USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 33
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 33
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his interest in the latter, he is also a mem- ber of the Board of Trade of York, a di- rector of the York Trust, Real Estate and Deposit Company, the Colonial Hotel Company, President of the York City Hos- pital, and an active member of a number of other lesser concerns. He is also interested in a general ways in the cause of education and in various private charities.
Mr. Farquhar's wide business experience and observation have been important and far reaching in more senses than one. Amid the arduous cares of trade he has yielded, incidentally, to the seductive field of litera- ture, and upon political economy, and ques- tions of finance, industrial policy and prac- tical legislation, he has written with force and authority. His contributions to these subjects, published in the New York and Philadelphia papers, have attracted marked attention, while his pamphlets on the ques- tions of the hour, notably the Silver ques- tion, have been circulated by the thousand. A more pretentious book, "Economic and Industrial Delusions," evinces a thorough grasp of the economic situation, wide and diverse reading and a dignified independ- ence of thought. In this book the author elucidates the subjects of Free Coinage and a High Protective Tariff, clearly demon- strating that the first would unsettle the fi- nancial stability of the country and that the latter is a barrier to the exchange of the products of our work shops and the fruits of our fields and forests for the raw mater- ials of other countries. In economics, as in politics, Mr. Farquhar has always been more than a mere sectary, and has invaria- bly insisted in placing the convictions of experience and the demands of a moral civil polity above party declarations or party ties. Politically, his ancestors were Jeffer- sonian Democrats, though Mr. Farquhar disclaims any strictly so called party affilia- tions. As a true Jeffersonian, his father
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naturally found himself identified with the new Republican party, chiefly owing to its pronounced opposition to slavery and its strong national instincts, and although living in Maryland he was an enthusiastic Union man. Inheriting his father's convic- tions, A. B. Farquhar cast his first Presi- dential vote for Abraham Lincoln and henceforth continued to vote with the Re- publican party as long as it seemed to him to subserve the nation's best interest. But being always an advocate of the largest freedom of trade, he naturally found him- self more at home with the new Democratic party under the leadership of ex-President Cleveland, and shortly after the latter's in- duction into office became his warm per- sonal friend-a friendship which has con- tinued ever since. Mr. Farquhar took no active part in political affairs until Mr. Cleveland's second nomination when he en- thusiastically supported his candidacy. For a number of years past, he has been active in combating the Silver delusion, placing himself emphatically and unambiguously on the side of the Gold standard-the com- mon standard of the enlightened world. To this end he used all his efforts to stem the tide which culminated at Chicago in the nomination of free silver candidates for the Presidency upon a free silver platform. Rec- ognizing the inevitable drift of that conven- tion, he advised ex-Secretary Whitney, of New York, and ex-Governor William E. Russell, of Massachusetts, to organize a bolt in favor of sound money and a true Democratic policy. Secretary Morton and others in high place approved this plan but it was not executed. He, however, contin- ued his advocacy of sound Democratic can- didates and principles through various pub- lic men of his acquaintance until their ef- forts were crowned with success in the plat- form of the convention at Indianapolis. Colonel Wm, M. Singerly, editor of the
Philadelphia Record, observed in a recent public speech at York that A. B. Farquhar was one of the three men to whom most credit was due for the beneficent results of the Indianapolis convention.
In 1892 Mr. Farquhar was appointed one of the State Commissioners to the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago by ex- Governor Robert E. Pattison. By the State Commission he was elected executive commissioner and by the National Associa- tion of Executive Commissioners of all the States represented at Chicago, was made their president. He visited Europe about this time, acting under a commission by the government, where he performed valuable service for the exposition. Upon his re- turn he again took up the active manage- ment of his vast business interests, rebuild- ing the factories upon a larger scale, fitting them with the latest improved machinery and increasing the general capacity of the works. They are now the largest and best equipped in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Farquhar was appointed a delegate to the National Coast Defense Convention held in Tampa, Fla., during the winter of 1897 where he made an address attracting considerable attention, against the policy of any general system of coast defenses, al- leging that our nation had outgrown the necessity of forts and battleships, and that its proper defense consisted in the morale of the people.
