USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 26
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 26
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Medico-Legal Society, Fellow of the Amer- ican Association for the Advancement of Science, and also of the Chemical Society of London. Among the honorary degrees conferred upon him were those of Ph. D. by Dickinson College, LL. D. by Marietta College, Ph. D. by Pennsylvania College. He was a frequent contributor of articles of high scientific value, embodying the methods and results of original investiga- tions, especially in toxicology. In 1876 he delivered a very able address on "American Chemical Contributions to the Medical Pro- gress of the Century" before the Interna- tional Congress in Philadelphia. His great work is the "Micro-Chemistry of Poisons," a large and exhaustive treatise, upon an original plan, and a standard authority throughout the world. The microscopic il- lustrations accompanying the work were drawn from nature under the microscope by his wife, and, from their nature and the ex- quisite character of the drawing, it was given as the opinion of experts in engrav- ing that only the one who had made the drawing could satisfactorily transfer them to steel, and it almost seemed that this es- sential feature of the book would have to be abandoned; whereupon Mrs. Wormley took up and learned the art of steel-engraving, and acquired such skill that the engravings are the admiration of experts for their technical excellence, and the accuracy with which the minute and exquisite details of
the drawings have been rendered. She
must be numbered among the remarkable women of America, in a field almost wholly her own. The book is dedicated to her with exquisite taste and tenderness. As a scientific expert, Dr. Wormley, was en- gaged in niost of the famous medico-legal cases of the past quarter of a century, and it is difficult to determine which is most worthy of admiration, his full and minute knowledge of the subject and ability to
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present it clearly, or his conscientious de- votion to truth and freedom from bias. As a professor he was a most successful teacher. Personally modest and unassum- ing he was deeply respected by his coi- leagues, and the students, and by all who came into intimate contact with him, and he had many warmly attached personal friends. His wife, who survives him, was a daughter of John L. Gill, of Columbus, Ohio. He left two daughters, the one wife of Dr. John Marshall, Dean of the Depart- ment of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, and the other Miss Theodora B. Wormley.
R EV. CHARLES NISBET, D. D. At the close of the war in 1783, a second college in Pennsylvania was founded at Carlisle, and named after John Dickinson, then Governor of the State and a liberal benefactor of the college. The Rev. Charles Nisbet, of Montrose, Scotland, one of the most learned, popular and influential di- vines of his country was called to the "Prin- cipalship" or presidency of the new college. He was born at Haddington, Scotland. Jan. 2Ist, 1736, had supported himself through his course at Edinburgh University by teaching, and during the subsequent six years of his Theological course by editorial work on a popular magazine. Licensed to preach at 24 years of age, he was called to Montrose a few years afterward, and soon became widely known outside of his con- gregation for his vast learning and his abil- ity and fearlessness in the discussion of the leading questions of that day. His estimable social qualities attracted to him a large cir- cle of devoted personal friends, among whom were many of the most influential men of his country. It seems at first sight almost unaccountable that he should have even considered a proposition that involved the relinquishment of his congenial lit-
erary and social surroundings and assured position for the presidency of a college on the border of a sparsely settled country, with its plans on paper and its revenues on promises. Two factors seem to have been potent in influencing him. During the war his sympathy with the colonists had been earnest and outspoken. On an occasion of a Fast-day sermon the town council of Montrose had felt constrained to leave the church in a body during his introductory remarks, and were followed by the remark, with outstretched finger, "The wicked flee when no man pursueth." To his mind the "formative condition of America," now free, "with the minds of the people free from the shackles of authority," presented a fascinat- ing picture of possibilities. But there was needed in addition the persistent urgency and the ardent and eloquent persuasive- ness of Dr. Benj. Rush with all the high coloring imparted to the prospects of the new college by his sanguine temperament. to fix the decision of Dr. Nisbet. Whilst a student at Edinburgh, Dr. Rush had made the acquaintance of Dr. Nisbet and knew well his high standing at home.
