USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 1 > Part 10
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Soon after his graduation Mr. Smith was elected a Trustee of Dickinson Col- lege, Carlisle, and later of Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster.
He is a Director and Solicitor of the First National Bank of Lancaster, and has occupied that two-fold position ever since the organization of the bank, in 1 864.
Hle was one of the original stockholders in the first cotton mill in Lancaster, and, although attended with loss, the experiment was never regretted by him, as it became the nucleus of the present mills, which yield thicir more fortunate
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investors a handsome income, and give their numerous employés-men, women and children-constant work and liberal pay. In a word, all the industrial enter- prises in the city, as well as its literary and charitable institutions, have ever found in Mr. Smith a warm and substantial friend.
Mr. Smith's ancestors on both sides came from Germany, and settled in Lan- caster county about the year 1723-those on the paternal in Pequea, and those on the maternal side in Manor township. Soon after their arrival they purchased large tracts of land, and in addition to cultivating the same the father and paternal grandfather of Mr. Smith followed the millwright and milling business, and he has in his possession the scientific drafts and plans, made by his father, of mills erected by him.
The land on the mother's side came through John Penn, and remained for three generations in the Herr family. His maternal grandmother, Barbara Herr, nec Eshleman, died September 16, 1839, in her eighty-second year, in the old family mansion, where Mr. Smith was born, and his maternal grandfather, Abraham Herr, died November 26, 1823, at the age of seventy-two.
The old stone building, erected in 1764 by Mr. Smith's maternal great-grand- parents, David Herr and Barbara Herr, is still occupied, and while the wood work has been replaced, the fort-like walls and arched and cemented cellars are as good as new, and seem fully capable of resisting Old Boreas for generations yet to come.
Mr. Smith was never married, and he and his only sister, Eliza E. Smith, also unmarried, live in their unpretentious home on Lime street, Lancaster, dispensing hospitality and charity without show or parade.
Miss Smith was educated at Linden Hall Seminary, Lititz, and at Miss Edmond's school, Philadelphia, and, as an unobtrusive philanthropist, has spent the best years of her life, and much of her and her brother's means, in educating the worthy poor of both sexes, some of whom have fallen asleep, but others yet live and trace their success in life to the timely aid which came from their unsel- fish benefactors.
Although not engaged in the laborious duties of his profession, the law still has attractions for Mr. Smith, and he may be found almost daily in his office, and, surrounded with his books or friends, modestly enjoying the ease and comfort which naturally come from his well-earned "success in law, business and politics." E. T. F.
HON. SIMON CAMERON.
SIMON CAMERON.
S IMON CAMERON, the most widely known of the statesmen of Pennsylvania, was born at Maytown, Lancaster county, on March 8, 1799. He is the son of Charles and Martha Pfoutz Cameron. On the paternal side he is descended from the Clan Cameron of Scotland, who cast their lot with the unfortu- nate Charles Edward, whose star of hope sank 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, where he arrived about 1745-46, and afterwards fought under the gallant Wolfe upon the heights of Abraham, and was in continuous service throughout the war with France. Simon Cameron, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was an early participant in the war of the Revolution, and, with his brother John, took the oath of allegiance, June 7, 1778. This brother was the great-grandfather of Gen. Henry H. Bingham, of Philadelphia. On the maternal side Simon Cameron is descended from Conrad Pfoutz, an emigrant from the Palatinate, Germany, who settled in Lancaster county, and Pfoutz Valley, in Perry county, perpetuates the name of John Pfoutz, a hero of the border warfare of Pennsylvania in the days when the treacherous Delawares and the perfidious Shawnees sought to desolate the homes of the carly pioneers of the State. Charles Cameron married Martha Pfoutz, and they had a numerous and remarkable progeny ; for the history of our country gives but few instances of the attainment of such a measure of success in life by an entire family, and of its members Simon Cameron is the most prominent.
