolutions, and no coercion should be sanctioned. But no sooner was 
 the call for soldiers issued, than these same leaders were mustering in 
 
488 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 as his practiced eye viewed the country around him, that 
 there, on the rocky hills, must be fought the great battle, 
 which was to decide whether the honor of the Northern peo- 
 ple should be preserved inviolate, or whether their cities, 
 and country, and villages should be sacked and destroyed 
 by the invading foe. 
 
 Arriving nearer the town, at eleven o'clock in the fore- 
 noon, he found General Buford's cavalry division already 
 skirmishing with the Confederate troops, who appeared two 
 miles to the westward. Eeynolds, with his accustomed 
 boldness to attack, did not hesitate as to his duty, or wait 
 for instructions ; he was an accomplished soldier, and know- 
 ing that it was Meade's determination to fight the enemy on 
 the first advantageous ground in his front, immediately ad- 
 vanced to the support of Buford's cavalry, and engaged the 
 enemy. The First corps pushed forward through the town 
 to occupy a hill on the west side, near Pennsylvania college, 
 where it encountered Heath's division of Hill's corps of Con- 
 
 meu for the conquest of the South. Unfortunate is that country that can 
 have uo better class of leaders. Again the oaths went up, loud and long, 
 upon the part of many of the mob, that they would not go to the war " to 
 fight for negroes." The next news, however, that came was, that these 
 same swaggering oathsmen were drilling and enlisted for the struggle. 
 All this is simply evidence of the value of the asseverations of that class 
 of people. Again, it was but a common occurrence to meet one high in 
 standing and authority denouncing the abolition crusade to his friends, 
 and the same day addressing a company of departing soldiers for the 
 war, and vxrging upon them to press forward in the holy work in which 
 they were engaged. S'ame should, as it ever does, consign the names of 
 all such, to the lowest depths of infamy, despite the miserable honor 
 that they may conceive attaches to their palty posts or official positions. 
 The stern vindicator of right implanted in the breasts of true humanity, 
 measures out deserved honor, regardless of the mob's lUsapprobation or 
 approval, and the tribute so awarded is genuine and enduring. 
 
 Time, however, moved onward, and the -n-ar closed. Instead of being 
 of three years' duration, it lasted over four years. Entire alienation 
 between individuals and friends continued up to that period and for 
 some time afterwards. But owing to the pressing business of society 
 (the war being no longer the engrossing subject of conversation, ) the 
 old remembrances gradually became eftaced, old friendships were re- 
 newed, and the hatred that had been felt by one towards the other, 
 vanished and passed away, it is hoped, forever. The war is now over 
 for some years, and all the hatreds engendered in the commotions, are 
 forgotten. May such a time never again ovei-take the American rejtublio. . 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 489 
 
 federate troops. The battle opened with artillery, in whiich 
 ' the enemy at first had the advantage. Eeynolds rode for- 
 ward to change the position of the batteries ; the rebel in- 
 fantry immediately advanced, pushing forward a heavy 
 skirmish line, and charged upon the guns, expecting to 
 capture them. General Eeynolds ordered up Wadsworth's 
 division to resist the charge, and rode at the head of 
 the column to direct and encourage the troops ; but his 
 gallantry made him a conspicuous mark for the deadly bul- 
 lets of rebel skirmishers, and he was shot through the neck, 
 and fell mortally Wounded, dying before he could be removed 
 from the field. The loss of their brave leader, personally 
 the most popular officer of his rank in the army, might well 
 have seriously affected the behavior of the men, but the 
 spirit with which his presence had inspired them did not 
 perish at his death ; his corps, led by the senior officer, Gen- 
 eral Doubleday, repulsed the enemy in a gallant charge', 
 while the fighting for a time became a hand-to-hand strug- 
 gle, during which the rebel General Archer and his whole 
 brigade were captured and sent to the rear. 
 
 General Eeynolds was charged by some military critics 
 with rashness in prematurely bringing on the battle of 
 Gettysburg; but it would, perhaps, be more jusjt to say, 
 that he had but little direct agency in bringing it on ; that 
 it was unavoidable; that it was forced upon us by the 
 rebels ; that if they had not been held in check that day, 
 they would have pressed on and obtained the impregnable 
 position which our troops were enabled to hold; and that, 
 most of all, the hand of Providence, who gave us at last a 
 signal victory, guided the arrangements of that memorable 
 day. 
 
 General Eeynolds was one of America's greatest soldiers ; 
 the men he commanded loved him dearly ; he shared with 
 them the hardships, toil, and danger of the camp, the march, 
 and the field ; devoted to his profession, he was guided by 
 those great principles which alone can prepare a soldier to 
 become the defender of the liberties of a free people. He 
 nobly laid down his life a sacrifice on his country's altar, at 
 the head of his brave corps, that victory might crown the 
 34 
 
490 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 efforts of those who followed him to fight the great battle 
 of the Nation. He fell, valiantly fighting for his country. 
 Still more, he died in the defence of the homes of his neigh- 
 bors and kinsmen. No treason-bleeding soil drank his blood, 
 but all of him that was mortal is buried in the bosom of his 
 own native State. His body was carried to Lancaster and 
 buried in the family enclosure in the Lancaster cemetery, 
 on the 4th of July, 1863. 
 
 Over his remains the family have erected a handsome and 
 substantial marble monument, commemorative of the patri- 
 otic services of the deceased. On the south side, surmounted 
 by the military emblem of the sword and belt, is the inscrip- 
 tion — " John Fulton Reynolds, Colonel of the Fifth Infantry 
 United States Army, and Major General of Volunteers. 
 Born September 21st, 1820. Killed at the Battle of Gettys- 
 burg, while commanding the Left Wing of the Army of the 
 Potomac, July 1st, 1863." On -raised panels immediately 
 below, are the words "Chancellorsville,"" Gettysburg." On 
 the north, under the national coat-of-arms, are the words 
 " Rogue River" and " Meohanicsville." On the west, the 
 American flags, crossed over "Gaines' Mills," "Second Bull 
 Run" and '' Fredericksburg." And on the east, the military 
 •emblem of the cannon, with the Mexican battle-fields on 
 which the deceased won promotion, " Fort Brown," Monte- 
 rey," and " Buena Yista." ' 
 
 REYNOLDS, Samuel H., was born at Brier creek, in 
 Columbia county. Pa., November 20th, 1831. In the spring 
 of 1832 his father, Thos. Reynolds, left his farm and removed 
 to Danville, to engage in the mercantile business with his older 
 sons. The subject of our notice being too young to enter the 
 store, was sent to school, and soon afterwards admitted to the 
 Danville academy. At the age of fourteen he entered the 
 Freshman class at Dickinson college, Carlisle, Pa., where he 
 graduated in 1850 with honor. In the fall of 1850 he went to 
 Bellefonte, and took up his residence with his brother, W. F. 
 ^Reynolds, a wealthy bachelor, to whose generosity and wise 
 counsel he owes much of his success in life. Here he began 
 the study of law under the instruction of Hon. James T. 
 Hale, and was admitted to the bar in 1853. In 1854 he 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 491 
 
 made a tour of inspection througli the "West, in order to 
 look oat a suitable location for the practice of his profession. 
 A short residence in St. Louis convinced him that his native 
 State afforded as fair an opportunity for a lawyer as the far- 
 famed El Dorado of the West, and he returned to Bellefonte 
 to decide upon some new departure. A friend suggested to 
 him that Lancaster city, although crowded with legal ability, 
 was a place where he might succeed. Accordingly, he pre- 
 pared himself with letters of introduction to leading men, 
 and set out for his new home. He reached Lancaster an 
 entire stranger, (he knew no one in the city or county,) and 
 reconnoitered the situation, and but for'the friendly advice 
 and sincere words of encouragement which he received from 
 the late Hon. Thaddeus Stevens and Col. Eeah Frazer, it is 
 doubtful if he would have remained. His choice, however, 
 was fixed; and accordingly, on the first of September, 1855, 
 on motion of Eeah Frazer, he was admitted to the bar at 
 Lancaster, and at once commenced the practice. During the 
 winter of 1855-56 he lost no time in making acquaintances 
 in the city and county. His sparkling oratorical powers, 
 together with his amiable manners, shrewd sagacity and 
 business tact, soon attracted clients around him, the numbers 
 of which have, year by year, rolled in upon him in an aug- 
 menting column. 
 
 In 1856 the great political battle between Buchanan and 
 Fremont was fought. Mr. Eeynolds being an enthusiastic 
 Democrat, rallied to his party standard, and being an elo- 
 quent speaker, was called upon to address meetings all over 
 Lancaster county, and also in other sections of the State. 
 The acquaintance thus made, and the brilliancy exhibited 
 by him in the campaign, proved of immense value to him in 
 his subsequent career. Although his party in the county 
 was in a vast minority, its members became strongly inter- 
 ested in his success, and ever afterwards remained ardently 
 attached to him. In 1857 he was elected city solicitor, a 
 position he held with credit to himself for several years. In 
 1858 he married a daughter of Wm. B. Fordney, esq., one 
 of the leading lawyers of Lancaster. In 1866 he was the 
 Democratic nominee for Congress from the Lancaster district. 
 
492 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 In May, 1872, he was nominated at Eeading by the Demo- 
 cratic State Convention as a delegate at large to the Consti- 
 tutional Convention. He has served some nine years as a . 
 member of the Lancaster school board. 
 
 So admirably has he succeeded in his professional career^ 
 that he now ranks amongst those who transact the largest 
 and heaviest legal business before the Lancaster bar, if, in- 
 deed, he be not the present crowning summit of success. 
 There are but few instances of such a rapid rise in the pro- 
 fession as is q^hibited in his career. As a lawyer engaged 
 in a trial, Mr. Eeynolds is quick, ready and strategical, and 
 brings a dexterity to bear upon the management of his cases 
 that often baffles his legal adversary. He has already grap- 
 pled with the ablest attornies of Pennsylvania. But it is in 
 his efforts before the jury where his abilities shine most 
 conspicuous. Here, it is useless to prevaricate, he caps the 
 climax. In his speeches he has command of language 
 elegant and ornate, his unstudied sentences often presenting 
 the roundness and beauty of the most finished composition. 
 As a political speaker, he towers high above any other man 
 in Lancaster county, and but few surpass him elsewhere. 
 With the people he is remarkably popular, and but for his 
 politics, his voice would be heard upon the floor of the 
 national Congress. 
 
 EICHARDS, Luther, was born December 17th, 1809, in 
 the borough of York, Pennsj'-lvania. He removed, when a 
 young man, to Lancaster, learned the printing business, and 
 in 1834, in partnership with Geo. W. Hamersly, began the 
 publication of the Examiner and Herald. This they pub- 
 lished up till 1839, when they sold the same to R. W. Mid- 
 dleton. In 1851 he was elected register of wills of Lan- 
 caster county. Much of his time since he has been deputy 
 register, which position he now fills. 
 
 EIGHTER, Washington, of Columbia, was born in 
 West Chester, December 9th, 1799. He was for about three 
 years a student of the West Chester Academy, the first 
 institution of the kind ever started in that borough. He 
 removed to Lancaster county in 1830. He had learned the 
 tanning business in West Chester, and afterwards entered 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 493 
 
 into partnership with his master for about four years. After 
 •coming to Columbia, he first started a currying shop, and 
 afterwards, in 1834, engaged in the lumber business, 
 which he has steadily pursued up to this time. He was 
 •elected clerk of the arphans' court of Lancaster county in 
 the fall of 1842, and held the same for three years. He was 
 never an aspiring politician, and the office he obtained was 
 tendered him without solicitation. In business, Mr. Eighter 
 has been quite successful. 
 
 EINGWALD FAMILY. Jacob Eingwald, the founder 
 of the family of this name in Pennsylvania, emigrated from 
 Wirtemberg, where the family is still numerous, shortly 
 before the year 1750. In an old family record, the origin 
 of the name is ascribed to the incident of a remote ancestor 
 being lost in a forest, from which he was rescued by persons 
 attracted by his stentorian shouts. He made the " woods 
 ring," and Eing-wald was applied to him as a cognomen. 
 Jacob. Eingwald, soon aftel* his arrival in this country, was 
 apprenticed to a blacksmith, at or near the present site of 
 Bareville, Lancaster county, about four miles west of the 
 town of New Holland, and in the immediate vicinity of the 
 first settlement made in Earl township, by Hans Graff. At 
 this period the district was already peopled by Mentzers, 
 Kinzers, Eolands, Dillers, Seegers, Luthers, Sprechers, 
 Weidlers and Bitzers families, which have since become 
 numerous. 
 
 After the completion of his apprenticeship, Jacob Eing- 
 wald established himself as a blacksmith, in the same 
 vicinity, and married Barbara Wagner, who, in the homely 
 .and industrious fashion of the time, assisted her husband in 
 laying 'the foundation of his future fortune, by working the 
 bellows while he fashioned the iron on the anvil. The sturdy 
 blacksmith soon became well known in the community, re- 
 oeiving due honor for the zealous industry and piety with 
 which he practiced to the very letter, the maxim often on 
 ills lips, the same couplet being a favorite saying among the 
 Italians, 
 
 Work as if you would live fore-ver. 
 Pray as if you would die to-morrow. 
 
494 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 By perseveraBce and prudence, Jacob Eingwald steadily- 
 increased in wealth, arnd in a few years surpassed his neigh- 
 bors, by becoming the purchaser of a farm near the eastern 
 end of New Holland, which is well known for its fertility, 
 and for a remarkably large and fine spring of water. He 
 subsequently purchased another near Churchtown, both 
 properties being selected with the wisdom of an accomplish- 
 ed judge of land, and with especial reference to their well- 
 watered meadows — this being a point of great importance 
 in the last century. Once during the Eevolutionary war, a 
 party of Virginia troops were encamped upon the New 
 Holland farm, where Jacob Eingwald continued to reside, 
 and it is remembered, as an evidence of their imperfect 
 equipment, that they were armed chiefly with spontoons, a 
 home-made weapon resembling the Scottish halberd. 
 
 Of three children born unto Jacob Eingwald and his wife 
 Barbara, the eldest. George, died in infancy ; the second, 
 Martin, born in 1763, lived to be the parent of eleven chil- 
 dren ; while the third, Jacob, born in 1765, was the father of 
 fourteen sons and four daughters, these two brothers being 
 the ancestors of the entire Eingwald family of Lancaster 
 county. Jacob Eingwald, the elder, the founder of the 
 family, died about the close of the last century, his wife 
 surviving him until the year 1805. 
 
 His eldest and surviving son, Martin, inherited and resided 
 upon the Churchtown farm, near Churchtown ; and the 
 youngest, Jacob, inherited the property at New Holland, 
 upon which he lived until 1825. At an early age he married 
 Catharine Diller, a member of the numerous family of that 
 name in Earl township. Living in an exclusively German 
 neighborhood, and connected closely with them by bonds of 
 blood and custom, Jacob Eingwald became imbued with the 
 American spirit of progress. He battled strongly with the 
 conservatism of his neighbors, and vigorously combated 
 the popular disposition to perpetuate the exclusive use of 
 the German language. A Lutheran church had been erected 
 in New Holland, at least as early as the year 1748. As was- 
 general with this denomination, a parish school was attached, 
 which was substantially free ; for while all parents who were 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 495 
 
 able to do so, paid for the tuition of their children, all were 
 entitled to entrance, and the deficiency in funds was supplied 
 by the congregation. For a long period the German lan- 
 guage was exclusively used in this school, but Jacob Eing- 
 wald was an active advocate of the introduction of the 
 English tongue, which innovation was accomplished in 1807. 
 Under the impulse of the same feeling which prompted him 
 to this action, he anglicized the family name to Eingwalt. 
 Conscious of the defects in his own early education, Jacob 
 Eingwalt turned his attention most intelligently and inde- 
 fatigably to supplying such deficiencies, and his children 
 still remember the habit of rising at a very early hour to 
 secure leisure and quiet for reading and study before com- 
 mencing the laborious avocations of the day. The Edin- 
 burg Encyclopedia, whose ponderous volumes were the grand 
 storehouse of the learning of that time, was oae of his favo- 
 rite books, and in the scarcity of literature, was a complete 
 library in itself. Many members of the Lutheran church at 
 this period, were bitterly opposed to the threatened intrusion 
 of the English tongue into the regular church services, and 
 Jacob Eingwalt's earnest efforts to secure the advantage of 
 English preaching once a month, excited such antagonism, 
 that he finally and in consequence relinquished his member- 
 ship in the LutheraR church and joined the Episcopalians. 
 The Eev. Joseph Clarkson, as minister of the Episcopalian 
 church, became a favorite friend and frequent guest at his 
 house, and after him Jacob Eingwalt named his eighth son; 
 Joseph Clarkson Eingwalt, who has been for many years a 
 resident of Cincinnati, Ohio ; a successful merchant and an 
 exemplary citizen. Interested in all public movements, 
 Jacob Eingwalt held the position of colonel of a regiment 
 of militia, this form of military training being formerly very 
 popular in Lancaster county. In 1811 he was elected to the 
 State legislature, but this public service was not congenial 
 to his Tastes, and after serving one term he again devoted 
 close attention to the varied avocations of agriculture for 
 which he had a strong inclination, and in which his energy 
 and intelligence won remarkable success. ISTothwithstanding 
 the burden of a family, eighteen of his children reaching 
 
496 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 maturity, he rapidly acquired wealth. His children were 
 sent to schools at Harrisburg and elsewhere, to acquire a 
 more general education than was possible at home, while 
 their father vigorously prosecuted an extensive business. 
 His well-tilled lands and handsome buildings grew into such 
 value, that he was offered fer them what was considered a 
 very large sum in those days ; but shortly after, he became 
 one of the sufferers in the disastrous monetary revulsion of 
 1817, and his property was sold under most unfavorable cir- 
 cumstances. He then rented a portion of the former estate 
 and continued to reside upon it for several years. Jacob 
 Uingwalt subsequently abandoned this farm in Lancaster 
 county, (which was then rented for a short time by his son 
 Samuel), and removed into Cumberland county. In this new 
 home, when about sixty years of age, he assumed the man- 
 agement of the immense estate of Judge Duncan, compris- 
 ing sixteen farms of several hundred acres each he himself 
 residing upon and reserving the product of the splendid 
 property known as the "Judge Watts farm," long famous 
 for having the largest barn in the United States. Jacob 
 Eingwalt continued in these successful agricultural employ- 
 ments until he was accidentally injured in the prosecution of 
 Ms labors ; his health subsequently failed, and he died De- 
 cember 24th, 1828, in the sixty-third year of his age. 
 
 Catharine Diller, his wife, survived him, dying in 1858, 
 and being the mother, grandmother and great-grandmother 
 of. one hundred and two descendants. His second, son Samuel, 
 already mentioned, was at one time deputy sheriff and 
 brigade inspector of Lancaster county, whence he removed 
 to Downingtown, Chester county, where he still resides, de- 
 voting his great energy to agriculture, which is, in that dis- 
 trict, in a very advanced condition. 
 
 The eldest surviving and youngest sons of Jacob Eing- 
 walt, viz : Samuel and Lewis Eingwalt, were both actively 
 €ngaged in the war of the rebellion, the former having 
 served as Gen. George G. Meade's brigade quartermaster, 
 and received the highest encomiums from the hero of Gettys- 
 burg for his gallantry and efficiency. Lewis Eingwalt being 
 a member of Sheridan's celebrated cavalry, having been in 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 497 
 
 forty-two skirmishes and engagements, was killed near 
 Wincliester, consistently ending a brilliant and courageous 
 ■career in bravely defending an ambulance of wounded men. 
 EOATH, Bml. Dyer, was born October Uh, 1820, in the 
 €ity of Lancaster. His father was a mechanic ; (" his great- 
 grandfather, Philip Brenner, was from Baden, and an early 
 settler, along Chicques creek, now in Bast Donegal township, 
 and owned a large tract of land.") At the age of four years 
 his father died ; his mother, after the death of his father, 
 moved with her family of four sons to the village of May- 
 town, East Donegal township. After having somewhat 
 qualified himself, he tau^-ht school from 1846 to 1854, was a 
 member of the first teachers' institute held in Lancaster, 
 January, 1853, and having settled in Marietta borough in 
 1857, he was nominated and elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature. In 1861, when the tocsin of war sounded throughout 
 the land, his military ardor rose, and applying to Governor 
 ■Curtin, he received orders to raise a company for service ; 
 succeeding in this, he named his company " Union Fenci- 
 bles," being composed of men from different counties, joined 
 the 107th regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers, Ool. Zeigler ; 
 he marched to the front with 98 men, always engaged in 
 active service with his regiment, and participated in the. 
 following battles, viz: Cedar Mountain, Eappahannock 
 Station, Thoroughfare Gap, second Bull Eun, Ghantilly, 
 (took command of regiment;) South Mountain,^ (second in 
 command ;) Antietam, (second in command,) slightly wound- 
 ed; Fredericksburg, (brigade charged rebels out of their 
 ■works;) below Fredericksburg, two days under fire ; Chan- 
 cellorsville. May 3d and 4th, 1863, (left in Wilderness on 
 skirmish line, with five companies surrounded with rebels, 
 
 'While scaling the mountain, General Duryea rode up and remarked, 
 ■■ ' Captain Roath, will you let those vagabonds enter your State, dese- 
 •crate your firesides, and enslave you?" The reply was, "No, never; 
 we would rather die freemen; three cheers for Pennsylvania, " which was 
 given with a will. The General then asked: "Will the colors of the 
 Keystone go to the top ?" Being answered in the affirmative, he jwo- 
 posed three cheers for the same, which made the mountain echo amidst 
 the discharge of musketry ; the Fifth Reserves, Col. Fisher, and others, 
 took up the cheering. The day ended with a glorious victory, and a 
 happy meeting on the mountain to^j. 
 
498 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 but eluded their grasp ;) Gettysburg, July 1st, 2d and 3d, 
 took part in first day's fight under the lamented Reynolds; 
 and in the famous charges on the left, second day (took 
 command,) and third day, in centre; Cemetery Hill, detailed 
 to support battery, (wounded first day;) the crossing at 
 Eappahannock, August 1st, 1863, commanded right wing; 
 Mine Run, commanded advance guard, &c., three days; 
 Spottsylvania Court House, North Anna, Bethsaida, "re- 
 inforced skirmish line on Richmond road, and took com- 
 mand, charged and retook a strong position of the enemy, 
 and compelled them to withdraw the battery that made such 
 terrible havoc by enfilading our lines'" Tolopatomy, Shady 
 Grove Church, "White Oak Swamp, had charge of the skir- 
 mish line, nine companies, repulsed the enemy on their ad- 
 vance without support, complimented from commanding 
 General; Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, June 17 and 18, 
 1864, took railroad and drove enemy into fort, afterwards 
 blown up; Weldon Road, August 18 and 19, 1864, on the 
 the 19th, after having sharp fighting on the advance, was 
 taken prisoner, and after remaining in the prison pens of 
 Richmond, Salisbury and Danville, over six months, was 
 exchanged and sent to Annapolis; honorably discharged by 
 the War Department, March 5, 1865 ; after expiration of ser- 
 vice, was breveted Major, Lieutenant-colonel and Colonel, 
 for meritorious service. Returning to his home in Marietta 
 borough, he was again elected a justice of the peace; in 
 1866, was again nominated and elected a member of the 
 Legislature. 
 
 ROBERTS, Anthony E., was born in Chester county. 
 Pa., October 29th, 1803. On his father's side he is of Welsh 
 descent, and on that of his mother, German. His early 
 opportunities for the acquisition of learning being, limited, 
 his attainments in this particular were confined to the com- 
 mon branches of an education, but such as he was enabled 
 to possess himself of, he has known admirably how to apply 
 to practical life. He began his career in life by becoming a 
 clerk in a store in. New Holland, which position he filled for 
 several years. In this situation he may be said to have laid 
 the foundation of his success, as therein he made the favorable; 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 499 
 
 acquaintance of a large number of the people of the county 
 of Lancaster, and his pleasant and engaging manners made 
 him hosts of friends of both parties. "While serving as clerk> 
 he was frequently the representative of his party in the 
 county conventions, and thus he came to form the acquaint- 
 ance of the leading men of his party, and, indeed, of the 
 whole county. 
 
 In 1839 he was nominated and elected high sheriff of 
 Lancaster county, it being his first effort for the position. 
 He discharged the duties of the ofSce with success, and by 
 his amiable manners still continued to add recruits to his 
 hosts of friends all over Lancaster county. He early became 
 one of the active Anti-Masons of the county ; and even when 
 the party was on the wane, his standing with its staunch 
 leaders was always excellent, as he was believed ever to 
 have been true to the principles of the organization. In 
 1843 he was, therefore, nominated by the Anti-Masons as 
 their candidate for Congress in opposition to Jeremiah Brown, 
 but his party being on the decline, he suffered a defeat. He 
 had entered into the mercantile business in New Holland, 
 in partnership with Elijah McLenegan, and this business he 
 still prosecuted by his subordinates when of&cial business re- 
 quired him to dwell in Lancaster. In 1849 he was appointed 
 by General Taylor marshal of the eastern district of Penn- 
 sylvania, which ofl&ce he filled up to the coming in of the 
 Pierce administration in 1853. It was during the time that 
 Mr. Eoberts was marshal, that the exciting trials occasioned 
 by the Christiana riot came off in Philadelphia, and upon 
 these occasions he showed himself an ef&cient of&cer in the 
 discharge of his duties. In 1854 Mr. Eoberts was nominated 
 by the American party as a candidate for Congress, and was 
 elected; and after serving two years was again elected for a- 
 second term. During his first congressional term, he served 
 as a member of the building committee. Mr. Eoberts has 
 been a member of the Lancaster school board, and has filled 
 many other honorable positions in the gift of the people. 
 
 The success of Mr. Eoberts in life, may be attributed to 
 his remarkably genial and friendly disposition, as few sur- 
 pass him in this particular. He is, besides, one of the most 
 
500 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 industrious, diligent, and energetic workers in any enter- 
 prise in which he may engage, that is to be found, perhaps, 
 in Pennsylvania. His handsome improvements in Prince, 
 street, near his residence, amongst which " Eoberts' Hall" 
 may be mentioned, will long perpetuate his name in Lancas- 
 ter city and county, and his public as well as private record 
 will, for years to come, be evidence of the manner in which 
 politeness with industry can, in free America, rear one from 
 indigence and obscurity, rank him amongst the fortunate 
 as regards possession, and enrol his name high upon the 
 temple of fame. 
 
 EOBEETS, JoHX, a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1801, 1802, 1803, 1804 and 1805. 
 
 EOBINSON, JoHif, elected State Senator in 1831. 
 
 EOGEES, MoLTON C, for many years a prominent 
 member of the Lancaster bar. He was a native of Delaware, 
 and son of Gov. Daniel Eogers, of the same State. He 
 graduated at Princeton College, New Jersey, and afterwards 
 studied law at Litchfield, Connecticut. He removed to Lan- 
 caster, and was admitted to the bar in the year 1811. He 
 soon took rank amongst the leading members of the pro- 
 fession, and that at a time when the bar was distinguished by 
 men of first class ability. He was married to a daughter of 
 Cyrus Jacobs, an iron-master of Lancaster county. In 1819 
 he was elected State Senator over Emanuel Eeigart, receiv- 
 ing 2094 votes to 2088 for his competitor. Upon the elec- 
 tion of J. Andrew Shultz, as Governor of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
 Eogers was selected as Secretary of the Commonwealth, 
 and on the 15th of April, 1826, he was commissioned by 
 the Governor one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of 
 Pennsylvania, a position he held up to 1851. Judge Eogers 
 possessed intellectual powers of a high order, and therewith 
 united great personal amiability as also general scientific 
 and literary culture. As a jurist he was fearless and incor- 
 ruptible, dignified in his demeanor, and his sense of right 
 was acute in the highest degree. He was ardently devoted 
 to the great principles of the Democratic party; but, upon 
 the breaking out of the rebellion, he lent the weight of his 
 influence in favor of the war for the restoration of the 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 501 
 
 Union. He died in Philadelphia, September 27, 1863, in the 
 78th year of his age. 
 
 ■ EOHUBR (JOHN'S) FAMILY. John Eohrer was born in 
 Alsace, Germany, (lately a part of France), in the year 1696. 
 When about the age of fourteen, the scourge of religious per- 
 secution drove his father and his family from his native land ; 
 and John being sent back to obtain and bring the family goods, 
 was captured and lost sight of his parents entirely. He 
 found his way to England, where he studied veterinary sur- 
 gery, and afterwards sailed for America and settled in Lan- 
 caster county. After some years residence in his new home, 
 and having acquired some real estate, he in 1732 married 
 Maria Souder. All this time he had lost sight of his 
 parents. Being in Philadelphia, and hearing of the landing 
 of a vessel he started for the landing, and one of the first of 
 the passengers whom he met, turned out to be his father. 
 John immediately recognized his parent, but the latter did 
 not know his son. His mother had died and his father was 
 married again, and had two or three sons by his second wife. 
 They were destitute of means and expected to be sold for 
 their passage money. He paid the demands, brought his 
 father and his family with him, and aided his half brothers to 
 property near Hagerstown, Maryland. John Eohrer had 
 four sons, viz: Martin, Daniel, John, and Christian; and 
 four daughters, viz : one married to a Houser, one to a 
 Smith, one to a Bachman, and another to Peter Miller. His 
 third son, John, was a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1818, 1819-20. 
 
 EOHEEE, Jacob, elected County Commissioner in 1815. 
 
 EOHEEE, John, elected Clerk of the Orphans' Court in 
 1839. 
 
 EOLAND, Henry, elected County Commissioner in 1821. 
 
 EOLAND, John H., elected a member of the Legislature 
 in 1856. 
 
 EOSS, Geo., Jr., son of George Eoss, sr., was a staunch 
 patriot in the Eevolution, and for sometime Yice President 
 of the Supreme Executive Council. In 1791 he was com- 
 missioned by the Governor, register of wills and recorder 
 
502 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 of deeds, which offices he held for eighteen years. He was 
 known amongst the citizens as "&?• [Vaisenvater.'''' 
 
 *ROSS, George, was born in New Castle, Delaware, in 
 the year 1830. His father, the Rev. George Ross, of the 
 Episcopal church, was a man of considerable ability and of 
 rare classical attainments, and early perceiving that his son 
 gave evidence of aptitude for study, he determined upon 
 furnishing him an education that would fit him for any posi- 
 tion in society. He was accordingly placed under instruc- 
 tors, and was not long in laying the foundation of a fine edu- 
 cation, especially in his acquisition of the languages, in which 
 he particularly excelled. By the age of eighteen he had 
 made such advance in learning, that he was deemed amply 
 qualified to enter upon the study of law, and he prosecuted 
 it under the intructions of his elder brother, John, a lawyer 
 of good standing in the city of Philadelphia ; and as soon as 
 he had finished the regular course of reading then prescribed 
 for students, he was admitted to the bar. Finding that the 
 ranks of the profession were at that time filled in the city of 
 Philadelphia, he determined to try his fortune in some inte- 
 rior portion of the country, and for that purpose chose Lan- 
 caster, at that time near the limits of civilization. He settled 
 in Lancaster about the year 1751. It was not long after his 
 becoming a citizen of this latter place, that he married Miss 
 Ann Lawlor, a lady of a most respectable family ; and de- 
 voting himself zealously to the pursuits of his profession, he 
 soon obtained a lucrative and increasing practice. Not long 
 after this settlement at Lancaster, he was made prosecutor 
 for the King, and discharged the duties of this office with 
 eminent success. 
 
 Actively engaged in the pursuits of his profession, he does 
 not seem for some time to have taken much part in political 
 affairs, and the first notice we find of him in this connection, 
 is his election as a representative to the assembly of Penn- 
 sylvania, in which he took his seat in the year 1768. Of 
 this body he continued to be reelected a member until the 
 year 1774. During all the time he remained a member of 
 
 *Sanderson's Biography of the 'Signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, pp. 533 and 528. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNJ'Y. 503 
 
 the assembly, he merited and obtained the utmost con- 
 fidence both of his colleagues and of his constituents. 
 Whilst a member of the assembly, Mr. Eoss seems to have 
 given particular attention to the condition of our intercourse 
 with the various Indian tribes settled within the State, or 
 wandering near its borders. But it was not long till Mr. 
 Hoss was destined to act as the organ of the assembly in 
 more important affairs than in quarrels about the mainte- 
 nance of a petty garrison, or the aggression of a few hostile 
 Indians. He had for a long time seen with that deep indig- 
 nation that arises in the breast of a freeman, the arbitrary 
 proceedings of the British government, and felt convinced 
 that a general cooperation among the several provinces was 
 necessary to secure their liberty. The resolutions of Yir- 
 ginia and of the other States, proposing the convention of a 
 general congress of all the American colonies, was music to 
 his ears. They were not, however, received in the assem- 
 bly of Pennsylvania until it was on the eve of dissolution, as 
 it was the opinion of the majority that whatever measures 
 might be adopted, should proceed from a future assembly 
 who would meet fresh from their constituents and represent- 
 ing their sentiments. Mr. Eoss, nevertheless, was appointed 
 on a committee to draft a reply to the speaker of the 
 house of delegates of Virginia, and in so doing took occa- 
 sion to express the cordial feelings he entertained. " The 
 assembly of Pennsylvania," he says, " assure your honora- 
 ble House that they esteem it a matter of the greatest im- 
 portance to cooperate with the representatives of the other 
 colonies in every wise and prudent measure which may be 
 proposed for the preservation and security of their general 
 rights and liberties ; and it is highly expedient and neces- 
 sary that a correspondence should be maintained between the 
 assemblies of the several colonies. But as the present assem- 
 bly must in a few days be dissolved by virtue of the charter 
 of the province, and any measures they might adopt at this 
 time rendered by the dissolution ineffectual, they have earn- 
 estly recommended the subject matter of the letter and re- 
 solves of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, to the consid- 
 eration of the succeeding assembly." 
 
604 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 In the month of July following, it was unanimously 
 resolved to appoint a committee of seven members, on the 
 part of the province, to meet the delegates of the other 
 colonies at such time and place as might be generally agreed 
 upon ; and Mr. Ross was elected one of the members of this 
 committee. He was also, by a singular coincidence, at the 
 sarhe time appointed to draw up the instructions under which 
 they and himself, as one of them, were to act ; these, how- 
 ever, are very properly simple and general in their terms, leav- 
 ing them in a very great degree to be adopted, such as future 
 circumstances might require. Under these instructions Mr. 
 Eoss took his seat in Congress on the 5th of September, 
 1774, and remained a member of that body until January,. 
 1777, when he obtained leave of absence on account of indis- 
 position and retired. His conduct met with the warm thanks 
 and approbation of his constituents, and of this honorable 
 evidence has been preserved in a resolution passed by a? 
 public meeting, held in the borough of Lancaster, which is 
 as follows : 
 
 Resolved, That the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds, out of the 
 county stock, be forthwith transmitted to George Ross, one of the 
 members of assembly for this county, and one of the delegates for this 
 colony in the Continental Congress, and that he be requested to accept 
 the same as a testimony from this county of their sense of his attend- 
 ance on the public business, to his great private loss and of their appro- 
 bation of his conduct. 
 
 Resolved, If it be more agreeable, Mr. Ross purchase with part of the 
 said money, a genteel piece of plate, ornamented as he thinks proper, 
 to remain with him as a testimony of the esteem this county has for 
 him, by reason of his patriotic conduct in the great struggle for Ameri- 
 can liberty. 
 
 Mr. Eoss, however, declined accepting this liberal and 
 honorable present, stating to the committee in so doing that 
 his services were overrated by his fellow- citizens ; that in 
 bestowing them he had been impelled solely by his sense of 
 duty, and that every man should contribute all his energy 
 to promote at such a period the public welfare without 
 expecting pecuniary reward. The occupations of Congress 
 did not, however, prevent Mr. Eoss from continuing his 
 duties as a member of the Provincial Legislature, where we 
 find his name recorded among the zealous political leaders 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 505 
 
 of the time. Early in the year 1775 Mr. Penn, the gover- 
 nor and proprietary of the province, sent a message to the 
 assembly, referring to the peculiar situation of the colony, 
 and though couched in mild and conciliatory language, evi- 
 dently meant to repress, if possible, the mode of proceed- 
 ing which had been pursued by the union and cooperation: 
 of all the colonies. It was the universal custom at this 
 period, for the assembly to reply at once to the messages of 
 the governor, and on the present occasion it, of course, 
 obliged the inembers of the House to express their opinions,, 
 and to decide at once whether the plan hitherto pursued 
 should be retracted, or whether they should firmly stand by 
 Congress and support its measures. The talents of th& 
 political leaders of the day were called out, and they exerted! 
 themselves in several long debates in favor of their several 
 opinions. Mr. Eoss was an able speaker, and he urged the 
 cpntihuance of decisive measures, with all the weight of his 
 talents, character and influence ; and he and his friends so 
 far succeeded as to obtain the appointment of a committee 
 coinciding in their views, and of which he was a member. 
 This committee presented as their report an answer to the 
 governor's address, in the following terms : " We are sin- 
 cerely obliged to your honor for your attention to the true 
 interests of the people over whom you preside, at a time 
 when the disputes between Great Britain and the American 
 colonies are drawing towards an alarming crisis; and we 
 agree with you that in all cases wisdom dictates the use of 
 such means as are most likely to obtain the end proposed. 
 We have with deep concern beheld the system of colony 
 administration, pursued since the year 1763, destructive to 
 the rights and liberties of his Majesty's most faithful sub- 
 jects in America, and have heretofore adopted such measures 
 as we thought were most likely to restore the affection and 
 harmony between the parent State and the colonies, which it 
 is the true interest of both countries to cultivate and main- 
 tain, and which we most sincerely wish to see restored. We 
 must inform your honor, that a most humble, dutiful and 
 affectionate petition from the delegates of all the colonies, 
 from Nova Scotia to Georgia, is now at the foot of the 
 . 35 
 
506 BIOGKAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 throne, and we trust in the paternal affection and justice of 
 our most gracious sovereign, that he will interpose for the 
 relief of his greatly distressed and ever faithful subjects in 
 America. We assure your honor, that the House will always 
 pursue such measures as shall appear to them necessary for 
 securing the liberties of America, and establishing peace, 
 confidence and harmony between Great Britain and her 
 colonies." On the presentation of the report another violent 
 debate arose, which lasted for ten days, when it was carried 
 by a majority of twenty-two to fifteen voices. 
 
