USA > Maryland > Portrait and biographical record of the Sixth congressional district, Maryland V. 2 > Part 22
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DWARD C. MCSHERRY, D.D.S., of Fred- erick, is a member of one of the oldest Catholic families resident in America. About the middle of the eighteenth century Patrick McSherry, who was born in Ireland in 1725, emigrated to this country, accompanied by his wife, formerly Catherine Gartland, of County Armagh. He settled in Pennsylvania, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1795. Of his twelve children, James, who was next to the youngest, rose to a position of prominence in Pennsylvania. A native of that state, he was born in Adams County, July 28, 1776. In 1807 he was elected to represent Adams County in the legislature and was subsequently re-elected for five years, or until 1813, when he was chosen to represent Adams and York Counties in the state senate. During his term of service, which con- tinned to 1817, Baltimore was threatened by the British forces and, although he as a senator was exempt from military service, he enlisted as a private in Captain McClavis' Company of Horse at Gettysburg and continued with them until the company was disbanded. In the year 1821 he was elected to congress, where he remained six suc- cessive years. Again, from 1834 to 1837 in- clusive, he was a member of the state legislature and during that time he was elected to the con- stitutional convention. He died in February, 1849, only a few weeks before the birth of his grandson, who forms the subject of this article.
James McSherry, son of the distinguished statesman just mentioned, was born in Liberty- town, Frederick County, July 29, 1819, and de- parted this life in Frederick, July 13, 1869. In- heriting talents of a superior order, these gifts
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he cultivated diligently, becoming a man of broad knowledge, especially in all matters relating to Maryland, her settlement, growth and political history. He is the author of the History of Maryland, a very comprehensive and valuable work. The editions have been exhausted, and the book cannot be secured to-day at any price, but occasionally the student finds it in some li- brary of old, rare and cherished volumes. He was a man of great learning and research, an intelligent patriot and progressive citizen. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Eliza Spurrier, was a native of Anne Arundel County, where her father, William Spurrier, was a wealthy planter. Her paternal grandfather was of English descent and served in the American army during the war of the Revolution. One of the sons of James and Eliza McSherry is Judge James McSherry, who, in company with his brother, Edward C., organized Company A, of the First Maryland Regiment of the National Guard.
The birth of Dr. McSherry occurred in Fred- erick March 5, 1849. He completed his edu- cation in Mount St. Mary's College near Emmits- burg, a noted Catholic institution of learning, and was still a student there when the Civil war broke out. At once enlisting in the First Maryland Confederate Cavalry, he continued in the army until the close of the war, meantime participating in many important battles. At the close of the war he returned to his home in Frederick and soon afterward entered the Balti- more College of Dental Surgery. He graduated with high honors in 1868, and was president and valedictorian of his class. For several years he engaged in practice in Scranton, Pa., but later located permanently in Frederick. For three decades and more he has been one of the most prosperous and successful dentists in this part of the state. He has invested in various local enterprises, among them the Franklin Savings Bank of Frederick, in which he is a director. For twenty years be has been a mem- ber of the county central committee of the Democratic party and his services in behalf of his party are well known. He has been president of
the board of aldermen of Frederick, president of the board of health and correction, and has con- stantly manifested the deep interest which he feels in everything conducive to the material develop- ment of Frederick. He was on the staff of Gov- ernors McLean and Lloyd, as colonel and aide; later served as brigadier-general and chief-of- ordnance during the administration of Governor Jackson.
In October, 1872, Dr. McSherry married Al- berta S., daughter of Rev. T. M. Cann, LL.D., a minister of the Presbyterian denomination and at one time the head of the Frederick City Female Seminary, but for twenty-five years past a resident of Scranton, where he is at the head of the Lackawanna school. He has founded a number of schools and seminaries and is an able educator. Dr. and Mrs. McSherry reside at No. 77 East Second street, Frederick. They have four daughters: Mary, wife of Richard Sewell Slingluff, an attorney in Baltimore; Elizabeth, Helen and Margaret, all of whom were educated in the convent and seminary in this city.