When young Cameron was about nine years of age his parents removed to Northumberland county, where his father shortly afterwards died, and he was thus early in life cast upon his own resources. There were then few advantages offered by public schools, and his educational facilities were exceedingly limited. Having an unquenchable fondness for books, he was unable to perceive any other means so likely to satiate his appetite as employment in a printing-office. It seemed to him the chief centre of thought in the community in which destiny had fixed his lot. He therefore engaged, in 1816, as an apprentice to the print- ing business with Andrew Kennedy, editor of the Northumberland County Gazette, of Northumberland, Pa., where he continued one year, when his employer, owing to financial reverses, was obliged to close his establishment. Being thus thrown out of employment he made his way by river-boat and on foot to Harrisburg, where he secured a situation in the printing-office of James Peacock, editor of the Republican, with whom he remained until he had attained his majority. In January, 1821, he went to Doylestown, Pa., at the solicitation of Samuel D. Ing- ham, afterwards Secretary of the Treasury. Ingham, then Secretary of the State of Pennsylvania, published the Bucks County Messenger. Young Cameron, as editor of this paper, evinced a breadth of information which, in a man of his limited opportunities, seemed astonishing. In March of the same year he entered
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into partnership with the publisher of the Doylestown Democrat, and the firm merged their publications into the Bucks County Democrat, which connection was continued until the close of the year 1821, when the establishment passed by purchase into the hands of Gen. W. T. Rogers. The succeeding winter Mr. Cameron spent in the office of Messrs. Gales and Seaton, publishers of the National Intelligencer at Washington, D. C., as a journeyman printer. He returned to Harrisburg in 1822, and entered into partnership with Charles Mowry in the publication of the Pennsylvania Intelligencer, then the organ of the Democratic party at the State capital, and which enjoyed the official patronage of the State administration. He was elected one of the printers of the State-a position that he held for seven years, having been the early friend and supporter of Governor Shultz. Upon his ceasing to be State printer he was honored by that executive with the appointment of Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania, the duties of which office he discharged with ability and to the satisfaction of the public.
General Cameron at an early period took a deep interest in the development of internal improvements, and received extensive contracts upon the Pennsylva- nia Canal, then in process of construction. In 1826 he began the section between Harrisburg and Sunbury, and after this was well under way he took one or two sections of the western part of the canal. When Louisiana granted a charter to the State bank of that Commonwealth, it provided that the bank should build a canal from Lake Ponchartrain to New Orleans. General Cameron took the con- tract for that work, which was then regarded by engineers as the great under- taking of the time. In 1831 he started for New Orleans. He employed twelve hundred men in Philadelphia, and sent them by sea to that city, he with his engineers and tools going down the Mississippi river, embarking at Pittsburgh. He spent nearly half a year upon the undertaking, and demonstrated beyond a doubt its feasibility. He was recalled from his work on the Lake Ponchartrain Canal by a summons from Major Eaton, Secretary of War under President Jack- son, who requested him to return to Pennsylvania and organize a delegation to the National Convention, which had been called to meet in Baltimore. This was in the interest of Martin Van Buren for the Vice-Presidency. Calhoun, who had served eight years, had quarreled with Jackson during his second term, and had otherwise put himself into antagonism to the prevailing popularity of the Presi- dent. General Cameron obeyed the summons, came home, and organized a delegation that went to Baltimore and worked for the success of Mr. Van Buren. This was the first National Convention ever held in the United States. Mr. Cameron was requested to accept the permanent chairmanship, but declined, and a gentleman from North Carolina was selected. After the National Convention at Baltimore he was appointed a visitor to West Point by General Jackson ; and, after performing his duties on the Hudson, he made his first trip to New Eng- land. He went with a brother of Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania, and thoroughly inspected the paper mills and other manufactories of that section.
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In the winter of 1832 the Legislature chartered a bank at Middletown, and he became its cashier. From the first the bank was successful, but the duties of cashier were so limited that General Cameron sought other fields of labor and usefulness, although he remained there twenty-five years. He projected and created the railroads from Lancaster to Middletown, from Harrisburg to Sun- bury, from Harrisburg to Lebanon, and at the same time gave encouragement to the Cumberland Valley Railroad. In this connection it may be stated that the Northern Central Railroad from Harrisburg to Baltimore was alienated by him from Baltimore interests, and made a Pennsylvania institution. He was at one time President of four railroad corporations, all operating lines within a few miles of the spot where he was born.