 In the summer of 1775 the Legislature found that mea- 
 sures more vigorous than resolutions were necessary, and 
 they determined at any rate to make preparation to meet 
 the consequences of their previous measures, whatever they 
 might be. To this end they appointed Mr. Eoss and several 
 of the leading members of the Assembly, a committee to con- 
 sider of and report such measures as might be expedient Xo 
 put the city and province in a state of defense. This com- 
 mittee after deliberating a few days, brought in a series of 
 resolutions approving of the association of the people for the 
 ^defense of their lives, liberty and property, providing for the 
 •pay of such of them as should be engaged in repelling any 
 iaostile invasion of the British troops, and recommending the 
 several counties of the province to collect stores of ammu- 
 nition and arms. To carry their plans better into effect, 
 they appointed a general committee of public safety for 
 calling forth such of the associators into actual service when 
 necessity requires, as the said committee shall judge proper 
 for paying and supplying them with necessaries while in 
 actual service, for providing for the defense of the province 
 against invasion and insurrection, and for encouraging and 
 promoting the manufacture of saltpetre, which said com- 
 mittee were authorized and empowered to draw orders on 
 the treasurer thereinafter appointed for the several purposes 
 above-mentioned. Of this committee, which became for some 
 time, as it were, the executive organ of the government, 
 Mr. Eoss was a leading member, as he was also of another 
 important committee, that of grievances. Besides these 
 duties relative to the war, he was appointed with two other 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 507 
 
 gentlemen, to prepare rules and regulations for tlie govern- 
 ment of the forces of the province which might be raised. 
 When the proprietary government was dissolved and the 
 general convention substituted for the previous Legislature, 
 Mr. Boss took his seat in it also as a representative for Lan- 
 caster county. He was, within a few days after its organiza- 
 tion, appointed on a committee to prepare a declaration of 
 rights on behalf of the State, and chairman of two others of 
 much importance — that of forming regulations for the gov- 
 ernment of the convention, and that for preparing an ordi- 
 nance declaratory of what should be high treason and mis- 
 prision of treason against the State, and what punishment 
 should be inflicted for these offences. Indeed, in all legal 
 matters, Mr. Eoss at this period stood deservedly high. 
 Before the Eevolution he was among the first of his profes- 
 sion ; and in the change which that event had produced in 
 its component parties, as well as its forensic character, he 
 still maintained the same rank. These changes were, indeed, 
 very considerable ; subjects of higher importance than those 
 which commonly fall to the lot of provincial judicatures were 
 brought forward ; motives sufficient to rouse all the latent 
 energies of the mind were constantly presenting themselves. 
 The bar was chiefly composed of gentlemen of aspiring 
 minds and industrious habits ; and Mr. Eoss found himself 
 engaged among men with whom it was honorable to contend 
 and pleasant to associate. Mr. Wilson, who had practiced 
 with great reputation at Carlisle ;■ Mr. Biddle, from Eeading; 
 Governor Morris, occasionally and sometimes; Mr. Eeed, 
 till he was chosen a member of the Chief Executive Council ; 
 and Mr. Lewis, of Philadelphia, in conjunction with Mr. Eoss, 
 formed an assemblage of powerful and splendid talents which 
 might have coped with an equal number of any forum in 
 America. The whole faculties of this bar were soon put in 
 requisition for the prosecutions which were commenced 
 against some of those accused of being adherents of the 
 British cause. The popular excitement against them was 
 high, and their defence appeared to many a service of dan- 
 ger ; but the intrepidity of the bar did not allow them to 
 shrink from the conflict, and Mr. Eoss, and Mr. Wilson, 
 
508 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 especially, embarked all their talents, zeal, and professional 
 reputation in the cause of those who were thus accused. 
 
 The last public employment in which Mr. Eoss was en- 
 gaged, was that of a judge of the court of admiralty for the 
 State of Pennsylvania, to which he was appointed on the 
 14th of April, 1779 ; and while on the bench he was esteemed 
 a learned and impartial judge, displaying sound legal know- 
 ledge and abilities, and great promptness in his decisions. He 
 did not, however, long occupy the station he was so well 
 calculated to fill, as he died suddenly in the month of July 
 following, from a violent attack of the gout. Of his charac- 
 ter little remains to be said beyond what has been already 
 detailed. In his domestic habits he was kind, generous, and 
 much beloved ; in his professional career, zealous and honor- 
 able ; as a practitioner, always active and patriotic ; and he 
 seems to have earned' the praise bestowed upon him by one 
 who knew him, as "an honest man and upright judge." 
 
 EOSS, James, son of George Eoss, sr., raised in 1755 the 
 first company in Lancaster, in Col. Thompson's regiment, of 
 which he was made captain, and marched to Cambridge for 
 the defence of the liberties of his country. He rose to the 
 rank of lieutenant-colonel of the eighth Pennsylvania regi- 
 ment, with which he fought in the memorable battle of the 
 Brandywine. In the battles of Long Island, Trenton and 
 Germantown, he bore a conspicuous part: He was appointed 
 judge in the territory of Louisiana. He died August 24th, 
 1808, in the 55th year of his age. 
 
 EOSS, William Bird, was elected County Commissioner 
 in the year 1817, and in 1821 was appointed Clerk of the 
 Quarter Sessions. 
 
 EOWE, Benjamix F., was elected Sheriff of Lancaster 
 county in the year 1857. 
 
 EOYEE FAMILY. Sebastian Eoyer emigrated from 
 the Palatinate to America about the year 1720, bringing 
 with him four sons. Two of his sons being young men 
 grown, decided to settle in Montgomery county, from whom 
 the families of this name in Montgomery and Chester coun- 
 ties are descended. Sebastian Eoyer and his two younger 
 sons settled in Elizabeth township, Lancaster county. He 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. ' 509 
 
 was a Lutheran by persuasion, and being a widower, married 
 again. His wife was a member of the German Eeformed 
 church, and he donated a couple of tracts of ground, one 
 for the erection of a German Eeformed church and the other 
 for a Lutheran church. The churches erected upon these 
 tracts (the Briokeryille churches), stand to this day. His 
 son John inherited the old homestead property, sold it and 
 crossed the Susquehanna river, where his descendants are 
 numerous in Cumberland, Franklin, Huntingdon and adjoin- 
 ing counties, and also in the State of Maryland. Samuel 
 Eoyer, a member of the reform convention in 1838, and 
 John Eoyer, a member of the Legislature from Cambria 
 and Somerset counties, in 1842, belonged to this family. 
 
 Amos Eoyer, the youngest son of Sebastian, settled in 
 Ephrata township, and was the founder of the Eoyers of Lan- 
 caster and Lebanon counties. He had four sous, viz : Daniel, 
 Philip, John, and Christopher. Daniel had four sons, viz : 
 John, Jacob, Joseph and David. John and Jacob settled in 
 Lebanon counties, and left sons; Joseph emigrated to the 
 State of Ohio ; David remained in Lancaster county on a 
 part of the old homestead, still possessed by his only heir, 
 Samuel, now an old man. John, son of Amos Eoyer, re- 
 mained on part of the old home property (on which is built 
 the Eoyer meeting-house), and left numerous descendants in 
 the-county. Christopher, his brother, settled in West Earl, 
 on the farm of Christian Eupp, and leaves numerous de- 
 scendants in Lebanon county and elsewhere. His brother, 
 Philip, settled in Manheim township, and had five sons, viz : 
 Joseph, Benjamin, Jonathan, Abraham and Philip. Joseph 
 remained on the old homestead, and had three sons, viz : 
 John, Joseph, and Daniel. John had five sons, viz : Jonas, 
 Cyrus, Daniel, John and Henry. Jonas lives in Lebanon 
 county ; Cyrus, in Providence township ; Daniel, near Na- 
 pierville, Illinois ; John, in West Earl ; and Henry on the 
 •old home farm. Joseph, one of the three sons of Joseph, has 
 three sons, viz : Israel, Tobias, Joseph E., and lives in Lan- 
 caster city. Daniel, his brother, has three sons, viz,: Eeu- 
 ben, Martin, and Jonathan, in Warwick township. Benja- 
 min, son of Philip, had two sons, viz : Daniel, and Benjamin. 
 
510 BIO&BAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 Daniel had one son, Samuel, living in Bphrata township, and 
 who has four sons, viz: Phares, Isaac, Abraham and Mil- 
 ton ; and Benjamin has a son in Bphrata township. Jona- 
 than, son of Philip, settled in Leacock township, near Inter- 
 course, leaving a son, John, whose family survives him. 
 Abraham, son of Philip, settled on Mill creek, and leaves- 
 descendants. Philip settled in Cocalico township, and left 
 sons, whose descendants live near Reamstown. Isaac Royer, 
 of Ephrata township, and his brother Reuben, are grandsons 
 of John Royer, of Mill creek, Lebanon county. 
 
 EUTTBR, Nathaniel, a member of the Legislature in 
 1818 and 1819. 
 
 S. 
 
 SAMPLE, Dr. Nathaniel W., oldest son of the Rev, 
 Nathaniel W. Sample, was born at Strasburg, Lancas- 
 ter county. Pa. He was instructed by his father in the 
 classics, as he for many years had been in the habit of in- 
 structing a few young gentlemen as students in his house. 
 He studied medicine with Dr. Duffield, of Strasburg, and 
 began the practice of the profession in his native town.- 
 After practicing the profession for a few years in Strasburg, 
 he removed to Paradise, and bought the farm on which he 
 lived for a long time. Here he lived and practiced his pfo- 
 fession for many years. He held a high rank as a member 
 of the Free Masonic fraternity. He died at Gordonville, 
 aged 80 years. 
 
 SAMPLE, Rev. Nathaniel W., was a native of York 
 county, Pa., and a graduate of Princeton college, New Jersey. 
 He graduated during the Revolution, and studied theology 
 at Princeton. He first located as a clergyman at Strasburg, 
 and preached for the Presbyterian congregation of Stras- 
 burg, Leacock and Octoraro. He married a lady of Chester 
 county, named Elizabeth Cowan. He was an excellent 
 classical scholar. He left five sons and three daughters. 
 He died at the advanced age of between 83 and 84 years,, 
 and lies buried at Leacock. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 511 
 
 SANDEESON, Geoege, is a native of Cumberland 
 county, Pennsylvania. In 1836 he became editor and pro- 
 prietor of the American Volunteer, the old Democratic organ 
 published at Carlisle. He continued to publish the paper 
 until 1845, when he relinquished it to take charge of the 
 post-office in that borough, tendered to him by President 
 Polk. In the meantime he held the office of prothonotary 
 of Cumberland county for three years and nine months, 
 from 1839 to 1842 — first by appointment, under Governor 
 Porter, and subsequently elected by the people. In 1849, 
 upon relinquishing .the post-office at Carlisle, he-removed to 
 Lancaster and became proprietor and editor of the Lancaster 
 Intelligencer, the old Democratic organ of Lancaster county. 
 He continued his connection with this paper until 1864, a 
 period of fifteen years. In 1859 he was elected Mayor of 
 the city of Lancaster, and continued to hold the office for ten 
 years and nine months, having been elected for nine consecu- 
 tive terms. In October, 1869, he retired to private life. 
 Always devoted to the principles of the Democratic party, 
 and adhering to its organization in prosperity and adversity, 
 he nevertheless secured not only the confidence of his own 
 political friends, but to a large extent the good will and 
 respect of his political opponents. 
 
 SAUNDBES, Isaac, was a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 1757, 1758, 1759, 1760, 1763 and 1764. 
 
 SCHAEFFBE, Emanuel, was born February 27th, 1798. 
 Having lost his father when young, his mother and her chil- 
 dren became a part of the household of his maternal grand- 
 father, John Miller, an eminent citizen of Lancaster, once 
 high sheriff of the county, and also a member of the State 
 Senate. At the age of fifteen the subject of this notice was 
 apprenticed by his grandfather to learn the saddling and 
 harness-making business. After the expiration of his ap- 
 prenticeship, he worked at his trade in the capacity of a jour- 
 neyman, and having saved from his earnings about one 
 hundred dollars, he began business upon his own account in 
 Lancaster. When about twenty-five years of age he mar- 
 ried, and his wife dying seven years afterwards, he entered 
 into marital relations the second time. In 1841 Mr. Schaef- 
 
512 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 fer was appointed by Governor Porter one of the associate 
 judges of the courts of Lancaster county, which of&ce he 
 held for five years, when he was reappointed by Grovernor 
 Shunk, and discharged his duties with great fidelity for four 
 years more, making his aggregate term of service as associ- 
 ate judge, nine years. In 1841 he wa^ elected president of 
 the Lancaster Savings Institution, a position he held for 
 some years. He served as president of city councils for 
 thirteen years. Besides these positions, Mr. Schaeffer was 
 frequently chosen to fill various offices of trust and respon- 
 sibility, all of which he discharged in such a manner as to 
 reflect much credit upon himself and render entire satisfac- 
 tion to the public. Mr. Schaeffer was ecu active supporter 
 of the temperance cause, and during the whole of his life 
 adhered strictly to the principles of sobriety, honesty, and 
 the proper observance of religious duties, which resulted in 
 that success and prosperity which he enjoyed. From the 
 organization of the Ohu.rch of God, in the city of Lancaster, 
 he was an elder and annually reelected. He was the super- 
 intendent of the Sabbath school belonging to that church 
 for many years, and also a delegate to the east Pennsylva- 
 nia and general elderships for a number of years. He died 
 November 13th, 1864, aged 71 years, 8 months, and 16 days. 
 
 SCHAUM, Benjamin, elected Commissioner of Lancaster 
 county in 1808. 
 
 SCHWAETZ, Conrad, elected County Commissioner in 
 1805. 
 
 SCOTT, Abraham, a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1781, 1782 and 1783. 
 
 SCOTT, Alexander, was a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 1797, 1798, 1799 and 1800. He was also elected 
 to the State Senate in 1792. 
 
 * SCOTT, Major John, son of Samuel Scott, was born 
 at "Scott's Manor," 1 in the year 1749-50. At the time of 
 
 'Scott's Manor was a name given to a large tract of land taken up 
 and patented probably as early as 1740, by Samuel Scott, an original 
 settler in Little Britain, and the father of John Scott. The mansion 
 
 * Contributed by Charles H. Stubbs, M. D. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 513 
 
 the breaking out of the Eevolutionary struggle with the 
 mother country he was a young man, and it appears that he 
 did not enter the service in the first years of the war. The 
 contest for freedom becoming protracted, and for a time the 
 final success of the Americans under Washington doubtful, 
 John Scott, like many other patriots of that time, resolved 
 to leave his rural pursuits and join the army. At the age 
 of twenty-seven he recruited a company of militia, composed 
 chiefly of his neighbors — the yeomen of Little Britain — and 
 marched it to Lancaster. He was elected captain, and his 
 company entered as part of the second battalion of. Lancaster 
 couHty militia, formed in the year 1777. 
 
 James Watson was elected Colonel of this battalion ; James 
 Porter, Lieutenant-colonel, and Dorrington Wilson, Major. 
 It consisted of eight companies, numbering, rank and file 
 eight hundred and five men. John Scott commanded the 
 first company, and consequently acted as senior captain. 
 This battalion was ordered to the front immediately after 
 its formation, and took part in the principal battles fought 
 in the Middle States. Captain Scott remained in the service 
 during the war, was present and took part in the battles of 
 Brandy wine, Germantown, and several engagements near 
 New York and on Long Island. For bravery he was pro- 
 moted to the rank of Major. After the close of the war he 
 was honorably discharged, and returned to the Manor, which 
 he inherited upon the decease of his father. Here he spent 
 the remaining years of his life in superintending and im- 
 proving his estate. He died at an early age, on the 1st of 
 February, 1796, in his 47th year. His remains were interred 
 in the southeast corner of the graveyard attached to Little 
 Britain Presbyterian church. Over the grave his son and 
 daughter have erected a handsome marble obelisk, seven 
 feet in height, resting on a broad, flat, limestone base. On 
 the west side is the following epitaph: "Major John Scott, 
 an ofiicer under Washington during the Kevolutionary war, 
 who distinguished himself at the battles of Long Island, 
 
 liouse erected by him, stood near the site of tlie jjreseut residence of 
 Samuel Scott, a great-grandson of the settler. The farms of N. Davis 
 Scott, Samuel Scott, and several of the Wrights, of Little Britain, were 
 originally parts of this manor. , 
 
514 ■ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 White Plains, Brandywine, Germantown, &c. Died Febru- 
 ary 1, 1796, aged 47 years." On the east side: "Erected 
 by "William and Eleanor Graham Scott, October 17, 1845, in 
 memory of their departed friends." 
 
 SELDOMEIDGE, John, elected Prothonotary of Lan- 
 caster county in 1863. 
 
 *SEYBBET, Eev. John. In many respects the subject of 
 this memoir was a very remarkable man. As regards firm- 
 ness of will and rigid self-denial he probably stands unrivaled. 
 Indefatigable activity, faithfal, disinterested and self-sacrific- 
 ing devotion for the dissemination of what he regarded as 
 the truth, were peculiarly marked features of his character. 
 Unlettered and untaught as regards the technical rules of 
 science, his natural good sense and discriminating judgment 
 supplied in his career the want of early advantages, and 
 rendered him one of the ablest theologians of his time and 
 country. His father was a native of Germany, and came to 
 America during the Eevolution, with the British army, then 
 a youth of but fifteen years of age. At the close of the 
 war he chose to remain in this country, and for this offence 
 was imprisoned in Lancaster in default of one hundred dol- 
 lars commutation money. A man by the name of Shaffner, 
 commiserating the condition of young Seybert, paid for 
 him the hundred dollars, on condition that he should serve 
 three years in his employ as a tailor. After the termination 
 of this period of service, he married a young woman named 
 Susana Kreutzer, whose father when crossing the ocean to- 
 America, had found a watery grave amidst the deep waves 
 of the Atlantic. By industry and economy Henry Seybert, 
 the father of the subject of this sketch, acquired some 
 property, and died in March, 1806, leaving a farm and some 
 considerable amount of money. 
 
 John Seybert, the subject of our notice, was born near 
 Manheim, Lancaster county. Pa., July 7th, 1791. He was 
 the oldest of four children, all of whom were sons. "When 
 he was about thirteen years of age his parents became the 
 subjects of religious conviction, and his mother being a 
 woman of very tender sensibilities, was the first to yield to 
 *Contributed by Jolin B. Good, esq. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. " 515 
 
 her feelings, but it was not long till the father also followed, 
 and from this time their house became the principal resort 
 of the Ministers of the Albright Society, now more generally 
 known as Evangelical Methodists. It was under the influ- 
 ences that thus surrounded him that young Seybert first felt 
 the workings of God's spirit in his heart, but at this time, 
 however, no permanent impression seems to have been made, 
 for as he himself says : " His love of levity and vanity was 
 still too strong." Indeed, at this time, it is said that his 
 pareflts. regarded him as the most perverse of all their chil- 
 dren ; his strong will and firm independence seeming in their 
 eyes wickedness of the deepest dye. At the age of ten years 
 he began going to school, and continued liis attendance 
 during the winter months of every year, until he acquired a 
 fair knowledge of both English and German. His father 
 also sent him to a Lutheran clergyman as a catechumen, 
 with the design of having him confirmed as a member of 
 that church. He says that at this time he and the other 
 catechumens were very wicked sinners, who were guilty of 
 all manner of sins and wickedness. For some reason or 
 other he was never confirmed as a member of the Lutheran 
 church. He may, perhaps, have regarded himself as too 
 vile a sinner, for he believed that the bad company in the 
 school and among the catechumens, made him still worse 
 than he otherwise should have been. He was now thirteen 
 years of age, and was passionately fond of the fascinations of 
 sin, which he says he committed with the greatest zest. 
 
 At the age of fourteen, when his parents had already 
 changed their religious views, he frequently felt the influence 
 of the Spirit striving with him, but he always deferred his 
 conversion, still thinking that there was yet plenty of time, 
 and thus no permanent effects towards a regeneration were 
 produced. During all this time good and evil seem to have 
 waged a terrible conflict in his soul. When under religious 
 influence he felt penitent, but evil with him still held the 
 upper hand; and when amongst his youthful companions, 
 he would, against better knowledge, commit sins for which 
 conscience afterwards had to suffer many pangs of anguish 
 and regret. His father having died in 1806, his mother be- 
 
516 BibGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 came a follower of the celebrated George Rapp, left her 
 children and lived in Eapp's colony, called " New Harmony," 
 near Pittsburg, Pa., leaving her family to take care of them- 
 selves as best they could. His mother used every persuasion 
 to induce her sons to follow her into her new relationship, 
 but John, the oldest of them, manifested at this time, though 
 but sixteen years of age, such independence of will as is 
 rarely found to be possessed by one of his age. Though he 
 never could be induced to follow her, but frequently visited 
 her, and whilst she lived tendered her every mark of filial 
 affection. In 1810, when he was nineteen years old, he was 
 brought under ^conviction, through a sermon of Rev. Mr. 
 Betz, and after a protracted struggle committed himself to 
 God. He became a member of the Evangelical Association 
 (German Methodists), in which he was soon selected as a 
 class leader and public exhorter. One of his classes was in 
 Manheim, and the other in Mount Joy, Lancaster county. 
 Pa. In 1819 he entered the ministry as a local preacher, 
 and the year following set out as an itinerant. 
 
 His literary and scientific attainments at this time were of 
 the most limited character. He had little other attainment, 
 save being able to read and write in the most plain and humble 
 manrier. But he was in possession of an indomitable will, 
 and his untiring energy and never flagging industry, together 
 with his clear thoughts and common sense, soon compen- 
 sated for lack of education. He rapidly improved as a pulpit 
 declaimer, and it was not long till friends and enemies be- 
 came convinced that John Seybert was by no means a man 
 of ordinary ability. He was, nevertheless, the subject ofl 
 I many privations, and of the most bitter persecution, and that ' 
 ! on the part of those from whom better things should have , 
 been expected. To us it seems almost incredible that a 
 man whose energies are enlisted in behalf of the welfare ot 
 his fellow- men, should meet with so much opposition, and 
 often, indeed, with brutal treatment. Among bis bitter per- 
 secutors were some who stood high in the church, but whose 
 vile treatment of him were no doubt in a great measure 
 influenced by envy at his rising reputation. John Seybert 
 was always scrupulously plain and simple in his dress. He 
 
OF LANCASTER CO0NTY. 517 
 
 never -wore boots, but always brogans. In his diary he 
 mentions, that at one time he was traveling in a heavy con- 
 tinuous rain, which drenched him thoroughly ; his brogans 
 were filled with water, and yet he adds, " such things did not 
 discourage me." On account of the faithful discharge of his 
 duties as a minister, his advancement in the church wag 
 rapid. In June, 1822, he was elected deacon, and in the 
 same month, three years later, was made a presiding elder. 
 He always kept a diary, in which he noted down a full sy- 
 nopsis of his labors as an itinerant preacher, as well as his 
 experiences of inner life, his hopes and his fears, his joys and 
 his sorrows. In the earlier years of his ministry he was 
 much troubled as to his being divinely called to preach the 
 Gospel of Christ. Whenever his brethren in the ministry 
 conferred a new mark of confidence upon him, or promoted 
 him to some new position in the church, he invariably in 
 his diary expresses great distrust and difiidence ; but gener- 
 ally consoles himself "with .the reflection, that it was not his 
 own, but the judgment of the brethren that prompted the 
 step, and that consequently he was not personally responsi- 
 ble, as it was done without his request or solicitation. 
 
 There is in the earlier part of the minutes of his diary, a 
 feature that forcibly strikes the attention of the reader. He 
 hardly pays any attention to the political divisions of the 
 country, such as townships or counties ; he simply mentions 
 the name of the families whose hospitality he enjoyed, and 
 little more than this is noted by him. The geographical 
 localities he passes over in silence. He speaks of rivers, 
 mountains, and valleys, as these were objects that plainly 
 presented themselves to his vision ; but of the imaginary 
 lines that .divided townships and counties, he gives little or 
 no mention. They, perhaps, did not occur to his mind. But 
 this is not the only instance that this really great man appears 
 simple as a child. All his energies were directed to one 
 point, and that was the glory of his Divine Master ; all else 
 was, in his opinion, folly and vanity, and hence worthy of but 
 little attention. 
 
 He was elected bishop at the seventh session of the gen- 
 eral conference of the Evangelical Association held at Mill- 
 
518 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 heim, in Centre county, Pennsylvania, commencing Maroli 
 25th, 1839. There were at this time only eighty traveling 
 preachers connected with the church, of whom thirty were 
 present as delegates to the conference. His election to the 
 hishoprick took place on the second day of the session, at 
 about five o'clock in- the evening, and he was the unanimous 
 choice of all the clergymen in attendance at the conference. 
 It is noteworthy the great simplicity that characterized the 
 clergymen of that early day, and the economical habits that 
 they practiced ; and conspicuous amongst the early pioneers, 
 Bishop Seybert deserves special mention. His habits were 
 so simple, and his wants so few, that he required little else 
 to supply his wants, save the merest necessities of life. As 
 an example of his economical method of traveling, the fol- 
 lowing instance may suffice : He traveled from eastern Penn- 
 sylvania into the interior of the State of New York, a dis- 
 tance of three hundred miles, at an expense of $2.83 J, board- 
 ing and fare included. His path through life never was one 
 strewed with flowers, but he had ever his own difBiculties 
 with which to contend. Amongst these the following may 
 be cited as illustrative of the obstacles which he was required 
 to encounter. On the 7th of August, 1840, he attended a 
 camp-meeting on Turkey Hill, Lancaster county, and was 
 considerably annoyed by the conduct of some ill-bred men 
 who were in attendance. Of them he thus speaks : " These 
 creatures did not behave themselves at all like human be- 
 ings ; they were, if human, some of the Turkey Hill brutish 
 men, who either never had any sense at all, or left it at home 
 with their oxen, horses, and sheep ; for they walked about 
 with heads devoid of all reason ; they jolted each other 
 about, and made use of such vulgar and profane language 
 that every decent person was ashamed of them." 
 
 During the first four years of his official term as bishop, 
 there were three of his conferences — the East Pennsylvania, 
 West Pennsylvania, and Ohio. At each of these he presided 
 as bishop ; beginning with the East Pennsylvania conference 
 he reached that of West Pennsylvania in April, and the one 
 held in Ohio in May. In 1844 the Illinois conference was 
 organized, but by that time another bishop had been elected, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 519 
 
 "who shared the labors of the of&oe with him. The new 
 bishop was Rev. Joseph Long, who was elected in ISM. 
 The two bishops divided the work between them, Bishop 
 Long presiding at the sessions of the Pennsylvania confer- 
 ence, and Bishop Seybert at those of Ohio and Illinois. 
 "While engaged in the incessant labors of his office he visited 
 in August, 1845, the churches of his denomination in Upper 
 Canada. Here the people were much surprised at his plain 
 dress, his child-like simplicity of manners, and to hear the 
 unadorned and unstudied style of his address. They ex- 
 pected to hear a bishop, most necessarily of great consequence 
 as well as of exterior display, and whose preaching would 
 far transcend the intelligence of plain people. But in this 
 they were very agreeably disappointed, for in Bishop Seybert 
 they found a faithful follower of his Divine Master, who 
 endeavored to be the servant of all. 
 
 On account of the sickness of his co-adjutant. Bishop 
 Long, in the spring of 1846, he was required to preside at 
 the sessions of both the Pennsylvania conferences as well as 
 those in the West. On the 4th of July of that year he 
 happened to be in Mount Carmel, Illinois, and in his diary 
 notes some reflections which he indulged in as regards the 
 observance of the national holiday. He says that the chil- 
 dren of this world early began the celebration of the day 
 with drinking, dueling, profanity and wild cheering. He 
 adds, however: "I also got on my feet, hurriedly visited 
 nine families in the morning, then shaved myself, greased 
 my shoes and put on clean clothes, and then traveled thirty 
 miles that day." From the above extract it is perceived 
 that he used grease for his shoes instead of boot-blacking, 
 an article he seems never to have used, this being categoried 
 by him in the list of luxuries. 
 
 One instance of the charitable feelings of Bishop Seybert 
 is thus detailed : On a cold day in the winter of 1846, while 
 traveling in Ohio, he met a constable who was hauling a 
 weaver's loom on a sled. Having entered into conversation 
 with the of&cer, he learned that he had levied on the loom 
 for a debt of little over four dollars ; that the owner of the 
 loom was a poor weaver, who depended on his trade for the 
 
O20 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 support of a numerous family. The bishop listened patiently 
 to the end of the story, and then declared that this case was 
 too hard, and asked the constable whether he would return 
 the loom to its owner if he paid the debt and costs. " 0, 
 yes," said the ofiicer in reply, "that is all I want." Upon 
 which the bishop at once paid the money, and the constable 
 returned the loom to the poor weaver, who was very much 
 surprised as well as heartily thankful to this eocentrio 
 stranger for his act of kindness. The weaver afterwards 
 became a member of the bishop's church, obtained the posi- 
 tion of class-leader in the same, and afterwards the bishop 
 and other clergymen frequently preached sermons at his . 
 house. 
 
 He attended the general conference of his church at New 
 Berlin, in Union county. Pa., and on the 22d of October, 184:7,- 
 was reelected bishop, this making his third term in the 
 episcopal office. During the year 1850 he refused to accept 
 any salary at all, as he regarded it the year of jubilee of the 
 Evangelical Association, it being the 50th year since the 
 denomination was founded by Jacob Albright, in the county 
 of Lancaster, Pa. It was his intention to accept nothing at 
 all after this as a salary ; but he was censured by others for 
 this, as it was considered the setting of a bad precedent, and 
 he therefore yielded so far as to accept the salary, but dis- 
 posed of it at his discretion for benevolent purposes. About 
 this time he changed his mode of traveling on horseback to 
 a dearborn wagon. At all events, in the spring of 1850 he 
 attempted to ford the Lycoming creek, above Williamsport, 
 Pa., with a dearborn wagon, at a time when the stream was 
 much swollen, and he narrowly escaped finding a watery 
 grave. Henceforth he was much more cautious in venturing 
 to cross a stream of water. In 1852, at the general confer- 
 ence held at Pittsburg, Pa., he was reelected for the fourth 
 time to the episcopal office. From May 1st to June 19th, 
 1853, he preached a series of sermons in the State of New 
 York and Upper Canada. His appointments were all made 
 in advance of his arrival for a thousand miles, and he punc- 
 tually supplied all of them at the very times that had been 
 specified. On September 24th, 1855, at the general con- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 521 
 
 ference, lie was for the fiftL time elected bishop, which occa- 
 sioned still deeper feelings of humility to rise in his soul, 
 and he again formed new resolutions to labor with industry 
 and faithfulness in God's cause. On the 11th of September, 
 1856, he met with an accident at Lincoln, Stark county, 
 Illinois. His horse ran off, upset his carriage, and threw 
 him upon the ground with great violence, and from this fall 
 he was very severely injured. He alludes in his diary to 
 this accident in the following language: "There was great 
 danger that my old and weary body, which was become 
 frail and weak through preaching 10,000 sermons during the 
 last thirty-five years, had entirely broken down ; for I find 
 that the hardships incident to the itinerant ministry have 
 impaired my strength. The Lord has, however, helped me 
 again in this misfortune. To Him be praise forever." 
 
 ' About this time Bishop Seybert presided in the West 
 Pennsylvania conference, where he took occasion to speak 
 very earnestly of the duties of traveling preachers, and with 
 much warmth expressed his disapprobation of the conduct of 
 those who had forsaken the itinerancy and settled down to 
 enjoy an easy life. "As for me," he said, "it is my intention 
 to die in the field; when I can no longer preach every day, 
 then I will preach four times a week ; if that won't go any 
 more, I will preach twice a week ; and if I cannot preach any 
 more twice a week, I'll preach once; I will die onZion's walls." 
 In 1858 he wrote in his diary : "What a happy man I am in my 
 68th year ; I am at present well almost every day, and in good 
 spirits ; my sense of hearing is very acute, and I frequently 
 read without spectacles, and if necessary, would try to preach 
 three times a day. Glory to God." On October 13, 1859, he 
 was elected bishop for the sixth time. In politics Bishop 
 Seybert was always a Democrat, yet towards the institution 
 of slavery was exceedingly hostile. He ever felt disinclined 
 to travel in territory where slavery was sanctioned by law. 
 Whenever he returned from a slave State he thanked God 
 for the deliverance from the accursed soil. He believed that 
 the principles of the Democratic party were right, but that 
 slavery did not belong to them ; the evil one had sown these 
 tares in the field of Democracy. On the 18th of December, 
 36 
 
522 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 1860, he preaclied for the last time. His journal stops with 
 the 28th of the same month. He stopped with a man named 
 Isaac Parker, near Bellevue, Sandusky county, Ohio. Being 
 asked concerning the cause of his weakness, he merely spoke 
 of having a bad cold. He rested on a lounge, and occasionally 
 read his favorite authors, viz : jHiller, A'Kempis and 
 Tauler. He also regularly read his Bible lesson every day. 
 About an hour before his death he related that he had a 
 dream, and in his dream that he came to a place where there 
 •were many preachers who were all glad to see him, and he 
 •desired to greet all by shaking hands with them, but that 
 4he number-was so great that he had not yet had time to do 
 ao before he awoke. An hour later no doubt his dream was 
 realized, in meeting an^innumerable company of the redeemed 
 in heaven. 
 
 Bishop Seybert died January 4, 1861. When the near 
 approaching symptoms of death made their appearance, Mr. 
 ^Parker, at whose house he was lodging, went out to call some 
 ■of the neighbors that they might be present when the spirit 
 •of the aged pilgrim would take its departure. His son re- 
 imained alone with him in the room. The weary wayfarer 
 ;sat upon his lounge, his hands folded like those of a child in 
 jprayer. All at once he broke the solemn silence by saying : 
 '''' How terrible must death be to a wicked person." Then 
 having paused for a few moments, he again remarked : 
 " Death commences below," at the same time laying his 
 hands lower down on his body, " and proceeds upwards, and 
 when he comes to this place," placing his hand upon his 
 heart, " then it is all over with us." Thus I also shall some- 
 time fall asleep. Here his voice stopped ; he sunk on the 
 lounge, and while young Parker stood by his side, he gently 
 fell asleep and his spirit took "its flight to the mansions of 
 the blessed. 
 
 SHAW, Anthony, whg emigrated from Ireland and settled 
 •within the limits of the Friends' meeting, at Sadsbury, was a 
 man of considerable ability, being well educated, and remark- 
 able for his piety and his many virtues, and was a worthy 
 and serviceable member of the denomination of Friends at 
 the time that the Sadsbury monthly meeting was first estab- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 523 
 
 lisTied. He was elected a member of the Legislature for the 
 years 1740-41-42-43. He was appointed a commissioner 
 and justice of the peace for Lancaster county in the year 1738, 
 and the ancient documents in Sadsbury and Salisbury attest 
 his abilities as a writer, a scholar and an upright and con- 
 scientious man. 
 
 SHABFFBR, Baetram A., was born in Lancaster county 
 in 1824, and at an early age removed to Ohio, where he re- 
 ceived his education. Having returned to Lancaster, he 
 began the study of law in the office of George Ford, esq., 
 and was admitted to the bar in the year 1841^. Interesting 
 himself considerably in politics, he was soon honored' with 
 the confidence of his party, and was returned as a member 
 of the Legislature in the year 1850, and also in 1851. Ac- 
 quitting himself with credit, he was elected to the State Sen- 
 ate in 1857. He was also chosen attorney for the Pennsyl- 
 vania railroad company, a position he held for several 
 years. Upon the organization of the militia in 1858, he was 
 appointed major general of the division composed of the 
 counties of Lancaster and Chester. When the rebellion 
 broke out, he immediately tendered his services, and was 
 appointed as aid on the stafi" of General Keim, of Berks 
 county. He served in this capacity for six months, being 
 with General Patterson's division in the Shenandoah valley. 
 His health and eyesight failing, he was compelled to give 
 up military service and return home. He was for some time 
 engaged with C. S. Kauffman, of Columbia, in the iroa 
 manufacture. He died in 1864. 
 
 SHELLEY, Abraham, was elected a member of the 
 Legislature in the years 1846-47. 
 
 SHENCK, Henry S., was elected Eegister of Wills in 1869. 
 
 SHBNK, Michael, a Commissioner of Lancaster county, 
 elected by the Eepublicans in October, 1804. He was a citi- 
 zen of Conestoga township, and an active and useful citizen. 
 He died October 18th, 1806. 
 
 SHENK, EuDOLPH W., was born in Conestoga township, 
 Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of October, 1834. 
 His parents were Christian Shenk, (now deceased) and Mary 
 
524 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Warfel Shenk, and his ancestors were among the earliest 
 settlers of Lancaster county. He attended school at Litiz, 
 under Prof. John Beck, from 1849 to 1851. In 1852 he entered 
 the academy at Brie, Pa., and in 1854 entered Dartmouth 
 College, where he graduated in 1858. He read law and was 
 admitted to the bar in November, 1859. At the breaking 
 out of the rebellion he enlisted in Co. F. (Lancaster Fenci- 
 bles) Captain Emlen Franklin, first regiment Pennsylvania 
 volunteers, and served until the expiration of their term of 
 enlistment. In August 1862 he was appointed Major of the 
 135th regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers, and served with 
 the same until it was mustered out of service at the expira- 
 tion of its term of enlistment. He was appointed deputy 
 marshal of the Ninth district, Pennsylvania, in June 1863, 
 and was elected to the Legislature in the years 1864-65. 
 He is engaged in the practice of his profession, and is a mem- 
 ber of the firm of Bair & Shenk, bankers, of this city. 
 
 SHEEEE, Joseph, was a delegate from Lancaster county 
 to the the convention which framed, in 1776, the first Con- 
 stitution of Pennsylvania. 
 
 SHIPPEN, Edward, was one of the leading citizens of 
 Lancaster borough for many years before and at the break- 
 ing out of the American revolution. He held most of the 
 county offices, as prothonotary, register, recorder, &c., from 
 the year 1753 up to the commencement of the revolution. 
 He was one of the committee on correspondence appointed 
 at a meeting held in Lancaster, June 15th, 1774, to corre- 
 spond with the committee of Philudelphia, which had been 
 constituted to obtain an interchange of sentiment among the 
 people of Pennsylvania with reference to united action in 
 opposition to British encroachment. At a meeting of this 
 committee, consisting of Edward Shippen, Geo. Boss, Jasper 
 Yeates, Matthias Slough, James Webb, William Atlee, 
 William Henry, Ludwig Lauman, William Bausman and 
 Charles Hall, held July 2d, 1776, Edward Shippen was 
 chosen president of the committee. He had been chief bur- 
 gess of the borough of Lancaster for some years, and was 
 acting in that capacity in 1763, when the Conestoga Indians 
 were massacred by the Paxton rangers. Edward Shippen, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 525 
 
 with other of the leading citizpns, were attending church at 
 the time the work of destruction was going on, and before 
 they were able to reach the scene, the Paxton boys' had 
 again mounted their steeds and left the town. 
 
 ^Massacre of t-he Gonestoga Indians : The massacre of the Conestoga 
 Indians by the Paxton boys, enacted within Lancaster connty, is one of 
 those events that attained a historical importance second to none that 
 ever transpired in the county limits. It is one of those scenes of history 
 that to be understood requires a resume of facts generally lost sight of. 
 Pennsylvania having been settled by the Quakers, it can readily be 
 supposed on account of the persecutions they endured in England that 
 "this class of people vrould flock into the new asylum opened wp by "Wil- 
 liam Penn, in considerable numbers. The result was that tliey obtained 
 control of the State government for many years; most of the State and 
 county officers were members of this persuasion, except in the most 
 western parts of the settlements. The majority of the assembly were 
 ■Quakers, and, indeed, their policy shaped the affairs of the State nearly 
 up to the commencement of the Revolution. The Scotch-Irish, a numer- 
 ous body of early settlers, were found mostly upon the borders of the 
 settlements ; and being a bold, daring, and adventuresome class of peo- 
 ple, they were encouraged by the government to choose their homes in 
 those locaUties, as being the best adapted to buffet Indian collision. After 
 the breaking out of the conspiracy of Pontiac, in 1762, the tide of Indian 
 warfare began to rise in the west, and during 1763 the border settlements 
 of Pennsylvania became the scenes of the most appalling desolation and 
 distress that had ever yet been witnessed in those regions. It would be 
 a lengthy task^ and revolting to explore through aU the details the hor- 
 rid monotony of blood and havoc presented in the history of Indian 
 iDrutality and carnage brought upon the white settlers of Pennsylvania 
 at this doleful period. The settlements were filled with the wildest dis- 
 may and horror. The people, such as could escape, left their homes in 
 consternation and fled in thousands to the settlements further east. 
 Lancaster county was filled with refugees who had escaped for their 
 lives, leaving the settlements one vast charnel receptacle, filled with 
 the bones of their murdered relatives and kinsmen. 
 
