Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania, Part 10

Author: Wiley, Samuel T. , Esq., editor
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Press of York Daily
Number of Pages: 612


USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 10
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 10


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70


+


69


NINETEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.


treasurer. Miss Sallie P. Krauth, assistant librarian.


The enrollment for the current year has been: Graduate students 14, Seniors 26, Juniors 34, Sophomores 39, Freshmen 62 and Preparatorians 97. A total of 272.


THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF THE GEN- ERAL SYNOD OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH. This institution was established by the General Synod in 1826. Its organization formed an epoch in the life and develop- ment of the Lutheran Church in this country. Before that time almost the only source of supply of ministers was immigration from the mother coun- try and the private training of can- didates by individual pastors. The want was sorely felt, as making the proper care of the congregations and growth of the Church impossible. The provision for an adequate educated ministry was one of the first great acts of the wisdom and energy of the General Synod. The decisive action was taken at its meeting in Freder- ick, Md., in 1825, when it resolved:


"That the General Synod will forthwith commence, in the name of the Triune God, and in humble reliance on His aid, the establishment of a Theological Seminary which shall be exclusively devoted to the glory of our divine Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. And that in the Seminary shall be taught, in the German and English languages, the funda- mental doctrines of the sacred Scriptures, as contained in the Augsburg Confession."


The General Synod itself appointed the first professor, Dr. S. S. Schmucker, and also the first Board of Directors, but or- dained that thereafter the district Synods contributing to the institution should elect the Directors and the Board should elect the professors.


The establishment of the Seminary led


to the founding of Pennsylvania College in 1832, and the general development of the educational work of the Lutheran Church in the United States. For from the start thus given and the Church enter- prise thus awakened, other institutions have come into existence with their still widening power. The Seminary educated presidents for Wittenberg, Roanoke, North Carolina, Newberry and Muhlenberg Col- leges, and a large number of their profes- sors; and professors of theology in Hart- wick, Philadelphia, Wittenberg and Selin's Grove Theological Seminaries. Its alumni have carried on largely the work of female education at Hagerstown, Lutherville, Staunton, Marion, Walhalla and elsewhere.


The roll of students since the organiza- tion numbers over 800. For over half a century they have been going forth into the pulpits and various church work all over the United States, carrying larger new life and prosperity from shore to shore of our land and to the missionary service in foreign lands.


Besides Dr. Schmucker, the following have been regular professors in the past, viz: Rev. Ernest Hazelius, D. D., 1830- 1833; Rev. Henry I. Smith, D. D., 1839- 1843; Rev. Charles A. Hay, 1844-1848; Rev. Charles P. Krauth, D. D., 1850-1867; Rev. Chas. F. Schaeffer, D. D., 1855-1864; Rev. Jas. A. Brown, D. D., LL. D., 1864- 1881; Rev. Milton Valentine, D. D., 1866- 1868; Rev. Chas. A. Stork, D. D., 1881- 1883.


The fruits of the grand service accom- plislied by this institution were, until re- cently, manifest more in the immense de- velopment of almost every other interest of the Church than in any strengthening and enlargement of the institution itself. It had to do its work with comparatively poor equipment of accommodations and small faculty. Lately, however, the Board has


70


BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA.


entered upon the work of developing the institution itself, in order to make its equipment and strength correspond to the present strength of the Church and the en- larged demands which the times make upon it. A new building, with lec- ture halls, chapel and library, has been erected. The old edifice has been repaired and improved. A steam plant has been built for heating both the buildings. The modern conveniences of hot and cold water, bath rooms, gymnasium, etc., are supplied. Professor's houses have been added and the old ones improved. The additions and changes have cost about $88,000. A legacy of $22,000 by Mr. Mat- thew Eichelberger, of Gettysburg, has re- cently been received.


METZGER COLLEGE FOR YOUNG LADIES. Among the many institutions of learning which have contributed in a marked de- gree, to make the Cumberland Valley fam- ons for its educational facilities and advan- tages, conspicuous recognition must be ac- corded to Metzger College for young ladies located at Carlisle.


This institution owes its existence to the generosity of its founder, the Hon. George Metzger, of Carlisle, Pa., who devised the ground for its location, the buildings and the endowment, besides books, furniture, apparatus and other equipments.