After a voyage of 47 days from Greenock, he arrived, with his family, June 9th, 1785. at Philadelphia. For several weeks he was there the guest of Dr. Rush, and received marked attention from the leading citizens. He arrived at Carlisle on the Fourth of July, and was met by a troop of horse, and escorted to the town. He entered next day upon his position. But a severe illness, shortly afterward, of himself and the mem- bers of his family, which he regarded as the effect of the climate, "especially of the great heats beyond the conception of any who has not felt them," led him to resign in the fall, and to prepare to return to Scot- land. Unable, or unwilling, to attempt a winter passage, with the return of spring and with improved health, he accepted a re-
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election to the presidency of the college, in which he continued with unimpaired health until his death. His labors in con- nection with the position were prodigious. As President he was also professor of Moral Science, but in order to bring the college nearer to his ideal, he delivered at the same time lectures on Moral Philoso- phy, Logic, Philosophy of the Mind, and Belles Lettres, and upon request of a class added a fifth on Systematic Theology, em- bracing 418 lectures, and extending through two years. At the request of the Trustees, he traveled over different sections of Pennsylvania and the adjoining States, for the most part in the saddle, to excite in- terest in the college and solicit funds. At the same time he filled the pulpit of the Presbyterian church in Carlisle alternately with Dr. Davidson. Under manifold diffi- culties and discouragements of the most varied character, for nineteen years, he conducted the college, part of the time in a "Shabby small building fronting on an al- ley," according to Chief Justice Taney, a student at the time, part of the time in Bar- racks, erected by the captured Hessians, belonging to the government. The high character of the man, in spite of all the de- ficiencies of the new institution, attracted to it the sympathy and active interest of friends of higher educaton, as well as stu- dents from all parts of the country. The long roll of prominent men, especially in the Presbyterian church, who were in- structed and inspired by contact with him attested the permanence of the impression made by him. His death, at the age of 68 years, occurred Jan. 18th, 1804, after an ill- ness of a few days, resulting from a heavy cold. He lies buried in the Old Grave Yard at Carlisle, and his monument bears a lengthy epitaph in Latin by Dr. Mason, one of his successors. Anywhere Dr. Nisbet
would have been regarded as a remarkable man. He was at home in all branches of human learning. He was an omnivorous reader and seemed to forget nothing. He had the use of at least nine languages, and was familiar with the whole range of classi- cal literature. Whilst in Europe, he was regarded as one of its best Greek scholars. He could repeat whole books of Homer, and the whole of the Aeneid, and it is said frequently heard recitations in the classics without a text-book. As a speaker he was said to be fluent and remarkably clear, dir- ect, and unaffected. He never used aids of any kind in the pulpit. He was unriv- alled in wit and humor and when he chose scathing in sarcasm. In discipline of stu- dents he is said to have relied rather upon the latter than upon college law. Physically he was rather below middle stature, slender and agile. It is said, that he frequently walked twenty or thirty miles on a winter morning, before breakfest, without painful effort. In later life he became corpulent, but retained his activity to an advanced age. The horrors of the French Revolution combined with disappointed expectations in some directions, imparted a tinge of an- ti-republican pessimism to his sentiments which cropped out at times in his lectures, but according to Judge Taney the high re- gard for the man restrained the young re- publicans of that day from what might have been open rebellion with any other professor, whilst they simply omitted the offensive passages from their notes.
The only son that survived him, Alex- ander Nisbet, was for many years a judge in Baltimore, Md. His eldest daughter, Mary, was married to William Turnbull, Esq., to whom there were nine children. Their only son, Samuel, became a Bishop of the Episcopal church, their daughter, Mary, was married to Rev. Erskine Mason, D. D., of New York, the younger daugh-
WILLIAM D. HIMES
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ter, Allison, was married to Professor Charles D. Cleveland.