 The scene presented in some of the settlements, beggars description. 
 Ranging parties who visited in bodies the sights of desolation, discov- 
 ered with unspeakable horror in the depths of the forest, the half con- 
 sumed bodies of men and women still bound fast to trees where they had 
 perished in fiery torture. Here lay the lifeless trunks of fathers and 
 brothers who had fallen in an unequal contest, striving to resist the sui'g- 
 ing wave of Indian fury ; and there, rolled in a common mass, were the 
 mangled corpses of mothers, sisters and children, whose blood the toma- 
 hawks of the savage had drunk. It was a sad but maddening sight. A 
 •wail of agony rose to heaven over the scenes of desolation; but a resolve 
 ©f revenge was then formed bitter, burning and unquenchable revenge, 
 that retaliation should be obtained for such fiendish cruelties. The 
 back woods rangers, who visited the scenes described, swore a solemn 
 
526 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 SHIPPEN, Heney, was captain of the company that 
 marched to Baltimore in 1814, in which were James Buch- 
 anan, Jasper Slaymaker and others. He read law in the 
 oiSce of James Hopkins, but his tastes being of a military 
 
 oath of vengeance never to sheatli their sabers ere the heart's blood of their 
 assailants, the savages of the forest, was spilled. An eye vritness who 
 saw the desolation that followed in the *ake of Indian aggression, said ; 
 "The Indians had set fire to the houses, barns, corn, hay, and in short, 
 to everything that was combustible, so that the whole country seemed 
 to be one general .blaze. The miseries and distress of the poor people 
 , were really shocking to humanity, and beyond the power of language to 
 describe. Carlisle was become the barrier, not a single individual being 
 beyond it. Every stable and hovel in the town was crowded with mis- 
 erable refugees, who were reduced to a state of beggary and despair ;, 
 their houses, cattle and harvest destroyed; and from a plentiful, inde- 
 pendent people, they were become real objects of charity and commiser- 
 ation. It was most dismal to see the streets filled with people in whose 
 countenances might be discovered a mixture of grief, madness and de- 
 spair; and to hear, now and then, the sighs and groans of men, the dis- 
 consolate lamentations of women, and the screams of children who had 
 lost their nearest and dearest relatives. On both sides of the ■ Susque- 
 hanna, for some miles, the woods were filled with poor families and their 
 cattle, who make fire and live like the savages." Conspiracy of Pontiac, 
 p. 383. 
 
 The Scotch-Irish, in whose settlements it was that this desolation 
 reigned, implored the government of Pennsylvania to aid them in resist- 
 ing Indian aggression. But "the Quakers, who seem»d resolved that 
 they would neither defend the people of the frontier nor allow them to 
 defend themselves, vehemently inveighed against the several expeditions 
 up the Susquehanna, and denounced them as seditious and murderous. 
 Urged by their blind prejudice in favor of the Indians, they insisted 
 that the bands of the Upper Susquehanna were friendly to the English ;. 
 whereas, with the single exception of a few Moravian converts near 
 Wyoming, who had nol been molested, thei-e could be no rational doubt 
 that these savages nourished a rancorous and malignant hatred against 
 the province. But the Quakers, removed by their situation from all fear 
 of the tomahawk, securely vented their spite against the borderers and 
 doggedly closed their ears to the truth. Meanwhile the people of the 
 frontier besieged the Assehibly with j)etitions for relief ; but little heed 
 was given to their complaints. ' ' Conspiracy of Pontiac, p. 391-8. It was 
 well ascertained that at least two thousand persons had been killed or 
 carried off from the settlements on the border. This loss was one that 
 the Scotch-Irish popiilation had to endure. Goaded to desperation by 
 their long continued suffering, they were divided between rage against 
 the Indians and resentment against the Quakers, who had yielded them 
 cold sympathy and inefficient aid. They complained fiercely that they 
 were interposed as a barrier between the rest of the province and a. 
 ferooioxxs enemy, and that they were sacrificed to the safety of men who- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 527 
 
 cast and not succeeding to his expectation, he made an effort 
 to obtain a situation in the army, but was unsuccessful. He 
 removed to Huntingdon and practiced law there for some 
 years. He married a Miss Elizabeth Evans, of Sunbury. 
 
 looked -with indifference on their misei-ies and lost no opportunity to 
 extenuate and smooth away the cruelties of their destroyers. They 
 declared that the Quakers would go further to hefriend a murdering In- 
 dian than to succor a fellow countryman. 
 
 It is not difficult to conceive the depth of feeling that would exist in su 
 community situated as were the Scotch-Irish at that early period. They 
 had besought aid of the Assembly in vain. They had also asked that 
 the Indians hving in the interior of the white settlements be removed,, 
 as they regarded all those professing friendship as spies and harborera 
 of their enemies. To all these requests the Quaker Assembly turned a. 
 deaf ear. The Quakers clung to their policy of non-resistance, and left 
 
 . the borderers to shift for themselves as best they could. The rancor 
 that rose on the part of the Scotch-Irish towards the Quakers and their 
 
 ■ policy was of the bitterest kind. Never was hatred more deep and 
 general than on the Pennsylvania frontier at this period ; and never did 
 so many collateral causes unite to inflame it to madness. It was by no 
 means confined to the vulgar. Magistrates, and even the clergy shared 
 it, and it is not surprising that it found a vent. In the Manor of Con- 
 estoga, about five miles from Lancaster, was a small band of Indians, 
 chiefly of Iroquois blood, that had resided there since the first settle- 
 ment of the province. These Indians William Penn had visited and 
 made treaties with them, which had been ratified by subsequent gov- 
 ernors. They had remained on terms of friendship with the English. 
 The community had greatly decreased in membership, and no longer 
 numbered over twenty individuals. These were clustered together im 
 miserable huts, and were in the habit of gathering a pitiable subsistence 
 by beggary and a petty merchandizing amongst the white settlers of 
 the country around them. The men spent most of their time in fishing 
 and hunting, and loiteriug around in idleness. In their neighborhood 
 they passed for innocent vagabonds. 
 
 Among the Scotch-Irish, on the contrary, they were looked upon aa 
 spies ; and as guilty of giving shelter to scalping parties, and even in 
 aiding their enemies in their depredations. That they were not alto- 
 gether wrong in their opinions was proven by a mass of testimony ; 
 though the treachery may have- been confined io one or two individuals. 
 The exasperated frontiersmen were not in a mood to discriminate be- 
 tween the innocent and guilty. They did not think these Indians should 
 be permitted to occupy a position where they would have it in their 
 power to do them injury. They belonged at least to that hated race 
 that had brought sO much misery upon themselves and their country- 
 men. A body of rangers, whose headquarters was the little town of 
 Paxton, on the east bank of the Susquehanna, became noted about this, 
 time for their zeal and efficiency in defending the borders. John Elder, 
 a Presbyterian clergyman of great worth and piety of character, had 
 
528 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Afterwards, througli the influence of Molton C. Rogers, 
 Secretary of State under Governor Shultz, he was appointed 
 President Judge of the court of common pleas of one of 
 the western judicial districts. He died March 2, 1839. 
 
 influenced the formation of tliis band, as it became necessary to have of 
 them guards around the church while he was engaged in the perfonn- 
 auce of divine service. This band of rangers was composed of the best 
 men in the community ; they were orderly and upright citizens, as the 
 Eev. John Elder himself testified. One of their j)rincipal leaders was 
 JMatth ew Smith, a man of influence and popularity amongst liis asso- 
 ciates, and one by no means destitute of culture, and yet who at the 
 same time shared a full proportion of the general hatred against the 
 Indian lace, and suspicion against the band at Conestoga. 
 
 About the middle of December a scout called upon Smith and informed 
 him that an Indian who had been committing depredations in the 
 neighborhood had been tracked to Conestoga. Having communicated 
 this to five of his companions, they armed, mounted and set out for the 
 Indian settlement, where they arrived in the night. Smith dismounted 
 from his horse and crawled forward cautiously until he saw, or imagined 
 be saw, a number of armed warriors in the cabins. He returned, and 
 related this to his companions, but fearing that they were too weak to 
 attack the party, retui-ned with all speed to Paxton. Their blood being 
 now up, they determined to extirpate the Conestogas. Messengers were 
 sent in all direotion.s, and on the following day fifty armed men, chiefly 
 from Donegal and Paxton, assembled at the place agreed ujion. They 
 set out with Smith as their leader, and arrived at Conestoga before day- 
 light on the morning of the fourteenth. As they neared the place they 
 perceived the light of a fire in one of the cabins, and having fastened 
 their horses, they cautiously advanced towards the light. An Indian, 
 having heard the noise of their footsteps or voices, advanced to see 
 ■whence the noise came. As soon as he came near, one of the men, fancy- 
 ing that he recognized him , exclaimed with an oath, "He is the one that 
 killed my mother," and firing his rifle brought the Indian to the ground. 
 With a general shout they now all rushed foiward and closed the 
 career of all the Indians they could find. There were but six of them, 
 the remainder, in accordance with their vagrant habits, bting scattered 
 about the neighborhood. They closed their vengeance at this place by 
 burning aU the cabins, and set out for home by the dawn of day. The 
 morning was cold, and snow was falUng and covered the ground to a 
 considerable depth. They were met by a man named Thomas Wright, 
 who somewhat struck by their appearance, began a conversation with 
 them. They freely, and without compunction, told him all they had 
 done. Proceeding some distance further they began to scatter around 
 amongst the settlers in order to obtain some food for themselves and 
 horses. Several of tiem rode to the house of Robert Barber, a promi- 
 nent settler, near Wright's Ferry, who seeing the strangers shaking the 
 snow from their blanket coats, invited them to enter, and caused xefresh- 
 inents to be set before them. Having remained a short time seated 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 529 
 
 SHIRK, Henry, was elected County Commissioner in 
 1810, and reelected again in 1819. 
 
 SHOCH, Samuel, of Columbia, was born in Harrisburg 
 on the 28th of May, 1797. His opportunities of education 
 
 around tlie fire, they remounted and I'ode off tlirough the snow storm. 
 Whilst they were in the house, a boy belonging to the family had gone 
 out where the horses were standing, and coming in reported that he had 
 seen a tomahawk covered with blood hanging to the saddle of each, and 
 , also a gun belonging to one of the Indian children. Barber at once sus- 
 pected the truth, and having given information to his neighbors, a com- 
 pany of them started off to the Indian settlement, where they found the 
 cabins in ashes and the charred remains of the slaughtered Indians. While 
 they were there the sheriff of Lancaster county with a party of men 
 arrived at the place ; and the first object of that officer was to send 
 through the neighborhood and gather up the Indians that had escaped — 
 fourteen in number. The survivors as soon as they learned the fate of 
 their friends were in great terror for their own lives, and earnestly begged 
 protection. They were brought to Lancaster, amidst the greatest excite- 
 ment, and lodged in the county jail, a strong stone building, and one 
 which was deemed sufficient to afford the amplest protection. 
 
 News of the massacre was immediately sent to Philadelphia, upon 
 the hearing of which the governor at once issued a proclamation de- 
 nouncing the act, and offering a reward for the arrest of the perpetrators. 
 But in the excited state of public feeling .at that time arrests were out 
 of the question, as resistance would have been offered to any force that 
 might have been sent into the Scotch-Irish settlements. Nothing 
 daunted by the Governor' s proclamation, the Paxton rangers determined 
 to complete the work they had begun. In this detennination they were 
 incited by a jji'evailing impression that one of the Indians that had 
 found protection at Lancaster had murdered the relatives of one of their 
 number. They despatched a spy to learn the condition of affairs at 
 Lancaster, and upon his return they again assembled at the usual ren- 
 dezvous. On this occasion the leader of the party was a Lazarus Stewart, 
 .a young man highly esteemed on the borders for his heroic qualities and 
 chivalrous deportment. Early on the SZth .of December the party, about 
 fifty in number, left Paxton on their work of death. About three 
 o'clock in the afternoon, armed with rifle, knife and tomahawk, they 
 rode into Lancaster at a gallop, turned their horses into the yard of a 
 jjublic house, and proceeded forthwith to the jail. In a moment the 
 doors were burst open and they rushed in. The Indians were at the 
 time in a small yard adjacent to the building, and surrounded by strong 
 TvaUs. Hearing the noise and alarmed by the sight of armed men in the 
 doorway, two or three of them grasped billets of wood in self-defence. 
 This show of resistance doubly maddened the fpremost of the party, 
 and rushing forward they fired their rifles amongst the Indians, huddled 
 in a corner. The tomahawk soon ended the struggle, and the "Quaker 
 pets," as they termed them, lay weltering in their gore. 
 
 The magistrates being in church, attending the Christmas service. 
 
530 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ■were limited to the schools of that place and the West Not- 
 tingham academy, in Cecil county, Maryland, under the 
 presidential care of the Eev. Doctor Magraw. In 1814:, 
 when the British army destroyed the capitol at Washington, 
 which had been postponed frsm the twenty-fifth, a messenger suddenly 
 appeared at the church door, and in broken exclamations was heard to 
 say : " JIurder — tJte jail — the Paxton hoys — the Indiana." The assem- 
 bly broke up in disordei', and Edward Sliippen, the chief burgess, 
 hastened towards the scene; but before he could reach it, all was ovei-, 
 and the rangers had remounted and were gallojiing from the town. The 
 sheriff and the coroner had mingled with the rangers, and as their ene- 
 mies alleged, aided and abetted them in their work of destruction, but 
 they contended that they were endeavoring to save the Indians. The 
 people crowded intothe jail to gaze at the dead Indians, and when their 
 curiosity was sated tliey gathered their bodies together and buried them 
 not far from the town. There their bones reposed until the raih-oad 
 was being made through the city, when they were disinteiTed by the 
 workmen. The massacre of the Indians occasioned a vast clamor 
 when it reached Philadelphia, and the Governor issued another procla- 
 mation, probably to allay Quaker feeling, for he could not but have 
 known that nothing else would be gained. It would have been madness 
 to attempt to make any arrests of parties engaged in the transaction ; 
 and the best evidence that all thought so is, that no attempt was made 
 until years afterwards, when all the excitement had died away. 
 
 This event of history can be regarded justly in no other light than as 
 an exhibition of the pent up rage against the Indians for the atrocities 
 committed on the white settlers, and paitially out of vengeance towards 
 the Quakers, because of their unaccountable attachment to the Indians 
 in preference to the whites, as it was regaided. It c^n.not, and should 
 not be viewed as the work of a vulgar mob. It was none such. It was 
 simply the reflex of the public opinion as it existed amongst the settlers 
 on the borders. Would any of the rangers who perpetrated the deed 
 have been punished by a jury of their Scotch-Irish neighbors had these 
 been placed on tiial ? They had the power to punish them, if they had 
 the wiU, but this was wanting. Did Lazanis Stewart, or Hatthew 
 Smith sink in public estimation for the part they had figured in the 
 transaction ? Let the histoi y of those daj's answer the question. They 
 received the endorsement of high character and standing from the lead- 
 ing men on the border, clergymen and others. "We should endeavor, 
 therefore, to place ourselves in imagination in their circumstances before 
 passing too harsh a judgment upon them. That the Quakers should con- 
 demn them is not strange. Does not every violent party man, condemn 
 those of the opposite party ? So in this case. The Quakers formed the 
 one party in Pennsylvania, and which, at this time, they governed, and 
 they endeavored to decry their opponents, the Scotch-Irish, for their 
 sanctioning the Paxton massacre. Feeling became intensified, because 
 the event was seized by one party for the injury of the other. Party 
 rage gave the transaction its historical importance. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 531 
 
 lie volunteered and served ttree months in the army under 
 the immediate command of Captain Richard M. Grain, of the 
 Harrisburg Artillerists. He was employed two years as 
 clerk in the land department at Harrisburg. In 1820 he 
 was admitted to practice law at the bar of Dauphin county. 
 In 1835 he was elected Clerk of the House of Representa- 
 tives, and in 1837 was made secretary to the convention to 
 amend the Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania. In 
 1839 he was appointed cashier of the Columbia Bank and 
 Bridge Company, which afterwards became the Columbia 
 National Bank, of which he still has charge. He at one and 
 the same time served as President of the following compa- 
 nies and organizations, viz: the Common School Board in 
 Columbia ; the Columbia and Marietta turnpike road com- 
 pany ; the Columbia and Chesnut Hill turnpike road com- 
 pany ; the Columbia and Washington turnpike road com- 
 pany ; the Columbia water company, and the Columbia gas 
 company ; and, also, as treasurer .of the Reading and Colum- 
 bia railroad company ; director of the poor of Lancaster 
 county, and of the Wrightsville, York and Gettysburg rail- 
 road company, and trustee of the Normal School, at Millers- 
 ville ; likewise cashier of the Columbia National Bank. He 
 has also served a term as county auditor of Lancaster county, 
 and fills most of the above posts at the present time. He 
 has also been president of the old Columbia public ground 
 company. 
 
 SHRBINBR, Maetin, was born in Lancaster, January 
 23d, 1767. His father, Philip Shreiner, emigrated from Ger- 
 many at an early day, and bought the property yet owned 
 by Martin Shreiner, the grandson of the original proprietor. 
 Martin Shreiner, the subject of this notice, learned the trade 
 of a clock-maker with John Bberman, grandfather of Peter 
 G. Eberman, esq. He was an apprentice of Mr. Bberman 
 at the time the latter jnanufactured the old town clock. He 
 began and carried on his business in the same place now 
 occupied and owned by his son. He continued in this busi- 
 ness up to 1829, and then began the manufacturing of en- 
 gines. . In 1818 Martin Shreiner was elected by the City 
 Councils, one of the first street regulators of Lancaster, and 
 
532 BIOGKAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 was reelected to this position in 1819. One of the first engines 
 manufactured by him, was that made for a hose company of • 
 Lebanon. The Sun engine and hose company, one of the 
 two oldest fire companies in Lancaster city, having used 
 their engine from 1798 up till 1829, determined upon pro- 
 curing a new one. Martin Shreiner was employed by the 
 company to build an engine at an expense not to exceed 
 eight hundred dollars. In December, 1830, the following 
 appears upon the minutes of this company : " The committee 
 appointed to procure a new fire engine from Martin Shrei- 
 ner for this company, reported that they had received the 
 same from Martin Shreiner, which engine upon fair trial, 
 fully answered the expectation of the company as to beauty 
 and excellence of workmanship and power of throwing water, 
 and that it had been placed in the engine house at the dis- 
 posal of the company." 
 
 Li the year 1829 Martin Shreiner and Peter Eeed were 
 elected on the Anti- Masonic ticket, directors of the poor of 
 Lancaster county. He was for many years an active and 
 influential member of the City Councils, and in 1832 he was 
 one of the committee who were instrumental in having the 
 Columbia and Philadelphia railway brought through the 
 •city of Lancaster. In 1834 he built the celebrated " Ameri- 
 can fire engine'' with two chambers, eight and a-half inches 
 in diameter, which at its first trial forced the water to the 
 ball of the Lutheran steeple, two hundred feet high. He 
 afterwards re-built the Middletown, Litiz and Columbia en- 
 gines. He was a member of the Lutheran church, and it 
 was greatly through his influence that the German Lutheran 
 church, in Vine street, was erected in 1826. About the 
 year 1836 he laid out and established the first cemetery in 
 Lancaster, which bears his name ; and because no restriction 
 was imposed as to the interment of persons of color therein, 
 the late Thaddeus Stevens chose it as his last resting place. 
 The cemetery was beautifully ornamented by the care of the 
 venerable patriarch in life, and his monument now is 
 one of the chief places of interest within its-enclosure. He 
 died February 14th, 1866, at the ripe age of 97 years and 
 22 days. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 53S 
 
 SHULTZ, David, was born in Dauphin county, Pennsyl- 
 vania, May 28, 1805. His education was limited, having had 
 no early advantages. He learned the hatting business with 
 Jacob Ziegler, of Harrisburg, and graveled for several years 
 in the capacity of journeyman. He moved to JSTew Holland 
 in 1824, and in 1829 began business for himself, which he 
 continued' up to 1852. He became an active politician, and 
 frequently filled minor trusts in the gift of the people. He 
 often represented his party in the county conventions. He 
 was appointed in 1847 the first mercantile appraiser in Lan- 
 caster county, and was twice reappointed. In 1852 he was 
 elected treasurer of Lancaster county, and held the same for 
 two years. After moving to Lancaster in 1852 he carried on 
 the hatting business in the latter place up to 1856. He next 
 entered into partnership in the banking business with Hiester, 
 Henderson and Eeed. The firm name was John K. Reed & Co., 
 and it continued up till 1861. In 1862 he moved west upon- 
 a farm, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits till 1866, 
 when he sold his farms and returned again to Lancaster, 
 where he has since been living, chiefly in retirement. 
 
 SHULZB, John Andrew, was a native of Lancaster 
 (now Lebanon) county. Pa. He was educated for a clergy- 
 man, and filled the pulpits of several Lutheran congregations 
 for some years, during the early part of his manhood, but 
 he was obliged to relinquish them in consequence of some 
 physical affection which disabled him from frequent speak- 
 ing. Sometime afterwards he took up his residence in the 
 borough of Lebanon, and he soon became somewhat promi- 
 nent as a politician of the Democratic school. After Leba- 
 non became formed into a separate county he received the 
 appointment of prothonotary, the duties of which he dis- 
 charged for a number of years. In 1822 he was nominated 
 as the Democratic candidate for the State Senate, and tri- 
 umphantly elected. In 1823 he was elected Governor of 
 Pennsylvania, over Andrew Gregg, the Federal candidate, 
 by nearly 26,000 majority. In 1826 he was reelected to the 
 same of&ce, without recognized opposition, receiving nearly 
 73,000 votes out of 75,000 polled. It was during his admin- 
 istration that the system of public improvements was com- 
 
63J: BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 menced, and if his prudent and cautious recommendations 
 liad been followed by the Legislature, to finish one line of 
 canal before commencing another,.the commonwealth would 
 have been saved from a large portion of the debt which 
 afterwards weighed so heavily upon her citissens. 
 
 To Governor Shulze belongs the credit, which is usually 
 accorded to his successor, of having been the first to advo- 
 cate a general system of education. In his message of 1828. 
 he said : " The mighty works, and consequent great expen- 
 ditures undertaken by the State cannot induce me to forbear 
 again calling attention to the subject of public education. 
 To devise means for the establishment of a fund, and the 
 adoption of a plan, by which the blessings of the more 
 necessary branches of education should be conferred on 
 every family within our borders, would be every way worthy 
 of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and attention to this 
 subject at this time would seem to be peculiarly demanded 
 by the increased number of children and young persons who 
 are employed in manufactures. The establishment of such 
 principles would not only have the happiest effects' in culti- 
 vating the minds, but invigorating the physical constitutions 
 of the young. What nobler incentive can present itself to 
 the mind of a republican legislator, than a hope that his 
 labor shall be rewarded by insuring to his country a race of 
 human beings, healthy and of vigorous constitutions, and of 
 minds more generally improved than fall to the lot of any 
 considerable portion of the human family." Far from a 
 brilliant statesman who could sway the multitude by his 
 eloquence, Governor Shulze, nevertheless, possessed adminis- 
 trative ability which enabled him to preside over the affairs 
 of the commonwealth with credit to himself and satisfaction 
 to the public. 
 
 Few Governors have left the executive chair with as large 
 a share of personal popularity and carrying with them into 
 retirement less personal and political animosity towards them 
 than did the subject of our notice. Conservative in all his 
 views, honest and straightforward in all his acts, he com- 
 xnanded the confidence of the people and never abused it. 
 His was not a brilliant, but a judicious, faithful and useful 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 535 
 
 career. Unable to agree with all the measures of his party, 
 he had the integrity and the independence to array himself 
 against anything he conceived to be wrong. He was edu- 
 cated in the Jeffersonian school of politics, and was, therefore, 
 in feeling and sentiment, an old school Republican. He 
 favored all the conservative Eepublican measures, of which 
 Jefferson, Madison and Monroe had been the champions. 
 With his old party friends he came to differ, however, on the 
 question of home protection, and after his retirement from 
 office he became affiliated with the Anti-Masonic party in 
 sentiment. He was in 1839 chosen one of the Senatorial 
 electors of the Anti-Masonic party. After his retirement 
 from office in 1829 he removed to Lycoming county, where, 
 in consequence of some unfortunate investments he lost all 
 he had saved, and became exceedingly poor. He thereupon 
 removed to Lancaster, at which place he continued to reside 
 in quiet retirement until his death, which event occurred 
 November 19, 1852. He lies buried in Woodward Hill 
 Cemetery, Lancaster city, and a handsome monument erected 
 in honor of him by his numerous friends, points out to the 
 visitor his last resting place. . Requiescat in pace. 
 
 SHUMAN, Jacob A., was born in Manor township, Lan- 
 caster county, in the year 1814. Losing his parents at an 
 early age, he hired himself out for a short time to work upon 
 a farm, but at the age of fourteen he apprenticed himself to 
 learn the coopering business with one of his uncles. Upon 
 the expiration of his term of apprenticeship, being but seven- 
 teen years of age, he started on a trip to the west, footing it 
 over the Alleghenies to Pittsburg. He stopped a short time 
 in that city and worked at his trade. From that place he 
 proceeded to Cincinnati. Arriving there at a time when 
 the cholera was raging, he had a severe attack of this disease 
 and barely escaped with his life. After an absence of two 
 years, he returned to his native home and began work at his 
 trade for his old master. About this time an event occurred 
 •which proved the turning-point in his career. A cousin of 
 his. own, who was engaged in teaching school, died after a 
 short illness. During his cousin's illness, and at his re- 
 quest, Mr. Shuman took charge of his school, and after his 
 
536 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 death, at the request of the citizens of the district, he con- 
 tinued the school. His career in teaching was from that 
 time up to 18i5, almost continuous ; all his leisure, how- 
 ever, was devoted to study. In 1844-4:5 he was nominated 
 and elected by the Whig party of his native county, as a 
 member of the Legislature. He proved himself in this 
 position a creditable representative, was watchful of the in- 
 terests of his constituents, and merited their approbation and 
 esteem. After the expiration of his term of services in the 
 House of Eepresentatives, he continued teaching and also 
 engaged in agricaltural pursuits. About 1850 he aban- 
 doned teaching entirely, and now devoted his whole atten- 
 tion to farming. In 1854 he was elected a member of the 
 Senate of Pennsylvania. As a senator, he was modest and 
 unassuming, and rarely obtruded himself apon the attention 
 of the Senate unless a question was pending that immedi- 
 ately affected the interests of his constituents. 
 
 *SLAYMAKER FAMILY. Mathias Slaymaker, (origi- 
 nally in German Schleiermacher,) the ancestor of the family 
 in this county, was a native of Strasburg, Germany, and 
 emigrated to this country about the year 1710. He and his 
 family settled on a tract of about 1,000 acres, known as the 
 "London Lands," situated in Strasburg, now Paradise town- 
 ship, which he purchased from a company called the " Lon- 
 don Company," and built a log house or cabin close to a 
 large spring on the farm, and near the residence of the late 
 Wm. Bckert, in said Paradise township; a large portion of 
 the said 1,000 acre tract being still in the name. He left 
 two brothers in Germany, one of whom, a clergyman, was 
 Secretary of Legation from his government to the Court of 
 St. James ; afterwards Charge d' Affaires to the same place. 
 The other was a major in the King of Prussia's tall regiment. 
 Matthias Slaymaker had an excellent German education, and 
 in person was remarkable for his almost gigantic stature 
 and great strength, as were also his sons, which qualities 
 in those primitive times commended them to their neigh- 
 bors, and won the respect of the Indians, who were then numer- 
 ous in the neighborhood. He gave the name to Stras- 
 *Contributed by Nathaniel E. Slaymaker, esq. 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 537 
 
 "burg township, and contributed greatly towards the perma- 
 nent settlement and improvement of the county, which was 
 then "back-woods," and inhabited by Indian tribes. He 
 died at an advanced age, and lies buried at the old Leacock 
 Presbyterian church, in Leacock township, which has been 
 the burying-ground of almost all his numerous descendants 
 for six generations. He left five sons, Lawrence, Matthias, 
 John, Henry and Daniel ; and two daughters, Margaret and 
 Barbara. 
 
 Lawrence Slaymaeee joined a company of pioneers ix 
 going west, and was not afterwards heard from. 
 
 Matthias Slaymaker purchased that portion of the 
 aforesaid 1,000 acre tract, belonging at present to his great- 
 grandsons, Jno. M. Slaymaker and Nathaniel B. Slaymaker, 
 esq., the latter at present and for many years past secretary 
 and treasurer of the Lancaster County Mutual Insurance 
 Company. 
 
 Daniel Slaymaeer and his descendants owned Ac land 
 now belonging to Uriah, Keziah and Levina Eckert. 
 
 John Slaymaker, one of said sons, and father of the late 
 Capt. Jno. Slaymaker, of Paradise township, was a soldier 
 in Braddock's army at the age of twenty-two years, and took 
 part in the disastrous battle of Braddock's field. He was 
 also captain of a company in the Eevolutionary war, and 
 after his return home was chosen county commissioner, 
 which ended his public service. He died in 1798, aged 65 
 years. 
 
 Henry Slaymaker, another of said sons, was an active 
 and conspicuous Whig during the Eevolutionary war, being 
 among the first in the neighborhood to take his stand with 
 the Eepublic. Being a magistrate at the time, he adminis- 
 tered the oath of allegiance to those who espoused the cause, 
 and was prompt in suppressing any efforts on the part of the 
 Tories at insurrection, and in punishing them for furnishing 
 the British army horses and provisions. After Mr. Hubley 
 became incapable of trying causes, Henry Slaymaker, being 
 then the oldest justice in the dounty, was appointed principal 
 judge of the courts of Lancaster county, and presided one 
 year. He assisted in clearing the ground on which the old 
 87 
 
538 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 jail in Lancaster was erected, and the present site of FultoH' 
 Hall; and was a delegate to the convention for framing a 
 constitution of the State of Pennsylvania, which met at 
 Philadelphia, July 15th, 1776. 
 
 Amos Slaymakek, a son of Henry, also served in the 
 ^Revolutionary war as ensign of the company commanded by 
 his uncle, Captain John Slaymaker, before mentioned, and 
 was a member of an association for suppressing the Tories in 
 the eastern end of the county, at the head of which was Col- 
 onel James Mercer. He was a magistrate for many years ; 
 county commissioner in the year 1800; a member of the 
 House of Eepresentatives in 1810-11 ; and afterwards of the 
 Senate of Pennsylvania from 1806 until 1810 ; and a mem- 
 Tjer of Congress of the United States from 1814 until 1815, 
 at which time he, with a number of others, lent their credit 
 to the government, by endorsing for it when in financial difii- 
 'Culties. He and his two brothers, Henry and Samuel, were 
 iproprietors of the great stage line of Eeeside, Slaymaker & 
 C!0t from Philadelphia to the west, before the time of rail- 
 roads. He died in 1835, aged 85 years. He left six sons 
 and four daughters ; one of his sons, Jasper, was a leading 
 member of the Lancaster bar, and the first prosecuting 
 attorney of the'Mayor's court. He also served two years in 
 the State Legislature 1816-17 and 1817-18, and died at the 
 age of 39 years. 
 
 Jonathan" S. Slaymakbb, a son of Samuel E. Slaymaker, 
 late of York county. Pa., and grand-nephew of Amos Slay- 
 maker, before mentioned, was captain of a company in the 
 2d Iowa regiment in the late civil war, and was killed at 
 the taking of Fort Donelson, where he showed exemplary 
 bravery. 
 
 SLOKOM, Samuel, was elected cornmissioner of Lancas- 
 ter county in 1865. He has acted for many years as justice 
 of the peace of the county. The following is from the pen 
 of one knowing Mr. Slokom for years : " Samuel Slokom 
 is a man of strong practical sense, and as a business man has 
 few superiors. He possesses great force of character and' 
 wonderful energy, and is an untiring worker in whatever he 
 undertakes. His judgment in matters of e very-day life is 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 539 
 
 greatly superior to the average of men, and is so recognized 
 among those who know him. He is strong in his likes and 
 dislikes ; is a warm and devoted friend, and a bitter enemy. 
 Without any brilliant talents, or superior cultivation, he is 
 a gentleman of unusual intelligence and ability. His intui- 
 tive knowledge of human nature is one of the most marked 
 features of his character, and has, no doubt, been an im- 
 portant agency in his career." 
 
 SLOKOM, Thomas, son of Isaac Slokom, was born in 
 Virginia, and removed to Lancaster county about the year 
 1798. The ancestors of Isaac Slokom were amongst the- 
 first settlers of the Wyoming valley, but removed thence to 
 Virginia, prior to the Indian massacre in that colony. 
 Thomas Slokom married a descendant of Jacob Miller, of 
 Strasburg township.^ He was an enterprising and useful 
 man in his day and generation. He erected the " Eed Lion 
 Hotel," in Sadsbury township, and made many other useful 
 and valuable improvements. He was the father of Samuel 
 Slokom-, late commissioner of Lancaster county. 
 
 SLOUGH, Mathias, was an active Whig of the borough 
 of Lancaster, about the period of the Eevolution. He was 
 an innkeeper, and kept tavern at the southeast corner of 
 Centre Square. The house, when kept by Slough, was 
 erected of what were called "saw-bucks," or cross-pieces, 
 and the interstices were filled with bricks. He was a man 
 of considerable worth, and had sufficient taste in that early 
 day to give his family a good education. His daughter 
 Fanny, was an accomplished pianist, and her sweet music 
 often attracted crowds in the evenings to listen to the har- 
 monious melody of her strains. One of her favorite pieces 
 was " The Eose Tree in Full Bloom." In that day there were 
 but few pianos in Lancaster. Mathias Slough was coroner 
 in 1763, and it was he who held the inquest upon the bodies 
 of the Conestoga Indians, killed by the Paxton boys. He 
 
 1 Jacob Miller -was born in tbe year 1663, and emigrated to Pennsyl- 
 vania, and purchased a large tract of land in Pequea valley (no-sv Stras- 
 biJrg township). The -warrant bears date October 10th, 1710. Jacob 
 Miller's son Samuel, -was the first child born in the Swiss colony. Henry 
 Miller, one of the descendants of Jacob Miller, was a member of the 
 convention that framed the constitution of Pennsylvania. 
 
54:0 BIOGKAPHICAL HISTOBT 
 
 was in 1776 appointed, by the assembly of Pennsylvania^ 
 general agent for the province of Pennsylvania, to provide 
 the necessary clothing and accoutrements for the troops 
 ordered to be raised for the service of the province. He also 
 had command of a Lancaster battalion in the years 1776-7. 
 He was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature during 
 the years 1774, 1775, 1777, 1780, 1781, 1782 and 1783. 
 
 SMILIB, John, was a native of Ireland, and came to 
 America when a young man, shortly before the outbreak of 
 the Eevolution, but in what year we cannot ascertain. He 
 settled in Lancaster county, Pa., and at once espoused the 
 cause of American liberty. He rapidly acquired the confi- 
 dence of his co-patriots, and soon became a leader in the re- 
 sistance which they resolved and executed against the tyran- 
 nies of the King and Parliament. Being one of the committee 
 of safety of Lancaster county, we find him in June, 1776, a 
 member of the Provincial Conference of county committees 
 of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, which declared formally the 
 sundering of the ties which hitherto bound the colony to the 
 parent power, by resolving "to form a new government for 
 this province, upon the authority of the people only." This 
 conference called and provided for the convention which 
 framed our first State constitution — that of 1776. In 1778, 
 and again in 1779, he was elected one of the representatives 
 of Lancaster county in the Assembly, of which he was an 
 active and useful member. 
 
 Having married Miss Janet Porter, a daughter, we believe, 
 of Col. Thomas Porter, a distinguished citizen of Lancaster 
 county, he was induced in 1780, to seek a home in the west 
 for his rising family. In that or the subsequent year, he 
 removed to Fayette, then Westmoreland county; and after 
 looking round for a time, eventually bought an improvement 
 from old Joseph Huston, on the north side of the Yough 
 river, about five miles below Connellsville, where he settled 
 and where he henceforth resided until his death. He perfect- 
 ed his title to the tract — about 400 acres — in 1786. 
 
 Mr.Smilie's energies and good sense soon gave him promi- 
 nence in Fayette county. In 1784 he became the first 
 elected member of the Assembly from Fayette county, and 
 
OF LANOASTEE COUNTY. 541 
 
 ■was reelected in 1785. In 1789 Mr. Smilie was, with Albert 
 Oallatin, chosen to represent Fayette county in the State con- 
 vention which framed the Constitution of 1790. In 1790 
 Mr. Smilie and John Hoge, of Washington, were elected the 
 first State Senators from the district composed of Fayette 
 and "Washington counties.. The term for which he was elect- 
 ed was four years ; but having in 1792 been elected to the 
 third Congress of the United States, which was to meet in 
 December, 1798, he resigned the last year of the Senatorial 
 term. In 1798 Mr. Smilie was again elected to Congress. In 
 1801 Fayette and Greene were made the Mnth district, from 
 which Mr. Smilie was successfully returned in 1802, 1804, 
 1806, 1808, 1810 and 1812. He died in the city of Wash- 
 ington while attending the second session of the twelfth 
 Congress, on the 29th of December, 1812, and was on the 
 31st interred with the customary honors, in the Congressional 
 Cemetery, where his remains 3'^et repose, designated by one 
 of the uniform monuments which Congress erects to deceased 
 members, even though*Tiheir bodies be removed. 
 
 SMITH, Abraham Hebr, was born in Manor township, 
 Lancaster county. His maternal grandfather, Abraham 
 Herr, was the father of Benjamin Herr, familiarly known as 
 ^' the King of the Manor." His father, Jacob Smith, was an 
 ingenious millwright, and erected a number of Soaring mills 
 in Lancaster and York counties. He died in the year 1819. 
 The ancestors of our subject, on both sides, came from Ger- 
 many, on the Ehine, at the time of the Mylin and Herr emi- 
 gration in 1710. They early became members of the Meth- 
 odist church. Our subject received the early rudiments of 
 his education at Litiz, under Professor Beck; next attended 
 Haddington college, near Philadelphia, and graduated at 
 Dickinson college, Carlisle, in the year 1840. He immedi- 
 ately began the study of law in the oiEce of John R. Mont- 
 gomery, and was admitted to the bar October 10th, 1842. 
 He at once began the practice of his profession, and soon 
 succeeded in establishing himself in a remunerative prac- 
 tice, which steadily increased until it has become one of the 
 most lucrative in Lancaster county. 
 