It was opened in the fall of 1881 and in- corporated in 1882 as Metzger Institute. The name was changed in 1894 to its pres- ent corporate name, Metzger College and under its new charter, with its new and en- larged curriculum and added facilities it is even better prepared to carry out the pur- pose of its founder. By the provisions of his will, it was to be a college for ladies where "branches useful and ornamental" should be taught. Besides the usual colle- giate studies, therefore, music and art have always had a prominent place in the work


of the institution and special advantages have been offered in these departments. Courses of study are offered in piano, voice and art at the completion of which a di- ploma is granted.


With the present graduating class, fifty ladies will have graduated from the colle- giate department and one from the music school.


Miss Harriet L. Dexter was the president of the institution, serving from 1881 to 1895, when she resigned on account of ill health. She was a lady of rare culture and did much to promote the cause of higher education of girls.


In 1895, the presidency of the institution was tendered to Professor Wallace Peter Dick, M. A., then Professor of Languages at the State Normal School, West Chester, Pa., and was accepted. Prof. Dick is a graduate of Brown University, Providence, R. I., and is a well known educator, having devoted his entire time since his graduation, in 1879, to the work of education, and under him Metzger College is taking high rank as its advantages are becoming better known.


Carlisle, the site of the college, is well known all over the United States as an educational centre and is noted for its healthfulness, historic associations, fine scenery and the intellectual and social re- finement of its inhabitants.


The Metzger College buildings include the main building and the Metzger cottage. They are in a most delightful spot in the suburbs, about three blocks from the cen- tre of the town. The main building is an imposing structure of brick with brown stone trimmings in the centre of a beauti- ful campus covering two acres, having the Metzger cottage at one end, and the grove, tennis court and croquet lawn at the other. The students' rooms are large, completely furnished, lighted by gas and heated by


71


NINETEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.


steam. Bathrooms are found on all the floors. These are supplied with hot and cold water and furnished with modern con- veniences of the most approved type. The other rooms-the reception room, dining- room, chapel, office, recitation rooms-are light, commodious and well adapted to their purpose.


The records show that at various times Metzger College has enrolled students from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Indiana, Delaware, Misso- uri, Arkansas, Michigan, Illinois, New Jer- sey, Wisconsin, New York, West Virginia, South Dakota, Wyoming, Indian Territory and the District of Columbia, including such cities as Washington, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Hoboken, Harrisburg, Troy, Lancaster, Newark, Milwaukee, Chicago, Brooklyn, New York and Pittsburg. It has always enjoyed a large day patronage from Carlisle and the surrounding towns.


It supports a literary society, a Y. W. C. A., and each year offers to the public a su- perior lecture course.


The College Preparatory Department prepares for entrance to, or advanced standing in, Bryn Mawr, Vassar, Wellesley, Smith or similar colleges and the Metzger Collegiate Department offers three courses, -the Classical, the Modern Language and the English -- to those who wish to graduate from the institution and receive its diploma.


A flourishing juvenile department, ad- mitting, for the time being, boys under twelve years as well as girls, is under the immediate control of the college.


The Metzger College Faculty is at pres- ent constituted as follows: Wallace Peter Dick, M. A., President, German, Biblical Literature and Philosophy. Miss Sarah Kate Ege, Librarian, Mathematics. Miss Laura Jackson, B. S., Natural Sciences and French. Miss Nellie Higman, A. B., Higher Mathematics and Higher Eng-


lish. Miss Bertha Eliza Smith, A. M., Latin and Greek. Miss Martha Elizabeth Barbour, Elocution and Physical Training. Fraulein Marie Heling, Piano and Har- mony. Mrs. William Weidman Landis, Vocal Music. Miss Arria Evelyn Wheeler, Violin. Prof. Frank S. Morrow, Banjo, Guitar and Mandolin. Miss Elizabeth E. Forster, Art. Mr. John M. Rhey, LL. B., Stenography and Typewriting. Miss Win- nefred Sterrett Woods, Assistant in art.


Miss Louise Ege Woodburn, Assistant in Piano. Miss Elizabeth Neill Rose, Juve- nile Department. Miss Anne Harriet Gardner, Kintergarten.