R EV. JOSEPH ALEXANDER MUR- RAY, D. D. Born at Carlisle, Pa., Oct. 2, 1815. His father, George Murray, born near Fort Pitt, March 17, 1762, was the first white child born within the limits of Pittsburg. He settled at an early date in Carlisle, where he died at the age of 94. He married Miss Denny, a daughter of William and Agnes Denny, and sister of Major Ebenezer Denny, of Revolutionary fame. Joseph Alexander, the youngest of five children, prepared for college in Car- lisle and was graduated in 1837 from the Western University of Pennsylvania at Pittsburg, and in 1840 from the Western Theological Seminary in Allegheny. Dur- ing his residence in Pittsburg he was a member of the household of Hon. Harmar Denny, long the representative in Congress from this district, and prominent in nation- al politics. In 1840 he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Ohio, which embraced Pittsburg, and received a call to preach at Marion, Ohio, where he preached six months. During a visit to his eastern home he received and accepted a call to the united congregation of Monaghan (Dills- burg) and Petersburg, Pa., which he served for 18 years, when he resigned on account of impaired health and removed to Carlisle. Although his health greatly improved he did not feel free to assume the responsibility of a charge. He was, however, almost equally active in all church work, preaching frequently, serving as commissioner to the General Assembly in 1844, 1861, 1865, and as Moderator of his Synod, and member of important commit- tees. Besides his interest in church affairs, his scholarly habits and tastes asserted themselves in a variety of directions. His fondness for antiquarian research led to the
accumulation of much information and of much documentary material of great value. He rescued many papers of great interest in national and State history. So well were his resources of information and document- ary evidence in these respects known, that not only by personal interviews, but by correspondence that grew to be voluminous in recent years, information was solicited on many points, and his well known pains- taking accuracy gave to his statements a recognized authority. All information was cheerfully given and without reserve. He was a frequent contributor to literary, his- torical, and religious periodicals and a number of his public addresses were pub- lished. He was in every way a useful and public spirited citizen. His alma mater conferred upon him the degree of D. D. He was a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, of the American Philoso- phical Society of Philadelphia, correspond- ing member of the Numismatic and Anti- quarian Society of Philadelphia, and of numerous cognate local organizations. He was a director of the Western Theological Seminary, and at his decease a large part of his valuable library was given, by his daughter, to that institution, in which, by the gift of $3,000, he had previously founded a scholarship. He was married April 25, 1843, to Ann Hays Blair, daugh- ter of Anderson Blair, a very prominent citizen of Carlisle. She died 1875, leaving an only child, Mary E., wife of Professor Charles F. Himes, Ph. D. In January, 1879, he married Miss Lydia S. Foster, of Phila- delphia, who survives him.
W TILLIAM DANIEL HIMES. Born at New Oxford, Pa., May 29th, 1812, where he passed the greater part of his life, and died Jan. 11th, 1896. He was an excellent representative of the oldest Pennsylvania-German stock. His great-
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grandfather, William Heim, came from the Palatinate, by way of Rotterdam, in the ship "Thistle of Glasgow" from that port, in 1730. His grandmother, Francis Himes, (Heim) born in Hanover, Pa., in 1737, re- sided there, where he kept an inn and car- ried on a small farm and oil-mill, and died 18II, possessed of a considerable estate, including a "boy Billy, of color," left at disposal of his wife. His son George, the sixth of eight children, born Dec. 16, 1775, in Hanover, married, 1809, Helen Catherine, daughter of Daniel and Susan (Eichelber- ger) Barnitz. The former was a brother of General Jacob Barnitz, of York, and served through the Revolutionary War as fife- major. He purchased in 1810 the first es- tablished and well known "Dutch" Freder- ick's Tavern Stand at Oxford, on the route between Pittsburg and the Susque- hanna, which he conducted until 1828, and was afterward occupied with his large business interests in this and the adjoining counties. He was commissioned by the Governor a colonel in the militia, a title by which he was generally known. He died in New Oxford in 1850. The son, the sub- ject of this sketch, was the second of eight children. The oldest, Charles F., graduated with great credit at Dickinson College in 1829, read law with Thaddeus Stevens, but died before entering upon the practice of the profession. William manifested a de- cided disposition for active business. He learned the trade of tanning, working first in Hanover, then in York, and subsequent- ly in Philadelphia and becoming an expert in leathers of highest grade. He was not apprenticed as was usual in those days, and never carried on the business of tanning. In 1835 he made an extended trip on horse- back through the far west as far as Chi- cago, then little more than a trading post, at which a treaty with the Pottawatamies was then made. On his return to the east