 In 1843 he was elected to the Legislature of Pennsylva- 
 
542 BIOGKAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 nia, and reelected in the following year. During his service 
 in that body, he was the author of the bill providing for the 
 payment of the interest on the State debt, a measure at the 
 time essentially necessary to preserve the credit of the com- 
 monwealth. For two years preceding this time, the State 
 instead of paying the interest upon her bonds, had issued 
 certificates bearing interest, called " domestic credit scrip." 
 This policy of compounding the debt, he deemed ruinous to 
 the public credit, as the effect of it had been the sinking of 
 the value of the bonds to 33 cents on the dollar, and repudi- 
 ation had been ojJenly advocated upon the floor of the House 
 of Eepresentatives. When the bill came up for passage, 
 Mr. Smith being asked by his colleagues whether he would 
 vote for it, and replying in the af&mative, added : "is it not 
 right f "Certainly," they replied, "but it will be very unpop- 
 ular, and will ruin any man who will vote for it." Mr. 
 Smith then remarked that he " would vote for it, and have 
 nothing, to do with consequences." Accordingly he warmly 
 advocated the bill, and it became a law, and from that time 
 the interest on the bonds was promptly met, the bonds rose 
 to par, and are now selling above that, and have been for 
 years. He also advocated the sale of the public works,, 
 which also became a law. It was he who introduced the bill 
 for the abolition of the Mayor's court,^ which, after being 
 vetoed by the Governor several times, was finally passed and 
 received executive sanction. He favored the abolition of 
 this court, deeming it a useless expense upon the county ; 
 and the business transacted in it has, since its abolition, been 
 
 'The Mayor's court was composed of the aldermen of the city of Lan- 
 caster and a Recorder appointed "by tlie Governor, who presided as presi- 
 dent of the court. The jury for the trial of causes was selected from the 
 citizens of Lancaster city, and a district attorney appointed by the 
 Governor, who prosecuted the pleas of the city. There were twelve 
 jurors empanneled for the trial of each case. There were also a gi-and 
 jury. The Mayor's court held quarterly sessions, the same as the 
 Quarter Sessions, and had criminal jurisdiction over all cases occcuring 
 within the city, except the highest grade of felonies. The expenses of 
 this court were borne by the county, except the salary of the recorder, 
 which came from the State treasury. His salary was $600. George M. 
 Kline, esq. , at present one of the ablest lawyers of the Lancaster bar-, 
 was at one time district attorney of the Mayor's court. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 543 
 
 more conveniently disposed of in the court of Quarter Ses- 
 sions. Mr. Smith also refused to sanction the renewal of 
 the district court ' when it had expired by limitation, and 
 this was -also abolished. 
 
 In 18i5 he was elected to the State Senate, serving one 
 term therein. Whilst a member of this body he favored the 
 enactment of tlje married woman's act, passed in 1848. He 
 also favored the passage of the law which made the common 
 school system obligatory upon the districts of the county, 
 and doing away with the triennial election, which permitted 
 the voters of every district to accept or reject the system 
 every three years. He regarded this as one of the defects 
 of the school system, which required to be changed. He was 
 ever strongly devoted to rigid economy and governmental 
 reforms, wherever the same could be effected ; was a steady 
 and faithful attendant at his post of duty, (scarcely an hour 
 absent during the whole period of his service); and with 
 patient attention and scrupulous fidelity watched the inter- 
 ests of his constituents. Since the close of his legislative 
 career, he has sedulously devoted himself to the practice of 
 his profession. In politics he is devoted to the principles of 
 the Eepublican party, and was an abolitionist in sentiment 
 long before the consolidation of the anti-slavery elements 
 into that organization. As a student at Haddington college, 
 he wrote an address for exhibition exercises so strongly anti- 
 slavery, that the faculty declined to permit its delivery. 
 
 As a lawyer he is well read in his profession, and is very 
 successful in the trial of his cases in the courts below, and 
 also in the supreme court. In short, he ranks amongst the 
 ablest in his profession.^ Besides, he is altogether conscien- 
 tious in his professional career, and will decline a case unless 
 his support of it can be based upon the broad principles of 
 justice. 
 
 ' The district court was a court of concurrent jurisdiction with the 
 common pleas, over which one judge alone presided. 
 
 2 It should not be forgotten that in the Biographical History of Lan- 
 caster County the sketches have chiefly been Qonlined to individuals who 
 have filled certain official positions; and as regards such as came thus 
 within the programme, they have in. a few cases been spoken of as their 
 deserts seemed, in the author's opinion, to merit. In very few instances. 
 
544 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOKY 
 
 SMITH, Chables, was a leading member of the Lan- 
 caster bar in his day, and was admitted in 1787. He was an 
 ardent Federalist and a bitter opponent of the Republican 
 principles of Jefferson. He was elected a member of the 
 Legislature in the years 1806, 1807 and 1808. In 1816 he 
 was elected to the State Senate of Pennsylvania. In his 
 legislative capacity he ranked amongst the ablest men in the 
 Senate and House of Eepresentatives and bore a conspicuous 
 part in the proceedings of the Legislature. He was appointed 
 to and served as president judge of the ninth judicial district. 
 He resigned this position in 1820, and accepted the president 
 judgeship of the district court of the city and county of Lan- 
 caster. He married a daughter of Judge Jasper Yeates, of 
 the Supreme Court. He was the builder of the residence 
 near Lancaster, known as Hardwicke. 
 
 SMITH, E. K., was elected a meuiber of the Legislature in 
 the year 1863. He is a banker of Columbia. 
 
 SMITH, Fredeeick, was elected Sheriff of Lancaster 
 county in 1863. 
 
 *SMITH, John" Blair, the fourth son of the Rev. Robert 
 Smith, was born at Pequea, Lancaster county. Pa., June 12th, 
 1756. In very early life he evinced a great thirst for know- 
 ledge, and an uncommon facility for acquiring it. At the 
 age of sixteen he was admitted to the junior class in Prince- 
 ton college, New Jersey, and graduated under the presidency 
 of the distinguished Dr. Witherspoon in 1773. He was one 
 
 liowever, was this attempted, and but of those of whom personal know- 
 ledge enabled him to form an estimate. In the bulk of cases he ^felt 
 himself incompetent for this task, and left the sketches with a simple 
 statement of facts. In the treatment of those so sketched, as already 
 stated, it is not intended to unjustly elevate them over and above others 
 equally worthy, who find no place in the history, but simply to express 
 the truth, as near as may be, concerning the person so delineated. 
 There are able members of the professions, and other intellectual men 
 of whom no biographies appear in the work, inasmuch as they have 
 never filled such official positions as biought them within the category 
 of characters originally proposed to be sketched. All deserving a place 
 in the history of the county could not be treated in a six-hundred page 
 octavo, and no safer line of demarcation seemed feasible than that of 
 official designation. 
 
 *Sprague!s Annals of the American Piilpit, vol. 3. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 545 
 
 of a class of twenty-nine, fourteen of whom became Minis- 
 ters of tke Gospel, and three, Grovernors of States. His elder 
 brother, Samuel Stanhope Smith, having become the head 
 of ,the rising institution in Prince Edward county, Ya., un- 
 der the care of the presbytery of Hanover, the subject of 
 this notice went, at his suggestion, in the early part of 
 1776, to join his brother as an assistant teacher, and at the 
 same time to prosecute his theological studies under his in- 
 struction. Having gone through his several trials, he was 
 licensed to preach by the Hanover Presbytery on the 29th 
 of April, 1778. He was ordained at Prince Edward Court 
 House, on the 28th of October, 1779. At the same meeting 
 of the Hanover presbytery, his brother having received an 
 invitation to the chair of moral philosophy in Princeton 
 college. New Jersey, asked leave to resign the presidency of 
 Hampden Sydney college, and also his pastoral charge; 
 both of which requests were granted. John Blair Smith was 
 immediately chosen to succeed him as president of the col- 
 lege ; and in the following spring, he also became his suc- 
 cessor in the pastoral office. About this time Mr. Smith 
 married a daughter of Colonel John Nash, of Prince Edward 
 county, a lady distinguished alike for her accomplishments 
 and piety. When Mr. Smith first entered the pulpit, he at- 
 tracted much attention, yet he was by no means so popular 
 as his brother who had preceded him ; but before he left the 
 State, he is said to have been more attractive and powerful 
 than any' other clergyman of Yirginia from the time of 
 Samuel Davies. The times in which he began his services in 
 Virginia, were anything but favorable to the progress of re- 
 ligion and high spiritual attainment. The State, and that 
 very part of it, had been invaded by the British ; and the 
 minds of the people were occupied chiefly about their own 
 safety and their country's independence. Mr. Smith was an 
 earnest patriot, and withal, was a man of great activity and 
 courage. The college suffered much in consequence of the 
 war. Its resources were exhausted ; and the youth that had 
 been pursuing their education, were in the service of their 
 country. 
 After the ratification of peace it was some time before 
 
546 ■ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 religion and literature began to revive. About this time the 
 Methodists began to pass through the country, and their 
 preaching had the effect of winning many from the ranks of 
 the Presbyterians. In 1786 or 1787 they came within the 
 bounds of Mr. Smith's congregations, and he himself seemed 
 henceforth to become imbued with their zeal and ardor in 
 the gospel, and a fresh impulse was given to his religious 
 feelings and ministrations. He began preaching with a vigor 
 and enthusiasm that soon produced visible effects. An 
 extensive revival of religion ensued, which spread through 
 the college and the whole adjacent country. Mr. Smith 
 entered into the work with such glowing zeal, and his 
 preaching was so poAverful that he was continually solicited 
 to extend his labors, and to places more and more remote 
 from his residence. Some of his friends began to think that 
 he was less attentive to the concerns of the college than 
 could be desired ; and this was the more felt as the institu- 
 tion, being without funds, was required to depend for its 
 support on the fees of the students. Feeling it his first duty 
 to preach the gospel, and perceiving that he could not give 
 that attention to the college that was required, he determined 
 to resign the office of president of the institution, and give 
 himself wholly to the work of the ministry. This resolution 
 he carried into effect in the year 1789, and at the same time 
 he bought a farm in the neighborhood and retired to it. 
 In April, 1791, he was appointed by his presbytery one of 
 the commissioners to attend the general assembly in Phila- 
 delphia. During the meeting of the assembly he was invited 
 to preach in the Third or Pine Street Presbyterian church, 
 which was then vacant and looking out for a pastor. So 
 acceptable was his preaching, that the congregation were 
 called together, and a unanimous call was extended to him 
 before he left the city, which he conditionally agreed to accept. 
 When this became known to his Virginia congregations^ 
 they were greatly distressed, and did all in their power to 
 divert -him from his purpose. He felt, however, that his 
 removal would add to the sphere of his usefulness, and he 
 resigned his pastoral charge and removed to Philadelphia in 
 the autumn following, and was installed over his new charge 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. " 547 
 
 in December. In 1795 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was 
 conferred upon him by his Alma Mater. In the same year 
 Union college, at Schenectady, New York, was founded, and 
 Dr. Smith chosen its president. He accepted the appointment, 
 and for three years presided over the infant institution with 
 great credit and success. He then returned to his former 
 charge in Philadelphia, and was formally reinstated among 
 them in May, 1799. The following extract from a letter 
 written by him to Major Morton, of Prince Edward county^ 
 Va., discloses the reason of his last change : '' I suppose that 
 my return to my former charge in Philadelphia, will excite 
 some surprise among my friends. However, it can be ex- 
 plained upon a very natural principle, without ascribing it 
 to fickleness of mind. It is simply because I prefer being 
 pastor of a congregation, before being president of a college ; 
 and I think myself better qualified for the former than the 
 latter ; and because I have regained that health and strength, 
 the want of which only prevented me from staying in Phil- 
 adelphia when I was there. It is true that I shall run a 
 great risk, in the present circumstances and prospects of 
 the city ; but it is equally true that my post would have 
 been there, and I should have had my chance with the 
 other citizens, if the want of health had not compelled me to 
 remove." " the Trustees of the college have accepted my 
 resignation in a manner very respectful to me, and have 
 directed that my portrait be taken and preserved in their 
 hall. They insist upon my staying till after the commence- 
 ment, next May, though I wish to go about the beginning of 
 April."- On his return to Philadelphia he was cordially 
 greeted, not only by his own congregation, but by a large 
 part of the intelligent people of the city. Their joy was des- 
 tined soon to be turned into mourning. About the middle 
 of August he was attacked with the yellow fever, and died 
 on the 22d of the same month, one of the first victims of 
 that terrible pestilence.' 
 
 'When the constitution of the United States was submitted to the 
 consideration of the people, Patrick Henry, the great orator of the Rev- 
 olution, offered himself as a candidate for representative of Prince 
 Edward county, in the State convention ; and he appointed a day to 
 meet the people of the county at the Court House, to show the defects 
 
548 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 SMITH, Eev. Sampson, a native of Scotland, who emi- 
 •grated to Lancaster county before the Eevolution. He was 
 pastor of the Presbyterian church, at Chestnut Level, and 
 also taught an academy for many years. He was struck by 
 lightning while sitting by his window engaged in reading the 
 bible, and instantly killed. 
 
 SMITH, Samuel, was a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1737 and 1738. 
 
 * SMITH, Samuel Stanhope, D.D., L.L.D., was born 
 March 16th, 1750, at Pequea, Lancaster county, Penna. 
 His father was the Eev. Eobert Smith, a distinguished clergy- 
 man of the Presbyterian church, who emigrated from Ireland 
 and established, and for many years superintended, an 
 Academy, which supplied many able and excellent ministers 
 to the denomination with which he was connected. His 
 mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Blair, and sister 
 ■of Samuel and John Blair, all of whom were among the most 
 prominent clergymen of their day. The son, at a very early 
 period, gave indications of possessing a mind of no com- 
 mon order, and the parents determined to give him the best 
 advantages within their reach for cultivating it. When quite 
 young he began the study of the languages in his father's 
 school, and as his father had employed some of the most 
 
 of the constitution, and the grounds on whioh lie opposed it. Dr. Smith, 
 ■who ■was a great friend of the constitution, had made his arrangements 
 to be present at the meeting, and defend it against his attacks; but be- 
 ing called away at that hour to visit a sick friend, he employed a man to 
 take down Mr. Henry's speech in short-hand, for his (Dr. Smith's) bene- 
 fit. "Within a week or two from that time, there was to be a public 
 exhibition in college hall — an occasion always sure to draw together a 
 iarge assembly. When the day arrived Patrick Henry, who lived in 
 the neighborhood, came with the rest, little dreaming of the rod that 
 Jiad been prepared for him. One of the best speakers among the students 
 >came forward upon the stage and delivered Henry's phillipic against the 
 .constitution, almost exactly as he had delivered it at the Court House. 
 Another immediately followed with a speech prepared by Dr. Smith, in 
 which he had put all his energies in defense of the constitution. There 
 was no intimation given that the two speeches were not written by the 
 individuals who pronounced them. Henry was not a little annoyed by 
 the procedure, and at the close of the exercise gave Dr. Smith to under- 
 stand, in no equivocal terms, that he felt that an unfair advantage had 
 *Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, vol. iii. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 54:9 
 
 accomplislied teachers from abroad as his assistants, there 
 was perhaps no school in the country, at that day, that fur- 
 nished better advantages for becoming thoroughly grounded, 
 especially in the classics. The only language allowed to be 
 spoken in the school-room, was Latin, and whoever uttered 
 a word in the mother tongue, was marked as a delinquent. 
 Young Smith made the best of his opportunities, and was 
 distinguished for his improvement in every branch to which 
 he directed his attention. In his sixteenth year he was 
 sent to Princeton college, entering the junior class, in 
 which he immediately took rank amongst the best scholars. 
 Shortly afterwards Dr. Witherspoon arrived from Scotland, 
 and assumed the presidential chair of the institution, while 
 the subject of our notice was an undergraduate. Before he 
 had completed his eighteenth year he had received the degree 
 of bachelor of arts, under circumstances the most honorable 
 to his talents and acquirements, and the most gratifying to 
 his ambition. During his collegiate career Mr. Smith came 
 near making shipwreck of his religious principles, in conse- 
 quence of his intimacy with Mr. Periam, the senior tutor, 
 who had embraced Bishop Berkley's theory, denying the 
 existence of matter. He became for a time an enthusiastic 
 advocate of these opinions, insomuch that his friends began 
 to have the most serious apprehensions that he had become 
 a permanent accepter of the idealistic theory. When, how- 
 been taken of him. Dr. Smith contended that he had no cause of com- 
 plaint, unless his speech had been unfairly represented; and in that case 
 he declared himself ready to make any amends in His power. Henry 
 said that was not the ground of his complaint; for the young man cer- 
 tainly had taken his speech down with great' aocviraoy; but he thought 
 it was indelicate and improper that he should be placed in such circum- 
 stances before the audience, without any intimation having previously 
 been given of vihat was intended. Dr. Smith replied that Colonel Henry 
 knew it was his intention to have replied to him, when he spoke at the 
 Court House, but was providentially prevented; that he had then spoken 
 for public effect, and his speech became public property; that all that he 
 could reasonably require was, that it should be fairly reported; and if 
 that had been done, he could not see that he had any just reason for 
 complaint. Hemy, however, was not at all satisfied, broke off all inter- 
 course with him from that time, and would never hear him preach after- 
 wards, though he had previously been one of his constant hearers. — 
 Letter of Bev. William Hill. 
 
650 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ever, Dr. Witherspoon arrived from Scotland, he brought 
 with him the works of several distinguished Scottish philo- 
 sophical writers, particularly Eeid and Beattie, the influence 
 of which was quickly perceptible in bringing back this 
 gifted young man into the regions of common sense. 
 
 After taking his degree at Princeton, he returned to his 
 father's house, and spent some time partly in assisting him 
 in conducting his school, and partly in vigorous efforts for 
 the higher cultivation of his own mind. He read the finest 
 models in polite literature and the most accredited authors 
 in intellectual and moral philosoffhy. He also occasionally 
 tried his hand at writing poetry, but he was not much flat- 
 tered by the result of his efforts ; and he seems to have 
 abandoned his devotion to the muses on the ground that 
 "poeta nascitur non fit." He had not been long in this new 
 sphere of labor before he was invited to return to Princeton 
 as a tutor in the college, especially in the department of the 
 classics and belles letters. This position he accepted 
 and filled from 1770 till 1773, discharging his duties in con- 
 nection with the institution with exemplary fidelity and great 
 acceptance, and all the while he was pursuing a course of 
 theological study in reference to the ministry. About the 
 close of his tutorship he was licensed to preach by the pres- 
 bytery of New Castle. As his health had suffered not a 
 little from severe affliction he determined, previous to 
 assuming the responsibility of a stated charge, to spend some 
 time as a missionary in the western counties of Virginia. 
 When he reached that part of the country, he received a 
 most cordial welcome from many Irish Presbyterians who 
 had settled in that section. It was not long till his capti- 
 vating oratory and exemplary deportment rendered him, an 
 almost universal favorite. Persons without distinctio-n of 
 sect or of rank, flocked to hear him ; and those who had 
 been entranced by the eloquence of Davies, seemed to feel 
 as if another Davies had arisen. So powerful an impression 
 did he make, that some of the most wealthy and influential 
 persons soon set on foot a project for detaining him there as 
 the head of a literary institution, and in a short time the 
 funds requisite for establishing such an institution were sub- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 551 
 
 scribed. The necessary buildings were erected, and the 
 seminary was subsequently chartered by the Legislature 
 under the name of Hampden Sydney college. The new 
 college being at length nearly ready to commence its opera- 
 tions, he returned to the North and formed a matrimonial 
 alliance with the eldest daughter of Dr. Witherspoon. He 
 then returned to Virginia and took upon himself the double 
 office of principal of the seminary and pastor of the church ; 
 and the duties of each he discharged in such a manner as to 
 fulfill the highest expectations that had been formed con- 
 cerning him. But the new labors were more than his con- 
 stitution could endure ; and after three or four years, a slight 
 bleeding at the lungs admonished him to take at least a 
 temporary respite from his burdens. By the advice of 
 friends he resorted to the watering place among the west- 
 ern mountains, then acquiring considerable celebrity under 
 the name of the " Sweet Springs." A residence at this place 
 for a few weeks caused the unfavorable symptoms in a great 
 measure to disappear, so that he returned to his family with 
 his health in a good degree renovated. 
 
 At this period (1799), he was invited to the chair of moral 
 philosophy, at Princeton ; and notwithstanding his strong 
 attachment to the infant seminary in Virginia, (of which he 
 might be considered the founder), the prospect of a more 
 extended sphere of usefulness in connection with his Alma 
 Mater, induced him to accept the appointment. Upon his arri- 
 val at Princeton, however, a most unpromising state of things 
 presented itself. The college itself was in ruins, in conse- 
 quence of the uses .and abuses to which it had been subjected 
 by both the British and American soldiers, during the pre- 
 vious years of the Eevolutionary war. The students were 
 dispersed and all its operations had ceased. Mainly by the 
 energy, wisdom, and general self-devotion of Mr. Smith, the 
 college was speedily reorganized and all its usual exercises 
 resumed. For several years Dr. Witherspoon, though re- 
 taining the office of president, was engaged as a member of 
 Congress in the higher affairs of the nation. Owing to the 
 fact that Dr. Witherspoon some years afterwards became, in 
 a great measure, disqualified for the duties of the office of 
 
552 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 president, being affected with total blindness and many other 
 bodily infirmities, the great weight of care as to the manage- 
 ment of the institution devolved upon the subject of this 
 notice; and it is not too much to say, that it was indebted 
 for no small degree of its prosperity to the increasing vigi- 
 lance, the earnest efforts and the distinguished ability of 
 Mr. Smith. In 1783 he was honored with the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity from Yale college ; and in 1810 the de- 
 gree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by Howard 
 University. In 1785 Dr. Smith was elected an honorary 
 member of the American Philosophical Society, in Philadel- 
 pliia — an institution distinguished not only for being the 
 first of its kind, in the order of time in the country, but for 
 numbering among its members many of the most brilliant, 
 profound and erudite minds of which the country could 
 boast. The same year he was appointed to deliver their 
 anniversary address ; and he met the occasion in a manner 
 which of itself would have conferred lasting honor upon his 
 name. The object of the address was to explain the causes 
 of the variety in the figure and complexion of the human 
 species, and to establish the identity of the race. It was 
 published in the " Transactions" of the society, and was sub- 
 sequently published in an enlarged and improved form in a 
 separate volume. With this work his reputation as a phi- 
 losopher, both at home and abroad, is in no small degree 
 identified. In 1786 he was associated with several of the 
 most distinguished and venerable men in the Presbyterian 
 church, such as Witherspoon, McWhorter, Allison, Ewing, 
 &c., in preparing the form of presbyterial government, which 
 continues to the present time. His comprehensive views, 
 and intimate acquaintance with all the forms of ecclesiastical 
 procedure, eminently qualified him for the important service. 
 Upon the death of Dr. Witherspoon in 1794, Dr. Smith 
 succeeded to the honors and full responsibilities of the office 
 which his death had vacated. Besides being highly popular 
 as the head of the institution, he had now acquired a reputa- 
 tion as a pulpit orator which rendered it an object for many, 
 even from remote parts of the country, to listen to his 
 preaching. His baccalaureate discourses particularly, which 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTT. 553 
 
 ■were addressed to the senior class, on tlie Sabtatli immedi- 
 ately preceding their graduation, were always of the highest 
 order, and it was not uncommon for persons to go even from 
 New York and Philadelphia to listen to them. One of his 
 most splendid performances was his oration delivered at 
 Trenton, on the death of Washington ; the occasion roused 
 his faculties to the utmost, and the result was a production 
 of great beauty and power. In 1779 he published a volume 
 of sermons, which were regarded as an important contribu- 
 tion to that department of our country's literature. They 
 are characterized rather by general than particular views of 
 evangelical truth, by a correct, elevated, and perhaps some- 
 what elaborate style, by occasional bold and eloquent apostro- 
 phes, and by many stirring appeals to the heart and con- 
 science. In the spring of 1802, when the institution was at 
 the full tide of its prosperity, the college edifice was burnt, 
 together with the libraries, furniture and fixtures of every 
 description. Indeed, all was gone except the charter, the 
 grounds, and the naked walls of brick and stone, together 
 wi.th the exalted character of the seminary and the com- 
 manding reputation of its president. After the first stunning 
 effect of the calamity was over, it was the general sentiment 
 of all, that the necessary funds must be raised to rebuild the 
 edifice and sustain the institution. Dr. Smith made a col- 
 lecting tour through the southern States, and returned in 
 the following spring with about one hundred thousand dol- 
 lars, which, with liberal collections made in other parts of 
 the Union, enabled him to accomplish vastly more than he 
 had ventured to anticipate. This was his crowning achieve- 
 ment. He had won new honors, and gained many new 
 friends. The college was popular and prosperous, and 
 numbered two hundred students. New buildings were soon 
 erected, and several new professors were added to the faculty. 
 From this period Dr. Smith bent all his energies towards the 
 management of the institution, and it continued year by year 
 to rise in public estimation. But the advance of bodily infirmi- 
 ties were making visible progress in the case of the distin- 
 guished head of the college; and in the year 1812, in conse- 
 quence of repeated strokes of palsy, he became too much 
 38 
 
554 biog;raphical history 
 
 enfeebled to discharge any longer the duties of his office. He, 
 therefore, at the next commencement, tendered his resignation 
 as president, and retired to a place which the board of trustees 
 provided for him, and there spent the remainder of his life. 
 For several years he occupied himself in revising and pre- 
 paring for the press some of his works, but at length disease 
 had made such havoc with his constitution, that he was 
 scarcely capable of any mental labor. After a long course 
 of gradual and almost imperceptible decline, he died August 
 21st, 1819, in the 70th year of his age. His published works 
 are the following : An essay on the causes of the variety of 
 complexion and figure of the human species, to which are 
 added strictures on Lord Kaimes' discourse on the Original 
 Diversity of Mankind, 8vo., 1787. Sermons, 8vo., 1799. 
 Lectures on the Evidences of the Christian Eeligion, 12mo., 
 1809. Lectures on Moral and Political Philosophy, 12mo., 
 1812. A comprehensive view of the leading and most im- 
 portant principles of Natural and Eevealed Eeligion, Bvo., 
 1816. Sermons, to which is prefis;ed a brief memoir of his 
 life and writings, 2 vols., 8vo., (posthumous,) 1821. 
 
 SPBNCBE, "William, a citizen of Strasburg' borough, 
 was elected County Commissioner in the year 1861. 
 
 SPEENGEE, J. J., a citizen of Lancaster, somewhat 
 reputed as an Americaa traveler. In 1857 he visited and 
 traversed a large portion of Europe. In 1859 he was ap- 
 pointed consul at Dresden, and was afterwards transferred 
 to Venice, where he remained until 1862. He has traveled 
 over a large portion of America, and in 1871 made his third 
 trip to Europe, passing through England, France, Germany, 
 Switzerland, Belgium and Spain. In the winter of 1869-70 
 he lectured in many places on " Steaming across the Conti- 
 nent," and during the winter of 1871-72 on " Eeminiscences 
 of a tour through Spain and Portugal." Mr. Sprenger is a 
 man of an enterprising character, and endowed with con- 
 siderable intellectuality. 
 
 • Wlien Dr. Josepli Priestly, tlie celebrated philosoplier, first emigrated 
 from England to America, in 1794, he settled and lived for a sliort time 
 in Strasburg, Lancaster county. He lived in the house now owned by 
 William Spencer, ex-commissioner, for about six months. He removed 
 thence to Northumberland, Pa., where he lies buried. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTT. 555 
 
 STAUFFEE, Benjamin M., was elected Eegister of Wills 
 in 1854. 
 
 STAUFFEE, Christian, elected County Commissioner 
 in 1813. 
 
 STAUFFEE, Capt. Wm. D., is a native of Lancaster 
 county. Upon the breaking out of the rebellion he enlisted 
 as a private soldier in Co. B., first regiment Pennsylvania 
 Eeserves, served all through the struggle, and was discharged 
 as captain of Co. H., 195th regiment Pennsylvania Eeserves- 
 In 1869 he was elected Prothonotary of Lancaster county, 
 succeeding Col. Wm. L. Bear, who filled the same office for 
 three years. 
 
 STAUFFEE FAMILY. John Staufler and his brother 
 Jacob emigrated to America from Germany about the- year 
 1740. They were mere boys, John being not more than 12 
 or 15 years old. They started from Philadelphia to Lan- 
 caster on foot. While traveling along they came up with a 
 farmer driving in a wagon. He, seeing that they were boys 
 and must be hungry, threw some bread on the ground, which 
 the boys eagerly picked up and ate. When they arrived in 
 Lancaster they found the town to consist of only a few 
 houses. They then traveled to the neighborhood of Litiz, 
 where they lived until grown up, when John married a 
 daughter of John Martin Amweg. He then settled about 3 
 miles north of Manheim, where he bought a mill on the Big 
 Chiques creek, at present in the possesion of Moses Light. 
 When the Eevolutionary war broke out he refused to take 
 up arms, having conscientious scruples, being a member of 
 the Mennonite church. The officers searched the mill for him ; 
 he, however, made his escape to the hills. They finally gave 
 up the chase and left. In 1778, on the 15th of Novem- 
 ber, was born his son, Martin Stauffer, who is still living, 
 having just entered his 94th year, and is with his daughter, 
 Mrs. Henry Suavely. 
 
 STAUFFEE, Jacob. The subject of this memoir was 
 born in Manheim, in the county of Lancaster, Pa., on the 30th 
 day of November, 1808. He received a common country 
 school education, and was early put behind the counter by 
 his father, who kept both store and tavern, during his 
 
556 BIOGEAPHIOAL HISTORY 
 
 minority. He manifested quite a taste for drawing and paint- 
 ing in his youth, and great fondness for military display. A 
 retired graduate of West Point, boarding with his father, 
 took quite an interest in him, and gave him lessons; indeed, 
 almost a regular "West Point course. Owing to this, Ool. 
 Jacob Hostetter appointed him adjutant. May, 1825, of the 
 18th regiment Pennsylvania militia. He subsequently was 
 elected first major, and on the expiration of Col. Hostetter's 
 term, young as he was, he was almost unanimously elected 
 colonel, without an effort on his part. After attaining the 
 age of twenty-one he left his native village for Philadelphia, 
 and made the acquaintance of the elder Sulley, Inman, and 
 others, artists and engravers, and took lessons in oil painting 
 and drawing. But, as his father did not approve of his 
 course, and having no resources to sustain him while acquir- 
 ing proficiency as an artist, he got a clerkship, first in the 
 counting house of Mr. S. Eckstein, and afterwards in the 
 recording oface of Philadelphia, during which time he took 
 to himself a wife. After spending a few years in Philadel- 
 phia, he removed to his native village, where he opened a 
 store, and subsequently introduced the first printing press 
 in Manheim, adding a job office- to his mercantile pursuit. 
 Having devoted much of his studies to medicine and botany, 
 he gradually sold off his stock of goods and entered more 
 especially into the drug business. He exchanged his 
 Manheim property for one at what was then called " Eichland 
 crossroads," in 1840, now incorporated in the borough of 
 Mount Joy, at which place he also introduced the first printing 
 press, as well as a lithographic press, and the art of taking 
 daguerreotypes. These various pursuits were insufficient to 
 keep him fully employed, so that he devoted much of his 
 time to botany and natural science. His great love and facility 
 of illustrating plants, insects, &c., occupied much of his time, 
 and it is surprising to behold the immense number of illus- 
 trations, many very life-like and admirably drawn and 
 colored, so that it is difficult to find a plant or insect that he 
 has not figured. He was called on for writing agreements, 
 deeds, specifications, and to make drawings for his neighbors. 
 He was a useful member in the council and school board, as 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY, 557 
 
 well as in the church and Sabbat'h school, during his stay at 
 Mt. Joy. He wrote quite a number of articles for various 
 monthlies, on subjects connected with agriculture, botany, 
 and entomology especially, embracing much original matter, 
 and generally well received and highly appreciated. 
 
 It was during one of his botanical rambles he made the 
 discovery of the parasitism of a certain plant known as the 
 Contandra unihellatta, as also of several species of Gerardia, 
 being in frequent correspondence with Professor A. Gray, of 
 Harvard University. The Doctor published the result of 
 this discovery in Silliman's Journal, vol. xvi. No. 47, p. 250, 
 for Sept., 1853. He also received a highly complimentary 
 letter from Professor Joseph Henry, of the Smithsonian 
 Institute, with a donation of many valuable publications to 
 which he became entitled under Mr. Smithson's will. He 
 was urged to publish his figures, with a description, by 
 Prof. Gray. He accordingly set up the type in pamphlet 
 form, of his own manuscript, made the drawings on stone 
 and lithographed and printed the illustrations and letter 
 press, and stitched the same, without the aid of any other 
 party. Eev. Dr. Morris, of Baltimore, to whom a pamphlet 
 was sent, in answer acknowledging its reception, observed 
 that "he knew of no other savan except Mr. Sturm, of Nurem- 
 berg, who could write, set up, illustrate and print his own 
 work." One of these pamphlets is on file in the Academy of 
 Natural Science of Philadelphia, of which he has for years 
 been a corresponding member. His oldest son started the 
 Mount Joy Herald, in 1854, assisted by him, in which there 
 are weekly articles on botany, illustrated by neat wood cuts, 
 drawn and engraved by himself, giving much valuable and 
 interesting information, drawn from an extensive library of 
 botanical works. He wound up his affairs at Mount Joy 
 and moved to Lancaster in the spring of 1858, devoting his 
 time more especially to the procuring of patents. As a 
 solicitor he was quite successful, and no doubt stimulated 
 the inventive faculties of many by the announcement of 
 patents procured through his aid. 
 
 During the first few years, he had his office in the library 
 rooms of the Lancaster Athenaeum, of which he had the 
 
558 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORT 
 
 charge, but this he was forced to abandon, as his business 
 increased to such a degree that he could but now and then 
 write articles for the press ; yet, being called upon, he would 
 respond; so that to enumerate the monthlies and weeklies 
 in which his articles appeared, would form a lengthy list ; 
 suf3&ce it to say, that without any pretensions, and too apt to 
 depreciate his own acquirements, his writings and illustra- 
 tions are a proof of his industry, as the number would seem 
 to require a lifetime alone to execute. In a letter from 
 Prof. E. D. Cope, of Philadelphia, which came under the 
 observation of the writer, he says: "Thee would have been 
 encouraged in thy zoological studies, no doubt, in finding 
 the number of species thee has added to the fauna of Penn- 
 sylvania ;" then follows a list of hard names, hardly edifying 
 if repeated. Very few of his most intimate friends have any 
 idea of the extent of his labors ; yet, it is acknowledged by all 
 who know him, that he is well versed in almost every branch 
 of science ; and if a strange plant or insect is found, and a 
 name wanted for it, you are usually advised to "go to Stauffer, 
 he can tell you." His devotion to hunt and roam over the 
 hills, valleys, swamps and by-ways, in search of something 
 new, and when found, the habit of figuring it, of course, gave 
 him opportunities for acqiuring a fund of information during 
 a period of fifty years of study. On asking him why he 
 never published a book, his reply was, "I first wished to 
 know what I knew that was not known before," as a repeti- 
 tion of the old story was a species of drudgery for which 
 he had no taste, however cunningly he might disguise it ; 
 "besides, such books as some men compile are no credit to 
 them. I have purchased such, and found nothing new and 
 no improvement on works previously written on the same 
 subject; this has admonished me to be cautious." It is to 
 be hoped tha.t one of his sons will collect the numerous notes 
 and observations scattered in manuscript in connection with 
 his illustrations on various subjects, at no distant day. 
 Either of them would be qualified for the task ; his oldest 
 son is a distinguished writer, while the youngest is a dis- 
 tinguished civil engineer, and has in charge the bridge now 
 being built across the Schuylkill, South street, Philadelphia. 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 559 
 
 Mr. Stauffer has been three times married, and perhaps 
 there are few men who have been more affectionate and 
 devoted in their domestic relations. He is a man singularly 
 disinterested and morally pure, practically recognizing the 
 sanctity of the family union, as husband, father, instructor 
 and friend. Few men possess a greater versatility of talent, 
 and few have labored so long, so incessantly, and so little 
 influenced by the desire of pecuniary reward. Few have 
 been more willing to communicate what they know on any 
 subject, without compensation, even where it has cost him 
 much time and labor, and in many instances has drawn on 
 his own pecuniary means. He seems to have labored much 
 from a love of labor, and without seeming to be impressed 
 with the idea that he had accomplished anything of very 
 special merit. His ability to take tip and adapt himself to 
 almost any branch of science and philosophy, has, perhaps, 
 produced that diversity which prevented the acquisition of 
 that marked distinction, which would have resulted in recom - 
 pense and fame in a special field. He seems to have lacked 
 that love of gain which leads men to concentrate their ener- 
 gies in a special channel, for the mere purpose of making it 
 pay. Always a man of limited means, yet he was habitually 
 benevolent and liberal almost to a fault. When he de- 
 sired and felt that he needed a book or an instrument to assist 
 him in those studies and experiments to which his leisure 
 hours were devoted, he never denied himself or caviled at 
 prices, if the subject came within the limit of his pecuniary 
 abilities ; hence, he never was to any considerable extent a 
 borrower, and accordingly has accumulated a large and 
 valuable library of books, maps, charts and manuscripts, for 
 a man in his circumstances. In common with frail humanity 
 he may commit errors of the head, but those most intimately 
 associated with him are loth to believe that he would wilfully 
 commit an error of the heart, or that his word is of less 
 value than his bond. Eeasonably affable and s^pcial in his 
 nature, he yet never was the man to obtrude himself where 
 he had rational ground to suspect his presence would not be 
 welcome or agreeable. Although peaceably and harmoni- 
 ously inclined, yet when aroused he had the moral and 
 
560 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 physical courage to resist imposition; and' in a tournament 
 with the pen he has the faculty of detecting exposed points, 
 and dealing effective thrusts, although it cannot be said that 
 he is habitually controversial. He is firm in his moral and 
 religious convictions, but not more firm than sincere, and 
 does not seem to be solicitous as to whether his views are in 
 strict accord with the most literar systems of popular ortho- 
 doxy, although he does not profess to be heterodox. He is 
 by no means a man of worldly aspirations, although not a 
 recluse, or indifferent about what is going on in the world. 
 He is one of the few men we find in society who are free 
 from those prejudices which are engendered and fostered by 
 religious, political and social clans, parties, sects and cliques ; 
 hence many of his warmest friendships are among those who 
 differ with him radically in politics, religion and philosophy. 
 Although he might tolerate on a civil plane, yet he could 
 never affiliate with the impure, the obscene, or the profane ; 
 or for the sake of pleasing men alone, forget his higher rela- 
 tions to his Creator. 
 
 STEACY, David G., was born in Bart^ township, Lancas- 
 ter county, Pa., April 23d, 1824. His father, Benjamin 
 Steacy, emigrated from Ireland in the early part of the pres- 
 ent century, and settled in Bart township. He was a man in 
 humble circumstances, and raised a large family. He was 
 simply a laboring man, and his son, the subject of this notice, 
 
 'William McClure was born in Scotland in the year 1698, and emi- 
 grated to Lancaster county early in the last century, and was among the 
 earliest and most respectable settlers of Bart townshii^. His wife had 
 emigrated with her friends from Ireland in the year 1734, and first set- 
 tled at John Harris's Ferry on the Susquehanna, when Harris's 
 house constituted the town of Harrisburg; but she having fled from the 
 savages, finally settled in Lancaster county and was joined in marriage 
 with William MoClure, who purchased a large tract of land in Chester 
 valley, most of which was held by his descendants for nearly one [hun- 
 dred years, and a part thereof is yet owned by one of his grandsons. 
 He had three sons, viz : WiUiam, John and Thomas. William and John 
 served in the a^y of the Revolution, and their team and wagon was 
 engaged in the public service ; one of them had his musket knocked 
 from his hands by a ball, and his hat perforated with one or more bul- 
 lets. After the war, they returned to their farms in the valley, where ■ 
 they spent the remainder of their eventful lives. John resided near a 
 place called the Green Tree, and departed this life in the year 1838, aged 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 561 
 
 was obliged when but eigbteen years of age to take cbarge 
 of tbe family affairs and manage the same. He soon entered 
 into speculative enterprises, having the favor of some men 
 of capital and influence, ■which resulted in success. When 
 young, he became noted for the interest he took in debating 
 societies, and he gained some notice as a debater. He 
 always took a lively interest in politics, first as an' old line 
 Whig, and afterwards as a Republican, of which party he is 
 still a member. He has for many years stood amongst the 
 leaders of this party in the county. He has ever been a 
 great friend of the policy of American protection. In the 
 fall of 1867 he was elected a member of the Legislature, and 
 reelected again to a second term in 1868. 
 