In 1838 President Van Buren tendered to General Cameron the appointment of Commissioner with James Murray, one of the most respected citizens of Mary- land, under a treaty with the Winnebago Indians, to settle and adjust the claims made against the Indians by the traders. These claims were for goods furnished the Indians during a long period of years, and the sum appropriated by the treaty was three hundred thousand dollars. In many cases the commissioners found the claims of the traders unjust, and every account allowed by them met with the approbation of the commissioners appointed by the Indians. In their settle- ment of some of the claims (the aggregate amount having been reduced from over a million to about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars) the traders refused to accept the award, and went to Washington with charges against the commissioners. The charges were met by a demand for re-examination, which resulted in the appointment of a new commission the following year, under whose direction the Indians were assembled in council, and who approved, by a united vote of their council, the entire acts of Messrs. Cameron and Murray, and the account thus adjudged was paid by the Government.
In 1845, when James K. Polk tendered the office of Secretary of State to James Buchanan, and that gentleman resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States, an election to supply the vacancy became necessary. General Cameron was at that time in recognized sympathy with the Democratic party, and was selected as the representative of that wing of it which advocated the policy of a protective tariff. The regular caucus nominee of the Democracy, however, was George W. Woodward, which selection was regarded as a free trade triumph, rendering it possible for some other Democrat known to be honestly devoted to the ever-cherished policy of the State to be elected by a union of the Whigs, Native Americans and those Democrats in favor of protection to home industries. The result was the election of Simon Cameron to the United States Senate for the term ending March 4, 1849. He served his State faithfully in that body, and proved himself true to the great interests committed to his charge, and he never wearied in the support of the principles on which he was elected. It may be here stated that President Polk at first chose to ignore Mr. Cameron, de- claring his election to the Senate as having been outside the party organization ;
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but this treatment, he found to his cost, was not conducive to his own peace of mind, and he sent for Senator Cameron, made a truce with him, and thereafter avoided antagonizing him.
In 1857 the combined opposition members of the Legislature, consisting of Whigs, Native Americans and tariff Democrats, selected Mr. Cameron as their candidate to fill the place of Senator Brodhead, whose term of service expired on the 4th of March of that year. The Democratic caucus nominated Col. John W. Forney, then the intimate friend of James Buchanan, who was just entering upon his term as President, and had written a letter to members of the Legislature naming Colonel Forney as his choice to the Senatorship. The united votes of the opposition, with three Democratic votes-two from Schuylkill and one from York counties, in both of which Senator Cameron possessed great strength and popularity on account of his firm devotion to their industrial interests-resulted again in his election. He took his seat in the Senate on the 4th of March, not- withstanding the futile assaults of his colleague from Pennsylvania, Mr. Bigler, upon his title to the place, and which that body refused to consider. General Cameron's return to the Senate brought him again prominently before the public, and in the political movements which preceded the campaign of 1860 he was named as the choice of Pennsylvania for the Presidency, and his name was carly associated with that of Mr. Lincoln in connection with the Republican National ticket.
