USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 29
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 29
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district again. In 1857 his health having failed, he took a superannuated relation which he sustained until 1872, when he took a Perrycircuit servingit for four years, from 1873 to 1877. He traveled Jersey Shore circuit from 1879 to 1880; Big Spring circuit from 1881 to 1882, taking a super- annuated relation again the year following.
Rev. Boas was a genial, sympathizing, af- fectionate pastor and an able and faithful preacher. His sermons were forcibly Scriptural. His prayers were humble, ten- der, child-like. He seemed to excel in his local church work as a Sunday school teacher. He was the pastor's helper and counsellor, an affectionate husband, a kind father, a consistent friend, a cheerful Chris- tian and a patient sufferer. By his last illness he was confined to his house nearly three months, though confined to his bed but little over a week. As the end drew near he had no doubt nor misgivings. At one time he said, "I have no clouds, no fears, no doubts." After bidding his be- loved wife, children, physician and others farewell he quoted passages of Scripture and quietly passed beyond. His funeral services were held April 7th, in the St. Paul Evangelical church of Carlisle.
D AVID E. SMALL, a great-great- grand son of Lorenz, great-grand- son of Killian, grandson of Joseph, and son of Henry Small, was born December 3, 1824, and died March 25, 1883. He was one of the most enterprising and public spirited men that York has known. At the age of thirteen, he left York County Academy and entered the store of his father's cousins, P. A. & S. Small, and be- came one of the family of Samuel Small. He rose from one position to another, and soon demonstrated that he had learned the important principles of a prosperous and successful business career. In 1845 he en-
gaged with his father in the lumber busi- ness, and two years later the firm became H. Small & Sons. In 1852 he entered into partnership with Charles Billmyer, for the manufacture of railway cars in York, which business greatly prospered. In 1853 while conducting a gentleman through the shops, his clothing caught in the rapidly revolving machinery, from which accident he lost his right arm. He, however, re- sumed business in a few weeks. Upon the death of Mr. Billmyer, the firm became Billmyer & Small Company and Mr. Small was made its president. He also became a prominent stockholder in the Pennsyl- vania Railroad, and in 1874, was appointed on a special committee to examine and re- port the condition of that road and all its branches. He was elected president of the First National Bank of York, in 1867, and continued as such until December, 1876. He was chosen president of the York Gas company, director of the York Water com- pany, director in the Lochiel and Wrights- ville Iron works, a member of the school board, trustee of the York County Acad- emy, Collegiate Institute, Orphans' Home and York Hospital, and likewise served as president for many years of the Young Men's Christian Association of York.
Mr. Small was an earnest and consistent advocate of temperance and wielded a pow- erful influence for good in any cause or enterprise he supported. He was unusu- ally active in church and general philan- thropic work, frequently representing the church in Synod and General Assembly, served on important committees during the church's most critical history and was particularly active in the Sunday school and other auxiliary departments of the church. He attempted on three different occasions to enlist in the active defense of the nation during the late Civil War and was as often rejected on account of physi-
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cal disability. Subsequently he entered the secret service of the United States gov- ernment and did excellent service. He filled a great many responsible positions by reason of his preeminent executive ca- pacity, and had a wonderful faculty for the rapid transaction and dispatch of business. In the year 1876, his nervous system gave way and from that time to his death he never fully recovered his health. He was a Republican in politics and an active mem- ber and elder of the Presbyterian church.
In 1849 David E. Small was united in marriage with Mary Ann Fulton. There survive five children, whose names are as follows: Henry Small, John Hamilton Small, J. Frank Small, M. D., David Etter Small, Julia Agnes Small.
