USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 36
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 36
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In 1882 he married Clara E., a daughter of Michael and Eliza Bucher, and a lady of culture and rare accomplishments. Mrs. Bittinger is a member of one of the oldest and most prominent families of Hanover. Their union has resulted in the birth of six children, four of whom are dead: Lyda M.,
Bryant Henry, Bertha and Clara. Those living are Ralph Emerson and Mary A.
J OHN WISE WETZEL, ESQ., a prom- nent lawyer and president of the Mer- chants' National Bank, of Carlisle, was born April 20, 1850, at Carlisle, Cum- berland county, Pennsylvania, and is a son of George and Sarah E. (Shade) Wetzel. The Wetzel and Shade families are of Ger- man descent and George Wetzel was born and reared in Carlisle, where he has re- sided ever since. He was born December 25th, 1826, attended the schools of his boy- hood days and engaged in wagon manufac- turing which he followed until a few years ago. He has always taken an active part in political affairs, is a strong Democrat, and served as treasurer of Cumberland county in 1869 and 1870. He married Sarah E. Shade, a daughter of John Shade, and who died September 6th, 1891, aged 62 years. To their union were born ten chil- dren: John W., Charles H., Catharine, who died in infancy; Sallie, married Niles M. Fissel and died in 1881; Rebecca, wife of Harry Newsham; Mary, wife of Frank Kimmel; Annie, wife of H. G. Rinehart; George B. McClellan, Ida, wife of William H. Goodyear, and William, who died in in- fancy.
John Wise Wetzel was reared at Car- lisle, attended the common schools, pre- pared for college in Professor Sterrett's Academy and entered Dickinson College, from which he graduated in the class of 1874. While attending college he read law with the late C. E. Maglaughlin, Esq., from 1872 to 1874, and was admitted to the bar of Cumberland county in April, 1874, about two months before he was graduated from college. Upon admission to the bar he opened an office at Carlisle, where he has practiced his chosen profes- sion most successfully ever since. He is
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a strong and influential Democrat, and has always taken an intelligent and active in- terest in political affairs. In 1876 he was elected to represent his county in the Dem- ocratic State Convention at Lancaster, six years later, in 1882, was made chairman of the Democratic county executive com- mittee, and in 1890 again represented the county in the State Conventoin of his party, which was held that year in Scranton. In 1880 he was elected district attorney of Cumberland county and served in that ca- pacity from 1881 to 1883, succeeding Geo. S. Emig and preceding John T. Stuart in that office. Mr. Wetzel is interested in educational and business affairs, as well as political matters, yet never neglects his labors, by attention to other interests. He is one of the incorporators of the Dickin- son School of Law at Carlisle, and has been for ten years a member of the board of trustees of Franklin and Marshall Col- lege, at Lancaster city. He has been ac- tive for some years in the business affairs of Carlisle, being a director of the Carlisle Electric Light and Gas companies, and of the Beetem Lumber and Manufacturing company, besides acting as president of the Cottage Club and director of the Big Spring Turnpike Company.
On September 3rd, 1872, Mr. Wetzel married Lizzie Wolf, youngest daughter of John and Elizabeth Wolf. Mr. and Mrs. Wetzel have one child, a son, named George Frank, who is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College.
Mr. Wetzel's legal business is now largely in the line of corporation work, rep- resenting some of the largest corporations in the county. He is attorney for the Standard Oil Company, Philadelphia and Reading Railway Co., and the Philadel- phia, Harriburg and Pittsburg and the Get- tysburg and Harrisburg railway companies. He stands deservedly high in his profession
and is now secretary of the committee on admissions of the State Bar Association of Pennsylvania. He is practically a self- made man, liberal and progressive in all things, and has been an active factor in the social and material development of his bor- ough.
He is a director and president of the Merchants National Bank, of Carlisle, be- coming associated with that financial insti- tution in 1890, and was made its chief ex- ecutive officer in 1893. He is a member of the Pennsylvania State Bankers Associ- ation, and together with Mrs. Wetzel is a member of the First Reformed church, in which he has been a deacon for over ten years. Fraternally, he is a member of Lodge No. 56, Knights of Pythias, and a member and past master of Cumberland Star Lodge No. 197, Free and Accepted Masons of Carlisle.