 STEELE, Archibald, a brother of Gen. John Steele, was a 
 man of great intrepidity and resolute daring. Upon the break- 
 ing out of the Revolution he and a man named Smith raised a 
 company in Lancaster county and marched to Boston, 
 where they were organized into a regiment and placed under 
 the command of Benedict Arnold. This was the regiment 
 that made the celebrated march through the wilderness of 
 Maine to Quebec, in the winter of 1775, which has ever 
 been remembered as one memorable in the annals of Ameri- 
 ican history. During this march Archibald Steele had the 
 command of a party of men who were selected to go before 
 
 81 years, leaving six sons and one daugliter, wlio are all living at the 
 present time, tlie average of wliose ages now exceeds 74 years. The 
 family and descendants of "William McClure have ever been considered as 
 among the most highly respectable and influential members of the old 
 Octoraro church, in the township of Bart. He departed this Ufo in the 
 year ITGSj^iged 70 years. His widow, who survived him for more than 
 half a century, departed this life at the present residence of Joseph 
 McClure (her grandson), in the year 1828, aged 108 years, 3 months and 
 29 days. Their descendants are still numerous and respectable in the 
 neighborhood. Among their great-grandsons are Samuel, David, 
 Thomas, Joseph, Robert Spencer and William McClure, of Bart ; and 
 also Francis McClure, of Salisbury. Joseph McClure, who was elected 
 a member of the Legislature in the years 1840 and 1841, is the youngest son 
 of John McClure, and the grandson of "William McClure, sr. He owns 
 and occupies the old homestead, near the Green Tree, in Bart, and is a 
 worthy and leading member of the community in which he lives, and of 
 the Asso,ciate Presbyterian church, of which the Rev. "William Easton, 
 from Scotland, has been the pastor for more than 40 years. 
 39 
 
562 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 the army and mark out the roads and crossing places ; and 
 on the arrival of the army at the St. Lawrence he was ap- 
 pointed superintendent of the crossing of the river. At the 
 head of his company Steele marched with the army to the 
 attack upon Quebec, but upon the fall of Gen. Montgomery 
 the Americans retreated, and Arnold's division were all taken 
 prisoners. He was badly wounded in the left hand, two of 
 his fingers having been carried away by a musket shot. The 
 following may be cited as showing the heroic daring of 
 Capt. Archibald Steele : On one occasion as the Americans 
 were crossing a river in bark canoes, these were filled to their 
 utmost capacity with men, and Capt. Steele seeing no room 
 in the canoe leaped into the river, rested his hands on the 
 stern of the boat whilst one of the men therein sat upon them, 
 and thus was he dragged through the floating ice to the 
 opposite shore. "When they reached the shore, life was 
 almost extinct ; the soldiers wrapped him in their blankets, 
 and rolled him over the ground to infuse new life in him. On 
 his return home from the Quebec expedition he met the 
 American army in New Jersey, and was informed by Gen. 
 Hand that two of his brothers, John Steele and Wm. Steele, 
 were then serving with the army. Capt. Archibald Steele 
 asked Gen. Hand if he thought his brother John would be 
 competent to assume the command of a company (being but 
 eighteen years of age.) Hand replied that he would warrant 
 his qualification, and the commission was procured. Archi- 
 bald Steele was afterwards appointed deputy quarter- 
 master general, a position he retained for some considerable 
 time. He was appointed by Washington colonel of a west- 
 ern expedition, but sickness prevented the acceptance of this 
 command. He held for some time in Philadelphia his posi- 
 tion of military storekeeper. He died in Philadelphia in 
 1832, aged 91 years. He had three sons in the naval service 
 during the war of 1812 (George, William and Matthias), who 
 were captured, taken to England, and there for a time 
 detained as prisoners of Avar. 
 
 ^ STEELE, General James, son of William and Abigail 
 Steele, was born in Sadsbury township about the commence- 
 ment of the Eevolutionary war. During the war of 1812 
 
OF LANCASTEB COUNTY. 563 
 
 he was, for meritorious conduct, promoted to the rank of 
 brigadier general. Prior to the war he had erected a paper 
 mill on the east side of the Octoraro. His residence was on 
 the Chester county side of the creek, while his store, with 
 part of his family and most of his improyements, were on 
 the Lancaster county side. He erected two cotton mills 
 in Sadsbury township, about the year 1818. He was an 
 enterprising business man. He was a Presbyterian, yet 
 his wife and some of his family inclined to the Methodist 
 faith. He died about 1840, at an advanced age. His son, 
 Francis B. Steele, was appointed military storekeeper at the 
 Falls of St. Anthony, in Minnesota, under the administration 
 of President Jackson, in which State several of the family 
 now reside. 
 
 STEELE, General John, was born in Drumore town- 
 ship, Lancaster county, in the year 1758. His parents had 
 emigrated from Scotland, and settled in that part of the 
 county at an early day. His parents had designed him for 
 the ministry, and with this end in view had placed him under 
 the instruction of the Eev. Mr. James, a Presbyterian clergy- 
 man, and upon the breaking out of the Eevolution he was 
 reading divinity with the Eev. Mr. Latta. He immediately 
 joined the American army as a private, being then but 
 eighteen years of age, and at the age of nineteen, having 
 shown his valor, he was given the command of a company. 
 He continued in the service of his country during the whole 
 of the Eevolution. He received a severe wound in the 
 abdomen at the battle of Brandywine, from the effects of 
 which he came near losing his life.^ Upon the conclusion of 
 the war of the Eevolution he returned to civil life, having 
 the fixed habits of military life and little qualified for busi- 
 ness; and yet though one of his arms was disabled from a 
 wound received in the service, he refused a pension when in 
 his reach, and battled for the means of subsistence as best 
 he could. In 1801 he was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature, the duties of which he discharged during one 
 session. The following year he was nominated and elected 
 by the Eepublican (Democratic) party State Senator of 
 Pennsylvania. By virtue of the act of 15th of February, 
 
564 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 1799, wbicli seemed to preclude a Senator from occupying 
 certain offices by appointment, the Senate declared the seat 
 of General Steele vacant in 1803, and on the 16th of Febru- 
 ary, 1804, an election was ordered to fill the vacancy. His 
 friends, however, believing that there was no valid constitu- 
 tional objections to his taking his seat in the Senate, resolved 
 to use their best efforts to secure his reelection. He was 
 accordingly elected Senator without any serious opposition, 
 and was admitted to his seat. On the resignation of Eobert 
 Whitehill, Speaker of the Senate in March, 1805, General 
 Steele was elected Speaker of that body. He was again, in 
 December of the same year, the Republican candidate for 
 Speaker of that body, but as his party was now in the 
 minority he was not elected. Again in December, 1806, he 
 was the candidate of his party for United States Senator, 
 and tied Andrew Gregg on three ballots before the joint 
 convention of the Senate and House of Eepresentatives. An 
 adjournment was now carried, and when the convention re- 
 assembled, his competitor, Andrew Gregg, was elected. 
 
 He was one of the commissioners who were appointed to 
 adjust the damages sustained by the Wyoming sufi'erers at 
 the hands of the Indians. He was, in 1808, appointed by 
 President Jefferson, collector of the port of Philadelphia, a 
 position he held during the remainder of his life. He died 
 February 27th, 1827. The following is from Pouhon's Ad- 
 vertiser: "On Wednesday last the flag of the customhouse, 
 p,nd those of the shipping, in port, were suspended at half 
 mast as a mark of respect to the memory of General Steele. 
 He was an officer of the Eevolutionary army, and served for 
 many years as collector of the port of Philadelphia. In his 
 death we are deprived of a useful citizen, whose character 
 for integrity and benevolence will be long and deservedly 
 remembered." 
 
 STEELE, William, jr., son of William Steele, sr., was 
 one of the early and staunch advocates of American independ- 
 ence. He was appointed one of the lieutenants for Lancaster 
 county during the Revolution, and took an active and effi- 
 cient part in the struggle. He was married to Abigail, a 
 sister of Francis Daily, esq., of Sadsbury. After the close of 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 565 
 
 the Eevolution, he wag appointed one of the magistrates of 
 Lancaster county, a position he held until ' about the year 
 1812. 
 
 STEELE, William, se., was a prominent man among 
 the early settlers of Sadsbury township. He obtained a 
 ■ warrant for a large tract of land west of the Octoraro, in the 
 southern part of the township. He was an influential mem- 
 ber of the old Presbyterian church at Octoraro. He was 
 chosen captain of one of the associated companies of the 
 Lancaster county militia in the year 1756, at the time of the 
 Indian and French war. 
 
 STEHMAN, John M., a banker* of Lancaster, was elected 
 a member of the Legislature in 1860. He was again re- 
 elected to the same office in the years 1865 and 1866. He 
 is also engaged in agricultural pursuits. 
 
 STBIGELjWm. Henry, generally known as Baron Steigel, 
 was a native of Manheim, Germany. He emigrated to 
 America and became associated with the Messrs. Stedman, 
 of Philadelphia, who were Englishmen of great wealth, and 
 who owned the land upon which the town of Manheim in 
 
 'There is no stronger evidence of tlie growing wealth of the people of 
 Lancaster county, than the great change in its banking business, when 
 we compare the past with the present. For a long time there were but 
 four banks in the city, one in Columbia, and one in Marietta ; the latter 
 was in existence but a short time, having to suspend operations. The 
 oldest institution, theF armers' Bank, was incorporated in 1810; next the 
 Lancaster Bank, incorporated in 1814, which suspended in 1856; the Lan- 
 caster County Bank, incorporated in 1841 ; and the office of Discount and 
 Deposit, a branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania, which was compelled to 
 wind up its business on account of the suspension of the mother bank in 
 Philadelphia; the Lancaster Savings Institution, incorporated in 1835 or 
 1836 enjoyed, to a large extent, the confidence of the people, and had a 
 heavy line of deposits, but was compelled to suspend in 1856; the next 
 incorporated savings institution, was the Inland Insurance and Deposit 
 Company, incorporated in 1854, which at one time carried a good lino of 
 insurance, but of late years has confined its operations more particularly 
 to banking. 
 
 Private bankers now occupy a very j)rominent jslace in our financial cir- 
 cles, and this line of business was first started by George K. Reed and 
 John F. Shroder, in 1850. Ever since that time Mr. Eeed has been en- 
 gaged in the banking business, and is now an active member of the old 
 firm of Reed, McGrann & Co. Some years afterwards Reed, Hender- 
 son & Co. commenced 'operations; next John Gyger & Co., the firm now 
 
566 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Lancaster county is built. Steigel came to Lancaster county 
 about 1758, and purchased from the Stedmans tbe one-third 
 interest of a tract of 714 acres, and immediately thereafter 
 built Elizabeth furnace, named in honor of his wife. He 
 now laid out a town which he named Manheim,' in honor of 
 his native city in Germany. The town was laid out as per 
 plan of the European Manheim, which Steigel had brought 
 with him from Germany. He built his chateau with brick, 
 imported from England, and arranged it in the manner of a 
 nobleman's castle. One of the rooms of his castle was orna- 
 mented with paintings representing an equestrian hawking 
 party, of life-size figures. The antique and curiously 
 wrought massive ceilings yet indicate the expense and labor 
 bestowed upon the dwelling.^ Over the old-fashioned fire- 
 place are square plates of delf set in cement, representing 
 landscapes. The baron lived in his wilderness home and 
 sustained for a time the pomp and luxufiance of a noble- 
 man. Upon the top of his castle was a balcony upon which 
 a band of musicians would take their position and play 
 favorite airs as soon as the Baron's return home from a 
 
 dissolved. These liave been succeeded by Bair & Slienk; Steliman, 
 Clarkson & Co.; B. A. Evans & Co., the firm now dissolved; D. P. Locher 
 &Son; J.B.Long; Diffenderifer & Bros. ; Eshleman&Eathvon; and A. 
 K. Spurrier & Co. In the county : The Farmers' Bank of Elizabeth- 
 town; Litiz Deposit and Columbia Deposit Banlcs, are also private in- 
 stitutions. After the passage of the National Banking law, all of the 
 old State corporations were compelled to accept its provisions if they 
 wished to continue their circulation. It was also the means of starting 
 up quite a number of new institutions. The following are the national 
 banks in the county : Farmers' National Bank of Lancaster; Lancaster 
 County National Bank; First National Bank of Lancaster; Columbia 
 National Banlc; First National Bank of Columbia; First National Bank 
 of Marietta; First National Bank of Strasburg; First National Bank of 
 Mount Joy; Union National Bank of Mount Joy; and Manheim' National 
 Bank. Almost every village in the county can now boast of its banking 
 facilities. 
 
 'The land upon which Manheim is built was taken up in 1734 by 
 James Logan, whose daughter married a Mr. Norris, and he sold it to the 
 Stedmans of Philadelphia. 
 
 ^The Baron's house was for years in the possession of John Arndt, a 
 merchant of Manheim, not long since deceased, and who in repairing it 
 made such alterations in it as leaves little to be seen that recalls the 
 name of Steigel, save the room above cited with the paintings. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 567 
 
 journey would be announced by the firing of a canon stationed 
 some distance from the castle. In one of the upper rooms 
 of his house or castle it was the Baron's custom to preach to 
 his laboring hands on Sunday. 
 
 The Baron erected glass works to give encouragement to 
 the inhabitants whom he desired to attract to his new town. 
 These works for many years were carried on successfully by 
 Sleigel, and turned out great quantities of glass articles. 
 He carried on both the glass works and the Elizabeth 
 furnace for several years. lie, however, exceeded in the end 
 the limits of his ability in a financial point of view. He 
 purchased the whole of the Stedman interest in the property, 
 and being unable ever to liquidate the payments for the 
 same he failed, and his property was all sold by the sheriff. 
 He was also imprisoned for the debt in the Lancaster county 
 jail, and an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature was, in 1774, 
 passed for his relief and liberation. After his failure Steigel 
 taught school in the German districts of Lancaster and 
 Berks counties, and was somewhat supported by the 
 iron-masters who came into possession of Elizabeth furnace, 
 and who commiserated him in his misfortunes. He died in 
 great indigence, and though his place of burial is unknown, 
 yet he is thought to be laid somewhere east of Elizabeth 
 furnace, near the line between Berks and Lancaster counties. 
 Upon the breaking out of the American Eevolution Steigel's 
 aristocratic feelings led him to espouse the cause of King 
 George, and one of his sons raised a company for the royal 
 service. His company being severely pressed for pro- 
 visions, young Steigel pledged his gold watch to a farmer for 
 a bullock, .and whether the story be mythical or not, his 
 watch is yet said to be in the possession of a gentleman in 
 Lancaster county. 
 
 STBINMAN, John Frederick, one of the early citizens 
 of Lancaster borough, and ^he ancestor of the highly re- 
 spectable family of this name. He was a native of Germany, 
 and emigrated from a small town near Berlin at an early 
 day. He began the hardware business about the year 1762, 
 at the place where his descendants have continued the same 
 for one hundred and ten years. He was the first who began 
 
568 BIOGEAPHIOAL HISTORY 
 
 this branch of trade in Lancaster, starting it rather in the 
 tinware line, and afterwards developing it into the regular 
 hardware business. He had two sons, John Frederick and 
 George M., the former of whom is yet living at the advanced 
 age of eighty-three years. John Frederick Steinman, last 
 named, was a leading and successful business man, and for 
 many years an influential member of city councils and the 
 Lancaster school board. General George M. Steinman, son 
 of the latter, is one of the leading business men of Lancaster 
 city, and a man of considerable intellectual capacity. lie 
 is besides, a man of inventive ingenuity, and the one who 
 some years since invented for the city reservoir the plan which, 
 by means of a floating ball, attached by a chain to the water 
 pipe, prevented the mud and other filth from entering the 
 pipes and being carried through the city. This was an in- 
 vention which at the time was of vast utility. He served 
 for many years as a member of city councils and as a mem.- 
 ber of the school board. In 1862 he was the candidate of 
 the Democratic party for Congress in opposition to Thaddeus 
 Stevens. He yet carries on the business started by his 
 grandfather. 
 
 *STEVBNS, Thaddeus. When a man of peculiar quali- 
 fications is required to push the world onward towards the 
 good time coming, when the lion and the lamb-shall lie down 
 together, and a little child shall lead them, Providence alwaj-^s 
 furnishes an instrument adapted to the work. History is full 
 of such cases. Sometimes the chosen one seems to come 
 forth like Minerva from the hand of Jove, fully developed 
 and equipped at all points for the work. At other times it 
 would appear that a long course of vigorous training is re- 
 quired to fit the destined leader for his work. Moses spent the 
 first forty years of his life in the most learned, the most lux- 
 urious, the most dissolute court then existing. In this 
 period he learned to know men, their virtues, and their 
 vices. Forty years more tending sheep in the solitudes of 
 vast plains and rugged mountains, gave him leisure to think 
 over, to fully comprehend the power and use of the know- 
 ledge he had before acquired. It was in this way he was 
 ■■^Contributed by Alexander H. Hood, esq. 
 
OF L-ANCASTEE COUNTY. 509 
 
 made capable of becoming tlie leader and law-giver of the 
 only people who retained tbe knowledge of the facts and 
 principles on which only the highest civilization is possible : 
 the law of the Eternal, Invisible, All-powerful Intelligence, 
 which made and sustains the universe, material and spiritual. 
 
 In our own time we have seen numerous instances of 
 Providential selection and preparation. No other man than 
 Abraham Lincoln could have abolished slavery so effectually 
 as. he did. His slow, cautious mode of dealing with the ques- 
 tion, prevented all hazard of failure from premature attempts. 
 At the beginning of the war Grant never dreamed that he 
 was the man destined to end the rebellion. Up to this time 
 he had not been a prosperous man. Fortune, in almost every 
 instance, seemed to baffle his exertions. Most probably it 
 was from this very circumstance that he acquired that per- 
 sistence of purpose which afterwards made his success so 
 thoroughly complete. 
 
 Lincoln finished his alloted lask, and in fire and blood was 
 called to his reward. Grant still remains, because his dis- 
 tinguishing quality may be still further needed. Without 
 the crowning victories of Grant, Lincoln's proclamation of 
 freedom would have remained a dead letter. "Without the 
 reconstruction measures of Stevens, the South in a few years 
 would, through the agency of its legislative bodies, have 
 nullified all the good which the proclamation of Lincoln and 
 the victories of Grant had given the nation power to estab- 
 lish. To give a history of this man as fully as can be done 
 within the small space to which this article is limited, is the 
 task which the, writer has undertaken. 
 
 Thaddeus Stevens was born in the town of Danville, Cale- 
 donia county, Vermont, on the 4th day of April, 1792. Of 
 his father but little is known, beyond the facts that he was a 
 man of rather dissipated habits, and a great wrestler, able 
 to throw down any man in the county. In the war of 1812 
 he enlisted as a soldier, and in the attack on Oswego received 
 a bayonet wound in the groin, of which he died a few days 
 afterwards. His mother, of whom he never wearied in talk- 
 ing, was a woman of strong natural sense and unconquerable 
 resolution. Her maiden name was Morrell, and the great 
 40 
 
570 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 object of lier life was to give her sons a good education. In 
 this effort she was successful. The eldest became a judge in 
 Illinois ; Alanson, the second son, was a practicing physician 
 of high reputation at the time of his death. Another, the 
 third of the brothers, became a farmer, and was a gentleman 
 of intelligence and culture. Thaddeus, the youngest, was 
 the one on whom she placed the greatest share of her affec- 
 tions. There was a valid, natural reason, for this. The boy, 
 though healthy, was in some degree deformed. He had a 
 club foot, and doubtless required greater attention than the 
 others. From the little that can now be gathered as to the 
 relations between him and his mother, it is very clear that 
 he was the Joseph of the family. 
 
 His first journey into the world was in 1804, when he 
 went with his parents to Boston, on a visit to some relations. 
 He very seldom alluded to this trip, though from what he 
 did say about it, the inference to be drawn is, that he came 
 to a resolution to become rich and live like the wealthy men 
 did there. This resolution, however, seemed to have little 
 effect upon his after-life, for there never was a man who 
 cared less for money to be spent upon himself. It may be 
 that it was at this time he began to understand that money 
 was the power by which men were ruled, but it seems 
 scarcely possible that one so young could have arrived at this 
 conclusion. He was, however, a genuine Yankee, and in 
 poor countries, like Vermont was then, taken in connection 
 with his knowledge that all he could ever hope to be, must 
 depend upon himself, it may be that it was then that some of 
 the prominent characteristics of his nature were developed. 
 That it was at this time he determined to make his mark in 
 the world, is certain. The year after this, the spotted fever 
 prevailed to an alarming degree in Caledonia. For miles 
 around his home there was scarcely a family in which one or 
 more were not stricken down. In many houses all were 
 sick, and it was almost impossible to obtain help. In this 
 state of things Mrs. Stevens turned nurse, and went to the 
 help of her neighbors, taking young Thaddeus along with 
 her. Among the families they visited there was no little 
 suffering, and the recollection of this fact operated in after- 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 571 
 
 life to make him always very kindly disposed to the sick and 
 the poor. To such, up to the end of his life, when he knew 
 of their wants, he was always a ministering angel. Often, it 
 is true, he would rail at men for their vices, their want of 
 industry and care, and yet it often seemed he was more kind 
 to this class of persons than to those who had never been 
 guilty of such imprudence. Many of his good works of this 
 kind were done in secret, no one knowing anything about 
 them except himself and the party benefited. Those who 
 asked for his charity he never refused when he had money ; 
 when his pockets were empty, as was sometimes the case, he 
 would never admit the fact, but justify his refusal by bring- 
 ing forward the unworthiness of the applicant. Those who 
 knew the real reason of his conduct, were often considerably 
 amused at the seriousness with which he would lecture the 
 applicant on such occasions. 
 
 That his father was a shoemaker is known, but he did 
 not work steadily at the business. Thaddeus, though his 
 opportunities were not great, had still a chance to pick up a 
 little of the trade. Certain it is, that after his father's death, 
 and perhaps before it, he made the shoes of the family, and 
 perhaps some for a few of the neighbors. In his younger 
 years, when first a candidate for the Legislature, he used to 
 boast of being a shoemaker ; and the writer has seen men 
 who averred that they had worked with him in the same 
 shop, but this was not true. Certain it is, that he never did 
 anything of the sort in Pennsylvania. 
 
 During his early years Mr. Stevens was a most diligent 
 reader of everything that came into his hands. Books, at 
 that time, were not very numerous in Peacham, where he 
 then lived. When he was about fifteen he tried the exper- 
 iment of founding a library, which it is said still exists, hav- 
 ing grown considerably in size since his day. About this 
 time, like all Yankee boys who desire an education, he be- 
 gan to teach school, and, it is said, was quite a successful 
 teacher. On September 11th, 1814r, he was a student at 
 Burlington college, for on that day he saw, with a spy-glass, 
 the fight between McDonough and the British fleet on Lake 
 Champlaiji. For some reason he did not graduate at this 
 
572 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOBY 
 
 college, but at Dartmouth in the following year. Perhaps 
 the following circumstance, which is taken from the relation 
 of Stevens himself, may have had something to do with the 
 change. 
 
 The campus at Burlington college was not enclosed, and 
 the cows of the citizens used to enjoy it as a pleasant pasture 
 ground. Before commencement, it was usual to give the 
 people notice to keep their cows away till after com- 
 mencement was over. The grounds were then cleared up, 
 and everything kept in complete order till the exercises 
 were ended and the students gone to their homes. It hap- 
 pened that among the citizens of Burlington was a man, "a 
 stubborn fellow, whom," as Stevens said, " we shall call 
 Jones." He would take no steps to keep his cows off the 
 campus. One night, about a week before the day of com- 
 mencement, Stevens and a friend were walking under the 
 trees in front of the college, when they saw one of Jones' 
 ( cows within the prohibited lines. They knew the cow belonged 
 to Jones ; they knew Jones let her go there in a spirit of de- 
 fiance to the students. After some discussion, it was agreed 
 to kill the cow. 
 
 Among the students was a young man who kept himself 
 aloof from most of the others. In a word, he had the reputa- 
 tion of being decidedly pious. This young man had a room in 
 an out-house belonging to the college, where in spare moments 
 he manufactured many things out of wood, which he sold to 
 the people of the town and to others. Among other tools, 
 he was known to have an axe, and Stevens and his compan- 
 ion determined to use it in the execution of the cow. The 
 axe was procured, the cow was slain, the axe returned, and 
 the two avengers of the college dignity retired to rest. 
 The next morning Jones was with the president making com- 
 plaint about the death of his cow. An 'investigation was at 
 once begun ; blood was found on the axe of the pious, well- 
 behaved student ; he denied the charge, but as there was no 
 evidence against any other person, he was threatened with a 
 public reprimand and expulsion on the day on which he had 
 expected to graduate with high honors. No do abt the young 
 man suffered much, but Stevens and his associate suffered 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 573 
 
 mucli more. They dare not inform against themselves, yet 
 they could not see an innocent person punished for their mis- 
 conduct, "What was to be done ? After many conferences, 
 without any result, Stevens suggested that Jones was not a bad 
 man, but rather a hi^h-spirited fellow, who would help them 
 out of the scrape if they would throw themselves upon his 
 mercy. This they resolved to do. It was the night before 
 commencement day, when they had their interview with 
 Jones. They made a clean breast of it, and offered to pay 
 twice the value of the cow whenever they should be able to 
 do so. Jones listened kindly ; told them not to distress 
 themselves about the price of the cow, and said he would fix 
 it all next morning. True to his word, about 9 o'clock 
 Jones appeared just before the proceedings were to begin ; 
 told the professors that he was all wrong about the death of 
 his cow, and that she had been killed by soldiers who were 
 going down the river on a boat, and had no time to dress 
 and reniove the meat. This made all things right ; the 
 pious young man was not expelled, but honorably acquitted 
 of the charge. Stevens and his friend were never suspected. 
 Some years afterwards, when Stevens was rising in the 
 world, Mr. Jones received a draft for the price of the best 
 sort of cow in the market, accompanied by a fine gold watch 
 and chain by way of interest. A year or two afterwards 
 there came to Gettysburg, directed to Mr. Stevens, a hogs- 
 head of the best Vermont cider, and this was the end of the 
 killing of Jones' cow. 
 
 It cannot now be ascertained with certainty what profes- 
 sion Mr. Stevens originally intended to adopt. In arguing 
 predestination with one who is an Arminian, he evinced such 
 an intimate acquaintance with the theological writers of the 
 Calvinistic school, that the friend said : " Stevens, did you 
 ever study with a view to the pulpit?" The answer was: 
 " Umph ! I have read the books." This is all that is known 
 about it. 
 
 Mr. Stevens made his appearance in Pennsylvania, at York, 
 about the end of 1815, where he obtained a situation as 
 teacher in an academy, of which Dr. Perkins was the princi- 
 pal, . Amos Gilbert, a very celebrated teacher, then residing 
 
574 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 at York, said that Stevens was at that time one of the most 
 backward, retiring, modest young men he had ever seen, and 
 that he was a remarkably hard student. This is the only 
 fact as to the period of his stay at York the writer has been 
 able to ascertain. Soon after leaving the academy he made 
 application for admission to the bar at Gettysburg, but owing 
 to the fact that he had not read law under the instruction of 
 a gentleman learned in the law, for two years, as required by 
 the rule of court, he was rejected. At that time Maryland 
 admitted all applicants to the bar who, on examination, were 
 found to be qualified. Mr. Stevens went to Bel Air, where 
 the court was in session, and made application to be ex- 
 amined. The court. Judge Chase, of impeachment fame, 
 appointed a committee, of which the chairman was General 
 Winder. Stevens' description of the examination is well 
 worth preserving: 
 
 Supper was over, the table was cleared off, and the clock 
 said it was half-past seven. Stevens was, of course, punctual 
 to time, and shortly after, the judge and the committee took 
 their seats. "Are you the young man who is .to be ex- 
 amined?" said the judge. Stevens replied that he was. 
 "Mr. Stevens," said the judge, "there is one indispensable 
 pre-requisite before the examination can proceed. There 
 must be two bottles of Madeira on the table, and the appli- 
 cant must order it in." The order was given, the wine 
 brought forward, and its quality thoroughly tested. Gen. 
 Winder began with : " Mr. Stevens, what books have you 
 read ?" Stevens replied, " Blackstone, Coke upon Littleton, 
 a work on pleading, and Gilbert on evidence." This was 
 followed by two or three other questions by other members 
 of the committee, the last of which required the distinction 
 between a contingent remainder and an executory devise, 
 which was satisfactorily answered. By this time the judge was 
 feeling a little dry again, and broke in saying: "Gentlemen, 
 you see the young man is all right, I'll give him a certificate." 
 This was soon made out and signed, but before it was handed 
 over, two more bottles had to be produced. These were 
 partaken of by a large number of squires, &c., who were 
 there attending court, who, as soon as the examination was 
 
OF LANCASTEE COTTNTY. 575 
 
 concluded, came in and were introduced to the newly -made 
 member of the bar, " Fip-loo " was played then for a good 
 part of the night. Stevens was then a green hand at the 
 business. To use his own words, when he paid his bill the 
 next morning, he had but $3.50 left out of the $45 he began 
 with the night before. 
 
 He left early, rode fast, and while crossing McCall's ferry 
 bridge, not then finished, he had a very narrow escape from 
 death. His horse took fright, and would have fallen into 
 the river with his rider, had it not been for the presence of 
 mind of one of the men working on the bridge. He dined 
 that day in Lancaster, at Slough's hotel, and while his horse 
 was resting, walked from one end of King street to the other. 
 He did not feel pleased with the town, and while thus en- 
 gaged came to the conclusion he would go back to Gettys- 
 burg. That night he staid at York, and the next day began 
 his legal career, with but few friends and very little money. 
 
 It was a considerable time before he obtained any busi- 
 ness of importance, and he became quite discouraged. At a 
 dance at Littlestown, he told a friend he could hold out no 
 longer, that he would have to seek another loeation. A day 
 or two after, a horrible murder was committed, and none of 
 the prominent lawyers seemed willing to undertake the de- 
 fence. Stevens was retained, and exerted himself to the 
 utmost in behalf of his client, but without success. The 
 man was convicted and executed. Many years after, Mr. 
 Stevens said that he had been counsel for the defence in 
 more than fifty murder cases, in all of which but one he had 
 been successful, adding, that every one of them deserved hang- 
 ing except the one that was hanged, who was certainly insane. 
 This case brought Mr. Stevens a fee of $1500, and this was 
 the beginning of his fortune. 
 
 Mr. Stevens rose at once to celebrity as a lawyer. He 
 was up to 1831 engaged in nearly all the great cases tried 
 in Adams, York, Franklin and Cumberland counties. During 
 this, period a large number of colored people, illegally held 
 by persons .claiming their services as slaves, were liberated 
 by his exertions. When the law could not avail, he used to 
 buy and set them free. At one time when coming from the 
 
576 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTOBT 
 
 Hagerstown races, lie stopped at a tavern, the landlord of 
 which had been " cleaned out," and had no resource but to 
 sell one of his boys. There was already a trader haggling 
 about the price when Stevens arrived. The owner wanted 
 $500, the trader offered four hundred. While this was going 
 on, Stevens was so strongly impressed with the boy's resem- 
 blance to the landlord, that he called him aside and asked 
 why he was going to sell the boy to a trader. The landlord 
 said he did not like to do it, but he had been so very unfor- 
 tunate at the races, that he must make a raise some way or 
 other. Stevens, finding that the owner would rather not sell 
 the boy, proposed to buy him for his own use. After talk- 
 ing it over, Stevens saying he would set the boy free at 
 twenty-one years, a bargain was made for $350. When the 
 bill of sale was being made out, Stevens asked what name 
 he should give the boy ? Observing the landlord looking 
 confused, and red ia< the face, Stevens said, " Oh, I'll put 
 your name in ; these fellows always goes by the name of their 
 owners." "I saw," Stevens remarked, "he was the land- 
 lord's own son, or I never should have bought him for $350." 
 Stevens kept him about four years and then gave him a fair 
 start to make his own living. 
 
 Until 1829 when the Anti-Masonic excitement swept over 
 Pennsylvania, Mr. Stevens took but little part in politics. 
 It no where appears that in the elections from 1817 to that 
 period, he was in any degree prominent. The reason for 
 this seems to have been, that being a Federalist, and the 
 party going downward, he could not find a cause in which to 
 exert his energies. He once told the writer, that the last 
 intercourse he had with Buchanan, was at York, in 1827. 
 They had both been engaged on the same side in the trial of 
 a cause, and when the jury were out they walked down a 
 lane some distance from the town and took a seat on the 
 top-rail of the fence. Buchanan began the discourse by 
 saying to Stevens, that now was the time for a man of 
 ability to enter into politics, and suggested that Stevens 
 would do well to come into the support of Jackson. Stevens 
 answered by saying, that he saw the advantages of such a 
 course, but for his part he was ashamed to forsake his old opin- 
 
OF LANCASTEK COUNTY. 577 
 
 ions, which he believed to be right, for the sake of joining a 
 party in which he had no faith. This was the last time they 
 met for many years. In 1867 they met at the wedding of 
 Dr. Henry Carpenter, the friend of both. Stevens approached 
 Buchanan holding out his hand. Buchanan turned aside as 
 though he did not see the offer, and entered into conversa- 
 tion with some one he met as he turned. During all these 
 years they had never met. A year afterwards both were in 
 their graves. 
 
 In 1831 Mr. Stevens began his political career as a mem- 
 ber of the Assembly from Adams county. The session was 
 nearly over before he said anything which excited marked 
 attention. He then made a speech reviewing the course of 
 the Jackson party and its leaders, which at once placed him 
 in the front rank of the ablest men of the State. This 
 revelation of ability, with his strict adherence to his pro- 
 claimed principles, drew upon him the enmity of his oppo- 
 nents, and for many years he was the target at which their 
 most venomous shafts were directed. The members of the 
 Masonic order regarded him as little less than a devil incar- 
 nate. Democrats, not belonging to the order, were equally 
 bitter against him. The deformity of his foot was seized 
 upon to spread the idea of his connection with the prince of 
 the fallen angels. Those who read the Democratic journals 
 of that time, will see that no man was ever so foully abused. 
 He was charged- with all manner of evil, and men who said a 
 word in his favor were regarded as little less devilish than 
 himself Such was his reputation up to 1835, when an 
 attempt was made to repeal the school law, passed at the 
 previous session by a nearly unanimous vote. The fact that 
 it seemed to impose a new tax was seized upon by both 
 parties, and each fearing the other might gain advantage by 
 being foremost in its denunciation, made all possible haste to 
 declaim against it. When the bill was called up in the 
 House, it seemed as though no one would say a word in favor 
 of the then existing law. Speech after speech was delivered 
 in favor of the repeal, and the question was on the point of 
 being put, when Mr. Stevens rose to speak. He was terribly 
 earnest. All his powers were roused to the utmost. Those 
 41 
 
578 BIOGEAPHIOAL HISTOET 
 
 who heard him, say he spoke like a prophet inspired by the 
 truth and magnitude of his theme. In ten minutes it seemed 
 as though all opposition to the schools was utterly van- 
 quished. When the vote was taken the bill was defeated by 
 a large majority. This speech placed the school system oi 
 Pennsylvania upon an impregnable basis. No man was evei 
 afterwards heard to speak of its repeal. Ever since, it has 
 been steadily growing in popular favor — indeed, at this time, 
 but few recollect or know that it was ever bitterly opposed, 
 Successive acts of the Legislature have brought it to the 
 perfection it has now attained, and at this day it ranks in its 
 sphere with the very best educational systems of the world 
 
 But in 1835 there was no such thing as reporting speeches 
 by phonography. There was not even a stenographer to be 
 found in either house of the Pennsylvania Legislature, 
 Some hours after its delivery it was attempted to report it 
 from memory, but the written speech conveys nothing of the 
 force and power of the words as they fell from the lips oi 
 the speaker. From that day forth Mr. Stevens was regarded 
 by all intelligent people as a great man. Some hated him 
 still, but no one was foolish enough to deny his ability. 
 
 During this same session, the committee to investigate 
 Free Masonry, of which Mr. Stevens was the chairman and 
 originator, made its report. At this day it would be quite a 
 curiosity, but it had the effect to keep up the excitement foi 
 a year or two longer. At the election in. 1835, in conse- 
 quence of the split in the Democratic party, Joseph Eitnei 
 was elected Governor by a plurality of votes ; the united 
 vote of Wolf and- Muhlenberg exceeding the number polled 
 for Eitner by about twelve thousand. In 1836 Genera' 
 Harrison was nominated as the candidate for President ir 
 opposition to Martin Van Buren. During nearly the whole 
 of this campaign, Mr. Stevens was unfavorably disposed to 
 wards the anti-Democratic nomination, and it was only aftei 
 the State election had revealed how necessary it was for the 
 salvation of his own party that Mr. Stevens yielded to the 
 nomination a cordial support. Harrison's unexpected popu 
 larity, as developed in the election returns, made it apparen' 
 that by a union of all opposed to the Democracy, Pennsyl 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTT. 579 
 
 vania might be carried by the opposition ; and during the 
 session of the Eeformed Convention in 1837, this union, so 
 far as the leaders of the various factions were concerned, was 
 almost fully accomplished. In that convention, Stevens, for 
 the first time in his life, came in contact with the most bril- 
 liant speakers and the most profound thinkers in the State, 
 proving himself rather more than a match for the best of 
 them. John Sergeant, Joseph Hopkinson, Joseph E. Chan- 
 dler, Charles Chauncey, Thomas Earle, C. J. Ingersoll, James 
 M. Porter, Walter Forward, John Morin Scott, and George 
 W. Woodward, were the men who were always seeking for 
 a weak spot in his armor, but could never find it. Those 
 who were rash enough to make a direct attack upon him, 
 always came out of the encounter damaged or .completely 
 overthrown. Those who now would like to take the intel- 
 lectual measure of the man in his best days, should carefully 
 study the debates of that convention, for the best talent of 
 Pennsylvania was to be found on the roll of its members. 
 Whether the changes made by this body in the fundamental 
 law of the State, were improvements or otherwise is not yet 
 fully settled. Further steps in the same direction must yet 
 be taken to make us certain of its wisdom or its folly. Let 
 the final verdict be what it may, it will never be known 
 from the names of its makers appended thereto, that Mr. 
 Stevens was its leading mind.i The constitution, as amended, 
 confined the right of suffrage to white males only. Mr. Ste- 
 vens denounced this as a violation of natural right, as an act 
 of the meanest sort of tyranny, perpetrated by cowards and 
 fools, for the purpose of proving how low they could bend 
 the knee to the " dark spirit of slavery." His name is not 
 attached to the instrument. The record of the infamy of 
 all its other members stands as objects of mingled detesta- 
 tion and pity to future generations. Thirty-four years have 
 passed away since this act of tyranny was perpetrated. Ste- 
 vens lived to see many of those whose signatures sanctioned 
 the foul act, repent sincerely of their error. In the late 
 copies of our Digest, the names are not attached to the con- 
 stitution. No one of those who voted for the word white^ 
 aow cares to be remembered as a member of the convention. 
 