General Cameron's national career began at the Chicago Convention in 1860, when the Republican party crystalized into a national organization, and declared its open, clear and stern antagonism to slavery. With intuitive sagacity the advocates of slavery recognized in the Republican party the force which would ultimately overthrow them, and men like Senator Cameron were recognized as the leaders of that force. There was no mistaking the object on which it entered the campaign of 1860. When Mr. Lincoln was nominated, Senator Cameron made himself felt in such a manner as to win the confidence of that illustrious statesman and patriot. After the great political battle of that year Mr. Cameron was the first to whom Mr. Lincoln turned for counsel. The offer of a cabinet position by the latter to the former was a voluntary act, and that appointment would have been made the first in the selection of his constitutional advisers had not intrigue interfered to defer it at the time. Mr. Lincoln looked upon Mr. Cameron from first to last, not only as a political, but as his warm personal friend; and there were no such relations existing between the President and the other members of his cabinet. This fact was well known when the cabinet was organized, provoking antagonisms which General Cameron could not meet and combat, as was his wont with opposition, and creating jealousies which operated stealthily against him. While he was in the War Department, as Secretary of War, his counsel was not only potential in cabinet meetings, but was sought by the President in private, and heeded in such a marked manner as to create a feeling of hostility which caused the President much annoyance. Then, too,
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believing that the civil war would require all the available resources of the nation to preserve the Union, and doubting the speedy settlement of the trouble, he began, as head of the War Department, a scale of preparations to combat it which puzzled the oldest officers in the army and chagrined the leaders of the Rebellion, who had counted much on the supineness and lethargy of the North- ern people. General Cameron frustrated this hope by his energy, but he had the rest of the cabinet unanimously against him. When he sought to furnish the necessary supplies to the army, he was met by a sickly sentimentality about settling the war by diplomacy. The Confederates resorted to the ruse of diplo- macy by means of commissioners for the purpose of retarding this activity, but at the same time General Cameron was filling up the arsenals which had been despoiled and depleted by the former Secretary of War, and was supplying the army with large quantities of ordnance and commissary and quartermaster's stores. His action naturally aroused the opposition of the sordid and jealous, alarmed the timid, and excited the suspicious. The minister who had thus labored to equip his country for its struggle with treason, the proportions of which he alone seemed fully to appreciate, was assailed for each and all of these acts.
Mr. Lincoln had the fullest confidence in his Secretary of War. He believed in his sagacity and relied on his courage, but he could not wholly withstand clamor-the outgrowth of timidity on one side, and the cunning greed of the unscrupulous on the other-so that General Cameron, to relieve President Lin- coln from embarrassment, resolved to resign, and, on the 11th of January, 1862, returned the portfolio of the War Department to the President, but in that act he commanded the continued confidence of Mr. Lincoln, who, on the day that he accepted his resignation, nominated the retiring Secretary for the most im- portant diplomatic mission in his gift-that of Minister to Russia. Nor was this all. Mr. Lincoln insisted that General Cameron should name his own successor, an act which no retiring cabinet officer ever did before or since. He named Edwin M. Stanton, who had been his legal adviser during his term in the War Department.
The mission to Russia involved the safe and sagacious handling of our rela- tions with the Czar's government at a moment when they demanded the most prudent direction. The friendly relations which existed between that colossal power of the north and the great republic of the west dated back in their amity to the time when the Empress Catharine declined to take part with England in the suppression of the American colonists in their struggle for independence. General Cameron restored this friendly feeling, and thus frustrated English and French intrigue to organize an alliance, with Napoleon III. at its head, in the interest of the Southern Confederacy. The country has never fully appreciated this fact, because it was a part of its diplomacy which admitted of no correspond- ence. This object accomplished, General Cameron's mission to Russia was virtually concluded, there being nothing more to do in St. Petersburg in fact,
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but to maintain what had been established, and he could with safety ask for his credentials and retire.
The relations between Mr. Lincoln and General Cameron were always cordial, and immediately upon his reaching the United States the latter was the accepted citizen counsellor at the White House. At this time efforts were being made to defeat the renomination of Mr. Lincoln. It was a period of great solicitude to the President, who, with characteristic modesty, declined to make any movement in his own behalf. In the winter of 1864 the intrigue referred to was talked of in political circles at Washington as a success. General Cameron visited the National Capital repeatedly at that time, and upon reaching his farm, after a return from one of these visits, had a paper prepared embodying the merits of Mr. Lincoln as President, setting forth his fidelity and integrity in his first administration, and declaring that his renomination and re-election involved a necessity essential to the success of the war for the Union. That paper was submitted to the Republican members of both branches of the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania, every one of whom signed it, and in this shape it was presented to Mr. Lincoln and telegraphed to the country at large. Its publica- tion accomplished all that the forethought of the author and originator antici- pated. In three weeks after the issue of this letter, it was a curious spectacle to watch the precipitation with which the Republicans in all the States hastened to declare in favor of Mr. Lincoln's renomination ; so that there was no opposition to him when the National Convention assembled.