R EV. CHARLES JAMES WOOD, rector of St. John's Protestant Epis- copal church, of York, Pennsylvania, is a son of Charles L. and Marian (Davis) Wood, and was born in Cleveland, Ohio, July 4, 1854. He is descended from an old and distinguished line of English ancestors, and the American branch of the family has been resident in the United States for a number of generations. His great-grand- father was an officer in the Colonial army during the War for Independence and his grandfather was a merchant and manufac- turer in the State of Connecticut. Charles L. Wood, his father, was a native of Essex county, New York, a merchant and manu- facturer by occupation and closely wedded to his business interests. He was a Re- publican in politics, but held himself en- tirely aloof from partisan affiliations. Relig- ionsly, he held membership in the Protest- ant Episcopal church, and fraternally, was connected with the Masonic Order.
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Charles James Wood was fitted for col- lege at the Cleveland High school and un- der the tuition of Rev. Frederick Brooks, brother of the late Bishop Phillips Brooks of Trinity church, Boston. He subsequent- ly entered Harvard University and was graduated in the class of 1875. Soon after graduation he entered the General Theo- logical Seminary, in New York city, where he remained three years. After ordination to the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church he accepted a call from the Church of the Good Shepherd, in Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained until 1879, when he be- came rector of Trinity church, Michigan city, Indiana. Subsequently he filled pastor- ates in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, in which latter place he remained until 1894, when he accepted the rectorship of St. John's church, York, Pennsylvania, with which he has been identified down to the present time.
Rev. Mr. Wood is a member of the Insti- tute of Christian Sociology, member of the American Oriental Society, member of Vic- toria Institute, of the Folk Lore Society, of the American Archaeological Society, of the Brotherhood of the Kingdom, the Sal- magundi club, of New York, of the Knights of the Golden Eagle, and of the Masonic Fraternity, with which learned, social and fraternal organizations he has been conspicuously identified for a number of years. He is also honorary local secre- tary of the Egyptian Exploration Fund and performed services of a high order in connection with that society. Aside from his pastoral work Mr. Wood has variously indulged himself along literary lines in the fields of anthropology, crimino- logy, comparative religion and general criticism, in all of which he has written with learning, discrimination and authority. His well recognized at- tainments, his strong personality, moral
force and literary versatility have made him a man of unusual force in the community in which he resides. During his connection with St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal church at Lock Haven he was made Archdeacon of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania and has also served in other official positions in the higher assemblies of the church.
R EV. MILTON VALENTINE, D. D., LL. D., Professor of Systematic Theology and chairman of the faculty in the Theological Seminary of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Gettysburg, Pa., was born at Uniontown, Carroll county, Maryland, January 1, 1825. His parents were Jacob and Rebecca (Pick- ing) Valentine, the former a native of Mary- land and the latter of Pennsylvania. The family is descended from George Valen- tine, who emigrated from Germany in the early part of the 18th century and in 1740 located on the Monocacy River in Freder- ick county, Maryland, where he was en- gaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred is 1783. The land on which he lived is still in possession of the Valentine family. This George Valentine, who was the great-grandfather of our sub- ject, was an earnest Christian and a de- vout member of the Lutheran church.
Jacob Valentine, the father of our sub- ject, had a family of nine children, all of whom were reared on the farm in Mary- land.