R' EV. LEWIS MAYER, D. D. Rev. Lewis Mayer was born at Lancaster, Penn., March 26, 1783, and was the son of George L. Mayer, a gentleman of liberal education. He received a good German and English education in his native town, and at an early age removed to Frederick, Md., and began business. Being better suited to books, he then determined to en- ter the ministry. He made rapid progress in classical and theological studies, and was licensed to preach in 1807, by the Re- formed Synod, which met that year at New Holland, Lancaster county. He is sup- posed to have preached at Frederick the first year of his ministry. In 1808 he accep- ted a call to the Shepherdstown, W. Va., charge, where he officiated twelve years. In this position he succeeded well, and soon became one of the most prominent minis- ters of his church. In 1821 he was called to the Reformed church of York, which position he filled until his election to pre- side over the Theological Seminary of the German Reformed Church, which was es- tablished in 1820, at Carlisle. Mr. Mayer
resigned his charge in York in 1825, and went to Carlisle and commenced operations as its president. In 1829 the seminary was removed to York, where it rapidly in- creased in number of pupils and influence under his direction and care. This year the Reformed Dutch College, at New Brunswick, N. J., conferred upon Mr. Mayer the honorary degree of doctor of divinity. In 1835 the synod determined to remove the seminary to Mercersburg, when Dr. Mayer resigned his professorship, and determined to remain at York. He spent the remainder of his life in literary labors. He was favorably known as a scholar, min- ister and author. He was a great student, a deep and correct thinker. For a long time he edited the German Reformed Mes- senger and Magazine. Among his works are "Sin Against the Holy Ghost," "Lec- tures on Scriptural Subjects," "Hermeneu- tics and Exegesis," "History of the Ger- man Reformed Church." He was twice married. His first wife was Catharine Line. By this marriage they had six chil- dren, one of whom was John L. Mayer, for many years a prominent lawyer of York. His second wife was Mary Smith. Dr. Mayer, who did not enjoy good health for many years, died of dysentery on August 25, 1849.
H I ON. HENRY NES, M. D. Hon. Henry Nes, M. D., was born in York, in 1799; received a liberal educa- tion; studied medicine, and practiced for many years; filled several local offices; was elected to represent York County in the Twenty-eighth Congress, as an Independ- ent, receiving 4,016 votes against 3,413 votes for Dr. Alexander Small, Democrat, serving from December 4, 1843, to March 3, 1845; he was again elected to the Thir- tieth Congress as a Whig; and was re- elected to the Thirty-first Congress, re-
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ceiving 6,599 votes against 5,989 votes for J. B. Danner, the Democratic candidate, serving from December 6, 1847, to Septem- ber 10, 1850, when he died at York. Dr. Nes was a man of remarkable popularity, and possessed an extraordinary faculty for electioneering. He was a member of the House of Representatives when ex-Presi- dent John Quincy Adams, then a fellow member, fell from his chair from a stroke of apoplexy. Dr. Nes was one of his at- tending physicians.
G EN. WILLIAM B. FRANKLIN. William B. Franklin was born in York, Pa., February 27, 1823. He was ap- pointed to the military academy from this district and graduated at West Point, in 1843, at the head of his class. In the sum- mer of 1845 he accompanied Brig. Gen. Kearney on an expedition to the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains. In the war with Mexico he served on the staff of Gen. Taylor at the battle of Buena Vista, and was breveted first lieutenant for his part in it. In 1848 he became assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point. In 1852 he was appointed professor of the same science, together with civil engineering at the New York City Free Academy. During the next eight years he was continually employed as consulting engineer and inspector on various public works. He was engineer secretary of the lighthouse board, and su- perintendent of the capitol extension, and other government buildings in Washing- ton, D. C.
In May 14, 1861, he was appointed col- onel of the Twelfth Regiment of Infantry, and in July was assigned a brigade in Heintzelman's division of the army of northeast Virginia. At the disastrous bat- tle of Bull Run, according to the official report of Gen. McDowell, he was "in the
hottest of the fight." In August he was made brigadier general of volunteers, his commission to date from May 17, 1861. In September he was appointed to the .com- mand of a division in the Army of the Po- tomac. He was sent to reinforce Gen. Mc- Clellan. After the evacuation of Yorktown he transported his division by water to West Point, on York river, and repulsed the enemy under Gens. Whiting and G. W. Smith, who attempted to prevent his land- ing May 7, 1862.
