USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 38
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 38
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In addition to these business activities Dr. Dale has been interested in a number of lesser projects which have always felt the energetic impress of his business gen- ius. He is a careful, conservative financier, full of resources, tactful and always enter- prising.
Mr. Dale is an ardent Republican in po- litics, gives an intelligent support to his party, is carefully informed upon financial and economic problems and has been a man of genuine worth to his community. He is unalterably opposed to what is termed "Boss Rule," and supports his party upon the strength of the great principles it repre-
sents, and not as a machine for the further- ance of the party ambitions of professional politicians.
Mr. Dale is a member and the corres- ponding secretary of the Board of State Fish Commissioners, and in his lighter mo- ments is a devoted follower of Isaac Wal- ton's pleasure-craft. He is a member of York Conclave Lodge, No. 124, Improved Order of Heptasophs, and Eureka Lodge, No. 302, Free and Accepted Masons. He served in Co. F, Ist Penn. Vols. State Mili- tia during the war and did active and hon- orable service at the battle of Antietam and during the Rebel raid.
R EV. HERMAN HENRY WALKER, D. D., pastor of St. John's Evange- lical Lutheran church, of York, since its organization in 1874, was born on Septem- ber 28, 1842, in the Empire of Germany. He is a son of Frederick C. and Gertrude (Schomburg) Walker. At the time of his birth that part of Prussia, which was the place of his nativity, was comprised in the kingdom of Hanover, and consequently both of his parents were natives of the kingdom of Hanover. Mr. Walker was partially reared in Hanover during the third interregnum in the history of Ger- many, but left the Fatherland before the Bismarckian policy of blood and iron wrought the unification of the German Empire under its present form. After com- ing to this country in 1854, he first located in Cleveland, Ohio, in which city he spent two years in work preparatory to entering college. In his 15th year he entered Con- cordia College, Fort Wayne, Ind., from which he was graduated in the classical course in 1862. In the same year he became a student in the Concordia Theological Seminary at St. Louis, Missouri, and fin- ished his course there in 1865. Immedi- ately subsequent he visited his native land,
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at which time Prussia and Austria were commencing their noted struggle to deter- mine the question of royal primacy in Ger- many. He returned from this tour in 1866, shortly after which he received and ac- cepted a call from St. Paul's Lutheran church, Paterson, New Jersey. This pas- torate extended over a period of eight years. In March, 1874, he accepted a call to St. John's church, York, which had been just organized with a hundred voting mem- bers, but with no definite policy as to the future of the organization. His labors in this new field were zealous and persistent, the success of which is attested by a growth in membership from 100 to 600. This growth has been substantial and enduring in other senses than the numerical and material. The Sunday school at the pres- ent time numbers almost as many members as the congregation itself, while the paro- chial school organized in 1874, and taught by two specially trained teachers, is not only unique in its organization and meth- ods, but has been remarkable in its results, as well. Up to the year 1895 all services of the church and Sunday school were con- ducted in the German language, but since that year English services have been intro- duced and both languages are given equal importance in the parochial school. St. John's church is the only church in the, Nineteenth Congressional District belong- ing to the Missouri Synod. To Dr. Walk- er's efforts largely is due the erection of the brick church edifice and the parochial school building on West King street which form the home and radiating centre of his intellectual, moral and religious teaching.
On August 27, 1868, Rev. Dr. Walker wedded Eleonora E. Melcher, a daughter of Frederick Melcher, of Cleveland, Ohio. To their union have been born eight child- ren; Marie, who died May 4, 1896, aged 26 years, a young woman of varied accom-
plishments and highly esteemed for her lov- able disposition and many Christian vir- tues; Constantine, who died in infancy; Ly- dia; Martin, now a student in the Concor- dia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, with a view to entering the Lutheran ministry; Clara, Henry and Nora, all deceased in ear- ly childhood; and Julius.
Rev. Dr. Walker enjoys the somewhat unusual advantage of being surrounded by Democratic institutions, after having re- ceived an intellectual heritage under a monarchial form of government. He has always been a close student, not only of church history and theological systems but also of economical and industrial rela- tions, and follows with interest and appre- ciation the trend of all religious and moral movements. He is an eloquent and forci- ble speaker, an indefatigable church work- er and has endeared himself to his people by his moral earnestness and Christian sym- pathy. Since 1885 Dr. Walker has held the office of vice president of the Eastern District of the Missouri Synod, having been re-elected to this position three suc- cessive times, holding also during the same period the office of Visitator or Presiding Elder of the Baltimore District Conference.
I SAAC A. ELLIOTT, cashier of the York County National Bank, has been connected with that bank for a longer per- iod of years than any other person now liv- ing. He is a son of Isaac and Catharine Elliott, and was born in the City of York, Pennsylvania, on August 23, 1845. His father, Isaac Elliott, was born and reared in the State of Maryland. About the year 1836 he removed to York, which thereafter became his place of residence. In Febru- ary, 1856, he went to South Carolina, as superintendent of the construction of a tele- graph line in that State, and while engaged in that undertaking contracted a fever,
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which obliged him to return home where, lie died in October of the same year. At the time of his death he was in his 48th year. He was a member of the German Reformed church, a man of standing in the community, and in 1845 was commissioned lieutenant in a military company known as the York Rifles.