YORK COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. York Col- legiate Institute, was founded and endowed by Mr. Samuel Small April 14th, 1873. While visiting in New England he became acquainted with the design and methods of Norwich (Conn.) Free Academy. He had been planning to found an institution of learning for the benefit of his city, and this excellent school gave definiteness to his ideas. He returned home, selected the site and the corner stone of the first building was laid in 1871. The building was nearly completed when he invited a number of gentlemen including his pastor and fellow elders in the First Presbyterian church, with his nephews, Mr. Latimer and Samuel Small, Jr., and a few others to act with him as a Board of Trustees. On September 15th, 1873, the school was opened for stud- ents with the Rev. James McDongall, Ph. D., as president, and on November 3rd, the new building was dedicated. On July 14th, 1885, Mr. Small, who had acted as President of the Board of Trustees, and had been a generous patron and intelligent helper of the Institute, died. His widow, Mrs. Isabel Cassat Small added to the en- dowment and appliances of the school by gift and will. The Cassat Library is named in her honor. On Dec. 7th, 1885, the


72


BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA.


building was consumed by fire. His neph- ews, Messrs. W. Latimer, George and Sam- uel Small put up a new building, larger, more elaborate and better in every way than the old one. It stands yet a monu- ment to their generosity and affection for their uncle


After the death of Mr. Samuel Small, his nephew, Samuel Small, Jr., was elected President of the Board of Trustees, and after the death of Dr. McDougall in 1892 Rev. E. T. Jeffers, D. D., was elected Presi- dent and on May I, '93, entered on his du- ties as president of the Faculty. In addi- tion to these, twenty-seven different teach- ers have given instruction in the school since its beginning, most of them for short terms of service. Three, Prof. A. B. Car- ner and the Misses Allen and Bixby, have been on the faculty for twenty years, and Chas. H. Ehrenfeld, Ph. D., for ten years.


The school is designed to give a fair clas- sical, scientific and literary education to those who can go no farther in their educa- tion, and to fit both young men and wo- men for the Freshman class in the most thorough colleges of this country. Over two hundred have been graduated and over a thousand have been enrolled as students. Those who have been thus fitted for ad- vanced studies are now in Johns Hopkins, Bryn Mawr, Princeton, University of Penn- sylvania, Wesleyan (Conn)., Yale, Gettys- burg, Franklin and Marshall, Lafayette and Pennsylvania State College.


Parochial Schools. The early schools were largely parochial, the Luther- ans, Reformed, Catholics and Presbyterians generally establishing a parochial school by the side of each of their churches. The subscription and classical schools reduced them in number and the free schools swept away nearly all the remaining ones, except the Catholic. Among the remaining Cath- olic parochial schools are those at McSher-


rystown, Mt. Rock, New Oxford, Irish- town, Littlestown, Bonneauville and Get- tysburg, in Adams county; and York and some other points in York and Cumber- land counties. St. Joseph's parochial school at McSherrystown has been in ex- istence since 1800.


In 1894 we find the following county sta- tistics of the schools of the Nineteenth dis- trict. Cumberland county, 254 public schools of which 116 were graded, 3 col- leges and 6 academies and seminaries, with 9,859 children enrolled in the public schools costing $140,252.42 for that year. Adams county had 132 schools of which 23 were graded in all of which were enrolled 7,170 pupils who cost $72,676.11, with I college and 9 academies and seminaries. York county enrolled 23,465 pupils in her 455 public schools of which 100 were graded and all costing $268,142.13, while she had no college and but two academic schools.


Carlisle Indian Industrial School. In- dian education and employment at Carlisle under the Pratt system is a possible solti- tion of the great Indian problem. Wash- ington's plan of Indian treatment was as- sociation and civilization, but it was never fairly tried, being supplanted by Jefferson's reservation plan which has been carried on ever since by the government whose policy has alternated between "pauperizing and extermination." The Carlisle school and the Pratt system had their origin in con- victions that grew out of Capt. R. H. Pratt's eight year's cavalry service against the Indians in the Indian territory. Cap- tain Pratt had formerly commanded a com- pany of colored cavalry in the Ioth United States and in the historical sketch of the Carlisle school which he fur- nished by government request, in 1890, he says: "I often commanded Indian scouts, took charge of Indian prisoners and performed other Indian duty which led me


73


NINETEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.