During the movement to the James River, which began June 27, he repulsed the enemy on the right bank of the Chick- ahominy, June 27 and 28, and again in con- junction with the corps of Gen. Summer, at Savage's Station, June 29 also com- manded at battle of White Oak Swamp bridge on the 30th. He was promoted to rank of major-general of volunteers July 4, previously having been appointed brevet brigadier-general in regular army, June 4. In the battle of South Mountain Septem- ber 14, he distinguished himself by storm- ing Crampton's Gap. He was in the bat- tle of Antietam, September 17, and in No- vember was placed in command of the left grand division of the Army of Potomac, including the First and Sixth Corps, which he commanded in the battle of Fredericks- burg, December 13. The next year he was transferred to the department of the Gulf, commanded the expedition to Sabine Pass, 1863, and was second in command in Bank's Red River expedition, April, 1864, being in the battle of Sabine Cross Roads. His capture by and escape from Maj. Harry Gilmore, of the Confederate Army, which occurred near Baltimore, when he was on his way from Washington to New York, is a very interesting chapter of his life. He was breveted major-general in United States Army in 1865, and resigned March 15, 1866. He was vice president of
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Colt's Manufacturing Company, of Hart- ford, Conn., and held many positions of trust in his adopted city and State. He was consulting engineer of the commission for the erection of the new State House. He was a director of the Connecticut Mu- tual Life Insurance Company and held sev . eral other positions of prominence and re- sponsibility.
In 1875 he was one of the commissioners of the Centennial Exposition, chairman of the department of engineering and archi- tecture. In the same year he was chosen one of the electors for President from that State throwing his vote for Tilden. In June, 1880, he was elected by Congress a member of the board of changers of the National House for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. In July, 1880, he was elected president and treasurer of the board. His term expired in 1884, when he was re-elected to serve for six years.
D AVID JAMESON. David Jameson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, about 1715, and graduated at the medical school of the celebrated university of that ancient city. He immigrated to America about the year 1740, accompanied by his friend and fellow-surgeon, Hugh Mercer, afterward distinguished in his profession and as a general officer of the Revolution- ary Army. He landed at Charleston, S. C., and, after a brief sojourn there, removed to Pennsylvania; resided for some time at Shippensburg, and finally settled at York, in that province, where his name and fame yet linger, and where a number of his de- scendants of the fourth and fifth genera- tions still reside. He became an officer of the provincial forces of Pennsylvania and attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the same, and of colonel in the militia of Pennsylvania, in the Revolutionary war .*
He also held, by executive appointment, civic offices in the county of York. The only ones of which any record is found are those of justice of the peace, the appoint- ments bearing date October, 1754, and June, 1777-(Glossbrenner's History of York County, 1834)-and a special com- mission to him and his associate, Martin Eichelberger, Esq., to try certain offenders.
During the French and Indian war (1756) many murders and depredations were committed by the Indians on the frontier of Pennsylvania, extending to all the settlements from Carlisle to Pittsburg. A road had been opened from Carlisle through Cumberland county, which crossed the North Mountain at a place since called Stra(w)sburg; thence to Bedford and to Fort du Quesne (now Pittsburgh). Near Sideling Hill was erected a log fort called Fort Lyttleton on this road-since the "Burnt Cabins." This fort was constructed of logs and surrounded with a stockade work. Here we first find Capt. Jameson in his military movements. He was ap- pointed an ensign by the proprietary gov- ernor of Pennsylvania but at what precise period we are not informed. He very soon rose to the rank of captain without an intermediate lieutenancy.
During his frontier service, Capt. Jame- son was dangerously wounded in an en- gagement with Indians, near Fort Lyttle- ton, at Sideling Hill, on the road from Car- lisle to Pittsburg, then Fort du Quesne. His sufferings and perils (being left for dead on the field), and rescue make a thrilling narative.
It became necessary for him to repair to Philadelphia for medical aid, but it was but
* The commissions (military and civic)-now
much worn and obliterated by time-held by him, except that of ensign, are in the possession of his great-grandson, Brevet Brig .- Gen. Horatio Gates Gibson, Colonel of the Third Regiment of Artil- lery, United States Army.
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a few months till he assumed the field again, though he did not recover fully for six years. He afterward discharged the duties of brigade-major, and also of lieu- tenant-colonel, all of which he did to the entire satisfaction of the appointing power, at Carlisle and at different ponts, then on the frontier of Pennsylvania.
Capt. Jameson had been educated a physician, yet his ambition had prompted him to solicit a command and to share in the dangers of the field. This did not in- terfere with his humane prompting to de- vote a portion of his time to the sick and wounded, and we have seen a letter writ- ten by Dr. Rush, in which he says: "I well remember to have seen your father (Dr. Jameson) dress the wound received in the shoulder by Gen. Armstrong, at the battle of Kitanning."