Dr. Valentine was next to the youngest. He was confirmed as a member of Trinity Lutheran church in Taneytown, Md., in 1843. He prepared for college in the aca- demy at Taneytown, and in 1846 entered the Freshman class in Pennsylvania Col- lege at Gettysburg, and in 1850 was gradu- ated from that institution. After a course of two years in the Theological Seminary, of which he is now the honored head, dur-
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ing which time he tutored in the college, presses one as a possessor of unusual intel- he graduated and was licensed to preach. ligence and moral force. He is dignified yet kindly in his manner, and no man pro- bably is wider known, or more highly es- teemed in the Lutheran church. At first he temporarily supplied the pulpit of the Lutheran church in Winchester, Vir- ginia, and during the winter of 1853-1854 was engaged in missionary work in Alle- December 18, 1855, he married Mar- garet G., daughter of Sterling and Mar- garet (Grayson) Galt, of Carroll county, Maryland, who is of Scotch-Irish descent. They have four children: Sterling Galt, A. M., Ph. D., engaged in the iron business, Lebanon; Rev. Milton Henry, pastor of Messiah Lutheran church, Philadelphia; Esther Amelia, married to Rev. E. Grim Miller, of Easton, Pa., and Margaret Gray- son, married to Mr. Henry W. Siegrist, of Lebanon, Pa. gheny city, Pennsylvania, and was pastor of the Lutheran church at Greensburg, Westmoreland county, this State, in 1854- 55. Owing to a throat trouble he retired from the ministerial work in 1855, and from that time until 1859 was principal of Emaus Institute, Middletown, Pennsylvania. From 1859 to 1866, having returned to active ministerial work again, he served as pastor of St. Matthew's church, in Reading, Penn- sylvania, and from 1866 to 1868 was profes- sor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Po- lity in the Theological Seminary at Gettys- N EVIN M. WANNER, ESQ., of York, Pennsylvania, member of the Bar and one of the leading lawyers of Southern Pennsylvania, is a native of Ohio, born at Washingtonville, May 14th, 1850. His proximate ancestors were Pennsyl- vania Germans, whose lives and fortunes have been identified with the various in- terests of the Keystone State for a number of generations. burg. In 1868 he was called to the Presi- dency of Pennsylvania College and continu- ed in that position for sixteen years, during a portion of which time, from 1868 to 1873, he also gave instruction in the Seminary. In 1884 he was elected to his present position in the Seminary. Dr. Valentine is a man of recognized ability and has contributed numerous sermons, essays and pamphlet discussions to the theological literature of his church. He is also the author of "Nat- ural Theology or Rational Theism" which was published in 1885 by S. C. Griggs & Company, of Chicago, and has since been introduced into many colleges as a text book, receiving from eminent educators throughout the country unqualified endorse- ment. He is also the author of a work on "Theoretical Ethics," recently published by Scott, Foresman & Co., of Chicago, which has been received with great favor and is being rapidly adopted as a manual of in- struction on that subject in colleges and universities.
In personal appearance Dr. Valentine is venerable, with the air of a scholar, and im-
The paternal grandfather of Mr. Wan- ner was born at "The Trappe," Montgom- erly county, Pennsylvania, was a farmer by occupation, and a man of influence in his community. Here also was born his son, Rev. Aaron Wanner, father of Nevin M. The former was a well known minister of the Reformed church, and passed a full half century in fruitful ministerial and ex- ecutive service in connection with that re- ligious body. After a course in Marshall College, and the Theological Seminary at Mercersburg he was licensed to preach by the Synod of Winchester, Virginia, in the year 1843, and subsequently filled a num- ber of pastorates in the States of Pennsyl- vania, Ohio and Maryland. In recognition
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of his well known attainments and vener- able years of service in the cause of the Christian ministry, he received from Ur- sinus College, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, in the year 1879, the degree of Doctor of Divinity. On September 23rd, 1844, the Rev. Mr. Wanner was joined in marriage with Rebecca Miller, a daughter of Solo- mon Miller, a Justice of the Peace of Franklin county, near Chambersburg,Penn- sylvania, which union resulted in an issue of ten children, six of whom grew to years of maturity. His decease occurred in York Pennsylvania, June 23rd, 1894, when in his seventy-sixth year.
Nevin M. Wanner, after the usual pre- paration, entered Heidelberg College at Tif- fin, Ohio, in 1866, where he remained for a period of two years. Immediately follow- ing this he matriculated at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from which latter institution he graduated with class honors in 1870. In the latter part of the same year he entered the law de- partment of the University of Pennsyl- vania, and devoted the two succeeding years to the study of law and juris- prudence. Simultaneous with his uni- versity course, he was registered as a stu- dent in the office of General B. F. Fisher, of Philadelphia, Pa., and Erastus H. Weiser, Esq., of York, Pa., and was ad- mitted to the Bar of York county, August . 28th, 1872. Since this time he has been in continuous and active practice, and rapidly rose to a commanding position in his pro- fession. In the year 1876 he was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the State.
Mr. Wanner has met with signal success both as a lawyer and an advocate. He is distinctively a case winner, in both the lower and the Supreme Courts. In point of legal erudition, adroitness and forensic ability, he easily ranks with the limited few
at the head of his profession. One of the important contributory forces which has been potent in giving him the place he so well deserved, is his strict fidelity or, pro- bably better, consecration to his chosen vo- cation. He has steadily and persistently re- fused all such business, political, and other alliances as would have a tendency to di- vert his energies and ambition from the law, and the result has been highly gratify- ing both to himself and his profession. Mental alertness, quick perception, ample knowledge of human nature, a thorough acquaintance with legal procedure in all its forms, and a fearless fidelity to the cause of his clients,-all these combine to give Mr. Wanner unusual prestige and force as a lawyer.
