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2 69836
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
J
J ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02143 8053
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES.
THIS VOLUME CONTAINS
Biographical Sketches OF
LEADING CITIZENS
OF THE
Seventeenth Congressional District
PENNSYLVANIA.
"Biography is the only true history.". Emerson.
BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, BUFFALO, N. Y. CHICAGO, ILL. 1899,
-
*
PREFACE.
1169836
AVING brought to a successful termination our labors in the Seventeenth Con- gressional District in compiling and editing the sketches herein contained, we desire, in presenting this Book of Biographies to our patrons, to make a few remarks, necessarily brief, in regard to the value and importance of local works of this nature. We agree with Ralph Waldo Emerson that "Biography is the only true history," and also are of the opinion that a collection of the biogra- phies of the leading men of a nation would give a more interesting, as well as authen- tic, history of their country than any other that could be written. The value of such a production as this cannot be too highly estimated. With each succeeding year the haze of Obscurity removes more and more from our view the fast disappearing landmarks of the past; Oblivion sprinkles her dust of foregetfulness on men and their deeds, effectually concealing them from the public eye; and because of the many living objects which claim our attention, few of those who have been removed from the busy world linger long in our memory. Even the glorious achieve- ments of the present age may not insure it from being lost in the glare of greater things to come, and so it is manifestly a duty to posterity for the men at the present time to preserve a record of their lives and a story of their progress from low and humble beginnings to great and noble deeds, in order that future genera- tions may read the account of their successful struggles, and profit by their ex- ample. A local history affords the best means of preserving ancestral history, and it also becomes, immediately upon its publication, a ready book of reference for those who have occasion to seek biographical data of the leading and early settled families. Names, dates and events are not easily remembered by the average man, so it behooves the generations now living, who wish to live in the memory of their descendants, to write their own records, making them full and broad in scope, and minute in detail, and insure their preservation by having them put in printed form. We firmly believe that in these collated personal memoirs will be found as true and as faithful a record of the Seventeenth Congressional District
Southern Book Go- 17.00
iv
PREFACE
as may be obtained anywhere, for the very sufficient reason that its growth and development are identified with that of the men who have made it what it is to-day -the representative leading men, whose personal sketches it has been a pleasure to us to write and give a place in this volume. From the time when the hand of civilized man had not yet violated the virgin soil with desecrating plow, nor with the ever-ready frontiersman's ax felled the noble, almost limitless, forests, to" the present period of activity in all branches of industry, we may read in the histories of the district's leading men, and of their ancestors, the steady growth and develop- ment which has been going on here for a century and a half, and bids fair to continue for centuries to come. A hundred years from now, whatever records of the present time are then extant, having withstood the ravages of time and the cease- less war of the elements, will be viewed with an absorbing interest, equaling, if not surpassing, that which is taken to-day in the history of the early settlements of America.
It has been our purpose in the preparation of this work to pass over no phase or portion of it slightingly, but to give attention to the smallest points, and thus invest it with an air of accuracy, to be obtained in no other way. The result has amply justified the care that has been taken, for it is our honest belief that no more reliable production, under the circumstances, could have been com- piled.
One feature of this work, to which we have given special prominence, and which we are sure will prove of extraordinary interest, is the collection of portraits of the representative and leading citizens which appear throughout the volume. We have tried to represent the different spheres of industrial and pro- fessional activity as well as we might. To those who have been so uniformly obliging and have kindly interested themselves in the success of this work, volun- teering information and data which have been very helpful to us in preparing this Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District, we desire to express our grateful and profound acknowledgment of their valued services.
CHICAGO, ILL., May, 1899.
THE PUBLISHERS.
1
NOTE
ALL the biographical sketches published in this volume were sub- mitted to their respective subjects, or to the subscribers from whom the facts were primarily obtained, for their approval or correction before going to press; and a reasonable time was allowed in each case for the return of the type-written copies. Most of them were returned to us within the time alloted, or before the work was printed, after being corrected or revised; and these may therefore be regarded as reasonably accurate.
A few, however, were not returned to us; and, as we have no means of knowing whether they contained errors or not, we cannot vouch for their accuracy. In justice to our readers, and to render this work more valuable for reference purposes, we have indicated these uncorrected sketches by a small asterisk (*), placed immediately after the name of the subject. They will all be found on the last pages of the book.
BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING CO.
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES
SEVENTEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, PENNSYLVANIA.
CHRISTIAN FREDERICK KNAPP.
Book of Biographies
Seventeenth Congressional District.