Personally Mr. Farquhar is pleasing and dignified in manner, unostentatious, but al- ways mentally active. He is progressive and public spirited in all that promotes the wel- fare and prosperity of his city, State or nation, and manifests an abiding interest in all vital questions of sociology and econom- ics. A man of vast practical knowledge, amply versed in the literature of civics, he sustains an important relationship to the industrial and political life of this District.
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In their religious affiliations his ancestors were 'Friends and he adheres largely to their faith, though a regular attendant of the Episcopal church and an active suppor- ter of the Young Men's and trustee of the Women's Christian Association.
On September 20th, 1860, Mr. Farquhar, was married to Elizabeth N. Jessop, daugh- ter of Edward Jessop, of York. Five chil- dren have resulted from this union, only three of whom are now living: William E., associated with his father in business; Per- cival and Francis, both members of the New York City bar. The two latter were grad- uated from Yale University, and Columbia Law School. Those deceased are Estelle and Herbert.
R EV. GEORGE NORCROSS, D. D. Rev. George Norcross, D. D., the eloquent and scholarly pastor of the Sec- ond Presbyterian church of Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, is a son of Hiram and Elizabeth (McClelland) Norcross, and was born near Erie, Pennsylvania, April 8, 1838. He is of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry and his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were well-to-do farmers in their day. The great-grandfather, Abraham, was a native of New Jersey, where he married Nancy Fleming and after some years removed to Milton, Pennsylvania, where he continued to reside until his removal to Erie in the same State where the latter part of his life was spent. His son, John Norcross, was born in New Jersey September 22, 1783, but his boyhood was mostly spent on the Susquehanna in Central Pennsylvania. When a young man he sought his fortunes in the new County of Erie, which had been purchased from New York by the Keystone State. Here he married Margaret McCann; who was born in North Ireland about the year 1790.
Hiram Norcross, their eldest child, was
born near Erie, July 16, 1809, where he re- sided until the fall of 1844, when he re- moved to Monmouth, Illinois, where he died in 1879. He was a farmer by occupa- tion and a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church for nearly forty years. He married Elizabeth McClelland, of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, June 1, 1837. To this union were born the following named children, who lived to reach maturity: Rev. Dr. George, the subject of this narrative; Hon. William Charles, Judge of Warren County, Illinois; Hiram Fleming, a lawyer of Los Angeles, California; Isaiah, of Monmouth, Ill .; Thomas Rice, of Liberty, Nebraska, and Sarah Gibson, deceased, wife of Henry Beckwith, of New London, Conn.
Mrs. Norcross, the mother of our subject, was the only daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Gibson) McClelland, both of Scotch- Irish extraction. Sarah Gibson was the youngest daughter of Hugh Gibson, who was taken captive by the Indians in 1756, at the time of the famous Indian raid through the Cumberland and contiguous valleys. At the same time his mother, the widow of David Gibson, was cruelly mur- dered. The scene of this tragedy was Rob- inson's Fort in Sherman's Valley, now the site of Center church, Perry County, Pa.
Dr. Norcross was brought up chiefly at Monmouth, Illinois, where he prepared for college. He subsequently entered Mon- mouth College, an institution under the care of the United Presbyterian Church, where he was graduated with credit in the class of 1861. He then pursued his theolo- gical studies at Chicago in the Seminary of the Northwest, now McCormick, and in the Theological Seminary of the U. P. Church, at Monmouth. During the latter part of this period he served as the supply of the North Henderson church, besides holding a professorship in Monmouth College.
In October, 1864, he entered the Theolo-
Geo. Noverof. Leo,
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gical Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, a cost of about two thousand dollars. where he spent his last year of study in preparation for his life-work. Having re- ceived a call to the congregation which he had already served as stated supply for about seventeen months, he was ordained, June 6, 1865, to the ministry of the Presby- terian church and installed as pastor of the North Henderson church, Mercer County, Illinois. Here he was among a kind and appreciative people where his labors, first and last, were greatly blessed.