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12 ANIEL C. GILBERT, who is an attorney-at- law at Hagerstown, is one of the enterprising young attorneys of this place. He has won the high regard of all with whom he has come in contact, whether in a business or social man- ner, by his manly, straightforward characteris- tics, and his genial, cheerful disposition. Though this is his native county and he has been genu- inely interested in everything relating to its de- velopment and prosperity since he can remember, he has been a resident of the county-seat but a few years. This period, however, has been amply sufficient to win for him a place of high standing in the community, and no one of our citizens is more loyal to the welfare of the place than he.
The parents of our subject, John Lemuel and Mary A. (Strite) Gilbert, were both natives of Washington County. The father was a well-to-
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do farmer, owning a large tract of land in his younger days, but later settled down upon a small farm, where he resided up to the time of his death, February 5, 1895, at the age of fifty-seven years. He was not a politician or office-seeker, but used his ballot in behalf of the Democratic party. Religiously he was identified with the German Reformed Church, His wife was a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Summer) Strite, who were natives of Pennsylvania and Maryland, respectively. Mr. Strite was born and reared in Franklin County, and owned several extensive farms there. He came to Maryland later, dying here in 1854, when about fifty-seven years old. Both he and his wife were members of the old Mennonite Church. She de- parted this life in 1864, when in her sixty-eighth year, and of her eight children but two survive, our subject's mother and her brother Samuel. The latter has been engaged in both agricultural pursuits and milling and has lived in this city since 1893. He is a very prominent figure in the history of this county, as he served as a member of the board of commissioners for one term, was a member of the county school board for ten years; was judge of the orphans' court four years, and is now a justice of the peace, having been appointed by the governor in 1896. Louis D., brother of our subject, is employed by the Frick Manufacturing Company, of Waynesboro, Pa., with whom he has been for eighteen years. David A., the younger brother, has been a successful teacher of this county. Myrtle, the only sister, is living with her widowed mother.
D. C. Gilbert was born September 8, 1866, on his father's homestead in this county, and was there reared to manhood. He attended the local schools and, having gained a good education, en- gaged in teaching for several years, a portion of each year being devoted to agriculture. In the spring of 1887 he went to Bloomfield, Iowa, Dr. Kieffer's parents, Rev. E. and Eleanor (Spangler) Kieffer, were natives, respectively, of Virginia and York, Pa. The former was of old French-Huguenot stock, and was a son of Joseph Kieffer, who lived in three states, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, following agricult- and attended the state' normal school located there. The same year he returned home and continued successfully as a teacher in this, his native county, until the spring of 1893, in the meantime reading law with Alexander Neill. At that time he entered the National Normal, of ural pursuits while in his prime. He was born
Lebanon, Ohio, where he pursued a course of legal studies. He was adınitted to the bar of Washington County, April 21, 1894, by motion of Mr. Neill, Judge Stake presiding judge of the circuit court. He has a general practice, as he does not confine himself to any special field of the law. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias. In his political views he is a Democrat and during the last campaign was an ardent ad- herent of Hon. William J. Bryan.
November 11, 1893, Mr. Gilbert married Miss Etta Pamphlin, with whom he had become ac- quainted while he was attending the normal in Lebanon, Ohio, where she was a fellow-student. At the time of their marriage she was a resident of Fayetteville, Tenn. She is a lady of delight- ful social qualities, is a charming housekeeper and hostess, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of this city.
6 EV. JOSEPH SPANGLER KIEFFER, D. D., has been for thirty years the pastor of Zion Reformed Church of Hagerstown. This church is remarkable as being one of the oldest of the denomination in this state, and, indeed, in the country, as it was founded in 1766 and the church was built in 1774, and the present congregation worship in the same sacred edifice as did their forefathers for generations-a period of about a century and a-quarter." Mr. Kieffer is the eleventh pastor in the line of succession. The present church membership shows an enrollment of about four hundred and twenty souls, while the thriving Sunday-school, with W. H. McCar- dellas as superintendent, numbers some two hun- dred and seventy-five persons.