he engaged in merchandizing in Inter- course, Lancaster county, for a few years, when he returned to New Oxford to assist his father, Col. George Himes, in the man- agement of his growing business interest. Here, as opportunity offered, he soon ex- hibited remarkable business aptitude, sound judgment, and promptness of decision in enterprises of the most honest character. Especially expert in estimating the value of real-estate he was a frequent purchaser on a large scale, in this and the adjoining counties, and at one time a large owner. For a number of years he was the principal partner in operating Margaretta Furnace and Foundry in York County, and pur- chased that property with its ore-banks, flouring mill, furnace, foundry and wood- stock forge of his father's estate, and the Hahns of York, and retained possession of a large part of it at his decease, although the iron works were dismantled many years ago as out of competition with those in favorable localities. For more than 50 years he was director of the Gettysburg Bank, since 1866 a National Bank, and was its vice president from 1884 to the time of his decease, for a considerable time with the responsibilities of president. He was ac- tive, with his father, in establishing the Car- lisle Deposit Bank, at Carlisle, Pa. For forty years he was director in the York and Gettysburg Turnpike Co., and for many years President of the Gettysburg & Pet- ersburg Turnpike Co., and there was hard- ly a business enterprise in his section with which he was not in some degree identified He was characterized not more by business ability of a high order, than by his absolute integrity and high sense of business honor and all his intercourse. As a public spir- ited citizen he supported all enterprises looking to the development of the com- munity. He was the unswerving sup- porter of Thaddeus Stevens as a representa-
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tive from Adams county in his advocacy of the common school system, and his father gave the lot for the erection of the first common school in the township, and the son was for many years the leading mem- ber of the Board of Directors. His inti- mate personal contact with Thaddeus Stevens, as an active and influential poli- tical friend, as well as his intercourse with him as the trusted attorney and partner of his father in many business matters, con- tributed much to his development as a business man. After his retirement from more active business he was still an inval- uable citizen not only as a counsellor in all public enterprises, but as the friend of the humblest citizen, to whom he was always freely accessible. He died Jan. 11th, 1869, in his 84th year, after confinement to the house for several months, by weight of years rather than by specific disease, with- out suffering, in the full enjoyment of all his mental faculties. He married, in 1836, Magdalene, daughter of Christian Lanius, of York, whose ancestors also came from the Palatinate in 1731. He is survived by the following children: Professor Charles F. Himes, Carlisle, Pa .; Helen A., widow of Rev. W. H. Keith, Gettysburg; Mary E., wife of Professor J. W. Kilpatrick, Fayette, Missouri; William A. Himes and Harriet O. Himes, New Oxford, Pa. A son, James Lanius, a successful lawyer in Minnea- polis, Minn., died in 1881.
M ARTIN CHRISTIAN HERMAN. The subject of this sketch was dis- tinctively a representative of the best ele- ment of Cumberland county. He was born February 14, 1841, near New Kings- ton on the old family homestead, pur- chased originally by his great grandfather, Martin Herman, who came from Germany in 1754. He had remained several years at Philadelphia, where he landed, and then
removed to Lancaster county, where he en- gaged in farming, and married Miss Anna Dorothea Boerst. In 1771 he removed to Cumberland county and purchased the homestead where he died in 1804, aged 72 years. He and his wife were members of the Lutheran church. They had four sons and four daughters. The son Christian, born in Lancaster county October 20th, 1761, was in the army under Washington, participated in the battle of Germantown, the privations of Valley Forge, and the en- gagements generally of this part of the army, and was present at the surrender at Yorktown. He was a farmer and married, in 1793, to Miss Elizabeth Bowers, of York county, also a member of the Lutheran church. He died October 23, 1829. Eight of their children lived, and had families, among them, Martin, born July 10, 1801, on the old homestead which he inherited by will from his father, Christian, and where he died May 22, 1872. By his marriage in February, 1827, to Miss Elizabeth Wolford, born in York county in 1802, he had six children, among them, Martin Christian, the subject of this sketch. He worked upon the ancestral farm with his father until 16 years of age, attending school in the win- ter, and afterward prepared for college at the well known academy, in charge of Geo. W. Ruby, at York, Pa. He entered the Freshman class of Dickinson College in September, 1858, and was graduated June 26th, 1862. During his college course he took the Silver Junior Prize Medal for ora- tory, and as the choice of his fellow stu- dents had the honor to deliver the 76th an- niversary oration of the Belles Lettres So- ciety in 1862. Before graduation in Janu- ary, 1862, he had registered as a law stu- dent with B. McIntire & Son, of Perry county, but subsequently with William H. Miller, Esq., of Carlisle, and was admitted to the har of Cumberland county, January
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13, 1864. He immediately began the prac- tice of law at Carlisle. In 1874, at the early age of 34 years, he was elected presi- dent judge of the Ninth Judicial District, then composed of Cumberland county, and served for 10 years from Jan. Ist, 1875. He was an able lawyer, of eminently judicial mind and temperament and of unimpeach- able integrity; his decisions were generally sound and seldom reversed. After his re- tirement from the bench he rapidly acquired a large and lucrative practice, the result of general confidence in his ability as a lawyer and his integrity as a man. Whilst engaged in court he was stricken with paralysis, and died after an illness of several months. He married June 5th, 1873, Miss Josie Adair, a daughter of S. Dunlap Adair, at one time a leading lawyer of the Cumberland county bar. She survives him with four children: Adair, Henrietta G., Joseph B., and Bessie H .; the first is a graduate of his fathers al- ma mater and at present a student in the Dickinson School of Law.