In the spring of 1866 he was called to the Presbyterian church (O. S.) of Galesburg, Illinois. After nearly three years of labor in this field he was called to the Second Presbyterian church, of Carlisle, Pennsyl- vania, where he has labored efficiently and continuously for the past twenty-eight years. At the beginning of his pastorate, January, 1869, the church had about 230 members and the Sabbath school reported an attendance of only 125 scholars and teachers. These numbers have been greatly augmented; the roll of communicants has increased to about 500 and the Sabbath schools of the church have an enrolled membership of about 600.
During his first year at Carlisle the Manse was built and during his second year the old church building was torn down and preparations were made for the erection of the present sanctuary. This beautiful Gothic church was finished at a cost of about fifty thousand dollars and dedicated May 29, 1873. In 1887 it was thoroughly renovated and improved at an expense of about ten thousand dollars. Provision for these improvements was largely made by the bequest of Mrs. Robert Givin and the generous gift of her only daughter, Miss Amelia Steele Givin. Tlie benefactions of these faithful friends were supplemented by the congregation who made the addition to the Lecture Room at
Dr. Norcross has represented the Pres- bytery of Carlisle four times in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, viz, in 1871 at Chicago, in 1874 at St. Louis, in 1885 at Cincinnati, in 1895 at Pittsburg. In the last two Assemblies he was the chairman of important standing committees.
In 1877 he attended the first Pan-Pres- byterian Council at Edinburgh, Scotland, as an associate member and was present during all the deliberations of that historic body. Subsequently with his wife he made the tour of the Continent. On July 5, 1890, he sailed again, and this time with his fam- ily, from New York for the Old World. Seven months of study were spent in the city of Leipzig, Germany, and six months were devoted to travel through Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and France, the family party return- ing early in August, 1891.
In the year 1879 the subject of this sketch received the degree of Doctor of Di- vinity from Princeton College in recogni- tion of well known literary attainments and faithful ministerial service. He evinces unusual culture and learning, is a forceful speaker and sustains an important relation to his adopted county, both as a minister and a citizen. Though rigorously confin- ing himself to the work in his own congre- gation, he is known as the friend of every reform. When the question of Constitu- tional Amendment in the interest of Tem- perance was before the people in 1889 he addressed many popular meetings in sup- port of Prohibition and his famous "Ox Sermon" preached before Presbytery on "Our Responsibility for the Drink Traffic" was printed and widely circulated. In his many activities in behalf of church and mis- sion work he is ably assisted by his wife.
Dr. Norcross has been married twice. On
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October 1, 1863, he married Mary S. Tracy, of Monmouth, Illinois, who died March 25, 1866. After her death he removed to Gales- burg, Illinois, where on April 22, 1867, he wedded Mrs. Louise (Jackson) Gale, a daughter of Mr. Samuel Clinton Jackson and widow of Major Josiah Gale, the son of Rev. Dr. Gale, the founder of Galesburg. By his first marriage he had one child which died in infancy; and to his second union have been born five children: Delia Jack- son, George who died at eight years of age, Elizabeth, Mary Jackson and Louise Jack- son.
In the year 1886, upon the occasion of the Centennial celebration of the Presby- tery of Carlisle, Dr. Norcross became the editor of a memorial publication in two vol- umes entitled "The Centennial Memorial of the Presbytery of Carlisle," which grew into a valuable historical and biographical review of the origin and growth of Presby- terianism in the central and eastern part of Southern Pennsylvania. As the result of this and similar literary work he was made a member of the American Society of Church History and the Scotch-Irish So- partment of Church History which has manifested a growing interest in the de- partment of Church History which has been exhibited in a course of carefully pre- pared lectures on "The Great Reformers." At the request of the committee of arrange- inents, he prepared a paper on "The Scotch- Irish in the Cumberland Valley" which he read before the Eighth Scotch-Irish Con- gress in Harrisburg in 1896. In this ad- dress he eloquently tells the story of the Scotch-Irish in the Cumberland valley and presents the record of the establishment of the early Presbyterian churches in this re- gion. In concluding his article and speak- ing generally of the Scotch-Irish race, he says,-
"The War of the Revolution was begun
and maintained for principles peculiarly dear to Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. As they were among the first to declare them- selves in favor of separation from the miother country, so they were among the last to lay down their arms, and that only when the great cause was won. They were conspicuous in almost every battle of the great struggle; and when the conflict ended in the triumph of their aspirations, it is not strange that the free representative princi- ples of their Church government should have been adopted as the model for our Federal Constitution. The Scotch-Irish Presbyterians at last had attained to their ideal: a free Church in a free State."