HRISTIAN FREDERICK KNAPP, one of the most widely known resi- dents of the state of Pennsylvania, is one of the oldest and most highly esteemed citizens of Bloomsburg. He was born in the city of Besigheim, Wurtemberg, Germany, October 12, 1822, and is a son of John Baltas and Sophia Dorothea (Kontzman) Knapp.
John B. Knapp was born in the city of Besigheim, Wurtemberg, Germany, in March, 1784, and was a vine-dresser until April, 1831, when, with his wife and six sons, he came to this country, landing in the city of Phila- delphia August 9, 1831. Later he moved to Kensington, Pa., where he worked twelve years as a glassblower; he then moved to Pottsgrove township, Montgomery County, Pa., where he spent the remainder of his active days, engaged in the cultivation of the soil. He died at the age of eighty-seven years. He was united in marriage with Sophia Dorothea Kontzman, who was born in Stadten, Ger- many, August 9, 1791, the nuptials occurring in April, 1814. As a result of this union the following children were born to them: Chris- tian G., born August 7, 1819; Louisa Clara,
born May 7, 1821; Christian F., our subject; Gottleib Ernst, born February 6, 1825; Charles August, born December 16, 1826; Gottleib, born September 17, 1828; William Frederick, born January 11, 1830; Caroline Dorothea, born February 3, 1834, who is the wife of J. E. Van Natta; John George, born May 4, 1836; and Jacob, born May 11, 1838. The mother of our subject passed from this life at the age of fifty years.
Christian Frederick Knapp was educated principally by his father, who was a good Lat- in scholar and took great pride in assisting his children to acquire a good education. Our subject inherited many of the good traits of character of his father, who was aide-de-camp on Napoleon's staff during the Russian cam- paign, at the burning of Moscow, and at the battle of Berdine. Our subject's first active labor was to drive a team on the canal, and while a mere lad he passed through various degrees of a boatman's life to captain: he then became a teamster during the construction of the first furnace erected there; he then chose the trade of a mason and, after serving an ap- prenticeship for three years, became a skilled
12
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES.
workman. While working at his trade he fell through a furnace, which fall nearly cost him his life; upon recovering his health he was appointed assistant revenue assessor and served as such through Lincoln's administra- tion. Subsequently he turned his attention to the fire insurance business and represented six of the leading insurance companies as agent, and was also special agent and adjuster throughout the state for the companies he represented. Mr. Knapp erected a fine house at No. 346 East Main street, where he now resides.
Our subject formed a matrimonial alliance with Maria Elizabeth Van Natta, a daughter of Peter Van Natta of Bloomsburg, and they were wedded October 13, 1846. She was born in Bloomsburg, October 18, 1825, and died December 21, 1891. To our subject and wife were born the following children: Caroline Margaret, born July 18, 1847, who is the wife of William F. Bodine, a painter and paper dec- orator; Sophia Amelia, born February 3. 1849, wife of John Harvey Long of Madera, Cal., and they have reared two children, Chris- tian Frederick and Carrie, another, Harold, having died in infancy; John Ellis, born March 10, 1850, died in 1856; Peter Ernst. born September 23, 1853, wedded Clara Wicht, and they are the parents of two chil- dren,-Mary Smith and Jennie Stowell; and Mary Catherine, born October 14, 1859, who is the wife of George Sloan Robbins of Bloomsburg, who had one child, Katherine Marie, who died May 26, 1897, at the age of nine years.