to consider the relative conditions of the two races. The negro, I argued, is from as low a state of savagery as the Indian, and in 200 years' association with Anglo-Sax- ons he has lost his language and gained theirs; has laid aside the characteristics of liis former savage life, and, to a great ex- tent, adopted those of the most advanced and highest civilized nation in the world, and has thus become fitted and accepted as a fellow citizen among them. This miracle of change came from association with the higher civilization. Then, I argued, it is not fair to denounce the Indian as an in- corrigible savage until he has had at least equal privilege of association. If millions of black savages can become so trans- forined and assimilated, and if, annually, hundreds of thousands of foreign emigrants from all lands can also become Anglicised, Americanized, assimilated and absorbed through association, there is but one plain duty resting upon us with regard to the In- dians, and that is to relieve them of their savagery and other alien qualities by the same methods used to relieve the others. Assist them, too, to die as helpless tribes, and to rise up among us as strong and cap- able individual men and American citi- zens."


Capt. Pratt had also some experience with Indian prisoners in Florida and in sup- ervising the education of negroes and In- dians at Hampton, Virginia. Disapproving of educating two races together he sug- gested to the government authorities his idea of an Indian school at Carlisle bar- racks which were appropriated for the school in 1879 and Captain Pratt placed in charge. Each boy and girl was required to study one-half and work one-half of each day and the results of 17 years of such a course of study and labor under Capt. Pratt has made the school a success and drawn visitors even from the old world to study the


Indian problem under the workings of the Pratt system. Super says "the establish- ment of the Indian industrial school at Car- lisle marks an epoch in the history of our treatment of the red man." Three hun- dred and twenty-two of these Indian boys and girls attended the Columbian quadri-centennial at New York in 1892, and 305 of them were in the opening ceremonies of the World's Columbian fair at Chicago, being led at each city by their band of 30 pieces and marching so splendidly as to win encomiums from nearly all the leading newspapers of the United States. 450 of them earned enough ($7,000) by their sum- mer outing to spend a week at the World's Fair where they were closely studied and highly praised by thousands of visitors. In concluding this account of the Carlisle In- dian school which has trained over 2,500 In- dian boys and girls from over 60 different tribes we quote from Capt. Pratt's seven- teenth annual report: "Our population dur- ing the year (1896) came from 61 different tribes; that the whole number of pupils un- der care for some portion of the year was 898, and that the average attendance was 722.93. This made our per capita cost to the Government a trifle more than $141.00 which includes the cost of transporting children to and from their homes, new buildings, repairs and improvements of all kinds. In any just comparison with the expenses of other schools these facts should be taken into account. This economy re- sulted largely from the use of our outing system. 155 of our students attended pub- lic schools during the winter and had the continuous benefits of family life. During the vacation months of July and August we had 506 out at work at one time with farmers and others. The total earnings from this outing amounted to $19,238.62 of which the girls earned $6,480.60 and the boys $12,758.02. Of these sums the boys


74


BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA.


saved $5,561.19 and the girls $3,037.29, a total of $8,598.48. The expenditures were mostly for clothing. Their total savings from past years and for the year of this re -- port, on hand at the end of June were $15,- 294.96, the larger part of which the stud- ents have on interest at 6 per cent. in safely secured bonds.


I trust that these facts may have some slight influence in favor of enlarged oppor- tunities for Indians along these lines and to encourage the liberating of them from


tribal and reservation idleness and the mak- ing use of them as factors in our civilized industrial life."


The educational outlook of the Nine- teenth Congressional district is bright and full of promise. The present is doing well its work, and it remains for those who come after us "so to nourish and foster every ed- ucational plant that in a future, so bright with promise, there shall ever be the bloom and beauty of cultured minds and noble bliss."


CHAPTER VI.


THE JUDICIARY AND THE BAR.


York County. Liberty and law, in a re- public, are co-extensive and co-existent. They are reciprocal standards of measure- ment, and in their productivity for good there is a mutual dependence.


The earliest settlers in the Province of Pennsylvania were taught true notions of liberty and law by Penn. As to liberty, by the language of the proprietaries: “We lay a foundation for after ages to under- stand their liberty as Christians and as men," liberty of mind, as evidenced by the first law passed by the General Assembly of the Province, "The Law Concerning Liberty of Conscience;" and as to political freedom, by at least the implied promises of immunity from the wrongs they then en- dired to those fleeing from the Palatinate upon the Rhine.