H ON. EDWARD W. BIDDLE, Pres- ident Judge of Cumberland County, Penna., son of Edward M. and Julia A. (Watts) Biddle, was born in Carlisle on May 3, 1852, and has resided there all his life. He is a descendant of William Biddle, who settled in the province of West Jersey in 1681, and became a large landowner, Bid- dle's Island in the Delaware River, consist- ing of 278 acres, being one of his acquisi- tions.
Since then the family has furnished to the world many men who have become illus- trious in the annals of law and of finance.
On the maternal side Judge Biddle's great-grandfather, Frederick Watts, was a prominent citizen of Pennsylvania during Revolutionary days and was a member of its Supreme Executive Council from Oc- tober 20, 1787, until the abolition of that body by the constitution of 1790; and his grandfather, David Watts, was one of the leading lawyers of the State in the early part of this century; so, in the various ram- ifications of the family for several genera- tions, men of culture, ability and influence appear.
After passing through the public schools
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to the High School, the subject of our sketch entered Dickinson College and was graduated from that institution in 1870, the youngest member of his class, with high standing. After spending several months in civil engineering he commenced the study of law in the office of his cousin, William M. Penrose, Esq., and was ad- mitted to the bar in April, 1873. Froni that time he gave his attention almost ex - clusively to his chosen profession and pur-
sued a wide range of legal studies. In 1877 and again in 1883 he was unanimously nominated by the Republican county com- vention for the office of district attorney and on both occasions ran far ahead of his ticket, but in neither instance was elected. These political episodes did not in any way interfere with his professional work, and for many years prior 'to his election to the judgeship he had charge of some of the most important cases and largest interests in Cumberland county. In 1885 he was se- lected as one of the assignees for the bene- fit of creditors of P. A. Ahl and D. V. Ahl, individually and trading as P. A. Ahl & Bro., who had valuable landed possessions in several States and whose affairs were much involved. In the capacity of assignee and attorney for the three estates he was largely instrumental in carrying to a suc- cessful termination the most intricate equity litigation ever conducted in Cumberland county, as well as an important equity suit in Hagerstown, Md., and these legal vic- tories saved the assignors from insolvency. The qualities which he displayed in tlie above and other cases brought to his office an extensive miscellaneous practice. He was always much interested in the material progress of his native town, and in 1890 he became united with several other gen- tlemen in organizing The Carlisle Land and Improvement Company, which imme- diately purchased a large tract of land at
the edge of Carlisle and became a potent factor in its recent marked development. In the establishment of various factories in the borough he likewise took an active part and at this time is president of the Carlisle Silk Company and a director of the Lindner Shoe Company, both of which are flourish- ing industrial corporations. On February 2, 1882, he married Gertrude D., a daughter of J. Herman and Mary J. (Kirk) Bosler, of Carlisle. They have two children: Her- man Bosler, born April 14, 1883, and Ed- ward Macfunn, born May 29, 1886.
In the fall of 1894 he was elected to the position of president judge of Cumberland county, and on the first Monday of the fol- lowing January, entered on the duties of a ten years' judicial term.