From' 1864 to 1866 General Cameron took a very active part in the politics of Pennsylvania, giving to the organization of the Republican party a prestige that enabled it to bear down all opposition. He was the one leader of the party who could rally it in despondency, and hold it in fidelity to its pledges.
In 1867 he was again elected to the United States Senate-a position that he has filled for a greater number of years than any other man sent to that body from the State of Pennsylvania. Ilis influence in National legislation was as great as that of any other man in the Senate. The singularity of this influence is the more remarkable when it is remembered that he seldom participated in debate. He made no pretension to oratory, but his talk was sound, his argu- ments lucid, and his statement of fact impregnable. What he lacked in fervid, flashing speech he made up in terse, solid common-sense. From the time that he entered the Senate to the time when he resigned his seat in 1877-a continu- ous service of eleven years-he was recognized as one of its most useful and reliable members, and at the date of his resignation was Chairman of the Com- mittee on Foreign Relations-a position only accorded to a Senator of admitted statesmanship. He was foremost always in practical legislation. Ilis opinion on questions of Commerce, Manufactures, Finance, Internal Improvements, Fortifications and the Public Domain were always accepted as guiding counsel. He encouraged the building of the first Pacific Railroad, was a warm supporter of the policy of opening public lands to actual settlers, and no man in Congress,
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before or after he left it, did more, and few as much as he, for the protection, fostering and promotion of American industries. He lost no opportunity to advocate and further the organization of new States, and regarded the expansion of the boundaries of the Union as the only true course to preserve the equilib- rium of power between the sections. Hle made history as few other statesmen in this country created it, by producing results in the practical walks of life, such as make men prosperous and happy, that stimulate the commerce of the country, whereby it has been constantly rendered powerful abroad and a blessing to its people at home.
Sixty-five years of active political control is a record made by only one man within the history of the United States, and when he shall have passed away a career will end that is made up of political and financial sueeesses such as have belonged to no other man now living in this republic. Simon Cameron's career has been conspicuous in many respects. He is the only citizen handling great affairs that has kept pace with the young men who have grown into political control during his remarkable life. More than two generations have grown up since he has been a power in politics. Yet he has kept pace with and controlled each in turn. He has never dropped out of public view and become a tradition, as most men do as they grow old. To-day the young men of Pennsylvania know him and respect him more highly than any other public man in the State, and his power, when he chooses to exercise it, is as great as ever. Ex-Senator Conkling once said that Simon Cameron was the wisest politician that ever lived. When the sum of his life comes to be made up, it will be found that he was far more than a politician. He has grown from the humblest circumstances to the broadest control of affairs in the land. He has risen from printing-offices and poverty, and has helped to make and unmake every President from James Monroe's time, a range of years covering almost the allotted life of man. His power has not been the result of accident. He has made his great place by the performance of acts of kindness and careful study and recognition of the influ- enee of even the humblest. In the days of his greatest power and influence he never forgot a Pennsylvanian. He kept close to the people, and they have kept close to him. This is the secret of his influence with and affectionate hold on the masses. It is now a little more than ten years since General Cameron resigned from the United States Senate, his son, Hon. J. Donald Cameron, succeeding him. His days have not, however, been spent in idleness. He has personally managed his vast business affairs, and at the same time has taken an active interest and an important part in politics. He was a very important factor in the campaign that elected President Garfield. Since he has retired from the Senate to spend the last days of his life free from the turmoil of active polities, he has been a great traveller and reader. In the year 1887, when in his eighty- ninth year, he, in company with some chosen friends, made a trip to Europe, where he was received with marked and distinguished honor by representatives of the English Government and nobility, and many prominent private citizens.
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