Mr. Knapp joined the I. O. O. F. in 1846; was secretary of Van Camp Lodge, No. 140, and for thirty-two years district deputy grand master: a member of Susquehanna Encamp- ment. No. 60; and district deputy grand patri- arch seven years. Mr. Knapp is a fine speak-
er. Certainly there is not another man in the state of Pennsylvania, if in the United States, who is as well posted in Masonry as is Mr. Knapp. He has traveled all over this state and has been given many banquets; a'so been presented with many valuable and hand- some presents in token of his services in the Masonic fraternity. On September 23, 1851. he received his first degree in Free Masonry, in Danville Lodge, No. 224, F. & A. M .; in October of the same year he received the sec- ond degree and in November the third de- gree. In January, 1852, he resigned his mem- bership in the Danville Lodge for the purpose of starting a lodge in Bloomsburg, and in Au- gust a charter was granted by the R. W. G. Lodge of Pennsylvania to Washington Lodge, No. 265, to be held in Bloomsburg. and C. F. Knapp was named in the warrant as its first Junior Warden. In December he was elected W. M. of the lodge and served until December, 1854, when he was elected secretary, having served as such up to the present time. He was appointed by the R. W. G. M. as D. D. G. M. for the counties of Un- ion, Snyder. Northumber'and. Montour, Co- lumbia and Wyoming, and served as such for eight years, when he resigned. He received the Mark Master Degree in Girard Mark Lodge, No. 214, at Philadelphia, from Har- man Bauch, Grand High Priest; November 21, 1855, he received the Most Excellent and R. A. degrees in Catawissa Chapter, No. 178; passed the chairs of said chapter and was ap- pointed and served as D. D. G. High Priest for six years; in 1869 he resigned from the Chapter and obtained a charter for Blooms- burg Chapter. No. 218, R. A. M., and has since served as secretary of the same. On March 6, 1856, he was Knighted in Park En- campment. No. 11. K. T., and appendant or- ders by Charles Blumenthal, Grand Master;
13
SEVENTEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
in May, 1856, received a charter for Crusade Commandery, No. 12, K. T., and was named in the same as the first Eminent Commander, and served as such for three years; also served as recorder since. In May, 1857, our subject was elected G. Captain General; in 1858, G. Generallissimo; in 1859, G. Deputy G. Com- mander; and in 1860, G. Right Eminent G. Commander of the Grand Commandery of Pennsylvania. In May, 1861, he was elected G. Lecturer of the Knights Templar of the state and served in 1862-63; and in 1864 was elected G. Division Commander of the state of Pennsylvania and served as such in 1864 and 1865.
On November 21, 1856, Mr. Knapp took the council degrees in Palestine Council, No. 9, of R. & S. Masters, at Pottstown, Pa., and resigned for the purpose of starting a Council of S. M. at Bloomsburg; was made, by Alfred Creigh, L. L. D., M. P. G. Master of Penn- sylvania; obtained a charter for Mt. Moriah Council, No. 10, in the same year, being men- tioned in the warrant as the Second Officer; in December, 1857, was elected as T. I. G. M. and served four years; in December, 1861, was elected recorder of same and has since served in that capacity; in May, 1868, was elected M. P. G. M. of Pennsylvania, and was re-elected until he retired, in 1876.
In May, 1856, he received the degrees A. A. S. Rite from the 4th to the 18th, inclusive, in Harrisburg at the hands of R. H. Van Ren- salier, G. Commander, N. M. Jurisdiction, and during the same year received the degrees from the 18th to the 32d, inclusive, Harris- burg Consistory, S. P. R. S .; in May, 1857, received a charter for Enoch Lodge of Perfec- tion, 14th Degree, and the charter for Zerrub- babel Council, P. of Jer., 16th Degree, and Evergreen Chapter of Rose Croix, 18th De- gree, serving as first officer in each of the
three bodies for one year, and then as secre- tary of each body up to 1879. In May, 1858, he received the charter for Caldwell Consis- tory, S. P. R. S., 32d Degree, and was named as its first Ill. Com .- in-Chief, serving as such twenty-six years; in May, 1868, was elected an honorary member of the Supreme Council and received the 33d Degree at Cincinnati, O .; in 1870 he was elected to the active 33d Degree in Supreme Council and was crowned as such in New York City. In September, 1879, he resigned his active membership and returned to the honorary rank; December 7, 1870, he received the order of Knights of the Red Cross of Rome and Constantine, Knights St. John, Viceroy Eusebeus Prince Mason and Holy Sepulchre, at the hands of Sir Alfred Creigh, L. L. D., in the city of Philadelphia, he being the Chief Intendant General for the U. S. of A., by authority of the Imperial Council of England, and from him obtained a charter for Orient Conclave, No. 2, to be held in Bloomsburg, his name being enrolled on the book of the Imperial Council in London, England.
On December 16, 1876, the number, 15, of Orient Conclave was changed to No. 2, as above, C. F. Knapp being the first Sovereign of the same. In 1872 he retired from that position, having served during the years 1871 and 1872. In December, 1872, the Grand Council of Pennsylvania being formed at Reading (independent of England), he was elected as G. Viceroy and served three years. In February, 1875, he was elected G. Sover- eign of the Grand Council of Pennsylvania, in Harrisburg, and served as such one year. June 1, 1875, the G. Imperial Council of the U. S. was formed and Mr. Knapp was elected Grand Senior General of that body: was elected Deputy G. Master of the G. Imperial Council for the U. S. in the city of New York;
14
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES.
in 1877 he was elected Grand Master of that body in Rochester, N. Y.