In politics Mr. Wanner has always been an adherent of the Democratic party but his engrossing legal work has latterly taken him out of practical politics.
He held the office of District Attorney of York county from January 1, 1887, to January 1, 1890. He has been urged by many of his friends as being peculiarly fitted for judicial honors, but up to the present, has declined them, preferring to re- main in the professional ranks. Religiously he was originally a member of the German Reformed church, but in later years has been an attendant at St. John's Episcopal church of York, Pennsylvania.
On November Ist, 1882, Mr. Wanner was united in marriage with Amelia D. Croll, a daughter of John R. Croll, de- ceased, of York, Pa., and a descendant of one of the oldest families of local promi- nence in the county since the days of the Revolution, in which some of her ancestors figured prominently.
V TINCENT G. STUBBS, President of the First National Bank, of Delta, York county, Pennsylvania, and one of the
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best and most favorably known business men in his community, is a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Haines) Stubbs. He was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, near the Susquehanna river, February 28, 1826. He is a descendant of an old and distinguished colonial family that origin- ally settled in Eastern Pennsylvania. His grandfather was also named Vincent Stubbs, and was a son of Thomas Stubbs, one of the original ancestors who came from England and settled in Chester county, Pennsylvania, near Chad's Ford. The latter was a farmer by occupation and espoused the religious faith of the Quakers or Friends. Grandfather Stubbs was born upon the old homestead in Chester county, but most of his life was spent in Little Britton, Lancaster county, where he died in the year 1820 at an advanced age. He too was a farmer, but combined with his agri- cultural pursuits the conduct of a grist mill. He was a Whig in politics, and in matters of religion adopted the traditional faith of his ancestors. His marriage with Priscilla Cooper resulted in a family of the following named children: John, Daniel, Vincent, Isaac, Thomas, Hannah, Sarah and Ruth, all deceased. Isaac Stubbs, father of Vin- cent G., was a native of Little Britton township, Lancaster county, but died in Peach Bottom township, York county, in 1875, having located in the latter section in 1842. He spent the major portion of his life in agricultural pursuits, and at the time of his death had lands equal to or exceeding 360 acres. Besides his duties as a farmer, the elder Stubbs took quite an active inter- est in local public affairs. He served for a number of terms as supervisor, school dir- ector, and other positions of public trust. His wife was a daughter of Reuben Haines, a native of Cecil county, Maryland, by whom he had the following children: Vin- cent G., subject; Albert, a farmer of Peach
Bottom township; Joseph H., a practicing physician, located at London Grove, Ches- ter county, Pennsylvania; Daniel, a farmer residing in Peach Bottom township; Tho- mas, also a resident of Peach Botton town- ship; Henry J., physician, located at Wil- mington, Delaware; Mary, deceased; Sarah wife of Jacob Swayne, of Cecil county, Maryland; and Reuben, deceased.
Vincent G. Stubbs was joined in marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Pier- son, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, on April 28, 1853. This marriage resulted in the birth of the following named children: Edward P., a resident of Minnesota; Isaac H., merchant; J. Howard, lumber and coal merchant of Delta; William F., a farmer re- siding in Harford county, Maryland; Hannah M., intermarried with Calvin Gal- braith, of Harford county, Maryland; Charles H., deceased; V. Gilpen, furniture dealer, of Delta.
Vincent G. Stubbs was 16 years of age when his parents removed from Chester county to Peach Bottom township. During his boyhood he was brought up on a farm and received the customary education of those days. In 1850 he engaged in mer- chandising in the village of Delta, and con- tinued in that business over a period of 46 years. Besides the mercantile business he engaged in slate producing as a side issue, and occasionally in other enterprises of an investment nature. His long and creditable business career makes him one of the best known and most highly respected citizens in the Southeastern section of York county. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Delta, a carefully con- ducted financial institution, and in 1893, was made its President. In politics he is a Re- publican, and was the first burgess as well as the first postmaster of the borough of Delta. Mr. Stubbs has been pioneer in point of disaster, as well as success, for a
J. C. Gable.
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side from being the pioneer merchant, he was also the first to suffer loss through fire. The destruction of his residence by fire took place in 1854, but he soon rebuilt a brick house, and thenceforth his business result- ed in continued prosperity. In addition to the business relations already noted he was first President of the Delta Building and Loan Association, and also connected with a number of other and lesser concerns.