H ON. JAMES SMITH. Mr. John Smith, father of the Hon. James Smith, was born and educated in Ireland, in which country he was a respectable and enterprising farmer. What induced him to prefer this one of the colonies, was that some of his brothers and uncles had emi- grated hither before him, having come over with Penn when that proprietor first visited this province. Those of his relations settled in Chester County and became Quakers; their descendants still live in that county and the county of Lancaster.
Mr. John Smith proceeded with his fam- ily to Lancaster County, and finally settled west of the Susquehanna in what is now York County. Here he continued to reside until about the year 1761, when he died in the neighborhood of Yorktown at an ad- vanced age.
James Smith, the second son of John and the subject of our present biography, was aged about ten years when he came with his father into this country. He resided in the paternal mansion for some years; but when his brother George had begun to practice law, he removed to Lancaster, and commenced in his office the study of the same profession. He completed his law studies under the tuition of his brother, at the time of whose death he was aged but twenty-one.
Not long after he was admitted to the practice of the law, he removed to the neighborhood of the place where Shippens- burg now stands in company with Mr. Geo. Ross, who was the friend and companion of Mr. Smith in early and after life. The chief occupation of Mr. Smith in his new abode was that of surveying; though when- ever occasion offered, he gave advice on subjects connected with his profession. Af- ter a few years he removed to the town of York, where he made his permanent home for the rest of his life. Here he commenced the practice of the law, and continued in it with few intermissions until near the time of his death.
Hitherto Mr. Smith had led a single life but in or about 1760 he married Elea- nor Armor, daughter of John Armor, who lived near New Castle in Delaware, and who was a brother of Thomas Armor, a justice and surveyor in York County be- fore the Revolution. Eleanor, at the age of twenty-one, came to reside for a while with her uncle in York, but in less than a year after her arrival she was wedded to one of the best of husbands.
Mr. Smith began about this time to have a very extensive practice. He attended the courts of all the neighboring counties. With no other events in his life than those which are incident to most gentlemen of his pro- fession, he continued in York until the be-
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ginning of the Revolution. But here it should be remarked that Mr. Smith was for some time the only lawyer in York; for though Joseph Yeates and other lawyers of the neighboring counties did much business here, yet Mr. Smith had (with the excep- tion of perhaps a few years) no brother in the law that resided here. When Thomas Hartley, afterward colonel in the Revolu- tion and a member of Congress, com- menced practice here in the year 1759, there were but two lawyers in the county of York, viz: himself and Mr. Smith.
At the commencement of the Revolution, Mr. Smith was distinguished as one of the warmest friends of our liberties.
In 1774 he was chosen a deputy from the county of York to attend a provincial meet- ing at the city of Philadelphia which meet- ing began on the 15th of June and was con- tinued by adjournments from day to day. Mr. Smith was one of those who were ap- pointed by this meeting or rather "com- mittee for the province of Pennsylvania." to "prepare and bring in a draught of in- structions to the representatives in assem- bly met."
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