In Scott's geographical description of Pennsylvania, 1805, the following is found:
"Capt. Jameson is described by Burd as a 'gentleman of education, who does his duty well and is an exceedingly good offi- cer.' "
"Col. David Jameson had command of Fort Hunter, Fort Augusta, Fort Augh- wick, and was at the battle of Loyal Hanna, March 14, 1769."
Col. Jameson's age, on reaching this country, could not have been less than five and twenty years, for the medical school of the famed University of Edinboro' town then, as now, required six years' matricula- tion. In the French and Indian war, he must have attained the ripe age of forty. When the English colonies of America en- tered upon their long struggle for national independence, although he had passed the limit of age for military service, and his natural force had somewhat abated, and ad- vancing years and wounds had in a meas- ure enfeebled his physical powers, he never- theless seems to have been active and effi-
cient, joining at the age of sixty "a march- ing regiment" to reinforce the Army of Washington, and otherwise aiding "the grand cause" of his country.
The following letter is from the Com- mittee of York county to the Committee of Safety in Philadelphia, dated December 31, 1876:
"In these times of Difficulty several gen- tlemen have exerted themselves much in the Grand Cause. Several Militia Com- panys have marched; more will march from this county, so as in the whole to compose at least a pretty good Battalion. The gen- tlemen who deserve the most from the pub- lick are David Jameson, Hugh Denwoody, Charles Lukens and Mr. George Eichel- berger. They have been exceedingly use- ful. As most of the Companys who have marched have chosen their officers, pro Tempore, an arrangement will be necessary as to Field Officers. We propose David Jameson, Col., Hugh Denwoody, Lt. Colo- nel, Charles Lukens, Major and 'George Eichelberger, Quartermaster of the York County Militia, who now march. It will be doing Justice to merit to make the ap- pointm't, and we make, no Doubt, it will be done by your Board. We congratulate you on the Success of the American Arms at Trenton."
It is also stated, on the authority of his son, Dr. H. G. Jameson, "that he had de- spoiled his fair estate near York of acres of its fine woodland, in order to contribute without money and without price, to the aid of "the Grand Cause."
The intimate friend of Hugh Mercer, Benjamin Rush, James Smith, and Horatio Gates, and well known to other illustrious men of the Revolution, it is much to be re- gretted that the story of the life of a soldier of
"good old colony times
When we lived under the King,"
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cannot be made more complete than the fragmentary records left behind him en- able his descendants to do.
After the close of his military service un- der the province of Pennsylvania, David Jamieson practiced his profession in York, (interrupted only by the period of his ser- vice in the Revolution), and died in York during the last decade of the last century, leaving a widow and children. In a memoir, prefacing a sketch of his services during the French and Indian war, and un- der the Province, by his son, Horatio Gates Jameson, M. D., the following refer- ence is made to his abode near York:
"The spacious domain near the ancient borough of York, which, with a refined and cultivated taste, he adorned and beautified -though not after the manner (which could not be), of his ancestral home in "Bonnie Scotland," yet adding to its nat- ural beauty all that art could devise to make it fair to view; and where he dis- pensed a generous and graceful hospitality -has passed, as usual in our country, out of the hands of his posterity; the last poss- essor of the blood (about 1869) being his great-grandson, Gates Jameson Weiser, Esq."
Col. Jameson married Emily Davis, by whom he had eleven children .- Thomas, James, Horatio Gates, David, Joseph, Nancy, Cassandra, Henrietta, Emily and Rachel. His sons all became physicians. Thomas settled in practice in York, James in Allentown, Pa., Horatio Gates in Balti- more, and David and Joseph in Columbus, Ohio, and all left descendants.