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January 22, 1789, and died October 5, 1849, in Potomac synod, of which he has been the honored Hanover, Pa. His father, Abraham, was a president. He is also an associate editor of the Reformed Church Messenger, published in Phila- delphia; is a member of the Board of Foreign Missions, and one of the Board of Visitors of the Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pa. soldier of the Revolutionary war, and on his tombstone is inscribed his name and the simple words: "A Revolutionary soldier." He died at the extreme age of ninety-six years, and was buried at Kieffer's Church, in Franklin County, November 11, 1869, Rev. Mr. Kieffer married Miss Mary M. Clark, daughter of James and Elizabeth Clark, of Pennsylvania. Mr. Clark was the editor and proprietor of the Huntingdon Journal, published in Huntingdon, Pa., for several years. Sydney, sister of Mrs. Kieffer, is the wife of W. H. Knisely, of Harrisburg, Pa. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Kieffer has been blessed by seven children, namely: Elizabeth Buffington, Mrs. William A. Lewis, of Rutherford, N. J .; John Brainerd, James Clark, Eleanor Spangler, Henri Louis Grandlienard, Paul and Richard Fulton. The children are all identified with the Reformed Church, and are active in the good work which it, as a denomination, is carrying on. Pa. Rev. E. Kieffer was born in January, 1812, and died in May, 1871. He prepared for the ministry in a classical school and in the theolog- ical seminary in York, Pa., and from 1836 to 1871 was very active in ministerial labors. He founded the Reformed Church of Bellefonte, Pa., where he remained for four years; then served in the church at Mifflinburg for seventeen years; later occupied pulpits in Dauphin County, Pa., and in the vicinity of Carlisle, Pa., being in the last-named charge at the time of his death. His faithful wife, Eleanor, was a daughter of Martin and Lydia Spangler, of York, Pa., and had among her ancestors soldiers of the Revolu- tionary war. The oldest brother of our subject is Prof. John B. Kieffer, who is professor of Greek in Franklin and Marshall College, Lan- caster, Pa .; and a younger brother, Rev. Henry M., is pastor of the Reformed Church at Easton, Pa. The oldest sister, Hannah M., is the widow of John R. Cornelius, and is a resident of Balti- more, Md .; while another sister, Lydia J., is the wife of Luther C. First, of Cedar Springs, Pa.
J. S. Kieffer was born in Mifflinburg, February 3, 1842, and after leaving the elementary schools prepared for college in the academy of his native town. . In 1860 he graduated from Franklin and Marshall College, after which he taught school for two years in Aaronsburg, Pa., and Middle- town, Md. In 1862 he entered the Mercersburg (Pa.) Theological Seminary, and completed his course in 1866, in the meantime having been ab- sent from the seminary for about a year. In May, 1866, he was licensed to preach, and ac- cepted a call to the charge of the Reformed Church in Huntingdon, Pa., where he was or- dained in September, 1866. At the close of some sixteen months he became pastor of his present congregation, with whom he has continued un- interruptedly. This church belongs to the
OHN B. G. ROBERTS, who has been a prominent resident of Cumberland since 1884 is now retired from the arduous and very active life which he formerly led for years, and is quietly passing his days in his pleasant home at No. 49 Decatur street. For twelve years subse- quent to his coming to this city he was the presi- dent of the Electric Light Company here, and resigned on account of his health, though he is still a director in the concern.
The Roberts family was founded in the United States several generations ago, and originally its representatives were identified with the Society of Friends. The father of our subject was W. Millner Roberts, who was born in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1810. He became one of the best-known civil engineers of his day, both in this country and in other lands. He was associated with Mr. Eads in the construction of the St. Louis bridge over the Mississippi River, and built the old Portage Railroad over the Allegany Mountains.
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For about five years he held a responsible posi- tion as consulting engineer of the Brazilian gov- ernment, and while he was still acting in that capacity his death took place, when in his seventy- second year. His opinion was considered inval- uable in his particular department, and in 1882 he was one of the board of civil engineers who were sent to Europe by the congress of the United States for the purpose of making investi- gations into the improvements of the outlets of various rivers. He was the president of the American Association of Civil Engineers at one time and was chief engineer of a construction corps under whose supervision the Northern Pa- cific Railroad was built. His father, Thomas P., was a well-to-do and progressive business man of Philadelphia.
The mother of J. B. G. Roberts was Miss Annie Gibson in her girlhood, her father having been Judge J. B. Gibson, of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and celebrated for his superior scholarship and accurate knowledge of Amer- ican jurisprudence. To the marriage of W. Millner Roberts and wife seven children were born, only four of whom survive, namely: Will- iam, J. B. G., Thomas P. and Richard A. Annie G. married Capt. George W. Yates, of the United States Army. He was a gallant and dis- tinguished officer in the command of General Custer, and perished at the side of that unfor- tunate hero in the massacre of our troops by the Indians in 1876. Mrs. Annie Gibson Roberts departed this life in 1857, at the age of forty years.