In February, 1874, he received the order of Grand Cross at the hands of C. L. Stowell, G. Sovereign of Pennsylvania, at the age of fifty- two years. No nation can have more than fifty living members of this order. In June, 1877, at a Grand Chapter of Grand Crosses, he was elected a second time as the second grand officer of that body for the United States. In June, 1879, at a Grand Chapter of Grand Crosses, he was elected as Grand Master of the U. S. In June 1880, Mr. Knapp retired from that office.
The publishers of this work take pleasure in announcing that a portrait of Mr. Knapp is presented on a preceding page.
OHN R. FLEMING, who is promi- nently known as the proprietor of the old Rogers Woolen Mills near Forks- ville, Sullivan County, Pa., is also en- gaged in farming, owning a fine farm adjoin- ing the mill. He is a man of great industry and his success has been due to his own ef- forts. He was born in Elkland township, Sul- livan County, November 10, 1862, and he is a son of Daniel and Catherine M. (Osler) Fleming.
Daniel Fleming, the father of our subject, was a prosperous farmer of Elkland township at the beginning of the Civil War and in 1864. when the duration of the war was uncertain and the successes of the South had cast deep gloom over the loyal states, he, like many another brave man, willed that his country should live, and he immediately offered his services. He enlisted in Company D, Heavy Artillery, leaving a happy home, a family and many friends. At the battle of the Wilder-
ness, on June 17th, he was wounded and three days later passed into the unknown world. He was united in marriage with Catherine M. Osler, by whom he had one son. John R., our subject. She is a daughter of John H. and Jane (Myers) Osler, and her grandfather was a soldier in the War of 1812, in which he was killed. After the latter's death his wife mar- ried a Mr. Bryan and settled in Sullivan Coun- ty, Pa., where John H. Osler was reared. After reaching manhood he moved to Elkland township and engaged in farming; later he moved to what is now Forksville and engaged in woolen manufacturing, purchasing the mills our subject now owns. These he con- ducted for a period of thirty-five years. He died at the age of eighty-four years and his wife at seventy-nine. The children born to them were: Jeremiah M., of Elkland town- ship; Sarah Jane, deceased; Catherine M., our subject's mother; John S. of Elkland township; Clay M. of Forks township; Ly- dia, who married Perry Benfield of Forksville: David W. of Lycoming County; and Edwin R. of Halestown, Md. The widow of Daniel Fleming formed a second alliance with Daniel T. Huckell, deceased, a record of whose life appears elsewhere in this Book of Biog- raphies.
John R. Fleming was reared on a farm and obtained a good common school education, after which he took up the occupation of a farmer and followed it until 1884. He then. in association with D. W. Osler, Esq., bought the old Rogers Woolen Mills in Forksville of J. H. Osler and purchased a tract of fifty acres adjoining. In 1887 the firm dissolved partnership, our subject retaining the farm and Mr. Osler the mill. Since then Mr. Fleming has leased the mill and is engaged in the man- ufacture of woolen yarns and doing general custom work. He has a full set of cards and
HON. SIMON P. WOLVERTON.
17
SEVENTEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
the capacity of his factory is seventy-five pounds per day. The Rogers mills were es- tablished early in the Nineteenth Century, and are widely known throughout the county, as they were for a time the only woolen mills in that section. Mr. Fleming still owns the farm, with the exception of one lot, which he disposed of to his wife's mother, Mrs. F. B. Glidwell, on which she has erected a handsome residence. He is a man of thorough business habits, enterprising and industrious, and has led an exemplary life.
Mr. Fleming was united in marriage on June 6, 1888, with Della Glidwell, a daughter . of Franklin B. and Malinda (Boyle) Glidwell, and a granddaughter of William and Mary (Little) Glidwell. James Glidwell was the earliest ancestor in this country and came from England, locating in Sullivan County, Pa., where he was among the early settlers. He married a Miss King and six children blessed their home: John; Thomas; Betsey; Sally; David; and William.
William Glidwell was born in Northumber- land County, Pa., where his parents stopped a short time prior to locating in Sullivan County. He grew to manhood and purchased a farm in Elkland township where he followed farming and ran a threshing machine for some years. Then, selling out, he bought the stone gristmill with Dr. Randall as a partner and was engaged in operating the mill during the remainder of his days. He married Mary Lit- t'e, and their children were: Daniel; Sarah Ann; Sarah Ann; Esther; Daniel; Elizabeth; George; William K .; Franklin B .; and Sa- linda B. The first three named died in their infancy.