580 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Such is tlie change time has wrought in the public mind. 
 Soon after the adjournment of the Legislature in 1838, Mr. 
 Stevens was appointed canal commissioner. This was done 
 because it was believed he could so manage the public works 
 as to make them a powerful engine in the reelection of 
 Governor Eitner. Never, perhaps, was there a more bitter 
 electioneering campaign in Pennsylvania. No stone was left 
 unturned on either side to ensure success. The newspapers 
 of the day were full of libels, and a stranger, believing either 
 side, would have thought the opposing candidates the greatest 
 scoundrels that ever existed. Money was also used without 
 stint. For nearly the whole summer ten thousand dollars 
 were posted weekly by each side. A few days before the 
 election, an ofS.cer connected with the collector's office at 
 Philadelphia, came to Harrisburg and offered to bet a quarter 
 of a million that Porter would be elected. The pockets of 
 Eitner 's friends by this time were empty. Stevens had spent, 
 or bet at least one hundred thousand dollars, and was about 
 at the end of his pile. The knowledge that Eitner's sup- 
 porters were at the end of their financial scope, did more to 
 defeat him than all other causes put together. The election 
 came, and frauds of all kinds were resorted to by both 
 parties. At this game the Democrats, from long practice, 
 were far superior to their opponents. It soon became clear 
 that Eitner had been defeated, but the Legislature was still 
 in doubt. Both sides claimed that in Philadelphia all their 
 members were elected. The return judges of that city and 
 county split into two bodies, and each made their own return. 
 The returns made by Eitner's friends came to Harrisburg, 
 and were deposited in the secretary's ofS.ce, in the manner 
 prescribed by the law. The other set of returns were brought 
 to the office by private hands, and the Secretary of State, 
 Thomas H. Burrowes, refused to receive them. A day or 
 two after this Burrowes published a short address, in which 
 he counseled the defeated party to "treat the election as 
 though it had not taken place, and in that attitude abide the 
 result." What he really intended to say was, that Eitner's 
 friends should not give up their bets, but his opponents in- 
 terpreted it as a threat of revolution. This raised the blood 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 581 
 
 of partisans on eitlier side to fever heat. When the Legis- 
 lature met, an immense crowd of bullies and roughs from 
 almost every part of the State, filled the capital. The clerk 
 read the returns as presented by both sides; both sides elected 
 a Speaker, and both adjourned their respective^followers, or 
 as they were then called, Houses. In the morning it was 
 feared there would be a terrible fight, but as an adjournment 
 had been effected without violence, it was supposed that all 
 things would go on peaceably. During the whole morning 
 a rowdy from Philadelphia stood behind the seat of Mr. 
 Stevens, with a dagger in his coat bosom, who swore that if 
 the friends of Eitner attempted to eject the Democrats by 
 force, he would kill Stevens. This desperado was watched 
 closely by another of the same stamp, who, with a butcher 
 knife, would have stabbed the first had he moved a step 
 further towards his intended victim. It was a perilous time. 
 Had the slightest assault been committed upon any one, no 
 matter from what cause it originated, it would have pro- 
 duced a terrible scene of bloodshed. The crowd had come 
 with a fight in view. No one cared to take the responsibility 
 of striking the first blow. Its dispersion lifted a heavy bur- 
 den from the hearts of all who desired peace. 
 
 The Senate met at three o'clock, and contrary to expecta- 
 tion the lobby was crowded to sufibcation. It so happened 
 that both parties had Senators to be sworn in, whose claims 
 to seats were founded on returns known to be erroneous, but 
 right upon their face. In this class was Senator Bell, from 
 the Chester and Montgomery district. As he was entitled 
 to his seat, in the first instance, there was no objection made. 
 He was a Democrat ; but when Hanna, a Whig, in similar 
 circumstances, was about to be sworn in, a scene of the 
 utmost confusion prevailed. The crowd broke over the 
 lobbies, some of them got upon chairs and began to speak. 
 Charles Brown, one of the Democratic contestants, was par- 
 ticulary vociferous, and so was Washington Barton. During 
 all this time the Speaker, Penrose, kept his seat and tried to 
 maintain order, but his efforts were in a great measure fruit- 
 less. It was now nearly seven o'clock. Stevens, who was 
 in the hall, now attempted to leave, but could not make his 
 
582 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 way through the crowd. He went back to the fire-place, and 
 while standing there was told by a friend, it was intended 
 to kill him if he went out at the door. It was then sug- 
 gested that he and Burrowes should leave by the window of 
 the room, near the fire. This was done not to avoid danger, 
 for he did not believe the story, but because there was no- 
 other means of egress. While going out of the window, the 
 door of the room opening at the end of the lobby stood 
 open, and they were seen by some of the crowd. Three 
 persons, one of them with a large bowie-knife in his hand, 
 
 ran out through the crowd, swearing he would kill the 
 
 scoundrel yet. Had these villains not mistaken the direction 
 of the window, there is very little doubt that both Steven* 
 and Burrowes would have been murdered. For some days 
 all was confusion, but on Sunday a considerable number of 
 uniformed volunteers arrived from Philadelphia and restored 
 order. For nearly three weeks the Stevens House met in a 
 room at Wilson's, now the Lochiel House. This could not 
 last ; and the Senate agreed to recognize the Hopkins' House, 
 For nearly the whole session Stevens absented himself from 
 his seat. When the session was more than half over, the 
 Democrats passed a resolution of expulsion, which was fol- 
 lowed by an election, at which Mr. Stevens was reelected by 
 a large majority. He took his seat a few days before the 
 end of the session, and remained there till its close. 
 
 In the great campaign of 1840, Mr. Stevens took a decided 
 stand in favor of " the Hero of the Thames." For months 
 before the inauguration of Harrison, it was understood 
 throughout Pennsylvania, that Mr. Stevens was to have a 
 seat in the cabinet. That Harrison had selected him for post- 
 master general, is known with certainty, but through the- 
 open opposition of Clay, and the wavering of Webster, the 
 appointment was given to Mr. Granger. Stevens never for- 
 gave Webster for the part he took in this transaction ; nor' 
 did he go into the support of Clay in 1844 till, through 
 Harmer Denny, Clay made known to Stevens that, should he 
 be elected, atonement would be made- for past wrong. Had 
 the urgent entreaties of Stevens and his friends in relation to- 
 General Markle, the candidate for Governor, been acted on^ 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 583 
 
 Henry Clay would have been President of the United States. 
 That Markle was known to be the fast friend of Sterens, lost 
 him votes enough to ensure his defeat. This lost Pennsyl- 
 vania to Clay, and that decided the contest. 
 
 Mr. Stevens closed his service in the Legislature of Penn- 
 sylvania with the session of 1841. His long continued atten- 
 tion to politics, and the large sums he expended, had materi- 
 ally impaired his fortune. In the summer of 1842 he came 
 to the conclusion that Gettysburg did not afford an adequate 
 field for his powers, and this induced his removal to Lancaster, 
 in August, 1842. In the fall of 1843 he tried to reorganize 
 the anti-Masonic party, but the effort was a failure. His 
 course in 1844 has been already noticed, and from that time 
 till 1848 he was quiescent in politics, though he was always 
 keenly alive to what was going on in the country. During this 
 period his practice was very remunerative, and from this and 
 the sale of his Adams county farms, he brought down his 
 debts to within what he considered a manageable limit. In 
 
 1843 he was in danger of being sold out by the sheriff'. In 
 
 1844 he paid interest on debts amounting to $217,000. 
 In 1849, when he first went to Congress, he had reduced his 
 debts to $30,000. On March 4th, 1853, when his first service 
 in Congress ended, his debts amounted to about $60,000. 
 What he was worth at his death, is difficult to say. It may 
 have been $100,000, perhaps less than half of that amount. 
 
 When the free-soil movement began, he was favorable to 
 its principles, though he supported Taylor with all his might 
 for the presidency. In 1848, after a sharp contest with the 
 opposing candidates for the nomination, he was named for 
 Congress by the supporters of Taylor, and elected by a large 
 majority. During the four years that he served at this time, 
 he was recognized as one of the leading men in Congress, 
 and enjoyed to a large extent the confidence of Gen. Taylor, 
 who, though a slaveholder himself, was, without declaring it 
 openly, opposed to the further extension of that evil ; and it 
 is very certain that it was through his adroit management 
 California came into the Union as a free State. After the 
 death of Taylor, Fillmore, in hope of a reelection, and 
 Webster, with the design of taking the wind out of Fillmore's 
 
584 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTOET 
 
 sails, went down on their knees to the slave power, and gave 
 it all it wanted, in the shape of the fugitive slave law. This 
 law and all kindred measures Mr. Stevens opposed to the 
 extent of his power. 
 
 In 1851, for the first time in many years, a fugitive slave 
 resisted, with arms, the claim of his owner. About two 
 miles from Christiana, Lancaster county, a number of fugi- 
 tive slaves were hiding at the house of a colored man, 
 named Parker. An elderly man, named Gorsuch, of Mary- 
 land, assisted by his son, and a deputy marshal from Phila- 
 delphia, named Kline, came to the house of Parker, about 
 an hour before daylight. Gorsuch, the younger, with Kline, 
 summoned the persons inside to surrender. To this it was 
 replied, they would defend themselves, and at the same time 
 the click of fire-arms was heard. Kline ran and hid behind 
 a tree. Young Gorsuch went to his father and reported that 
 an attack would be dangerous. The old man said it would 
 never do to back out so, and started towards the house, his 
 son following. ' Gorsuch hailed the house again, and on 
 receiving a defiant answer, fired a pistol, the ball taking 
 effect in the leg of one of the blacks in the house. This 
 shot was returned by a volley, killing the elder Gorsuch. 
 The firing alarmed the neighborhood. Gastner Hanway and 
 Elijah Lewis were the first to reach the place. These were 
 white men and abolitionists. Their influence prevented 
 further firing, and they assisted the younger Gorsuch to 
 remove the dead body of his father to Christiana, the nearest 
 railroad station to the scene of the fight. This occurrence 
 raised the pro-slavery spirit to a flame, while all their 
 toadies, far and near, seized upon it as a chance to show 
 their devotion, not to be neglected. For a week no colored 
 man could pass along the railroad without being arrested. 
 Hanway and Lewis were taken to Philadelphia and tried 
 for treason. In this trial Mr. Stevens, and John M. Bead 
 now one of the judges of the supreme court, were the counsel 
 for the prisoners. Judge Read's exhaustive argument on the 
 law of treason, knocked the breath out of the prosecution 
 and Mr. Stevens was content with but a few words. The 
 prisoners were acquitted, and from that day the fugitive 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 585 
 
 slave law was a dead letter in Pennsylvania. The great 
 merit of Mr. Stevens in this transaction, was in the bold, 
 firm stand he took at the beginning. His defiant attitude 
 kept up the courage of those who would otherwise have 
 desponded. His share in the trial was not very conspicuous, 
 but there were good reasons for the course he pursued. The 
 great object was attained, and that was all he desired. 
 
 From 1853 till 1858 Mr. Stevens steadily pursued the 
 practice of his profession, though at the same time taking 
 part in the initiatory movements which resulted in the 
 formation of the Eepublican party, he being one of the dele- 
 gates from this district to the convention which nominated 
 Fremont. In 1858 the necessities of the country required 
 his presence in Congress, and, after a warm contest, he was 
 elected by a large majority. He had scarcely taken his seat 
 in that body, in December, 1859, when the first symptoms 
 of the rebellion began to be developed. The south was pre- 
 paring for an appeal to arms, while the north could not by 
 any means be induced to believe there was any danger of a 
 fight. During the whole summer of 1860, slaveholders 
 were declaring that if a black Eepublican should be elected 
 the south would secede, and Mr. Stevens was one of the very 
 few men in the country who believed the southern leaders 
 really intended to keep their word. Lincoln was elected, 
 and even then, when the navy was on the other side of the 
 globe ; when the army was stationed in the very places most 
 favorable for the designs of the traitors ; and when nearly 
 all our muskets and guns were stored in the arsenals of the 
 south, scarcely any one believed that war was impending. 
 In those critical thirty-seven days, from the inauguration of 
 Lincoln till the attack on Sumter, Mr. Stevens continually 
 urged upon those who had the power, to at least make some 
 preparation for defence, but with scarcely any result. It 
 was only after the first great act of the bloody drama had 
 been closed, that people began to have some faint idea of the 
 national danger. Even Mr. Lincoln and Secretary Seward 
 thought that 75,000 men could make all things right in 
 ninety days. Mr. Stevens saw the full extent of the danger, 
 and always said that a million of men should be called out 
 
586 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 till the. war was ended. After Bull Eun had verified the, 
 correctness of his views, he was heard with attention; and 
 though from his age and deformity it was impossible that he 
 could be a combatant, no man in the country, in the field or 
 out of it, exercised a greater influence or personally did more 
 to place our immense armies in the field. Through all these 
 bloody years, as chairman of the committee of ways and 
 means, he was most emphatically the right man in the right 
 place. Had he been younger and not deformed, his natural 
 courage would have sent him to the battle-field at the firing 
 of the first gun. Men, firm believers in the doctrine of 
 special providence aver, that his lameness was a necessity 
 ordained to keep him where he was. Without entering into 
 any discussion on this point, it is enough to say, there were 
 so many illustrations of the doctrine during the war, that to 
 a thinking mind it is somewhat difficult altogether to deny 
 the proposition. 
 
 The war ended, but the troubles it brought in its train 
 stood out in such bold relief, that people only then began to 
 have something like a correct idea of their magnitude. The 
 south, though beaten and vanquished, was far from being 
 in a temper to accept the situation as the fortune of a war 
 brought on by themselves against their brethren. There 
 was a debt of nearly if not more than three thousand mil- 
 lions, taxing the people and their posterity for many years 
 to come. Besides this, there were four millions of emanci- 
 pated slaves to be cared for, to be instructed and protected 
 from the aggression of those who had formerly been their 
 masters. Of the measures adopted to reconstruct the south, 
 Mr. Stevens was the author. The whole general plan, 
 though possibly not original with himself, was by adoption 
 peculiarly his own; and though some modifications may 
 have been made in Congress, yet the principal features of his 
 measures were retained and were the means employed to 
 govern the people of the section lately in rebellion until its 
 several portions were again admitted as component parts of 
 the Union, as States, members of the great family of com- 
 munities forming the indivisible Kepublic. 
 
 During the whole period, from the beginning of the war 
 
OF LANCASTER COUJiTTT. 587 
 
 to the end of his life, Mr. Stevens was scarcely a day absent 
 from his seat, and for the most of that time his labors were 
 truly herculean. During the war, in times of peculiar ad- 
 versity, when eyery body else seemed to lose heart, his 
 indomitable energy, and his full assurance of final success, 
 inspired with new life the hearts that were ready to give up 
 the combat. After the disastrous battles of Fredericks- 
 burg and Chickamauga, he seemed more than ever deter- 
 mined to fight on, no matter how gloomy the prospect before 
 the country. A single instance will show how contemptu- 
 ously he treated those who even thought of the possibility 
 of some sort of reconciliation with the rebels. A very distin- 
 guished journalist, a man then heart and soul devoted to the 
 Kepublican cause, but at times rather doubtful of our ability 
 to win, came to Washington, most likely at the invitation 
 of President Lincoln, to talk over the matter as to the 
 possibility of making a peace on some reasonable terms. 
 At what conclusion he and the President arrived, can only 
 be inferred from subsequent events ; but it is certain that 
 after leaving the White House, he called on Mr. Stevens. 
 Here he unfolded his budget of statistics, &c.; spoke of how 
 large the debt was already ; how great it would become in a 
 short time with gold at $2.80 ; how many lives had already 
 ■ been lost, and how many more would be sacrificed; that we 
 never could succeed, and more of the same sort, ending : 
 that "peace must be made in some way." Stevens heard it 
 all patiently ; was silent for a moment and then rising, said : 
 " Mr. , every man in these United States has a con- 
 stitutional right to make a d — d fool of himself." His 
 visitor bundled up his papers and left at double quick. 
 
 Men will wear out, and Mr. Stevens was no exception to 
 the general rule. When he left Lancaster for Washington, 
 about the end of November, 1866, he was so feeble as to be 
 unable to sit up in the car, and a bed was made for him on 
 the floor. Those who knew his condition had great fear 
 whether he could survive the journey. After his arrival at 
 Washington he rallied, and during most of the session he' 
 remained comparatively well. At the adjournment he came 
 home, and remained there till November, 1867, when he took 
 
588 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 his last journey to the capital. He then seemed much better 
 than he had been for some time, and appeared very hopeful 
 in regard to his health. Shortly after the opening of the 
 session he made the only great mistake of his congressional 
 career. By some strange perversion of reasoning, which 
 took all his friends by surprise, he adopted the Pendleton 
 idea of paying the national debt with greenbacks, and on 
 one or two occasions argued strongly in its favor. That it 
 was honestly entertained no one who knew him could doubt; 
 but for a clear-headed, honest man to advocate practical 
 repudiation, was something which most people could not 
 well comprehend. But discussion was soon over. On the 
 25th of February, 1868, Mr. Stevens, with Mr. Bingham, 
 appeared in the Senate and presented articles of impeach- 
 ment against Andrew Johnson. The trial, of which Mr. 
 Stevens was one of the managers on the part of the House, 
 ended on the 26th of May. During all this time Mr. Stevens, 
 so feeble as to be carried daily to the capitol in a chair, was 
 always present attending to his duty. Nor, when the im- 
 peachment trial was over, did he fail to attend, but continued 
 to appear almost daily to the end of the session, which closed 
 on the 17th of July. Mr. Stevens was at this time too weak 
 to attempt the journey to Lancaster. Every day he became 
 more and more feeble, till at last, on the 11th of August, 
 1868, he ceased from his labors. 
 
 De mortuis nil nisi verum. 
 The character of Thaddeus Stevens was made up of con- 
 tradictory elements. Nature designed him for one of the 
 great men of the race, and so far as time and circumstances 
 gave his powers opportunity to act, he fulfilled her intention. 
 One of the most remarkable endowments, was that never- 
 failing spirit of generous kindness, which made it his pleasure 
 to do good to and confer benefits on all who came within his 
 reach. His inherent liberality grew by continual practice, till 
 it became almost one of the necessities of his being. No man, 
 woman or child ever approached Thaddeus Stevens, worthy 
 or unworthy, and asked for help, who did not obtain it when 
 he was possessed of the means. His money was given freely 
 and without stint, when he had it. And with this unbounded 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 589 
 
 liberality was associated a strong feeling of pride, which but 
 few of his most intimate friends ever suspected to exist* 
 He never would confess to a want of money, no matter how 
 straightened his circumstances. When in this condition, if 
 contributions were solicited, he invariably either found some 
 objection to the object, or to the person in whose behalf the 
 request was made. The reason he gave to a most intimate 
 friend for this kind of conduct, that if he told the truth he 
 would not be believed, was plausible, but 'it was not the fact. 
 The true reason was, that he preferred to have the reputa- 
 tion of harshness and cruelty, rather than be suspected of 
 even occasional poverty. Beggars of all grades, high or low, 
 are very quick in finding out the weak points of those on 
 whom they intend to operate; and Mr. Stevens was always, 
 but more particularly when he was a candidate, most un- 
 mercifully fleeced. This trait was the cause of injury to the 
 politics of this county. Before he was nominated for Con- 
 gress, no one here thought of spending large sums of money 
 in order to get votes. Now, no man, whatever his qualifi- 
 cations, can be nominated for any office unless he answers 
 all demands made upon him, and forks over a greater amount 
 than any one else will for the same office. It is a most de- 
 plorable state of things, but the fact is not to be denied. 
 
 "We have ascribed this profusion of liberality to an innate 
 kindness of heart and a natural desire to do good to all with 
 whom he came in contact. This is undoubtedly true; but 
 Mr. Stevens was far too observant, far too good a judge of 
 men's motives, not to know that he was almost invariably 
 imposed upon. This knowledge led him to believe that 
 nearly all men were corrupt and unfit to be trusted. As he 
 grew old this feeling became stronger, and he came to regard 
 the great bulk of mankind as mercenary creatures, only fit to 
 be the tools of those who were strong enough, rich enough 
 and skillful enough to use them for their own advantage. 
 A man without some degree of selfishness in his nature, 
 would be a poor creature. We all would like to win riches 
 and honors. Honest men, as the world estimates honesty, 
 struggling towards the prize they desire to obtain, feel bound 
 to qualify themselves in all respects for the positions they 
 
690 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 seek, and at the same time they may be selfish enough to 
 have no scruple as to the means they may use to push aside 
 others having the same object in view. An honest man, 
 qualified for any position in the Eepublic, and having the 
 same estimate of mankind as Mr. Stevens, could not fail, in 
 all things regarding his political aspirations, to be supremely 
 selfish. It was not that low, mean selfishness which often 
 accompanies small, feeble natures, but it was, within its 
 sphere, the same kind of selfishness which induced a Napo- 
 leon or a Bismarck to sacrifice a million of lives to secure a 
 favorite political object. Yiewed in this light he was the 
 very incarnation of selfishness. During the last twenty 
 years of his life, there was no man living whose welfare, 
 socially, financially and politically he would not have sacri- 
 ficed, to obtain the end he had in view. Towards those who 
 stood more immediately in his way, he sometimes expressed 
 a degree of bitterness which minds less strong and vigorous 
 than his own could but faintly appreciate. Nor was this 
 state of mind incompatible with the kindlier feelings of his 
 nature. To those of his friends who were sincerely engaged 
 in helping him onward and upward, and who were not aim- 
 ing at the same mark as himself, he was the best friend 
 imaginable. No trouble or effort on his part was too great, 
 provided it would serve them. And in numerous instances 
 it was not always only on behalf of his friends his kind 
 of&ces were exerted. Men who had treated him ill, who 
 had slandered and defamed him, would often, upon submis- 
 sion, find in him a friend when they could find one nowhere 
 else. Such men he looked upon as hungry dogs to whom 
 bones ought to be given, whether deserved or not. He for- 
 got their enmity, because he regarded them as below his 
 resentment, and would not take the trouble to give them a 
 kick when he had them in his power. This was only an- 
 other phase of the natural kindness which, in spite of all 
 the promptings of his judgment, often controlled his acts. 
 
 When the moral or mental constitution of any man dis- 
 plays unusual force, it is natural to expect that all his peculi- 
 arities should display a corresponding degree of strength. 
 Orowing out of the characteristics already mentioned, as their 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 591 
 
 legitimate fruit, was a weakness which made him, in pecuni- 
 ary matters, the victim of those whom he well knew were 
 not worthy of his slightest favor. Of all men he was the 
 most accessible to flattery. Any scamp with a smooth 
 tongue, could soft-soap him all over, and the operation was 
 most grateful to his feelings. And yet, though ' it pleased 
 him to the core, he despised the men who laid upon his 
 altar the incense of their praise. It may be that like 
 most of men, he had some faith in the truth of what 
 was told him in this way, but at the same time he knew 
 the motives which induced the offering. He had not the 
 power to deny the request which almost invariably accom- 
 panied the praise. At such times he was almost inva- 
 rably angry at himself because he could not successfully 
 resist the demand. It is true this process could never in- 
 duce him to do an act wrong in itself, or injurious to the 
 public interest, yet when his own funds were concerned, he 
 could never muster up the courage to avoid the trap into 
 which he would go with his eyes open. There is no doubt 
 this failing, of which he was fully conscious, often gave him 
 deep vexation ; but he was not a man given to brooding 
 over mistakes, or to waste time in regrets for any thing he 
 ever did. 
 
 Another quality most strongly developed, was his un- 
 conquerable perseverance and determination to accomplish 
 anything which he undertook. No matter how often de- 
 feated, he was always ready to " try, try again;" and this he 
 would do when, to all appearance, he had not the slightest 
 chance of success. One great object of his ambition was to 
 be a Senator of the United States, and had he conceived the 
 idea ten years sooner, there is little doubt he would have 
 reached his aim. In this, perhaps, it was better for his fame 
 he did not succeed. In no other position than the one occu- 
 pied for the last ten years of his life, could he have done so 
 much for the increase of his reputation, or the benefit of the 
 cause in which he was engaged. That he never obtained his 
 desire, was another verification of the undoubted truth . 
 "Man proposes;" God rules. 
 
 The great results which flowed from this indomitable 
 
592 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 firmness of purpose have never been attributed to their true 
 source. From the beginning of the great conflict between 
 the contending sections of the nation, till a very short period 
 before its close, there were multitudes of people who were 
 willing to make peace with the rebels upon their own terms. 
 Even among distinguished men of the Eepublican party there 
 were never wanting persons of weak backbones, who would 
 at any time have been only too glad to have a chance to 
 enter into some sort of compromise. Against all such his 
 tremendous powers of invective and sarcasm were continu- 
 ally directed, not so much in speeches as in his general con- 
 versation. Whenever and wherever he detected the first 
 symptom of backing down, the man who exhibited the 
 weakness was soon made to feel uncomfortable ; while to 
 those who were but seldom troubled with such fits of de- 
 spondency, he imparted a share of that perfect confidence in 
 the ultimate triumph of the national arms, which was one 
 of the most efi'ectiv.e reasons of their final success. 
 
 Men of this description are not " usually noted for their 
 kindness and humanity, but with Mr. Stevens the bark was 
 generally worse than the bite. To hear him speak of mili- 
 tary men of all grades, who had during the war been derelict 
 in duty, it might have been inferred he was extremely 
 sanguinary, but such was not the case. During the war his 
 good of&ces were often required to save men sentenced to be 
 shot, and he never refused to invoke with success the kind 
 feelings of President Lincoln, who was only too happy to 
 have some person to intercede for the miserable delinquent. 
 It is true, that in a speech in Congress, Stevens justified 
 Juarez for shooting Maximilian, but it is very certain that had 
 he been ruler of Mexico the fallen emperor would have 
 been sent home safe and sound. There is no doubt that had 
 Mr. Stevens been invested with the power of life and death 
 there would have been but few criminals executed. A 
 woman's tearful face, or the wail of a child, was beyond his 
 power to resist. This, in a ruler, might have been a great 
 weakness, but in Mr. Stevens' position it was, doubtless one 
 of the most amiable traits in his character. Nothing ever 
 pleased him better than to tell of his success with the Presi- 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 593 
 
 dent, on occasions like those above referred to. He never 
 took the credit of success to himself, but always ascribed it 
 to the goodness of Old Abe. Let us illustrate what has been 
 said by introducing one of these stories: "A young fellow, 
 from this county was to .be shot for desertion. It was rather 
 a hard case, and his mother, in great distress, called on me to 
 help save him. I took her at once to the White House and 
 introduced her to the President. On the road I told her to 
 tell her story in her own way, which she did in such a man- 
 ner as none but a mother could tell it, I said nothing. I 
 saw by the President's eye it was all right. There was n& 
 use in my saying a word. While she was talking the Presi- 
 dent began to write. It was but a couple of lines, but it 
 was effectual. Fearing a scene, I took her into the ante-room, 
 telling her as we went along her son was safe. As soon as 
 she fully understood it she broke out : ' Oh ! this is the man 
 our newspapers said was a brute and a devil. Why, he is 
 the loveliest man I ever saw ia my life ! He is an angel I 
 He does the work of the Almighty, and stands in his place 
 on earth ! I could worship him for his goodness — my poor 
 Ben. is safe.' " No Democrat could be found in that family 
 afterwards. " There was a great deal of desertion about 
 that time. Some hard-hearted devils thought all should 
 have been shot, but then I had nothing to do with that. It 
 was Lincoln's business, and he did all those things as he 
 believed to be right. He wag a great man. In his place, 
 perhaps, I would have done the same thing." 
 
 Of Mr. Stevens' religious views it is difficult to speak. 
 His mind was so constituted that he was very incredulous as 
 to anything in conflict with his own reason. But he was 
 not altogether devoid of faith, for he was a fatalist in the 
 strongest sense of the term. In this belief he was as firmly 
 rooted as any follower of Mahomet could be. Those who 
 knew him best find it exceedingly hatd to believe that he 
 ever gave an intelligent consent to be baptized in the Catho- 
 lic faith. Still Mr. Stevens was not an immoral man. He 
 was no scoffer, he was never profane, was strictly temperate, 
 and in all things rigidly truthful. To say he had no vices, 
 would be to exalt him far above the great mass of mankind, 
 42 
 
594 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 In one respect, a man of his ardent temperament could 
 scarcely fail to err — that he was the cold-blooded destroyer 
 of female innocence, the heartless libertine, the hoary de- 
 bauchee which his enemies in times of great political excite- 
 ment represented him to be, is a most malicious lie. That 
 he could, in any fair sense, be called a gambler, rests on ho 
 better foundation. 
 
 The intellectual powers of Mr. Stevens were of a very 
 high order. His perceptions were quick, his reasoning 
 powers strong and accurate, and his memory almost unri- 
 valled. This last he always said was not a natural but an 
 .acquired faculty. This perhaps was partly true, though the 
 foundation on which to build the superstructure must have 
 been the result of his fine mental organization. He could 
 remember all the evidence in the longest trial, and repeat 
 all the important parts with surprising accuracy. At some 
 period of his life he must have been a very hard student, for 
 ihis knowledge seemed almost without limit. In reasoning 
 ■lUpon a given proposition he scarcely seemed to think, his 
 deductions coming as though by intuition. His illustrations 
 were very seldom beautiful, but always apposite. They hit 
 the nail square on the head, and made further blows needless. 
 He could be exceedingly sarcastic, but he seldom employed 
 this weapon without just provocation. He was too kindly 
 disposed to use it in a manner not fairly legitimate. The 
 same limitation could scarcely be extended to his wit, for 
 that flowed out of itself, and had generally so much of good 
 natured mirth in it, that the person against whom it was 
 leveled could scarcely take offence. When the occasion 
 required it, he was sometimes highly eloquent, but as a 
 general thing it could not be counted as one of his character- 
 istics. He was not a man of taste. Had no fondness for, 
 and but little perception of, beauty in painting or architec- 
 ture. There was but little of the imaginative about him. 
 His mind was strongly practical, looking far more to the 
 substance than to the outward adorning of things. For 
 what is usually called "fine writing" he had a supreme con- 
 tempt. Nothing worried him more than the " highfalutin " 
 •of the war correspondents, in their descriptions of battles. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 595 
 
 " Confound tlie scamp," was his exclamation after the battle 
 of Antietam, " why can't he tell us what they did, and leave 
 us to think how it looked ourselves." 
 
 Another branch of this defect and of much greater im- 
 portance, was his almost total want of creative power. He 
 never originated anything, but he had the power, in wonder- 
 ful perfection, of taking hold of other inen's ideas, stripping 
 them of every thing superfluous, leaving nothing but the 
 useful and practical, and presenting them so clearly and for- 
 cibly to the world, that their importance was immediately 
 recognized. So much was this the case, that every measure 
 he ever brought forward in his legislative career, had its 
 origin in the thought of some other man who, in nine cases 
 out of ten, would be unable to claim its paternity in the 
 new dress with which Stevens had invested it. It was from 
 this power that most of his strength as a lawyer was derived. 
 In citing authorities to sustain a legal position he would, in 
 a few words, bring out the meaning of the judge who wrote 
 it, much more clearly and far more forcibly than it had 
 before presented itself to the mind of its authqr. This, 
 together with the kindred faculty of seizing instantly upon 
 the turning point of the case, without any regard to the 
 quantity of legal rubbish accumulated around it, placed him 
 in the very first rank of the greatest minds that ever ap- 
 peared at the bar. This power of concentrating the force of 
 his case in a few sentences, together with the perfect control 
 which he had acquired over his temper, made him almost 
 always .successful. His tactics were to waste no strength 
 upon the outworks of his opponent's case, but to attack the 
 citadel at once. To sum up the whole in few words , it may 
 be truly said, that the clearness of his mental vision, his in- 
 nate reverence of right and love of justice, his wonderful 
 powers of memory, analysis and concentration, his truthful- 
 ness, his perseverance, his thorough detestation of every- 
 thing like trickery and meanness, his perfect fairness in all 
 his business transactions, and his generous kindness to all, 
 made him a man towering so high above the millions around 
 him, that no one who intelligently studies his character, can 
 fail to appreciate the magnitude of his greatness. 
 
596 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Thaddeus Stevens, in the prime of life, was a remarkably 
 fine-looking man. None of his earlier pictures do him jus- 
 tice. Some of the oil pantings made towards the close of 
 lais life, are nothing but caricatures. The engraving, by 
 Sartain, gives a very correct idea of his appearance when 
 about fifty-five years old. The photograph by Eberman, 
 taken when Stevens was seventy-three, is perfect. He was 
 about five feet eleven inches high ; clear, ruddy, smooth 
 skin. His natural hair was chestnut, but he lost it from 
 brain fever when about thirty-five years old, and afterwards 
 always wore a wig. He had very fine teeth, was strongly built, 
 but not corpulent ; his appearance when the features were at 
 rest, was very dignified. When young, he was a great lover 
 of athletic sports, and could make a full hand at anything 
 where swiftness of foot was not required. He was a splendid 
 horseman, an excellent swimmer, and very fond of the chase. 
 When a young man, he would occasionally take a glass of 
 wine, but for many years of his life he abstained wholly 
 from alcoholic drinks. That he possessed great courage, 
 physical, as well as moral, is well known to all his intimate 
 friends. Naturally obstinate and combative, he had so 
 trained his mind as to despise all displays of pugnacity. 
 When assailed with foul language, by dirty blackguards, as 
 he often was about election time, he seldom took any out- 
 ward notice of it, though he felt all such attacks very keenly. 
 If he ever did reply to anything of this sort, it was in a 
 single sentence by which the assailant was completely over- 
 thrown. His repartees were always far more damaging than 
 any blow could have been ; they were always put in such 
 shape that the dullest man in a crowd could never fail to feel 
 their force. 
 
 It has been already said, that he hated oppression and 
 injustice in all its forms. This was the ruling passion, and 
 exhibited itself in full force as he drew near his end. In 
 the principal cemeteries of Lancaster it was stipulated, by 
 charter, that no person of color should be interred within 
 their limits. He had bought lots in both cemeteries, but 
 when he received the deeds he sent them back, refusing to 
 be buried in the grounds of either. Shreiner's cemetery, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 597 
 
 tlie smallest in the city, was free from this objection, and 
 there he was laid to rest, within a few feet of the public 
 schools, which his fearlessness and love for humanity estab- 
 lished in Pennsylvania forever. 
 
 For the reason above stated, he ordered in his will the 
 following should be inscribed upon his tomb : 
 
 " I repose in this quiet and secluded spot, not from any 
 natural preference for solitude, but finding other cemeteries 
 limited by charter rules as to race, I have chosen it that I 
 might be enabled to illustrate in my death the principles I 
 have advocated through a long life — equality of man before 
 the Creator." 
 
 On December 17th, 1868, the House of Eepresentatives 
 met specially to express its respect for his memory. Men of 
 all parties, in most eulogistic terms united to do honor to 
 his name. Through the whole land it was felt that "a leader 
 had fallen in Israel." Party rancor was for a time forgotten, 
 and all men acknowledged the great value of his services to 
 the country. Those who knew him best grieved most for 
 his loss; but by none was he so sincerely mourned as by the 
 millions whom his labors had elevated from slavery to 
 freedom. 
 
 This imperfect memoir can be no more fitly ended than by 
 quoting the concluding words of the eulogium delivered by 
 Mr. Maynard, of Tennessee, on the occasion above re- 
 ferred to : 
 
 " As he was he will long be remembered. He has left his 
 impress upon the form and body of the times. Monuments 
 will be reared to perpetuate his name on the earth. Art 
 will be busy with her chisel and her pencil to preserve his 
 features and the image of his mortal frame. All will be done 
 that brass and marble and painted canvas will admit of 
 being done. The records of his official life will remain in 
 your archives ; our chosen words of commemoration will fall 
 into the channels of literature. But the influence of a gifted 
 mind, in moulding thought and giving direction to events, is 
 not measured by words of commemoration or by official 
 records. It is as measureless as the soul and enduring as 
 time. Long after the brass and marble and painted canvas 
 
598 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBT 
 
 have disappeared, it will still remain transmitted from age to 
 age and through successive generations."^ 
 
 STONEE, Chkistian L., was born in the year 1823, at 
 Millersville, Lancaster county. Pa. He learned the trade of 
 a house carpenter in Lancaster city. He married Lizzie L. 
 Hostetter, daughter of Col. Jacob Hostetter, in 1847, and in 
 1857 was elected Clerk of the Orphans' Court, a position he 
 filled for three years. 
 
 STOBK, Henry, elected Prothonotary in 1848. 
 
 STOEY, William, elected a member of the Legislature 
 in 1784. 
 
 STEICKLER, Jacob, was a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 1797, 1798, 1799 and 1800. 
 
 STROHM, John, was born October 16th, 1793, in what 
 was then Little Britain township, in the county of Lancas- 
 ter, and State of Pennsylvania, but in that part of said town- 
 ship which now composes Fulton township. His parents- 
 were of German descent ; his father having been brought to 
 this country from the kingdom of Wirtemburg by his parent 
 when about eight years of age. The grandfather having 
 died during the voyage, his remains were consigned to the 
 rolling waves of the boisterous Atlantic. The widow with 
 her small family (two sons and a daughter), were landed at 
 Philadelphia, and finally settled in Strasburg, this county. 
 The mother of the subject of this sketch was the daughter 
 of John Herr, a Mennonite preacher, who was also the grand- 
 father of another preacher, John Herr, better known as the 
 founder of the New or Reformed Mennonite Society. She 
 was of a religious disposition, and to her instructions and 
 admonitions the subject of this notice attributed the founda- 
 tion of that high appreciation of integrity and truth which 
 has characterized his conduct during his whole life. 
 
 He was first sent to school when about four years of age, 
 
 ' The above sketoli of Thaddeus Stevens, being the production of an 
 intimate friend and member of his own political party, the author of 
 the Biographical History of Lancaster county desires it to be distinctly 
 iiuderstood, that he is in no wise to be considered responsible for any senti- 
 ment or conclusion contained therein, or estimate submitted, regarding 
 the deceased statesman. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 599 
 
 and soon showed an aptitude for learning that few chil- 
 dren of that age exhibit. But the schools of that period 
 were of an inferior quality, and afforded none of the facili- 
 ties now attainable in acquiring the rudiments of education. 
 In the year 1804 his father purchased a farm in Strasburg 
 township, and in the spring of 1805, when John was in his 
 twelfth year, removed thereto, and from that time he was 
 sent to school but a few months during the winter. Con- 
 sequently, he received at school nothing but the ordinary 
 instruction which farmers' sons of that period and in that 
 vicinity usually attained. He was, however, very fond of 
 reading, and improved every opportunity of acquiring a 
 knowledge of men and things. From the time he was seven 
 years of age, he read everything that came in his way, yet 
 even in this way his opportunities were very limited. His 
 father's library consisted principally of the Bible and Testa- 
 ment, and a few religious works in German, which he did 
 not then understand, and some miscellaneous works picked 
 up at sales. Amongst these was an old geography, giving a 
 description of the various countries and divisions of the 
 earth, an outline of the general principles of astronomy, the 
 relative position of the planets, their courses in their re- 
 spective orbits, &c. This book he studied carefully, and 
 from it derived his first knowledge of many things previ- 
 ously unknown to him, and which proved highly use- 
 ful in after life. His mother encouraged this avidity for 
 reading, by borrowing such books for him as she could pro- 
 cure amongst her friends. Another means of acquiring in- 
 formation and storing his mind with useful knowledge, was 
 found in the regular reading of a weekly newspaper to which 
 his father was a constant subscriber. From this he obtained 
 a knowledge of the leading events of the history of the world 
 at the time, and became initiated in the politics of our 
 own country in particular. In the beginning of the year 
 1809, at the solicitation of his teacher, he studied the theory 
 of surveying, but did not practice it to any extent for near 
 twenty years afterwards. About this time he commenced 
 purchasing books on his own account, and all the money he 
 could spare was invested in that description of property. 
 