John B. G. Roberts was born in Carlisle Pa., in 1841, and spent his early years in that town. He received a liberal education, graduating from Dickinson College in 1861. He then joined his father in South America, the latter having been there for some three years. The younger man was initiated into the same calling, and worked under his senior's superintendence on the construction of railroads for the succeeding four years. Returning to America in 1865, at the close of the war, Mr. Roberts went to Wis- consin, becoming civil engineer for the famous railroad builder, Jacob Humbird. He continued
to be very actively employed in the Badger state until 1878, when he went to Texas, and for the succeeding four years was a construction engi- neer on the International & Great Northern Railway. After he had been president and gen- eral manager of the Cumberland Electric Light Company for twelve years, he concluded that he would retire from such a busy, active life as he had led hitherto, and enjoy the quiet and rest that he richly deserves. For two years he was a member of the board of waterworks of this city, and has been connected with various local enter- prises. Fraternally he is a member of the Ma- sonic order, being affiliated with Potomac Lodge No. 100, A. F. & A. M .; Salem Chapter No. 18, R. A. M., and Antioch Commandery No. 6., K. T. He is a man of much general information and knowledge, his travels in South America and Mexico (where he has made four separate trips of several months' duration each ) having widened his mental horizon and made him a better judge of men and affairs.
December 27, 1871, Mr. Roberts married Miss Jane Humbird, daughter of Jacob Humbird, previously mentioned in this sketch, and one son has been born to them, Bayse A.
EV. LEWIS A. RUDISILL, manager of the Mountain Lake Park Association, is a man eminently well qualified for this re- sponsible position, as he possesses unusual busi- ness talent and executive ability and has also much valuable experience in the organization of summer resorts of the Chautauqua plan. He was recommended by Bishop Ninde and was unanimously elected by the board of directors of the above-mentioned association in 1890 to the position, which he has since ably filled. When he assumed charge of the park, which is known far and wide as a health summer resort and the place of the annual international and undenomi- national camp-meeting and the home of the Mountain Chautauqua, there were but ninety
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cuttages upon the grounds, whereas now there are over two hundred. Marked improvements have been inaugurated under his supervision, as may be deduced from the fact that the receipts from taxes have advanced more than one hundred per cent. Everyone who has visited the park is an enthusiastic admirer of its many beauties, sit- tated as it is in the mountains, with all of the advantages afforded by nature here in her hap- piest and kindest mood.
In tracing the history of the gentleman whose name stands at the beginning of this article, we find that he is the eldest son of Napoleon J. and Nancy C. (Case) Rudisill. The father was a native of Hanover, Pa., though his parents were of Ger- man birth and were early settlers of York Coun- ty, Pa. Napoleon J. Rudisill learned the trade of manufacturing hats when he was a young man and followed that occupation during his whole business life. He was engaged in business in Lewistown, Pa., for years. He was influential in the ranks of the Democratic party, which he trongly favored, and for a long period he was a justice of the peace. He died at Altoona in May, 1898. His wife, who died at the age of seventy- two years, was born in Connecticut and reared in Kansas City, Mo., then a frontier town. Her parents had removed with their family to the west before the Indians had departed from Mis- souri and had settled in Kansas City when there were but a few log cabins in the place.
Lewis A. Rudisill, one of eight children, was born in Hanover, Pa., in 1847, and passed his boyhood years in Lewistown, Pa. He obtained his education in the public schools and seminary of that place, and when about seventeen years of age commenced to learn the printer's trade in the office of the Lewistown Gazette. Next he went to Washington, D. C., where he held a po- sition in the government printing office for two years. In 1868 he entered the Methodist Episcopal ministry and was appointed to the Martinsburg circuit in Pennsylvania. In 1869 he was ap- pointed junior preacher on the McConnellsburg circuit, where he and his colleague built a new brick church; at the close of two years was trans- ferred to the Tennessee conference of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church, He occupied the pulpit of a church in Shelbyville, Tenn., for two years, where a church debt of $1,000 was paid, and of churches in Tullahoma, Memphis and Nashville; at each of these places a church was dedicated during his pastorate. For several years Mr. Rudisili was secretary of the Tennessee confer- ence. Upon the formation of the Central Ten- nessee Conference he became its secretary and served for a number of years. He was appointed agent of the Methodist book store at New Or- leans, but a great revival breaking out in his church at Nashville be decided not to accept the position. After a three years' pastorate in Nash- ville he was appointed pastor of the First Meth- odist Episcopal Church at Salt Lake City, Utah, and acting superintendent of missions in Utah and Idaho. Later he was business manager of the Methodist Book Concern in Topeka, Kan., and editor of the Kansas Methodist, a weekly journal.