H ORATIO GATES JAMESON, M. D., was born in York in 1778, and married August 3, 1797, Catharine Shevell (Chevell), of Somerset, Pa., (where he then abode), and had issue: Cassandra, Eliza- beth, Rush, Catharine, Alexander Cobean,
David Davis, Horatio Gates. He seems to have sojourned, after his marriage, in Som- erset, Wheeling, Adamstown and Gettys- burg, until about 1810, when he removed to Baltimore, where he established himself permanently in practice, founded and be- came president of the Washington Medical College, and, at one time, Health Officer of the city. About 1830 Dr. Jameson with his wife and daughter, Elizabeth Gibson, made a voyage to Europe on one of the packets running from Baltimore to the ports of Germany, and visited several places on the continent, but sojourned longest at Copenhagen, Denmark; to and from the American representative at whose court he was accredited as a special bearer of dis- patches by the government at Washington. While on his return from a trip to Texas (where he had purchased lands) the faculty of the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnatti, composed of Drs. Gross, Drake, Rives and Rogers-all celebrities in their profession- tendered him its presidency; accepting which, he removed with his family front Baltimore to Cincinnati in October, 1835. The ill health of his wife compelled him to return to Baltimore in March, 1836, and resume practice there. On one (or two) of his journeys between Texas or the West and Baltimore, he was severely injured by the upsetting of a stage coach on the mountains of (West) Virginia, and was un- able to rejoin his family for months. His wife, Catharine Shevell Jameson, died in Baltimore, November 1, 1837; and he mar- ried in 1852, a lady of Baltimore, Hannah J. D. Ely, nee Fearson, (the widow of Judah Ely, Esq., with a son, Jesse Fearson Ely). Within the last year of his life, he left Baltimore and went to York, to spend his last days among the scenes of his child- hood-so fondly remembered and graphi- cally described by him in a Baltimore jour- nal in 1842. But the hope and ambition
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of his life-to obtain and restore to the family his patrimonial homstead and estate -he never realized; and he died, unposs- essed of its acres and domicile, while on a visit to the city of New York in July, 1855 -the same year in which the ancient homestead was destroyed by fire. His widow survived him nearly thirty years, and died in the city of Baltimore, August 19, 1884, at the ripe age of eighty years.
Dr. Jameson was celebrated for his surgi- cal skill and knowledge, and also had a wide repute for his successful treatment of chol- era-epidemic in Baltimore and Philadel- phia, 1793-98 and 1832. He wrote several medical works, which were accepted as au- thority by the profession, and was an able and earnest advocate of the "non-conta- gion" theory. Like the great Dr. Rush, he belonged to the school of the immortal Sangrado of Gil Blas fame, whose theory of practice obtained even unto the days of the writer. The earliest recollection of the writer's youth is that of a fine old English engraving, which hung over the mantel in his grand-father's office. It represented Galen discovering a skeleton in a forest; and neither it, nor the lines engraved be- neath, have ever been effaced from the wri- ter's memory. The latter are reproduced here, as a suggestive indication that the disciples of Galen, in those days, were de- vout men, fearing God:
Forbear, vain man, to launch with Reason's eye Into the vast depths of dark Immensity ;
Nor think thy narrow but presumptuous mind, The last idea of thy God can find ;
Though crowding thoughts distract the laboring brain,
How can Finite INFINITE explain ?
H ANCE HAMILTON. Col. Hance Hamilton, the first sheriff of York County, and one of the most influential of the early settlers, was born in 1721, and died February 2, 1772, aged fifty-one years. In
the first legal records of York County, he is generally alluded to as of Cumberland Township (now Adams County), though he probably died at his mill property in Menallen Township; his will having been executed in that township. The executors named in it are his brother, John Hamil- ton, Robert McPherson, Esq., and Samuel Edie, Esq. The active executor was Col. Robert McPherson. His remains were first interred in what is known as Black's grave- yard, the burying-ground of the Upper Marsh Creek Presbyterian church, where they reposed for eighty years, and were then disinterred and placed a short distance south of the eastern entrance of Evergreen Cemetery, at Gettysburg. Concerning the headstone, which is now much weather- beaten, the following receipt will be per- used with interest:
Received 2nd of September, 1772, of Robert McPherson, fifteen shillings, for making a headstone for Hance Hamilton's grave. ADAM LING.
0-15-0.
The signature to this document is in Ger- man. Among the first public trusts with which Hamilton was charged, was the will of his brother James Hamilton, made June 23, 1748, "in the County of Lancaster." York County was formed the next year. It was acknowledged in the presence of Abra- ham Lowry, William Brown and James McGinly. The will was proven before "Sa Smith, Esq., of Newberry Manor, west of the Susquehanna," December 22, 1748. The estate amounted £139 13s 7d. York County was erected by an act of Assembly, August 19, 1749. In October of that year an election was held for sheriff and coroner, when Hance Hamilton was elected to the former office, and Nicholas Ryland to the latter. These officers were at that time elected annually, and at the next election in 1750, a serious riot ensued between the
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