He is a member of the American Bar Association and of the Pennsylvania State Bar Association, and as a member of the committee on law reform of the latter body has given a good deal of time and thought to furthering the ends for which the or- ganization was formed. In December, 1896, as a representative of that commit- tee, he united with the chairman of the committee on legal education in calling the first and only convention of Pennsylvania judges which has ever been held, the pur- pose of the meeting being twofold: First, to consider the expediency and feasibility of obtaining uniform rules of court throughout the State; and second, to take steps to put into operation an approved system of legal education. The conven- tion was held in Philadelphia on Decem- ber 29, 1896, and was a marked success, about two-thirds of the judges of the Com- monwealth, and more than a hundred attor- neys in active practice, who were inter- ested in the subjects under discussion, being present.
Judge Biddle's excellent private law library remains in the office where for many
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA.
years he conducted active practice, and there he still works and hears arguments at chambers between sessions of court.
G EORGE EDWARD REED, S. T.D., T LL. D., seventeenth president of Dickinson College was born in Brownville, Maine, in 1846. His father, a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church, came to America from England in 1836.
The father dying when the son was about six years of age, the mother, a woman of great strength of character removed with her large family to Lowell, Mass., in the schools of which city George received the rudiments of his education. The family, however, being in straitened circumstances the boy was compelled at an early age to begin the battle of life for himself, which he did. Serving for several years in var- ious capacities in one of the large manu- facturing companies of the "Spindle City," first as "runner" in the counting room and later as "bobbin boy" in the mills. In the summer he worked on the farm adjacent to the city, gaining in this severe school the stalwart, vigorous frame which has stood him in such good stead in later years. Having at last accumulated money enough to warrant the continued pursuit of the studies he had been compelled, ;tempor- arily, to lay aside, in January, 1865, he en- tered the Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Mass., to prepare for college. This he ac- complished in the surprisingly short space of one term and a half, doing within this period the amount of work usually gone over in nine months. Dr. Reed justly re- gards this as the greatest achievement of his life, the record never, to his knowledge, having been surpassed. Entering Wes- leyan University, Middletown, Conn., in September, 1865, he was graduated with distinction in 1869, in a class famous in the history of the college for the number of its
members who have attained eminence in their various callings.
After his graduation from college, he passed one year in the study of theology in the school of theology of Boston Uni- versity. Retiring from the school in 1870, he at once began the work of the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church, serving two most important churches of that body in Willimantic, Conn., and in Fall River, Mass. In 1875, being then but twenty- nine years of age, he was transferred to the Hanson Place Methodist Episcopal church, Brooklyn, N. Y., then and now the largest church of that religious denomination in this country. At the end of three years he was appointed to an influential church in Stamford, Conn.
In 1881 he became pastor of the Nos- trand Avenue church, Brooklyn, where he continued for three years, at the expira- tion of which period he served again in the Hanson Place church. On leaving the city of Brooklyn he was tendered a reception in the Brooklyn Tabernacle by citizens of the city, irrespective of denominational lines in recognition of public services rendered.
In 1887 Dr. Reed assumed the pastorate of Trinity church, New Haven. While serving his second year there he was hon- ored with a unanimous call to the presi- dency of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., one of the oldest of the colleges of the country.
The presidency of Dr. Reed has been eminently successful, the number of stud- ents in attendance having more than doubled during the years of his adminis- tration, with corresponding evidence of prosperity in all lines of college work. In addition to the various duties of his posi- tion Dr. Reed is in great demand as lect- urer and preacher in all parts of the coun- try and with constantly increasing fame.
Dr. Reed is a careful thinker, eloquent
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in diction, self-possessed in manner and attractive in the mode of presenting his subject. He clearly enunciates his propo- sitions and logically follows them to their conclusions, convincing the minds of his hearers and winning their hearts by the clearness of his statement and the sincerity and earnestness of his convictions.
In June, 1870, he was married to Ella Feanres Leffingwell, of Norwich, Conn., a lineal descendant of the famous Puritan captain, Miles Standish, of the Plymouth Colony. To them one son has been born.
During his public career President Reed while a clergyman by profession and de- voted to his calling, has nevertheless always manifested great interest in political affairs, not hesitating to take the stump for the candidate of the political party-the Re- publican-to which he has always belonged and to lead in independent movements, par- ticularly in Brooklyn, when, in his judg- ment, it seemed advisable to act outside of party lines.
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