Franklin B. Glidwell took up agricultural pursuits at an early age, purchasing a farm in Elkland township, but later operated a mill at Forksville for twenty years, owning it
for seventeen years of that time. Having sold that, he engaged in market gardening in part- nership with our subject, taking produce to Forksville and Eagles Mere, principally to the latter place. He was united in marriage to Malinda Boyle, a daughter of John Boyle of Elkland township, and they have two chil- dren: Della; and Ivy, who died at the age of twenty-four years.
Our subject and his wife have one daughter, Grace, who was born August 11, 1889. Polit- ically he is a firm Republican. He is a school director, and for the past nine years has been a member of the town council.
ON. SIMON P. WOLVERTON of Sunbury, Northumber'and County, Pa., whose portrait is presented on the opposite page, is one of the foremost at- torneys and one of the most successful and formidable corporation lawyers in this state, and ex-Representative in Congress from the Seventeenth Congressional District. He is a son of Joseph and Charity (Kase) Wolverton, and was born in Rush township, Northumber- land County, January 28, 1837.
Our subject truly is a self-made man. Start- ing out to make his way in youth he had as his resources an unusually brilliant intellect. a sturdy physique and a constitution which seems to have been built as of iron. From comparative obscurity, by his untiring indus- try and his personal merit and effort, he has risen to a position in the front rank of Penn- sylvania's men of great attainments, and all who know him and realize his worth as a man and a citizen rejoice that he has won the hon- ors and the success to which he is so justly entitled. In his youth Mr. Wolverton, who had secured a fairly good schooling, taught
18
BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES.
school, receiving a meager salary, determined to earn enough to pay his expenses through college. Subsequently, when he began the study of law, he read Blackstone day and night so eager was he to adopt the profession to which he was attracted and for which his strong and logical intellect seemed so well to fit him. As in his youth, Mr. Wolverton in his young manhood continued to be a dili- gent student and a hard worker, and the same traits of character have well served him through the remarkably successful career he has enjoyed as a lawyer and as a statesman. A man of even temper, of indomitable will and possessing the best of health, he has known no such thing as failure, nor has he encountered defeat. As a lawyer, Mr. Wolverton is very thorough in the preparation of his cases and in the courts he handles them with masterly skill.
In his young manhood Mr. Wolverton completed his education at Danville Academy and Lewisburg University, in this state. In the university he doubled his studies and by hard work and persistent effort accomplished the work of the Junior and Senior courses in one year, doing that which ordinarily requires two years' study in the single year, and grad- uated from the institution in 1860. Following his graduation from the university our sub- ject entered the office of Hon. Alexander Jor- dan in Sunbury, Mr. Jordan then being the presiding judge in the Eighth Judicial District as then constituted. Mr. Wolverton was ad- mitted to the bar in April, 1862, and imme- diately entered upon the practice of law. His practice was interrupted when Gen. Stuart. the great Rebel commander, made his raid into this state, our subject raising a company of emergency men, of which he was captain. who did effective service. When a second in- vasion of this state was threatened by Lee's
army, Mr. Wolverton again went out with the emergency company, which was known as Co. F, 36th Pa. The company was mustered into the service July 4, 1863, and mus- tered out August II of the same year. While in the military service Mr. Wolverton kept in touch with his law business, and on his dis- charge from the army immediately resumed it, and he has since followed it, to the exclu- sion of all else, and has built up a very large and lucrative clientage, excepting those pe- riods during which he has given his services to the people.
Political honors have been forced upon Mr. Wolverton, the demand for his services being of such nature as to be imperative. In the fall of 1878 he was elected, as a Democrat, to fill out the unexpired term of State Senator A. H. Dill. Senator Dill having resigned to be a candidate for governor. Twice Mr. Wol- verton was re-elected, and he served ten years in the State Senate. He declined a re-nomi- nation in 1888 because he preferred to resume the more active practice of his profession. During his term in the State Senate our sub- ject was prominent in securing the enactment of many of the most important laws. For the ten years he was in the legislature he was a member of the committee on judiciary. He introduced and secured the passage of what is known as the "Married Woman's Act" in 1887. Mr. Wolverton's great popularity with the people of the Twenty-seventh Senatorial District may be estimated by his election to the Senate for three successive terms in a dis- trict which had a normal Republican plurality of over 1,000. For two years after his retire- ment from the State Senate Mr. Wolverton devoted his entire time to his profession. Then he was again compelled to respond to the popular demands of his friends and neigh- bors, and in 1890 he was elected representa-
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