600 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 When about eighteen years of age Judge Clark, one of 
 the associate judges of the county, who made his acquaint- 
 ance at a public sale where he was clerking, wished to 
 engage him as a teacher in his neighborhood, but his parents 
 dissuaded him from accepting the offer. The following year 
 he accepted a proposition ftom Christian Barr, of Bart, (now 
 Eden township), to teach school for three months near Quar- 
 ryville. He found the business irksome, and at the expira- 
 tion of his term returned to his father to work on the farm. 
 Here he remained for near three years, when he again ac- 
 cepted a situation as a teacher in West Lampeter township, 
 upon the invitation of Christian Herr, of Pequea, who en- 
 gaged to raise a school for him, offered him boarding at his 
 own house, and remained his fast and ardent friend as long 
 as he lived. In this neighborhood he reaiained as a teacher for 
 five years, giving general satisfaction to his employers, and 
 by a strict attention to business and uniform good conduct 
 gained the confidence and esteem of all his acquaintances. 
 
 In 1817 he married the eldest daughter of John Herr, 
 (limeburner), and commenced housekeeping in the neighbor- 
 hood of his school. In 1821 he quit teaching school and 
 commenced farming, as he always had a strong predilection 
 for the occupation of a farmer. In 1830 his name was first 
 brought before the public as a candidate for the Legislature, 
 but his friends did not succeed in getting him settled on the 
 ticket. The support he received encouraged his friends to 
 bring his name forward the ensuing year, (1831), when he 
 was settled and elected. The anti-Masonic excitement was 
 then in full vigor, and Strohm was elected as an anti- Mason ; 
 but by prudent conduct and courteous demeanor he main- 
 tained his principles and those of his party, without unneces- 
 sarily giving ofience to any, and enjoyed the good- will and 
 esteem of many of the fraternity. He was reelected to the 
 Legislature in the years 1832 and 1833, and in 1884 was 
 •elected to the Senate for a term of four years, that being 
 the extent of the Senatorial term under the old constitution. 
 
 In 1838 he was reelected to the Senate for a second term 
 of four years, making in all eleven consecutive years in 
 which he was a member of the State Legislature, three years 
 
OF LANOASTEB COUNTY. 601 
 
 in the House of Eepresentatives and eight years in the 
 Senate. In 1842 he was elected Speaker of the Senate, the 
 duties of which he executed with so much good judgment 
 and impartiality, that there never was an appeal taken from 
 his decision. In 1844 he was elected a member of Congress 
 from his native county, and in 1845 took his seat in that 
 body. In 1846 he was reelected, his term expiring on the 
 4th of March, 1849, when General Taylor was inaugurated 
 president. In 1851 he was the candidate of the Whig party 
 for canal commissioner, then one of the most important 
 offices in the State. The Democratic party proved too strong 
 on that occasion, and his opponent, Seth Clover, was elected. 
 In 1848 Mr. Strohm was one of the senatorial delegates to the 
 national convention at Baltimore, when General Zachary 
 Taylor was nominated as the Whig candidate for President ; 
 in 1852 he was a member of the national convention at 
 Baltimore, which nominated Gen. Scott as a candidate for 
 the Presidency, and in 1869 he was a member of the State 
 convention at Philadelphia, which re-nominated Governor 
 Geary for the office of Governor. 
 
 In his legislative capacity the subject of this imperfect 
 sketch was more noted for assiduous attention to business 
 and a watchful care of the interests of his constituents and 
 the community at large, than for brilliancy of talent or 
 oratorical display. He seldom addressed the legislative 
 bodies of which he was a faithful member in a pro- 
 tracted argument, but gave his views in plain but forci- 
 ble language; and if he did not succeed in convincing his 
 audience of the correctness of his views, he left no room to 
 doubt the sincerity of his convictions. During the eight 
 years in which he was a member of the Senate, he was chair- 
 man of the committee on roads and bridges and of the com- 
 mittee on claims, and for several years stood at the head of 
 both those committees ; and such was the confidence placed 
 in him by his compeers, that his reports and recommenda- 
 tions were generally accepted and his suggestions adopted. 
 Plain and simple in his habits, he was at all times easy of 
 access and disposed to accommodate, and to the extent of his 
 ability serve any person that required his aid. His first 
 
602 BIOGKAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 wife died in 1832, and he remained a Tvidower until 1857, 
 ■when he married a widow Witmer, with whom he is spend- 
 ing the evening of his days in the quiet contentment of 
 private life. 
 
 STEOHM, JoHA', JR., was elected County Commissioner 
 in the year 1867. 
 
 STUBBS, Jeremiah Brown, M. D., was born in Little 
 Britain, (now Fulton) township, Lancaster county, PenQsyi-' 
 vania, on the 13th of April, 180i. He was the second son 
 of Isaac and Hannah Stubbs, both descendants of early 
 settlers in that neighborhood. Isaac Stub bs, his father, was 
 a stone mason, and worked at the trade occasionally. He 
 took more delight in perusing the contents of books, and in 
 imparting to his children the rudiments of an English edu- 
 cation, (at least as far as he was capable), than to accumulate 
 wealth by a close adherence to his occupation or by any 
 other manual labor. 
 
 When Jeremiah was three years old his parents removed 
 to Harford county, Maryland, having purchased a small 
 farm near the "Rocks of Deer creek." Here the family re- 
 sided until the year 1821, when they returned to Lancaster 
 county to reside upon a farm near Peach Bottom. This 
 was jointly inherited by the father and mother. In all these 
 paternal migrations the older children accompanied their 
 parents, and rendered all the assistance of which they were 
 able. 
 
 After the return of the family to Lancaster county, Jere- 
 miah determined to commence business for himself, and with 
 this object in view entered a mercantile establishment in 
 the city of Baltimore. Disliking the business, in the course 
 of a few months he returned home. Eeceiving the encour- 
 agement of his maternal grandfather, Jeremiah Brown, (of 
 whom he always retained a grateful remembrance), he was 
 induced to study and enter one of the learned professions. 
 "With no advantages of a preparatory education, other than 
 instructions received from a kind parent, and the limited 
 attainments obtained by a fevv years attendance at the public 
 schools of an early period, he entered upon the study of 
 medicine in the year 1821. He read under direction of Dr. 
 
OF liANCASTEE COUNTT. 603 
 
 Vincent King, a well-known practitioner of southern Lan- 
 caster county ; attended two full courses of lectures at tlie 
 Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia, and graduated in 
 the class of March 8th, 1827. Soon after graduating he 
 located in the village of Eising Sun, Cecil county, Maryland, 
 where he practiced his profession for nine years. During 
 his residence in Cecil county, he was elected a member of 
 the Medico- Chirurgical Society of Maryland. His member- 
 ship of this body commenced September 9th, 1827. At that 
 time a physician practicing in the State of Maryland, could 
 not collect a fee unless he was a member of this medical or- 
 ganization, and no one became a member thereof unless he 
 submitted to a rigid examination, and was recommended as 
 worthy by a committee appointed for that purpose. 
 
 On the 25th of February, 1836, Dr. Stubbs was married 
 to Eachel H., eldest daughter of Timothy Kirk, esq., of 
 Oxford, Chester county, formerly a member of the Legisla- 
 ture of Pennsylvania, and then an active business citizen of 
 that vicinity. Previous to his marriage he purchased the 
 farm and good-will of Dr. John K. Sappington, of Little 
 Britain, Lancaster county. Eemoving to this place he re- 
 sumed the practice of medicine, which he continued with 
 success to the time of his decease — a period of twenty- 
 six years. For a long time after he located in Lancaster 
 county, there was, with one exception, no physician in active 
 practice within ten miles. In these early days of his medi- 
 cal career, his labors were unceasing and at times exceed- 
 ingly arduous. Possessing a comparatively strong constitu- 
 tion and determined will, he was enabled to do herculean 
 duty, practising his profession throughout a section of 
 country many miles in extent. 
 
 On the 14th of February, 1844, he was elected a member 
 of the Lancaster city and county medical society, and at 
 one time was president of that body. He was elected to 
 represent it as a delegate in the American Medical Associa- 
 tion, and attended in this capacity its meetings at Boston, in 
 1849 ; Eichmond, 1852 ; New York, 1853, and Philadelphia, 
 1855. In the fall of 1847 he was elected a member of the 
 House of Eepresentatives of Pennsylvania, by the Whigs of 
 
604 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 Lancaster county, and was reelected in 1848. During his 
 first term he served on the committee of education, and in 
 the second was placed on the committee of ways and means, 
 and upon banks, besides several ^special committees. The 
 House was strongly Democratic during the session of 1848 ; 
 nevertheless Dr. Stubbs, byljhis plain and unassuming man- 
 ners, made many friends and received numerous favors from 
 his political opponents. During his service at Harrisburg, 
 various expedients were devised by different members of 
 the ways and means committee, to raise revenue to replenish 
 the State treasury, and at the same time not increase the 
 taxes of the working classes of the commonwealth. Being 
 a member of the committee to'devise means of revenue, he 
 suggested the propriety of taxing the sales and manufacture 
 of quack nostrums, which were then meeting with an im- 
 mense sale throughout all parts of the State. For many 
 years he was well acquainted with the fact, that thousands of 
 dollars were made by charlatans, by imposing on the igno- 
 rant in medical knowledge. All honest trades and profes- 
 sions were taxed, but the manufacturer and vender of patent 
 medicines went free. Receiving the assurance of a majority 
 of the Legislature and the Governor, that to tax this class 
 was just, he consulted with some of the learned of the pro- 
 fession and drew up a bill, which became a law. Its passage 
 created a unanimous protest on behalf of all the semi- 
 medical men, quacks and medicine venders in the State, and 
 the vengeance of the whole fraternity was threatened against 
 the author of the bill. In Lancaster county their influence 
 was brought to bear against him, but availed nothing. 
 
 While a member of the Legislature, he took great interest 
 in all subjects pertaining to the education of the children of 
 the State, as well as to keeping up the standard of the pro- 
 fession of which he became in early life a member. For 
 professional services rendered to half of the legislative body, 
 he was presented with a handsome testimonial on behalf of 
 the members of both political parties. Having served the 
 customary two terms in the State Legislature, he returned to 
 his farm and continued the practice and instruction of stu- 
 dents of medicine. During his professional career, seven 
 
or LANCASTEE COUNTY. 605 
 
 young men read under his direction and graduated. Of 
 these only three survive. For several years previous to his 
 death, Dr. Stubbs had frequent paroxysms of disease, that 
 he was well aware would finally prove fatal. Nevertheless, 
 he continued to work and study to the last. On the 4th and 
 5th of July, 1862, he was attacked with angina pectoris, but 
 recovered and seemed to improve until the night of the 9th, 
 wheti he had a relapse and died on the morning of the 10th, 
 aged 58 years. 
 
 Dr. Stubbs was a member — by birthright — of the society 
 of Friends ; but a few years after attaining manhood, by his 
 own request, ceased to be connected with that society. 
 No man was more familiar with the various tenets and doc- 
 trines advanced and believed in by different religious bodies. 
 He appreciated works of a theological and scientific nature, 
 was conversant with the scripture, especially those books 
 attributed to Job and Paul, which he considered to far exceed 
 the others in sublimity and literary excellence. In his opin- 
 ion, the " Sermon on the Mount" with its golden rule, was 
 sufficient in itself unto salvation ; and to believe in and prac- 
 tice the truths there inculcated, was paramount to a blind 
 adherence to the creeds of Calvin or Luther. 
 
 With him the moral law was the basis of true religion, 
 and upon this he was willing to rest all hope of a peaceful 
 hereafter. To the theory and science of medicine he was 
 strongly devoted. A constant reader, he always kept pace 
 with the progress of the age, a ad was ready to avail himself 
 of all the recent discoveries in medicine and surgery, 
 never permitting a remedy of value in alleviating human 
 suffering to escape his notice. His varied and extensive 
 reading on subjects appertaining to his profession, was at- 
 tested by a valuable library of medical works. 
 
 Ohirurgery, or that part of the science belonging properly 
 to the surgeon, he did not fancy. His sympathetic temper- 
 ment forbade it. His province or forte was the duties per- 
 taining to the physician. Few men were better versed in 
 etiology, or the causes of disease ; and indiag nosis he had 
 few equals. To be familiar with disease sufficient to enable 
 one to recognize it at all times, in its different phases, is on© 
 
606 BIOGBAPHIOAL HISTOET 
 
 of the most difficult parts of the science. In this Dr. Stubbs 
 was an adept, and hence his skill and success in treatment. 
 To him the oath of Hippocrates, and the code of ethics of the 
 medical profession, were laws to be adhered to with a strict- 
 ness bordering on Persian and Median tenacity. To violate 
 them, was a breach of professional honor not to be tolerated. 
 
 Quacks and medical pretenders of all descriptions met 
 with no encouragement at his hands. To younger members 
 of the profession, he was ever willing to render assistance and 
 counsel. In his business transactions he was exact. Start- 
 ing in life poor, with few friends, and an abundance of envi- 
 ous relations, he made all he possessed. An honest, poor 
 man, never appealed to him in vain. To him he would ren- 
 der needed assistance at all times. He knew what it was to 
 be poor and depend on others for aid. In his latter years 
 he often remarked, that it was a great source of consolation 
 to him to know that he had repaid all favors ever extended 
 to him, and to feel that he never knowingly took a cent of 
 any one; and pecuniarily, he owed no man, living or dead. 
 
 STYER, David, was elected County Commissioner in the 
 year lSi9. 
 
 SUMMY, Aaeon H., was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in the year 1868. 
 
 SWARE, Hieam B., was born March 9th, 1821, in Lon- 
 donderry township, Lebanon county, and is a descendant of 
 one of those early settlers of Lancaster county whom reli- 
 gious persecution drove from their native homes. He was 
 educated in the common schools of his district, afterwards 
 weat to Mr. Beck's academy at Litiz, and also to the academy 
 at Germantown. He was a student of the Abbeville Insti- 
 tute, near Lancaster, for some time. Having finished his 
 education before his arrival at the age of sixteen, he entered 
 as accountant in a large commercial house in Philadelphia, 
 of which sometime afterwards he became a partner, but with 
 a growing dislike for the mercantile business. Cherishing 
 leather a fondness for the excitements of political life, in 
 1844 he abandoned commercial pursuits, and entered as a 
 student of law, the office of Geo. W. and Levi Kline, of 
 Lebanon, Pa., January 1st, 1845. He was admitted to the 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 607 
 
 bar April 1st, 1847. His strong attachment for his ancestral 
 home, led him to select Lancaster as the place where he 
 should pursue his profession, and on the 1st of May, 1847, 
 he opened an of&ce in Lancaster. Soon after coming to the 
 bar he became active in politics, and in 1853 was chosen 
 chairman of the Democratic county committee, a position he 
 held upwards of ten years. He was a member of the Lan- 
 caster school board for a period of eight or ten years. Upon 
 the death of Henry M. Reigart, postmaster of Lancaster, in 
 the autumn of 1856 he was appointed postmaster in his 
 stead, and in 1857 reappointed by Mr. Buchanan to the same 
 position, which he held during the four years of his admin- 
 istration. Mr. Swarr has frequently been a delegate of his 
 party to State conventions, and was a delegate to the 
 national convention in 1856, when James Buchanan was 
 nominated, and in this convention he acted a somewhat con- 
 spicuous part, this being required of him as the representa- 
 tive of the district in which the candidate for the Presidency 
 had his home. He was afterwards a delegate to the national 
 convention at Charleston, in 1860, and also, afterwards, at 
 the adjourned convention at Baltimore, in the same year. 
 He was in 1868 the candidate of the Democratic party for 
 Congress in Lancaster county. During all the time he has 
 been steadily engaged in the business of his profession, and 
 has always secured the confidence of a very considerable 
 and influential class of clients. He enjoyed the life-long 
 confidence of James Buchanan, and stood so high in his 
 estimation as a legal practitioner as to be appointed by him 
 one of his executors, and also trustee for the execiition of 
 several important trusts created by the will of the late ex- 
 President. 
 
 SWIFT, Joseph, was born January 14th, 1760, and was 
 the progenitor of the Swift family of Lancaster county. His 
 father, Joseph Swift, was a merchant of Philadelphia, of 
 English descent, who was born June 24th, 1731, and died 
 December 26th, 1806. Joseph Swift, sr. and William West 
 purchased at sheriff's sale in 1772, the large farm of 374 
 acres, for £805, Pennsylvania currency, as the property of 
 Eobert Fulton, father of the distinguished Robert Fulton, 
 
608 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOEY 
 
 and the same upon which the latter was born. Joseph 
 Swift, jr., settled upon the property so purchased, and was a 
 leading farmer in his day. His son, John W. Swift, yet owns 
 part of the old Fulton farm, and occupies the house in which 
 Kobert Fulton was born. 
 
 T. 
 
 TAYLOE FAMILY.* Isaac Taylor, sr., was among the 
 early settlers of Lancaster county, and according to 
 his family tradition, was the son of Christopher Taylor, 
 who emigrated from England in 1682, and purchased 5000 
 acres of land from William Penn before his arrival in the 
 province of Pennsylvania. Penn'a Archives, vol. i., p. 41. He 
 was a member of William Penn's first council in 1682. Isaac 
 Taylor was born soon after the arrival of his parents. He 
 was a surveyor, a magistrate, and a member of the assembly 
 for the county of Chester, prior to the year 1722. He was 
 arrested and imprisoned by the authorities of Maryland 
 while surveying lands near the Maryland line. Colonial 
 Eecords, vol. iii., p. 212. He was again appointed by the 
 Executive Council, in the year 1726, to be a justice of Ches- 
 ter county. He was also appointed by the council, in the 
 year 1718, one of the commissioners to lay out the old Phil- 
 adelphia road from Conestoga to the Brandywine. He made 
 the original surveys of a large portion of the land in the 
 eastern and southern sections of Lancaster county. He sur- 
 veyed the Christiana tract of 800 acres, in Sadsbury town- 
 ship, on the 27th of August, 1709, as appears by the records 
 of the Surveyor General's office. He was the original pat- 
 entee of a tract of land directly in the Gap, partly in Salis- 
 bury and part in Sadsbury. He erected the first stone house 
 at the Gap, about the year 1747, which was built three 
 stories high, and is standing to the present day. It is now 
 owned by George H. Eutter, and kept as. a hotel. He was a 
 worthy and serviceable member of the society of Friends, 
 and departed this life at an advanced age, in the year 1756-. 
 *Coiitributed by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUKTY.' 609 
 
 Isaac Taylor, jr., son of Isaac Taylor, sr., -was united 
 in marriage in the year 1761 with Mary, the daughter of 
 Thomas Bulla, sr., of Chester county. He resided many 
 years at the residence of his father at the Gap, and was an 
 esteemed minister of the gospel in the society of Friends, 
 and served also as the clerk of the monthly meeting at old 
 Sadsbury. 
 
 Jacob Taylor, grandson of Isaac Taylor, sr., was 
 appointed by the yearly meeting of Friends in Philadelphia, 
 about the year 1800, to superintend the civilization and 
 education of the Cattaraugus Indians, in western New York, 
 which office he filled with credit to himself and to the society 
 for about forty years. 
 
 A daughter of Isaac Taylor, sr., was married about the 
 year 1745 to Nathaniel Newlin, of Chester county, some of 
 whose descendants in the fifth generation are : Isaac Walker, 
 esq. ; and Mary, the wife of Samuel Slokom, of Sadsbury ; 
 Deborah, the wife of Henry Pownall, of Bart; and Asahel 
 Walker, of Lamborntown, Chester county, and their de- 
 scendants. 
 
 THOMPSON, Andrew, was elected a member of the 
 Legislature in 1842. 
 
 u. 
 
 UEBAN, Lewis, was elected a member of the Legislature 
 in the year 1843. 
 
 Y. 
 
 VAEMANN, Hattil V-,* was born in Ireland, and was there 
 united in marriage with Abigail, the daughter of Wil- 
 liam and Joan Sandwith, of Bellinauoh, in the county of 
 "Wexford, where he was held in good esteem as a serviceable 
 member of the church, from which place he emigrated (with 
 . his wife) to this country, and settled in the township of Lea- 
 
 *Contributed by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. 
 43 
 
610 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 cock, in this county, in the year 1728, where he purchased 
 600 acres of land, and a meeting of worship was authorized 
 by the society of Friends to be held at his house in the year 
 1732. He was on the first grand jury that was drawn for 
 Lancaster county, and held various other public and private 
 trusts, being a man of good education and possessed of rare 
 abilities. He was the first clerk of the monthly meeting 
 held at Sadsbury. He left no sons, but a number of daugh- 
 ters, who were intermarried into the most respectable fami- 
 lies of Lancaster county, and their descendants are both 
 numerous and highly respectable. He was the great grand- 
 father of Judge Brinton, of Paradise. The old homestead, 
 near Soudersburg, is still owned by another of his great 
 grandsons, William Brinton, sr., of Sadsbury, in which 
 township a large number of his descendants of the fifth gen- 
 eration now reside, including all that highly respectable 
 family of the Brintons, and a number of the Pownalls, the 
 Moores, and some of the Coopers, of Sadsbury. 
 
 VAENBS, John, was elected County Commissioner in 
 the year 1844. 
 
 VONDBESMITH, Daniel, appointed Clerk of the Or- 
 phans' Court in 1835. 
 
 VONDERSMITH, D. B., elected Associate Judge of the 
 several courts of Lancaster in 1851. 
 
 w. 
 
 WADE, Andrew, a citizen of Elizabethtown, was elected 
 a member of the Legislature in the year 1849. 
 WALKBE, AsAHEL, of Sadsbury township, was born 
 at the Valley Forge, in the year 1746. He was the 
 son of Isaac, and the grandson of Lewis "Walker, who 
 emigrated from the principality of "Wales, about the year 
 1700, and purchased a large tract of land from "William 
 Penn at the Yalley Forge, where, it was said, William Penn 
 visited him the following year. He erected a commodious 
 stone edifice thereon, at which a meeting of the society of 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 611 
 
 Triends was established in the year 1713. The same house 
 was occupied by General Washington as his headquarters 
 during the Eevolutionary war, and although it has under- 
 gone repairs, it is standing as a part of the family mansion 
 at the present time, 1872. The land is now divided into 
 about ten farms, and is still held by his descendants. His 
 grandson, Asahel Walker, was united in marriage with Ann, 
 the daughter of the well-known James Moore, of Sadsbury, 
 in the year 1769, and afterwards purchased a tract of land in 
 badsbury which had belonged to his father-in-law, and which 
 had been taken up by William Penn in the year 1700, while 
 on his visit at the Gap, and which he had surveyed off for 
 his own use. At the age of 66 years, he divided his land 
 between his sons Isaac and Asahel, which is now owned and 
 occupied by his grandsons, Isaac and Asahel C. Walker. 
 
 After thus adjusting his temporal matters, he retired from 
 the cares of the world and spent the remainder of his life 
 (over a quarter. of a century), in promoting the cause of his 
 Divine Master, and became a worthy minister of the gospel 
 truths in the society of Friends. During no period of his 
 life did he seek public distinction ; yet he had charge of 
 various important public and private trusts for members of 
 different religious persuasions, so that during his whole life 
 he was truly a worthy and faithful member of the society, 
 so that he may be classed with the good, and remembered 
 with the just. He departed his well spent life in the year 
 1838, in the 93d year of his age. 
 
 His descendants are still numerous and respectable. Be- 
 sides the Walkers are included some of the Moores, Pown- 
 ells, Coopers, Linvilles, Ellmakers, Dillers, VV orsts, Hersheys, 
 Mrs. Pusey Barnard, Mrs. Mary L. Eoberts, of Texas, the 
 Sprouls, Heustons, and some of that ancient and highly re- 
 spectable family of the Trouts, of 'the township of Bart. His 
 youngest living grandson is the well-known Joseph 0. 
 Walker, esq., of the Gap, who was married in the year 1856 
 to Lucy H., daughter of Bsaias and Sarah Ellmaker, of Earl 
 township. 
 
 WALKEE, Captain Joseph, of Sadsbury, was the son of 
 John Walker who emigrated from Wales, and who was the 
 
612 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 original purchaser of a tract of land called the Avondale 
 farm, in the year 1743. Captain Joseph Walker was a 
 serviceable man in the Eev'olutionary war. He was first en- 
 gaged in transporting arms and ammunition for the Conti- 
 nental army. He afterwards raised a company of militia in 
 Sadsbury and Bart, of which company he was chosen captain, 
 and was engaged in the service. Colonial Eecords, vol. xiv., 
 p. 631. Dr. Michener's History, p. 397. After the war he 
 was appointed one of the justices of the peace for Lancaster 
 county, which office he filled with credit for the space of 
 about twenty years. He also purchased and had patented 
 the farm called McKeansville, now owned by Adam Butter. 
 The Avondale farm is now owned by Joseph D. Pownall, 
 and by a recent survey and alteration of the line, this prop- 
 eity is now in Bart. The descendants of Joseph "Walker 
 mostly reside in the southern parts of Lancaster county. 
 
 'WALKER, Isaac, was born in the year 1808, in Sads- 
 bury township, Lancaster county. He was 'for some years 
 engaged in the mercantile business, but latterly has followed 
 agricultural pursuits. He is noted for his rare knowledge 
 of matters pertaining to the early settlement of Lancaster 
 and Chester counties, and has written considerably of the 
 early local history of the southeastern section of the county. 
 He erected, in 1872, a monument over the Penu Spring, at 
 the Gap, in memory of the beneficent founder of the State 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 WALLACE, John, was a member of the Legislature in 
 the year 1822. 
 
 ■Isaac. Walker is a son of Isaac and Deborah Walker, a grandson of 
 Asahel Walker, the first, of Sadsbtiry, and the great great-grandson of 
 Lewis Walker, at Valley Forge ; and also the great great-grandson of 
 Andrew Moore the first settler at Christiana and Penningtonville, and 
 who established the first meeting of the Friends at old Sadsbury in the 
 year 1734, and also of Jeremiah Starr, one of the first settlers of New 
 Garden, who was a prominent member of the Provincial Assembly in 
 1740, and of the well-known G-uyon Miller, the first settler at Kennet 
 Square. He is also the great great-grandson of Isaac Taylor, the first, 
 who was a surveyor in the service of William Penn, and of his sons, pro- 
 prietaries and governors of Pennsylvania ; who made original surveys 
 of a large portion of the land in the eastern section of Lancaster 
 county and the western parts of Chester ; who was also the original 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY, 613 
 
 "WALTON, John C, was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in the years 1851 and 1852. 
 
 WAEEBL, Jacob E., eldest son of John and Maria 
 Warfel, was born July 2 1st, 1826. He early in life dis- 
 played considerable talent for drawing and painting, so much 
 go that some of his work attracted the favorable attention of 
 that eminent artist, Thomas Sully, of Philadelphia, who 
 honored him with his friendship and gave him much valua- 
 ble instruction. Mr. Warfel's prospects for honor and fame 
 were very flattering, when his health failed, and after a pro- 
 tracted illness he died June 2d, 1855. He, however, had 
 executed a number of valuable portraits, which now adorn 
 the parlors of the fortunate possessors. 
 
 WAEPEL, John, was elected a member of the Legisla- 
 ture in the year 1842. 
 
 WAEFBL, John B., second son of John and Maria War- 
 fel, was born in Paradise township, Lancjaster county, Sep- 
 tember 19th, 1830. In early life he worked at the blacksmith 
 trade. When twenty years of age he entered the Lewisburg 
 University, and remained there two years. After this he 
 taught public school, until the spring of 1854, when he com- 
 menced farming, and in connection therewith the practice of 
 surveying and conveyancing. In 1855 he was elected a 
 justice of the peace for Paradise township, and was reelected 
 in 1860. He also served for several years as district super-" 
 intendent of public schools. In 1863 he gave up farming 
 and resigned his several positions, to take an appointment 
 in the pension office, at Washington, D. G. In 1865 he 
 entered Columbia college, as a law student, and graduated 
 
 purchaser of all the land in the Gap, and erected the first stone house at 
 that place, which is three stories high, and is standing and occupied at 
 the present time, (1872); and who was also a magistrate and a member of 
 the Provincial Assembly at different times, for the county of Chester 
 from 1705 up to 1723. Isaac Walker is also the great-grandson of Na- 
 thaniel Newlin, who was a member of the convention which framed the 
 old Constitution of Pennsylvania, and of .Joseph Dickinson, one of the 
 early settlers of Pequea Valley, who was joined in marriage with Eliza- 
 beth, the daughter of Guyon Miller ; also the great-grandson of the well- 
 known James Moore, of Sadsbury, who emigrated from Ireland in the 
 year 1723, and erected a large miU on the Octoraro, below Christiana, 
 which is still standing and in use at the present time. 
 
614 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 in the class of 1867. The same year he was admitted to 
 practice in the supreme court of that city, and in the several 
 courts of Lancaster county. In April, 1867, Mr. Warfel 
 received the appointment of Assessor of Internal Eevenue 
 for the 9th Pennsylvania district, (Lancaster county), which 
 position he continued to fill until removed. May 1st, 1869. 
 The same year he was elected State Senator, receiving the 
 largest popular vote of any candidate voted for at that 
 election. 
 
 WAEFEL, John, son of Jacob and Mary "Warfel, grand- 
 son of Henry and Margaret Warfel, and great-grandson of 
 George Warfel, one of the earliest settlers in Martic town- 
 ship, and from whom, it is believed, all of the name in Lan- 
 caster county have descended, was born in Strasburg (now 
 Paradise) township, March 22d, 1788. His father died in 
 1810, and his mother afterwards married Henry Gara, from 
 which connection H. S. Gara, esq., of Lancaster city, and the 
 Hon. Isaac B. Gara, of Erie, Pennsylvania, were offspring. 
 John Warfel married Maria Bshleman, daughter of Jacob- 
 Eshleman, of Paradise township. He was appointed recorder 
 of deeds for Lancaster county in 1836, by Governor Joseph 
 Ritner, and held that position for three years. He died May 
 25th, 1846. 
 
 WATSON, Nathaniel, was elected a member of th& 
 State Senate in the year 1810. 
 
 WEAVER, Prof. Elias B., was born in East Earl town- 
 ship, Lancaster county, February 1st, 1831. He is of Ger- 
 man Mennonite ancestry, his father being Jonathan Weaver, 
 a plain and unassuming farmer of his district. The subject 
 of our sketch attended school taught by his cousin, John B. 
 Good,^ to whose suggestions it was chiefly owing that he early 
 became animated with a thirst for learning. His father,, 
 having no idea of the advantages of education, did not favor 
 anything in this direction, and he was instructed by his 
 cousin in some of the advanced branches after the dismissal 
 of the rest of the school, as a public prejudice existed 
 
 ' Jolin B. Good, esq., is now a member of the Lancaster bar, wliose 
 liigb sense of honor and scriipulous observance of his word are marked 
 
 characteristics. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 615 
 
 against the study of such. This even was shared by his 
 father. But the industrious boy had the capacity, and with 
 application (which he possessed in a remarkable degree) he 
 made rapid progress and soon laid the foundation of a good 
 English education. By the time he attained the age of 
 eighteen or nineteen he made application to become the 
 teacher of the same school in which lie had obtained his 
 instruction, and was successful. He continued teaching for 
 several years, and expended considerable of his monfey so 
 earned in the purchase of books, and thus laid the foundation 
 of a library. Having made the acquaintance of J. P. Wick- 
 ersham, at the first " Teachers' Institute," held in Fulton 
 Hall, in January, 1853, he attended during the following 
 summer as a student at the Marietta academy, then taught 
 by the last named gentleman. After attending at this insti- 
 tution for some sessions, Mr. Weaver was chosen principal of 
 the high school of New Holland, where he taught for some 
 time. In 1855 he attended the first session at the Normal 
 Institute, at Millers ville, and in the spring of 1856 was 
 elected assistant professor of mathematics in the Normal 
 School at Millersville, then permanently established. This 
 position he filled up till 1859, when he was elected professor 
 of natural sciences in the same institution. This of&ce he 
 held up to the period of his death, which event occurred 
 August 6th, 1863. 
 
 As a general scholar. Prof. Weaver had few superiors 
 among the men of his years. He was able to read Latin, 
 French and German, and had also acquired some knowledge 
 of Greek. He was particularly at home in the German, and 
 had read considerably of its classic literature; he had even 
 essayed some translations of portions of celebrated German 
 authors. But it was in mathematics that he especially 
 excelled. Few men in our country understood mathematics 
 better than he, or could solve more abstruse problems. As 
 a teacher before his classes, he ranked amongst the most 
 solid. Having clear ideas himself, he insisted upon his 
 pupils acquiring a similar knowledge, and few teachers have 
 been able to send forth students better versed in the branches 
 of his department. He did not confine himself in his illus- 
 
616 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 trations to the simple text-books, but was fertile in tbe pre- 
 sentation of anything that would in any wise make the 
 subject of the lesson clearer to the apprehension of his pupils. 
 He was ever himself a diligent student, and when he dis- 
 covered anything new to his own mind, he was anxious to 
 impart the same to his pupils. With his scholars he was 
 ever a great favorite. His early demise was greatly lamented 
 by the students and teachers of the institution in which he 
 had so faithfully served as an instructor. 
 
 WEBB, James, was a member of the Legislature * in the 
 years 1747, 1748, 1750, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1759, 1760, 
 1761, 1762, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1772, 1773, 
 1774, 1775 and 1777. 
 
 WEBB, William, was a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 1790,^ 1805 and 1806. 
 
 WELSH, General Thomas, was for years a resident of 
 Columbia, Lancaster county, Pa. He enlisted for and served 
 with distinction in the war with Mexico. Upon the break- 
 ing out of the rebellion, he was among the very first who 
 responded to the call of the Presideat. He raised a company 
 in the neighborhood of Columbia and was chosen captain of 
 the same, and upon the organization of the regiment (the 
 2d Pennsylvania volunteers of the three months service) was 
 elected lieutenant colonel. At the close of this service he 
 again entered the field and was appointed colonel of the 45th 
 regiment. This regiment was assigned to General Burnside's 
 department, and took part in all the brilliant engagements 
 of the campaign. In the engagements of South Mountain 
 and Antietam, he commanded a brigade and displayed re- 
 markable abilities for command on both these fiercely con- 
 tested battle fields. To him has been accredited the honor 
 of having turned the fortunes of the day at South Mountain. 
 His soldierly qualities commended him to the attention of 
 
 ' From the settlement of Pemisylvauia up to the ado]otion of the con- 
 stitution of 1789, the Legislature of the State was entitled the General 
 Assembly. 
 
 2 It is to be borne in mind that in enumerating offices held by indi- 
 viduals sketched in this work, the year of their election is generally 
 given instead of that of their service. 
 
OP LANCASTER COUNTY. 617 
 
 General Burnside, and at his eager suggestion, as well as 
 ttatof General Wilcox, he was appointed a brigadier general 
 by President Lincoln. He was transferred to the west, his 
 brigade accompanying him. He died at Cincinnati, August 
 14th, 1863. He proved himself a thorough soldier in every 
 military position he occupied, and his promotion was one 
 richly merited. 
 
 WHITE, Henry M., was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature in the year 1860. 
 
 WHITE, William, was elected sheriff of Lancaster 
 county in the year 1824. 
 
 WHITEHILL, James, son of John Whitehill, was a 
 • member of the Legislature iu the year 1793. He served as 
 a member of Congress from 1813 till 1814, when he resigned. 
 He ,was a merchant of Strasburg, and a man of much in- 
 fluence in the community. He also presided for a time as 
 associate judge of the courts of Lancaster county. He was 
 reelected to the Legislature in 1831. 
 
 WHITEHILL, John, a citizen of Salisbury township, and 
 a leading and influential man tin his day. He was descended 
 from Scotch-Irish ancestry. He was a member of the 
 Legislature in the years 1780, 1781 and 1782. He also 
 presided as associate judge of the courts ©f the county. He 
 served two terms in Congress, from 1803 until 1807; he 
 was again reelected to the Legislature in the 1809. 
 
 WHITEHILL, John, jr., was elected county commis- 
 sioner in the year 1801. 
 
 WHITBLOCK, Isaac, was a member of the Legislature 
 in the year 1772. 
 
 WHITESIDE, John, a leading citizen of Lancaster county 
 for many years. He was an influential Democrat, and was 
 elected a member of the Legislature in the years 1810 and 
 1811. He served in the national Congress from 1815 till 
 1819. In 1821 he was appointed register of wills, which posi- 
 tion he held for some time. In 1825 he was again reelected 
 to a seat in the Legislature. He owned and kept the Foun- 
 tain Inn, in South Queen street, which for many years was 
 the Democratic headquarters. 
 
618 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 WHITESIDE, William, son of Jolin Whiteside, a mem- 
 ber of the Lancaster bar, was appointed Eegister of Wills 
 in 1830, an office he held for six years. 
 
 WHITSON, George, was elected Eecorder of Lancaster 
 county in 1860. In 1870 he was elected to the House of 
 Representatives of Pennsylvania. 
 
 WICKERSHAM, Professor Jambs P., State Superin- 
 .tendent of public schools of Pennsylvania, was born in Ches- 
 ter county, where his ancestry have resided since the first 
 settlement of that section of the State. Our subject was 
 placed at school at an early age, and from a boy was noted for 
 the rapid progress he made in his studies. After attaining a 
 somewhat thorough knowledge of the rudimentary branches * 
 of study, he entered the Unionville Academy of Chester 
 county, where he remained during six sessions. In this time 
 he studied mathematics, natural science and history, as like- 
 wise the French and Latin languages. He now inclined in 
 his mind to study a profession, but this not meeting the 
 approbation of his father, the latter gave him the choice 
 either to assist him upon his farm, or for the future to carve 
 his course by the dint of his own exertions. The latter 
 alternative was accepted, and shortly afterwards he engaged 
 himself as an assistant teacher in the same institution in 
 which he had pursued his studies, and for no other salary 
 than the instruction he should receive. The following win- 
 ter of 1841-^2, he taught a country school at twenty dollars 
 per month, and then retarned to school himself, and thus he 
 continued alternately teaching and studying until the year 
 1845, when he became principal of the Marietta Academy, 
 Lancaster county, Pa. This position he obtained when but 
 twenty years of age, and continued to perform the duties 
 thereof for the period of nine years. In the year 1848 he 
 married a daughter of Dr. Isaac Taylor, of Chester county. 
 In 1854 he was elected the first County Superintendent of 
 common schools of Lancaster county, and because he de- 
 clined serving for less, received five hundred dollars more 
 than any other superintendent in Pennsylvania. He imme- 
 diately entered with great zeal into the work of elevating the 
 schools of the county up to a higher standard of perfection. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 619 
 
 Coming to perceive the advantages resulting from the asso- 
 ciation of teachers together in county institutes then budding 
 into notice, he conceived the idea of enlarging this plan of 
 teaching, and proposed to give instruction of this charac- 
 ter for a period of some months at the Millersville Academy, 
 then taught by M. L. Hobbes. This may somewhat be re- 
 garded as one of the inceptive steps which led to the estab- 
 lishment of the Normal school at this place. The move-^ 
 ment thus inaugurated was steadily onward, and was gather- 
 ing strength in its course, and in 1856 Professor Stoddard, 
 the first President of the institution, was released from his 
 charge, and J. P. Wickersham, our subject, chosen to suc- 
 ceed him as head of the first Normal school of Pennsylvania. 
 He thereupon resigned his position as Superintendent of the 
 schools of Lancaster county, and vigorously entered upon 
 the discharge of his duties as President of the new Normal 
 Pennsylvania college. This post he filled with efiBicieucy up 
 to the year 1866, when he resigned with the view of making 
 a trip to Europe. Circumstances interposing, and his visit 
 to the old world being delayed, he was in the meantime ten- 
 dered by Governor Curtin, the position of State Superin- 
 tendent of common schools, a position he accepted. He was 
 again reappointed by Governor Geary, and his second con- 
 firmation by the Senate was unanimous, every one of the 
 thirty-three Senators voting in his favor. This position he 
 has continued to hold up to the present time. 
 