As to law, Penn's innate sense of justice was a forceful, moulding influence in the colony days. "His religious principles did not permit him to wrest the soil of Penn- sylvania by force from the people to whom God and nature gave it, nor to establish his title in blood -- he was influenced by a purer morality and sounder policy than that pre- vailing principle which actuated the more sordid; and under the shade of the lofty trees of the forest, his right was fixed by treaties with the Indians and sanctified as it were, by smoking from the calumet of peace." (2 Smith's Law of Pa., page 105.)


By virtue of character, as well as in con- formity with a principle obtaining in Eu- rope at the time, Penn had an undoubted


title to the soil granted him by Charles II of England, under date of March 4, 1681. Nevertheless, in consonance with his typi- fying virtues he instructed the deputy-Gov- ernor to hold treaties with the Indians and to procure the lands peaceably. Before his return to England in 1684 he adopted mea- sures "to purchase the lands on the Sus- quehanna from the Five Nations who pre- tended a right to them," conveyance being made January 13, 1696. (2 Smith's Laws of Pa., page III).


The Indians of the Five Nations, despite the various sales and transfers continued to claim a right to the river and the adjoining lands, and it was not until October 11, 1736, that a deed, with twenty-five Indian chiefs as signatories, was delivered whereby the lands of this part of the Province were fin- ally relinquished to the proprietaries.


The fairness was not an out-cropping of individuality alone but "so determined was the Government that none should intrude to the annoyance of the Indians that the Commissioners of Property on complaint to them of any intruders by the Indians caused them to be arrested and imprisoned. (Rupp's History of York county, page 529).


At the conclusion of the Indian treaty of 1736 the limit of Lancaster county was ex- tended indefinitely westward and included all of the present counties of York, Cum- berland, Adams and Dauphin and a large portion of Berks and Northumberland. The Indians, under Penn's policy, were con-


76


BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA.


tented and peaceful, and settlers soon oc- cupied the lands west of the Susquehanna, and it was not long before petitions were presented to the Provincial Council asking for the erection of a new county west of the Susquehanna. These early petitions set forth the need of the formation of a new county from the distance to the county town where the courts were held, that the river intervening was impassable at times for days, that prosecutions were discour- aged because of the expense and loss of time, that the tract of land on the west side of the Susquehanna and between the South Mountain and Maryland was well inhabited and of sufficient extent for a coun- ty and the people able and willing to bear the charge, and "how difficult it was to se- cure inhabitants against theft and abuses, frequently committed among them by dis- solute and idle persons who resort to the remote parts of the province and by reason of the great distance from the court or prison frequently found means of making their escape."


The first petition, presented in 1747, was unheard. In 1748 a united request was made, and on August 19, 1749, the act was passed with the official sanction of Deputy- Governor Hamilton "That all and singular the lands lying within the Province of Pennsylvania to the westward of the river Susquehanna and southward and eastward of the South Mountain be erected into a county, named York-bounded Northward and westward by a line to be run from the river Susquehanna along the ridge of the said South Mountain until it shall intersect the Maryland line, southward by the said Maryland line, and eastward by the said river Susquehanna;" the northern boun- dary line not being definitely established until after the erection of Cumberland county.


A commission was named by the same


act, composed of Thomas Cox, of Warring- ton township; Nathan Hussey, of York; and Michael Tanner who lived near York, authorizing them or any three of them to purchase a plot of ground situate in a con- venient place in the county to be approved by the Governor, to be held in trust for the use of the inhabitants of the county, and to erect thereon a court house and prison for the service of the county, and Centre Square in York was selected as the site.


The sessions of the courts from 1749 to 1756 were probably held in private houses or the homes of the court justices. In April 1754, the commissioners entered into con- tract with William Willis, a Quaker brick- layer, of Manchester township, to erect the walls of the building. Henry Clark, also a Quaker, and the owner of a saw mill near the mouth of Beaver Creek, engaged to saw and deliver scantling for the building, John Meem and Jacob Klein, Germans, were em- ployed to do the carpentry. Robert Jones, a Quaker, resident in Manchester township, was engaged to haul seven thousand shin- gles from Philadelphia. Two years after commencing, the work was completed.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.