Mr. Stubbs is a man of undoubted pro- bity, careful business habits and keen fore- sight. He is progressive in all that relates to the public welfare of his county, and is a loyal supporter of all measures and methods for the intellectual and moral advancement of his community.
I. C. GABLE, M. D., one of the leading and successful physicians of York, who stands deservedly high in citizenship, as well as professional life, is the son of Valentine and Mary (Miller) Gable, and was born June 26, 1849, in Windsor township.
His father was for many years a teacher in the public schools of York county, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Dr. Gable comes of a long lineage of Swiss- German ancestry in America antedating Revolutionary times. His grandfather served under General Anthony Wayne.
He received his preliminary education in the public schools of his native township, supplementing this with a literary course at the Pennsylvania State Normal school at Millersville.
In 1867 he began his active and inde- pendent career as a teacher in the public schools and devoted himself to this voca- tion until 1874, during which time he taught in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. He began the study of medicine under the pre- ceptorship of Dr. James W. Kerr and after a preliminary course of reading, entered the Medical Department of the University
of Pennsylvania, in 1875, from which he was graduated with honors, March 12, 1877. While attending the University he pursued a special course of reading under the preceptorship of Dr. Charles T. Hunter, who held the chair of clinical surgery and subsequent to graduation took a post grad- tiate course in his alma mater, devoting most of his time to the special study of general surgery. in that institution and in the Pennsylvania Hospital. In 1878 he opened an office in York where he has been a practitioner since that time.
December 15, 1888, Dr. Gable was united in marriage with Miss Eva A. Fon Der- smith, of Lancaster, by whom he has one son, Raymond F. Dr. and Mrs. Gable are attendants and communicants of the First Presbyterian church of York, in whose acti- vities and welfare they are always interested.
Soon after beginning his professional ca- reer, Dr. Gable rapidly advanced to a com- manding position in his profession. He is a thorough student of medical literature, a man of practical skill, ample mental en- dowment, and withal, of the highest char- acter. He is a member and ex-president of the York County Medical Society, has been vice president and censor of the Penn- sylvania State Medical Society, and for the last seven years has served as a member of the State Medical Legislative Committee and is now serving as its chairman. During the period of his service on this committee the present statutory enactment, known as the State Medical Act of Pennsylvania was passed.
In 1894, at the meeting of the State Medi- cal Society, in Philadelphia, he was ap- pointed to deliver the annual address on "Medicine," in Chambersburg, the follow- ing year. Dr. Gable has contributed other valuable articles to the Society which have been widely circulated in the published pro- ceedings of that body.
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At present he is also president of the Board of Trustees and Judicial Council of the State Medical Society and has been prominent in National as well as State Medical Councils. In 1880, at a meeting held in New York city he became a mem- ber of the American Medical Association and was made the chairman of the Pennsyl- vania delegation at the meeting of that or- ganization in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1891.
He is a member of the Pan-American Medical Congress and was a member of the Auxiliary Committee appointed for the organization of that body. He is one of the censors of the Medico-Chirurgical col- lege of Philadelphia, and is medical in- spector to the State Board of Health for York county. Aside from these more strictly official relations, he is medical ex- aminer for many leading life insurance companies represented in this city and has a professional practice in the various depart- ments of medicine and surgery enjoyed by but few in this district.
J ERE CARL, president of the York Water company and a prominent cap- italist, of York, has been variously identified with the latter city for over a quarter of a century and has done much for .its material development and prosperity. He is the only living child of Martin and Mary (Deardorff) Carl, and was born in Franklin township, York county, Pennsyl- vania, July 21, 1829. His father, Martin Carl, was reared and educated in his native county, where also for a number of years he was engaged in mercantile and other pur- suits. He was a Democratic in politics and usually took an active part in the manage- ment of local affairs, holding at different times nearly all the offices of Franklin township. He served one term as Director of the Poor for York county. He was born October 17th, 1782, and died June 29th,
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