 During Prof Wickersham's presidency of the Millersville 
 Normal School he issued two volumes: one on "School 
 Economy," and the other on " Methods of Instruction." The 
 former of these was, in the year 1870, translated by the 
 government of the Argentine Eepublic into the Spanish lan- 
 guage, and established as a text-book in the schools of that 
 Spanish republic. He was from the earliest inauguration of 
 teachers' institutes one of the warm friends of this system 
 of imparting instruction, and but few educators in the coun- 
 try have attended more of these and other meetings of like 
 character. He has for years been recognized as standing 
 amongst the prominent American educators, and at their 
 county, State and national assemblages he has been repeat- 
 
620 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 edly honored by them with positions of rank and distinction. 
 In 1868 he received the distinguished consideration of being 
 invited by Sarmiento, president of the Argentine Republic, 
 to a position in his cabinet, to have charge of the educa- 
 tional interests of that country. This, however, he declined 
 accepting. 
 
 Prof Wickersham has ever been an industrious and inde- 
 fatigable laborer in the cause of general education, and has 
 been in the habit of writing considerably for magazines and 
 newspapers, articles chiefly of an educational character. He 
 has fine command of the English language, and pens an 
 article in beautiful and rounded sentences, difficult to be ex- 
 celled. He is, in short, a fine writer. As soon as he (as a 
 partner,) came into possession of the Pennsylvania School 
 Journal, in 1870, the improvement was immediately visible 
 It rose to a scholarly rank at once, and has maintained this 
 grade up to the present. At the last commencement of 
 Lafayette college, Pennsylvania, the title of L.L.D. was con- 
 ferred upon him. 
 
 WILEY, John E., elected a member of the Legislature 
 in the years 1869 and 1870. 
 
 WILEY, William B., is one of the leading aldermen of 
 Lancaster city, having filled this position from February, 
 1858. When young he learned the printing business with 
 Thomas Feran, and in 1845 became publisher of the Lan- 
 caster Democrat, till he sold out to J. Forsyth Garter. From 
 1851 till October, 1855, he published the Lancasterian, 
 which he sold to George Sanderson. He was the printer of 
 the Pennsylvania SchoolJournal from 1852 up to 1869, and in 
 June of this latter year he began the publication of the Lan- 
 caster Bar. Mr. Wiley is endowed with considerable native 
 capacity, entertains very liberal and enlarged sentiments of 
 men and things, and possesses rare shrewdness and business 
 sagacity. 
 
 WILSON, John, was born in Amity township, Berks 
 county, on 21st August, A. D. 1792. He died at Reams- 
 town, Lancaster county, on the 28th day of October, A. D. 
 1854. On his mother's side, whose maiden name was Dehart, 
 lie was a descendant of the "Boone" family, to which, 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 62X 
 
 "Daniel," the pioneer of Kentucky, gave celebrity. The 
 subject of this sketch emigrated to Reamstown in the year 
 1814 or 1815, where he resided until his death. With no 
 advantages of an early education, by industry he mastered 
 most of the branches of a polite education. He was one of 
 the first, if not the first, who opened an exclusively English 
 school, and taught with great success for many years, not 
 only school children, but young men and women, residing 
 in that then almost entirely German region. In the year 
 1825. he was commissioned a justice of the peace by Gov- 
 ernor Shulze, and at the same time commenced surveying 
 and scrivening in all its branches, which he followed with 
 success till his death. He, in addition, held many commis- 
 sions of honor and trust from the Governors of Pennsylva- 
 nia. He left a large family. He lies buried in the grave- 
 yard connected with the Reamstown Eeformed and Lutheran 
 church. William R. Wilson, son of the above, is a well- 
 read and able attorney of the Lancaster bar. 
 
 WILLIAMS FAMILY. Robert, John and Thomas Wil- 
 liams, three brothers, were among the early and respectable 
 settlers of Sadsbury township. They emigrated to this 
 country when quite young, (whether with their mother is 
 not fully known.) They were enterprising, industrious, and 
 honorable young men. Robert and John Williams pur- 
 chased about 500 acres of land in the year 1740, about 
 one mile south of the Gap, from William Fishbourne, 
 who had been appointed a member of Governor Gordon's 
 Council in 1726. They were members of the old Presbyte- 
 rian church at Octoraro. They divided the tract of land 
 between them (Robert and John.) Robert afterwards pur- 
 chased part of the Christiana tract, (known afterwards as the 
 Murray property), and now owned by Lindley Brown, esq., 
 for his brother Thomas, who was killed by a wild bear. 
 
 John Williams built the old stone residence which is 
 standing to the present day on the land of A. C. Walker, and 
 which was afterwards the rendevous of the Doans and other 
 notorious characters during the last years of the Revolution. 
 He also built the old house, near the present residence of Isaac 
 Walker, of Sadsbury township, which was afterwards the 
 
622 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBY 
 
 residence of James Knox said to be the grandfather of 
 James K. Polk, President of the United States. John Wil- 
 liams died in the year 1747, and his tombstone bears the 
 oldest date in the Presbyterian burying-ground at Octoraro. 
 He left a widow and an only daughter, who was married to 
 James Duff, and in the year 1759 they sold their property to 
 James Moore and removed to Virginia. 
 
 EoBEBT Williams retained his part of the land, in addi- 
 tion to which his son Eobert purchased near 200 acres, that 
 on which stood the ancient village of the Shawana Indians, 
 the remains of which can be seen to the present day. His 
 son, Robert Williams, jr., was married about the year 1765 
 to Grace, daughter of John Bell, of Colerain, and sister of 
 Col. Patterson Bell and Montgomery Bell, of Tennessee. 
 She was also the sister of John Bell, jr., said to be the father 
 of John Bell, Senator of the United States, who removed to 
 Davidson county, Tennessee. After the decease of Eobert 
 Williams, jr., and about the year 1792, was sold on his 
 premises, the last African slave that was ever sold at public 
 outcry in Sadsbury township, being a young female slave. 
 She was exposed for sale in the barn-yard along with the stock 
 cattle, and was purchased by Thomas Henderson, esq., for the 
 sum of £50, and remained a faithful servant for Mrs. Hender- 
 son during the remainder of her life. The Williams family 
 were among the first considerable money lenders of Sadsbury. 
 Eobert Williams, sr., held an obligation against Isaac 
 Taylor, sr., about the middle of the last century for £200, 
 and various other obligations on different persons. His 
 grandson, the late John Williams, sr., secured a large dis- 
 tributive share out of the estate of his uncle Montgomery 
 Bell, of the State of Tennessee, shortly before the late civil 
 war, through the perseverance and assiduity of his friend 
 and relative (grand nephew), John B. Livingston, esq., a 
 member of the Lancaster bar. The Williams family have 
 been noted for their honesty and consistent integrity in the 
 community for one hundred and thirty years. James and 
 Zachariah B. Williams, the great great-grandsons of Eobert 
 Williams, sr., are the present holders of the land, and reside 
 on the property. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 623 
 
 WITMER, Abraham, was a member of the Legislature 
 in the year 1791. 
 
 WITMEE, Daniel "W., was elected a member of tbe 
 Legislature in the years 1848 and 1854. 
 
 WITMER, John, was elected commissioner of Lancaster 
 county in the year 1847. 
 
 WITHERS, George, brother of Michael Withers, was 
 a lieutenant in the Revolutionary army. He was born Sep- 
 tember 14th, 1747, and died May 23d, 1811. He was a farmer 
 of Strasburg township. He left two sons and two daughters. 
 Michael and George Withers, of Lancaster, are his sons. 
 
 WITHERS, George, a member of the Legislature in the 
 year 1820, was born in West Earl township, in 1769, atid 
 died in 1829. His father was named George. He moved to 
 near Reamstown when a young man, where he accumulated 
 considerable property, yet in possession of his son, Curtis 
 Withers. He was a man of considerable knowledge, and 
 remarkable for his business talent. He had three sons, 
 Curtis, John and George. 
 
 WITHERS, George B., a grandson of John Withers, 
 read law and was admitted to the bar in 1822. He was a 
 man of ability, and once held the of&ce of prothonotary of 
 Lancaster county. He was the Democratic candidate for the 
 same office in 1839, in opposition to Zephaniah McLenegan. 
 
 WITHERS, John, was a captain in Col. John Ferree's 
 battalion, during the Revolution, and also a farmer of Stras- 
 burg township. He was born December 24th, 1729, and 
 died December 24th, 1813. 
 
 WITHERS, Michael,! was born March 4th, 1733. He 
 was a gunsmith, and was employed by the government to 
 manufacture rifles for the American army in the Revolution. 
 He lived in Strasburg township. He was a man of influence 
 and standing. He died August 18th, 1821. 
 
 WOOD, Day, elected a member of the Legislature in the 
 years 1864 and 1865. He died whilst serving as a legislator. 
 
 ■ It was chiefly through the instrumentality of Michael and George 
 Withers that St. Michael's Lutheran church, in the borough of Stras- 
 burg, was built. They also furnished the said church with an organ, 
 it being among the first procured for churches in Lancaster county. 
 
624 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 WOKK, Joseph, a member of the Legislature in the years 
 1783, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1790, 1791 and 1792. 
 
 WORLEY, Nathan, was born in Ohio, March 1st, 1819. 
 He was early thrown with but a limited education entirely 
 upon his own resources. In November, 1846, he removed 
 from Ohio to Manheim, in Lancaster county, where he en- 
 gaged in the mercantile business, an occupation he had fol- 
 lowed for ten years previous. He has not grown rich, but 
 has succeeded well as a merchant. About the year 1859 
 the question of building a railroad from Reading to Columbia 
 was first proposed. Mr. Worley at once conceived the idea 
 that Manheim should have the benefit of said road, although 
 it was at least three miles north of the natural route. He took 
 hold with a determination, and his conception was made a 
 success. The people of the borough and neighborhood are 
 now enjoying the benefits of his ideas put in practice. He 
 was elected a member of the Legislature in the fall of 1861, 
 and served one session. He is engaged in the mercantile 
 business in Manheim. 
 
 WORRALL, Peter, was a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 1747, 1748, 1749, 1751, 1752, 1753 and 1754. 
 
 WORTH, William C, was elected County Commmis- 
 sioner in the year 1854. 
 
 WRIGHT, James, was a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 1745, 1746, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1753, 1754, 
 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1759, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1763, 1764, 
 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768 and 1770. 
 
 WRIGHT, James, jr., a member of the Legislature in 
 the years 1821 and 1822. 
 
 WRIGHT, John, was one of the three first settlers who 
 took up and settled the district where Columbia, in Lancas- 
 ter county, now stands. He was born in England, and emi- 
 grated to Pennsylvania, settling first in Chester county, and 
 afterwards made his way to Lancaster county. He was a 
 Quaker by persuasion, and one of the active and enterprising 
 men of his day. His name is intimately associated with all 
 the earlier transactions of the county's history. He was a 
 justice of the peace, and was the chief presiding magistrate- 
 
OF LANCASTEE COUNTY. 625 
 
 of the justices' courts of the county for many years. He was 
 one of the leading citizens who participated actively in se- 
 curing the erection of Lancaster into a separate county, and 
 to himself was the honor accorded of giving the name to 
 the new county. It was named by him from his native 
 county in England. He was one of the first members 
 elected from the new county to the general assembly in 
 1729. He was afterwards elected in the years 1730, 1733, 
 1734, 1737, 1738, 1739, 1740, 1741, 1742, 1743, 1744, 1745, 
 1746, 1747 and 1748. His descendants are yet numerous 
 in the county. 
 
 WYLIB, Stuart A., was born in Lancaster city, January 
 25th, 1840. His father, David Wylie, was an humble cooper, 
 who traced his descent from Scotch-Irish ancestry. Stuart 
 A. was sent by his parents to the free schools of Lancaster, 
 and being a boy of remarkable brightness, he far outstrip- 
 ped all his classmates in his studies, and graduated at the 
 Lancaster high school at the early age of sixteen. Having 
 taught school for a short time with great success, he next 
 entered as an apprentice the Inland Daily Times office, and 
 worked at case for a few months. In the meantime attention 
 was attracted towards some articles written by him for the 
 paper, and he was soon thereafter assigned the position of 
 local reporter, which he filled for about two years. In this 
 position he showed remarkable capacity, and was frequently 
 complimented for his reports, and was on several occasions 
 the recipient of handsome testimonials in appreciation of 
 articles penned by him for the paper. On January 1st, 1859, 
 S. A. Wvlie & Co. began the publication of the Inquirer as 
 a weekly paper, and afterwards consolidated therewith the 
 American Press and Bepublican, purchased of Jacob Myers. 
 In 1860 Mr. Wylie became sole proprietor of the enterprise, 
 and from July 7th, 1862, until February 13th, 1864, issued 
 likewise a Daily Inquirer. In 1861 he married Mary 
 Amanda, a daughter of George Brubaker, esq. In 1868 he 
 associated with him EUwood Griest, and the firm continued 
 the publication of the Inquirer up to the period of his death, 
 June 12th, 1872. 
 
 In 1868 Mr. Wylie erected the largest printing establish- 
 44 
 
626 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 ment ' ever built in Lancaster, began business therein in 
 February, 1869, and continued increasing and enlarging the 
 same up till the day of his death. 
 
 Mr. Wylie was a remarkable man. As a business 
 organizer and conductor, he ranked amongst those who are 
 able to eclipse all their comrades and place themselves in 
 the front column of the men of their epoch. In no sense 
 did his capacities belong to an ordinary grade. He was 
 extraordinary in every particular. He had a wonderful 
 intuitive knowledge of men of all grades, and could measure 
 almost at a glance any one with whom he came in contact, 
 and assign their respective adaptabilities. As a writer, he 
 wielded a ready pen; and as a speaker, he was able, upon 
 any occasion, to acquit himself handsomely before an assem- 
 blage in a neat, appropriate speech that might seem to a 
 stranger a studied production. In every particular, indeed, 
 he exhibited rare ability. He could run the complicated 
 financial machine of his vast business better than any sub- 
 ordinate, could attend to all the outside details, could canvass 
 for business, as were this his allotted sphere, could make 
 
 ' The Inquirer printing and binding establisliment, erected in 1868, 
 inaugurated in Lancaster, in tlie department of jorinting, a movement of 
 activity not before witnessed in the State outside of Philadelphia, and 
 equaled in but few places in that city. The idea of this mammoth enter- 
 prise was a conception of S. A. Wylie alone, and had time been spared 
 him he would, in all probability, have rivaled almost the printing and 
 publishing depots of Leipsic. Such was his ambition. His establishment 
 employs in its different departments about, on an average, one hundred 
 and sixty hands, and turns out an immense amount of work obtained 
 from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, New Or- 
 leans, and numerous other places. About nine weekly newspapers and 
 twenty monthly periodicals issue from the establishment, besides mil- 
 lions of pamphlet publications, that are printed and put up for gratui- 
 tous or advertising circulation. The printing of books for Philadelphia 
 and New York houses has already become an important feature of the 
 concern. Twelve steam presses are kept nearly all the time in active 
 operation, frequently running day and night. Often double sets of 
 hands are employed. The system of stereotyping was introduced but a 
 short time before the death of Mr. Wylie, and is now regularly prose- 
 cuted, the first of this branch of business ever established in Lancaster. 
 The different departments of business are all regularly systematized, a 
 foreman being placed over each, and those selcted for the various posi- 
 tions were chosen with reference to their respective proficiencies in their 
 several specialties. 
 
OP LANOASTEE COUNTY. 627 
 
 estimates for contracts from $5.00 to $10,000 witli amazing 
 dexterity, and could, if need required, throw off his coat and 
 equal if not surpass in the amount of work dispatched any 
 employee in his service. He had a complete and accurate 
 knowledge of the most minute details relating to the manage- 
 ment, and execution of his vast and complicated printing and 
 binding establishment, an enterprise of which, whilst living, 
 he was the entire soul and manager. He was, in short, all 
 combined, the most enterprising, successful, and intellectual 
 business man of his years that the old inland city has ever 
 yet produced. 
 
 Mr. Wylie as a citizen, was worthy of imitation. He 
 was genial and bland, always in a good humor, and wore a 
 smiling face for all. He was very affable and talkative, and 
 no man ever saw him moody or morose. To all his em- 
 ployees he was ever courteous and kind, yet the proprietor's 
 attitude was uniformly observed, forbidding undue familiarity. 
 If occasion required, a sternness peremptorily demanded 
 observance of duty, and quelled all indications of disobedi- 
 ence, or dismissal immediately followed. As a man, he was 
 charitable and humane, and ready to extend a favor to any 
 worthy object. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Y BATES, Jasper,' was the most eminent lawyer in Lancas- 
 ter before the period of the American Eevolution. He 
 was admitted to the bar in the year 1765. He took a very 
 active part in all matters relating to the difficulties between 
 the mother country and her American colonies, and was an 
 ardent advocate of the Whig cause. He was one of the 
 delegates from Lancaster county to the convention of 1787 
 which ratified, on the part of Pennsylvania, the Federal Con- 
 
 'Jasper Teates, with Edward Shippen, and Smith, the three judges of 
 the Supreme Court of Pemisylvania, were, in 1805, impeached before the . 
 Senate of Pennsylvania, but acquitted. 
 
628 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 stitution. The other delegates from the county, were: Ste- 
 phen Chambers, Eobert Coleman, Sebastian Graff, John 
 Hubley and John Whitehill. He was one of the committee of 
 three with Thomas McKean and Judge Wilson who re- 
 ported the form of the ratification, which is in these words : 
 " In the name of the people of Pennsylvania, be it known 
 unto all men, that we, the delegates of the people of the com- 
 monwealth of Pennsylvania in general convention assembled, 
 have assented to and ratified, and by these presents, do, in 
 the name and by the authority of the said people, and for 
 ourselves, assent to and ratify the (foregoing) Constitution 
 for the United States of America." In 1791 he was ap- 
 pointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, a 
 position he held with great credit during the remainder of 
 his life. One of the series of State Reports was prepared by 
 Judge Yeates, which confers great honor upon him as an 
 author and a lawyer. He died March 13th, 1817, in the 73d 
 year of his age. He was possessed of a clear and vigorous 
 mind, and his opinions were bold. As a judge, he com- 
 manded the highest respect and deference. His decisions 
 from the bench were clear, decisive and strongly indicative 
 of a profound knowledge of the constitution and laws of his 
 country. As a man of business, he was one of the most 
 methodical. With him everything had its time and place. 
 This trait was observable in all his transactions, whether 
 of a domestic or public nature. He was kind and affection- 
 ate, of a cheerful and contented disposition, and correct and 
 engaging in his deportment. In all the social relations he 
 was truly amiable. 
 
 z. 
 
 ZAHM, GoDFRiED, was born November 10th, 1787, in 
 Lancaster borough. When a young man he learned 
 cigar making, and afterwards brush making, which latter 
 business he carried on for upwards of fifty years. Mr. Zahm 
 began life in humble circumstances, and by economy, indus- 
 try and uprightness he accumulated a handsome indepen- 
 
OF LANOASTEB COUNTY. 629 
 
 dence and rose to the rank of the influential men of the day. 
 Just prior to the breaking out of the war of 1812, by the 
 advice of some friends, he invested largely in imported 
 bristles. The subsequent embargo greatly enhanced their 
 value, and this laid the foundation of his fortune. His strict 
 integrity was early recognized, and before the incorporation 
 of Lancaster as a city, having served as a collector, no bond 
 was required of him. He was a member of the city coun- 
 cils for many years. He served in common councils for a 
 time, and was a member of select council for twenty-three 
 years, and during all this time was chairman of the finance 
 committee, a position for which, by the common consent of 
 all citizens of Lancaster, he was best qualified to fill. His 
 sagacious shrewdness in financial matters earned for him the 
 sobriquet of " Old Talleyrand." He was for twenty years a 
 leading member of the school board. He was an early and 
 ardent friend of the free school system, and was one of the 
 first to advocate making the system compulsory upon non- 
 accepting districts. He died universally esteemed and re- 
 spected, March 9th, 1871. 
 
 ZAHM, Mathias, brother of Godfried Zahm, an aged and 
 respected citizen, has been court-crier for nearly forty years. 
 He was born August 17th, 1789. 
 
 ZBCHER, Christian, se., emigrated from Germany and 
 settled in Lancaster shortly after the close of the American 
 Revolution. He was a tailor by trade, but did not follow it 
 much after coming to Lancaster. He kept carts and horses, 
 and by his industry secured a fair competence. He died 
 aged sixty-two years. He raised eight children, all yet liv- 
 ing : Christian, Frederick, Jacob, David, Lewis, Christiana, 
 married to Brooks Campbell ; Mary, married to James Camp- 
 bell, and after his death to James Noble ; and Catharine, 
 married to Charles McLaughlin. Christian Zeoher has for 
 several years been the most industrious and ef&cient member 
 of the Lancaster school board. He has also been one of the 
 principal movers in the erection of the new market house,^ at 
 the corner of North Queen and Walnut streets. 
 
 'The new market house is now being completed, and its cost, it is be- 
 lieved, will reach $60,000. 
 
630 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTOBY 
 
 ZBLLBE, John H., was elected Clerk of Quarter Ses- 
 sions and Oyer and Terminer in 1863. In 1866 Jacob M. 
 G-reider succeeded him in this office, and filled the same dur- 
 ing his term of three years. 
 
 ZIMMEEMAN, Hbney, (CarpenTer), the progenitor of 
 the numerous Carpenter family of Lancaster county, was a 
 native of the canton of Berne, in Switzerland, and emigrated 
 to this country about 1710. According to an old order of 
 William Penn, the names of all persons to whom grants of 
 land were made were Anglicised, and hence the name was 
 changed to that of Carpenter. Henry Zimmerman was 
 allowed to take possession of several hundred acres of land, 
 provided he went sixty miles west of Philadelphia. The 
 cause of his emigration was repugnance to persecution, and 
 being a member of the German Keformed church his friends 
 desired to force him to unite with those of their opinions in 
 persecuting others. This did not seem to him as accordant 
 with the spirit of Christianity, and to escape this he resolved 
 upon coming to America. To detain him his friends medi- 
 tated seizing his wife, and thus they thought to prevent his 
 going. She, however, resolved to follow her husband. He 
 accordingly, in secret, obtained a small boat and fixed it 
 upon the shore of the lake of the four cantons. They 
 awaited a favorable opportunity, and finally left their home 
 to escape, by means of the boat, forever from the land of 
 their birth. Henry armed himself, and not in vain, with a 
 sabre, for they were attacked on the road by four hussars, 
 who wished to prevent their departure. Tradition says, 
 with Salome clinging to her husband for protection, he 
 successfully combated his four assailants, and succeeded in 
 escaping, both himself and wife, in their little boat, to a more 
 hospitable shore. Henry Zimmerman was a carpenter by 
 trade, and going from Switzerland to England on his way to 
 America, he was presented with a large auger and other 
 tools by Queen Anne, to enable him to carry on his trade in 
 America. 
 
 ZIMMEEMAN, John, ex-Mayor of the city of Lancaster, 
 was born March 22d, 1798, two miles northwest of the city 
 of Lancaster. When he was about eight years of age his 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 631 
 
 father moved to Columbia, and thence to Soudersburg, -where 
 he died in 1813. In 1815 the subject of this notice came to 
 Lancaster and entered the store of John Landis, as clerk. In 
 1822 he married Anna M. Schaeffer, a sister of Judge Schaef- 
 fer, deceased. In 1828 he was elected a member of city 
 councils, and whilst a member moved the resolution to in- 
 troduce water from the Conestoga into the city of Lancaster, 
 pumped into a reservoir by machinery. He was afterwards, 
 for a time, chairman of the water committee. He attended 
 the first meeting held for the purpose of introducing the 
 common school system into the schools of Lancaster. He 
 was a great friend of the measure. He was for about 18 
 years a member of the School Board, 8 years of which he 
 acted as secretary. He was city treasurer f6r 8 or 9 years, 
 and in 1856 was elected Mayor of the city of Lancaster, and 
 reelected in 1857. 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 *HBER, Eev. Christian, an eminent, and successful 
 pastor and teacher in the Mennonite denomination of chris- 
 tians, was born on the 31st day of October, 1780, on the 
 farm on which his son, Eev. Amos Herr, at present resides, 
 situated in what is now West Lampeter township, bordering 
 on Pequea creek. From this circumstance, and for the pur- 
 pose of distinguishing him from others of the same name, 
 (as the Herr family had then become numerous in that 
 vicinity), his father, whose name was also Christian, either 
 assumed, or had conferred on him by the neighbors the appel- 
 lation of Pequea Christian Herr ; the son assumed the distinc- 
 tive appendage, and almost uniformly, except in private 
 correspondence, signed his name "Christian Herr, jr., Pequea," 
 until after the death of his father, when the junior was dis- 
 carded, to be afterwards resumed by his son. 
 
 Tradition, which is fast becoming, if it has not already 
 become history, informs us that about the year 1710 or 
 1711, a colony of emigrants, from Switzerland, effected a 
 settlement on the north side of Pequea creek, which settle- 
 ment was subsequently included in the limits of Lampeter 
 township. These emigrants were mostly, if not all, members 
 of the Mennonite church. Amongst them was John Herr, 
 or as familiarly expressed in their native language, Hans 
 Herr, as their pastor and leader, who brought with him 
 five sons, who are the progenitors of the numerous and re- 
 spectable family of that name in the county of Lancaster, 
 many of whom still own and reside on the lands originally 
 purchased from the proprietary government, by their ances- 
 tors, more than one hundred and fifty years ago. Christian 
 Herr, the subject of this memoir, was one of the fourth 
 generation from the above named Hans Herr. He had no 
 brother, but six sisters, five of whom were married and one 
 .died single. He was brought up as a farmer, and received 
 no education but what was obtained at our common country 
 schools, which at best, in those days, was an imperfect know- 
 ledge of reading, writing and common arithmetic. But being 
 of a sprightly disposition, and possessing an inquiring, con- 
 templative lurn of mind, and a retentive memory, by reading 
 * Contributed by Hon, John Strohm. 
 
634 BIOGBAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 and study he improved his intellectual powers, and acquired 
 a general knowledge of men and things superior to most 
 young men of his class and age, which enabled him to aid 
 and advise his neighbors and friends, who frequently con- 
 sulted him in regard to matters of business. He was often 
 employed in drawing instruments- of writing in reference to 
 the disposition of property, by agreement and by devise, and 
 in the settlement of estates, and disputes and controversies 
 amongst neighbors. These acquirements, connected with his 
 kindness of heart and amiable disposition, made him very 
 and deservedly popular amongst his associates and acquaint- 
 ances. As an evidence of his good standing in the commu- 
 nity in which he lived, it may be mentioned that, when yet a 
 young man he was elected, in 1812, one of the commis- 
 sioners for his native county, the duties of which he dis- 
 charged with fidelity and ability. Had his ambition 
 prompted him to aspire to worldly distinction he might have 
 attained to higher positions. He was urgently solicited to 
 accept a nomination for the Legislature, but refused. Politics 
 and statesmanship seemed uncongenial to his tastes, and he 
 withdrew from secular employments to exercise his talents 
 and his energies in a higher and nobler field of action. 
 
 About the year 1817 he became seriously impressed with 
 the sinfulness of man's natural condition, and the necessity 
 of a Eedeemer's grace. On a careful and prayerful perusal 
 and study of the holy scriptures, and the elucidations thereof 
 by learned and enlightened divines, he came to the conclu- 
 sion that duty required him to connect himself with some 
 religious denomination ; and by withdrawing from and declin- 
 ing worldly honors, to enlist himself as an humble follower of 
 his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. After a deliberate 
 examination of the various creeds and professions that came 
 within his knowledge and presented themselves to his mind 
 at the time, none seemed to him more fully in accordance 
 with the teachings of the holy scriptures, which he conceived 
 to be the guide to all truth, than that in which he had been 
 instructed from his childhood, and in which his parents and 
 ancestors had been worthy members and communicants. In 
 accordance with these views and impressions, he and his 
 amiable and excellent wife became members of the Orthodox^ 
 (or old) Mennonite church. In this situation his meek and 
 exemplary deportment did not escape the notice of his asso- 
 ciates, and as an evidence of their confidence in his sincerity, 
 uprightness of conduct and unaffected piety, he was appointed 
 an elder in the congregation with which he worshiped. Pur- 
 
 'Tliis word is used here to distinguish this denomination from those 
 ■who call themselves the Reformed (or new) Mennonite society. 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 635 
 
 suing tTie even tenor of his way in a quiet and unobtrusive 
 manner, attending sedulously to tlie various duties required 
 of him, frequently visiting the sick and distressed, not only 
 amongst those who belonged to the same congregation, but 
 any who seemed to require his aid and advice, he performed 
 many good offices and received the sincere thanks of many 
 who profited by his disinterested exertions. In adjusting diffi- 
 culties and reconciling controversies between those who 
 ought to be friends, he was actively engaged, in which his 
 good sense and earnest and impressive manner rendered him 
 very useful ; and many hard feelings and vexatious mis- 
 understandings were allayed and assuaged through his inter- 
 vention, and peace and harmony restored where distrust and 
 suspicion, and in some instances falsehood and malice, had 
 engendered discord and strife. 
 
 In- the year 1835, as a further appreciation of his merits, 
 he was, according to the rules and ordinances of the church 
 of which he was a member, ordained a minister of the gospel. 
 This opened to him a wider field of action and usefulness, 
 and a corresponding increase of labor and fatigue. He soon 
 obtained the reputation of being a fluent speaker, a sound, 
 logical reasoner, and a fervent, earnest proclaimer of the 
 truths of the gospel. Many who for years had been apathetic 
 or lukewarm on the subject of religion, were awakened to a 
 just sense of their condition, and, as a consequence, a con- 
 siderable accession was made to the church under his minis- 
 tration. He could not be called eloquent, attempted no 
 flourishes of rhetoric^ indulged in no flights of imagination, 
 but his power lay in the simple, unassuming, but fervent and 
 earnest manner in which he addressed his audience. This, 
 together with the knowledge of his blameless life and unim- 
 peachable character, carried conviction to the hearts of his 
 hearers, when high sounding words, polished, elaborate sen- 
 tences, delivered 'in a pompous and ostentatious style of 
 action, would have passed them by as "sounding brass or 
 tinkling cymbals." It now became his duty to preach at 
 least one sermon on every Sabbath day, and not unfrequently 
 he was called on two or three times a week to preach funeral 
 sermons. In addition to those duties he had to give a por- 
 tion of his time to visit the sick, so that his time was almost 
 constantly occupied in attending to those duties, leaving him 
 very little time in which to attend to private business. In 
 1831 he had the misfortune to lose his wife, who had for 
 many years been the partner of his joys, and in sickness and 
 sorrow his comforter and supporter. The writer of this 
 article here claims the privilege of a slight digression, to pay 
 a tribute of respect to the memory of one for whom he 
 
636 BIOGEAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 entertained the highest regard. He remembers with grati- 
 tude the many kindnesses he received at her hands. He 
 knew her well, saw her in many difficult and trying situa- 
 tions, and never knew a lady of more equable temperament 
 and kind and obliging disposition. A loving and confiding 
 wife, she was a coDstant, unwavering friend, just and gener- 
 ous to her domestics and neighbors, and above all, a sincere 
 and devout christian. She was a daughter of Christian and 
 Barbara Forrer, of Oonestoga township. 
 
 Some years subsequent to the decease of his wife, his chil- 
 dren being nearly all grown up and married, he gave up the 
 management of his fine estate to his sons and took up his 
 residence with his eldest son, Benjamin; and having divested 
 himself as much as possible from all earthly cares, devoted 
 his time entirely to the duties of his calling. In the year 
 1840 he was elevated to the highest position recognized by 
 the church to which he belonged, that of bishop, successor 
 to Rev. Peter Bby, whose friendship and confidence he 
 shared, and with whom he had traveled many miles in the 
 discharge of the duties incident to their positions. Here 
 again the area and extent of his labors were augmented. It 
 became his duty to frequently visit other and sometimes 
 distant congregations, even beyond the limits of his native 
 county, and occasionally to other States. These labors, with 
 the pressure of advancing age, began to take effect on his, 
 not very robust constitution, and it was noticed by his 
 friends, and must have been felt and observed by himself, 
 that he was beginning to sink under the accumulated pres- 
 sure of age, infirmity, care and labor; but he conceived it to 
 be his duty to continue in the service of his Lord and Master, 
 and impelled by 3ove to his fellow-men, for whose benefit 
 those labors and inconveniences were exerted and endured, 
 he traveled and preached, exhorted, counseled and advised, 
 as long as he was able to move from place 1?o place. Finally 
 his nervous system became relaxed, and he was scarce able 
 to walk ; even his speech was affected by nervous debility, and 
 it was sometimes difficult for him to give utterance to words 
 intended to convey his ideas. Under these circumstances he 
 was compelled to refrain from public speaking, and for sev- 
 eral years previous to his decease was unable to leave home; 
 yet he retained the faculties of his mind and conversed, 
 though not without difficulty, with such of his friends as 
 visited hira. He endured his affliction with constancy and 
 resignation, his only lament being that he could no longer 
 attend to his duties in the church. His dissolution took 
 place on the 23d day of June, 1853. His funeral was at- 
 tended by a large number of friends and relatives, as also of 
 
OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 637 
 
 neighbors and acquaintances, who deplored the loss of one so 
 highly gifted, and who had been so eminently useful in his 
 sphere of life. He was emphatically a man of peace. The 
 tenets of his religion were non-resistant, and condemned war 
 as sinful and not to be countenanced, aided or participated 
 in by any of its professors. These likewise prohibited any 
 of its members from engaging in any law-suit befoi\) the 
 legal tribunals of the country, but directed all difficulties 
 and controversies that might occur amongst the membdrs of 
 the society, to be referred to and adjusted by the bretiren. 
 To the spirit of those principles he gave his full assent and 
 so deeply was he imbued with the spirit of peace and con- 
 cord that he deprecated even colloquial controversey, especi- 
 ally on the subject of religion, and avoided it as muh as 
 possible. But when duty seemed to require an effort i: i that 
 direction, he was prompt and decided in maintaining hii own 
 views, yet always liberal and courteous to an oppcaent. 
 Claiming the privilege of acting in accordance with th( con- 
 victions of his own mind, he willing allowed to otheis the 
 same liberty; and, whilst he sustained his own opinions 
 with energy and perspicuity, he never rashly condenned 
 others for entertaining a different opinion. 
 
 As a speaker he had a clear, agreeable voice, a good 
 enunciation, and spoke deliberately, so as to be easily u ider- 
 stood. His language was suited to the capacity of his ludi- 
 ence, being the common idiom of the German populati )a of 
 Lancaster county, sometimes by way of elucidation iiter- 
 spersed with a word or words derived from the English. He 
 was a sententious, forcible and logical speaker, which, with 
 the earnest and feeling manner in which his sermons rere 
 delivered, rendered his preaching very effective. His ityle 
 and manner were persuasive rather than denunciatory ; he 
 amplified on the unbounded goodness of God to his : aite 
 creatures, endeavored to awaken in their hearts a high t snse 
 of gratitude and love to that beneficent being, but faile( not 
 to warn them of the danger of persisting in disobedien ;e to 
 His commands. 
 
 Having experienced the inconvenience of a defe tive 
 education, he felt anxious to give his children a b :tter 
 opportunity to improve their minds than had fallei. to 
 his lot in his youth. In the year 1815, not being ab e to 
 get a competent teacher in the neighboring school, he em- 
 ployed a private teacher at his dwelling house for the beiefit 
 of his own children and those of some of his nearest n( igh- 
 bors. Subsequently, he succeeded in getting a bitter 
 teacher in the neighboring school, and for many years tjok 
 an active part in promoting the cause of education. In|the 
 
638 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY 
 
 management of his farm he was industrious, judicious and 
 enterprising. By good judgment, industry, prudence 
 and clre, he augmented his paternal inheritance so as to leave 
 a fina estate to his children. He raised a family of six sons, 
 Benjamin, Elias, Christian, Joseph, Amos and Daniel, all of 
 ■whom are married; and two daughters, Maria, who was 
 intermarried with John Brackbill, and Ann, who was inter- 
 mar/ied with John Herr, miller ; all of whom reside in 
 the ncinity of where they were born, with the exception of 
 onef|aughter, Mrs. Brackbill, who is now dead. The sons 
 are 11 respectable and thrifty farmers, who venerate the 
 merr )ry of their father, and evince a disposition to emulate 
 the drtuous example which he left them; and what was 
 prol ibly most gratifying to him in his old age, his children 
 all ecame members of the church in which he was so 
 longj a pastor and leader. Two of them, Benjamin and 
 Am' 3, are preachers of the gospel ; the former now occupy- 
 ing le position that his father did during the last years of 
 his . fe, that of bishop in the Mennonite church. 
 
 Si ch was the life and character of a man who in every 
 sit J tion discharged his duty with fidelity. An affectionate 
 hus'land, a kind and indulgent father, an obliging and 
 agreable neighbor, a zealous and effective preacher, and a 
 sinjre and devout Christian. 
 
 BBR, Jacob, elected Sheriff in 1848. 
 
 MES, James, elected Sheriff in 1809. 
 
 pjINB, George M., is one of the well-read and able at- 
 ys of the Lancaster bar. His mind is of an analytical 
 , and he possesses the faculty of grasping legal ques- 
 and presenting them with clearness before the court 
 
 jury. He has ever been a close student, and without 
 
 ing aside into political currents, has steadily devoted 
 
 elf to the pursuit of his profession. 
 
 ILLER, David, elected Sheriff in the year 1833. 
 ILLER, Henry, elected Register of Wills in the year 
 
 lOWlSrALL, Joseph D., elected a member of the Legis- 
 laflre in the years 1856 and 1857. 
 
 IhINE, Michael, elected Sheriff in 1800. 
 
 UMAlSr, Jacob B., elected Commissioner in 1864. 
 
 UART, George, elected a member of the Legislature 
 In he years 1730 and 1732. 
 
 IbIDMAN, George, elected Commissioner in 1807. 
 
EKRATiA 
 
 uarter Sessions and Oyer 
 
 \ev in 1831, instead of 
 
 5 read Wm. Hojikins. 
 i Legislature in 1850, 
 
 On page 7, line 13, the word Dr. to be omit 
 
 On page 25, lines first and second, instead of 
 and Terminer, it sliould read Orphans' Court. 
 
 On page 39, line 9, instead of 1779 read 179t 
 
 On page 115, John Buchanan was Commiss 
 1834. 
 
 On page 117, in note, in line 23, instead of Jf 
 
 On page 147, James B. Cowden was elected 1 
 and not 1853. 
 
 On page 183, in line 3 from bottom, instead of Martha read Martin E. 
 
 On page 337, Daniel Good was elected Commissioner in 1857, instead 
 of 1854. 
 
 On page 385, line 9, instead of mother read grandmother. 
 
 On page 320, line 13, instead of three years read four years. 
 
 On page 333, instead of 0. L. Kauffman read C. S. Kauffman. 
 
 On page 384, in line 3 from bottom, I'ead motives instead of notions. 
 
 On page 395, line 10, instead of David MUler read John Miller. 
 
 On page 399, in foot note to James Moore, line 10, instead of 1708 
 read 1808. 
 
 On page 430, in sketch of WiUiam Noble, read 1833 instead of 1835. 
 
 On page 449, in line 11, instead of 1858 read 1868. 
 
 On page 450, in line 5, instead of Salisbury read Sadsbury. 
 
 On page 501, instead of John read Jonathan H. Roland, and instead 
 of 1856 read 1857. 
 
 On page 561, in lines 13 and 13, instead of 1867 and 1868 read 1866 
 and 1867. 
 

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