The Chautauqua work appealing to him strong- ly, Mr. Rudisill assisted in organizing the Kansas Chautauqua, of which he was secretary for sev- eral years. Subsequently he organized the Chatt- tauqua at Beatrice, Neb., and prepared its pro- grams for two years. Thus specially fitted for the work it is not surprising that he was cordially recommended as a suitable manager for the Moun- tain Lake Park Association. During his minis- try he was acting agent for the West Tennessee Seminary and purchased and held for two years the property now occupied by the Woman's Home Missionary Society in Salt Lake City. In his political views he is a Republican.
In 1879 Mr. Rudisill married Miss Katie B. Hopkins, daughter of Rev. John W. Hopkins, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Three of the four children born to them are living, and are named respect- ively: Wesley, Arthur and Ruth. Mrs. Rudisill and the children are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
At the recent election of the community of Mountain Lake Park Mr. Rudisill was elected for the seventh year secretary of the community and a member of the annual committee, which has the same powers as the city council of an in-
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corporated town. In the midst of his many du- ties Mr. Rudisill finds time to edit the Mountain News, a weekly paper published at Mountain Lake Park.
2 ROF. J. H. APPLE, JR., was called to the presidency of the Woman's College in Fred- erick in 1893, since which time he has de- voted his entire time and energy to the perfecting of all departments of instruction and the general affairs of the institution. It would be a difficult matter to find anyone better fitted than he to stand at the head of the college, for he holds his own personal interests entirely in subordination to those of the institution and sacrifices himself. He is a firm believer in the great and promising future of the college, which had sadly deterior- ated at the time that he became connected with it, and this confidence has communicated itself to the minds of others. In the past five years the enrolled membership has more than trebled and larger quarters for the accommodation of students became an imperative necessity. Fortunately a large endowment was bestowed upon the institu- tion a short time ago and thirty acres of land, pleasantly located near Frederick, have been pur- chased for the new buildings, which, it is hoped, will soon be erected.
made better. His father, Andrew Apple, was a miler by trade and was mainly self-educated. He felt the desire for broader opportunities of culture and determined that his sons should be thus blessed, even though he had not been thus fa- vored. As a result of his ambition one son, Rev. Thomas G., is now Professor of Church History in the Theological Seminary at Lancaster, Pa., and was formerly President of Franklin and Mar- shall College; another son, Rev. Theodore Apple, D. D., was professor of mathematics in Franklin and Marshall College; and a third, as above re- lated, is Rev. J. H. Apple, Sr. Several of the sons followed the father's occupation, that of milling, and one, Capt. Alfred Apple, was a cap- tain in the Civil war, and was wounded at the battle of Antietam. The mother of these boys was Elizabeth Gilmore before her marriage, and was of Scotch descent. Her father was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, and was one of the heroes who crossed the Delaware with Washing- ton that memorably severe winter.
The mother of our subject was Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Jacob Geiger, who for near- ly forty years was a pastor in the Reformed Church in Maryland. He had also made a study of medicine in his early life, and was the first to introduce homeopathic treatment into Maryland. His ancestors came to this country from Switzer- land, and an old clock that was brought over by one of them is in the possession of the family. It is over a century old and is indeed a wonderful example of the art of clock-making, in which the Swiss excel to this day. At intervals this strange piece of mechanism, which keeps perfect time, plays eight different tunes. One of the profes- sor's brothers, Rev. A. T. G. Apple, is pastor of the Reformed Church on Fifteenth street, Wash- ington, D. C. Another, Charles A., is in the insurance business in Mauch Chunk, Pa. Jacob Geiger has taken up the work of his ancestors and is a watch and clock-maker in Saegerstown, Pa. The only sister died about a year ago.
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