Isaac A. Elliott attended the public schools of York, until the death of his father in 1856 when he started on his career in life as a newsboy, which line of work he continued until April 26, 1858, when he en- tered as errand boy the large business house of P. A. & S. Small, of York, with whom he remained for a period of II years. During this period of service he was promoted from time to time until he was made receiving clerk in the counting room and through his hands the receipts for merchandise sold by this large firm were obliged to pass. Upon the death of Wil- liam Wagner, cashier, of the York County National Bank in July, 1869, Mr. Elliott was made teller in that institution. He served as teller for 20 years, and in 1889 was elected cashier to succeed James A. Schall, deceased. Since that time he has been the only incumbent of that office and has fully justified the confidence of the di- rectors by his conservative and careful con- duct of official duties.
The York County National Bank was originally organized as the York Savings Institution, with a capital of $10,000 which was subsequently increased to $50,000. In 1850 the bank was re-organized under the title of the York County Bank, with a capi- tal of $150,000, and in 1864, it became the York County National Bank, and the capi- tal stock was increased to $300,000. The present officers are: James A. Dale, presi- dent; Jere Carl, vice president; Isaac A. Elliott, cashier; directors, Dr. James A. Dale, Samuel Gotwalt, George S. Schmidt,
David H. Welsh, Charles Kurtz, D. F. Hirsh, William Laumaster, Jere Carl and Philip A. Small. Of all the persons con- nected with the bank, Mr. Elliott is the old- est in service, having been at his post con- tinuously as teller and cashier for a period of 28 years. On November 14, 1871, Mr. Elliott was married to Virginia A. Osborne,
a daughter of the late James W. Osborne, of Washington City. Their union has been blessed by the birth of two children, a son and a daughter: Blanche S., the wife of S. Forry Loucks, and Lewis C., who'is a bookkeeper in the York County National Bank.
In political opinion Mr. Elliott is a Re- publican though he takes only a nominal interest in party politics. In religious faith and church membership he is a Presbyter- ian, being an attendant and communicant of the First Presbyterian Church, of York, of which he has been a member since I867. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, in which he has been prominent and active for a period of thirty years, hav- ing served as Worshipful Master of York Lodge, No. 266, F. & A. M., M. E. High Priest of Howell Chapter, No. 199, R. A. M., Eminent Commander of York Comman- dery, No. 21, Knights Templar, and eight years as District Deputy Grand Master of District No. 4, comprising York and Adams Counties.
J AMES G. GLESSNER, Esq., one of the leading young lawyers of York,
was born at Lewisberry, York County, Pennsylvania,November 9, 1865, and is the son of Henry and Anna (Graham) Gless- ner. Henry Glessner was of Swiss descent, while his wife's ancestry were of Scotch- Irish origin. The elder Glessner was a painter and cabinet maker by trade, lived a quiet and unassuming life at Lewisberry and died on February 2Ist, 1884, at the age
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of 54 years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Glessner were natives of York County, affiliated with the Methodist Church and became the par- ents of seven children.
James G. Glessner was brought up in boyhood in his native village, and attended the common schools until he was 16 years of age. He then taught school a year, attended the State Normal school at Lock Haven, Pa., and subsequently attended the Cumberland Valley State Normal school, Shippensburg, Pa., from which he was graduated in the class of 1885. In the en- suing year he commenced the study of law with the firm of Kell & Kell, of York, and after teaching a term of school in 1887, was admitted to the Bar of York County in the following year. Immediately after his ad- mission to the Bar he opened an office with Silas H. Forry, Esq., and took up his residence in York, where he has since con- tinued to reside. Mr. Glessner's success was immediate and emphatic and he at once be- came prominent in both professional and public life. He is an ardent and energetic Republican and at a very early age became interested in the activities and policies of his party. In 1890 he was elected secretary of the Republican County Committee, and held that position through two successive campaigns. Upon the death of the county chairman in 1892,Mr. Glessner immediately announced himself as a candidate for the vacant position, and after a spirited contest was elected chairman. As chairman he had to deal with new forces and factors in State and national politics but acquitted himself with so much satisfaction and with such fine spirit and leadership that during the four succeeding years he was honored by a unanimous re-election. During all these years, and especially in 1896, he fully sus- tained the well earned distinction of 1892. A vigorous and persistent worker, he has shown himself amply able to meet the exi-
gencies of political campaigning, and has, by ability and sagacity, won an unusual rep- utation as a successful Republican leader. In 1890 his party made him its candidate for District Attorney, and notwithstanding his advanced vote, yet he was unable to over- come the large adverse majority in the county. He is a trenchant and forcible speaker, ample intellectual endowment, and has already reached an enviable position in the legal fraternity of his county.
Mr. Glessner is a stockholder and direc- tor of the Drover's and Mechanic's Na- tional Bank, and besides is interested as a stockholder or director in a number of other concerns.
Fraternally he is a member of the Ma- sonic Order, Knights of the Golden Eagle, Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of which last named Lodge he is a Past Exalted Ruler.
On June 18th, 1891, Mr. Glessner was united in marriage with Joanna, a daughter of Mrs. Mary M. Bowen, of Shippensburg, this State. Mr. and Mrs. Glessner have two children, a son and a daughter: Hazel M., and Silas Forry.
OHN FREDERICK MOHLER,A.M., PH. D., professor of physics in Dick- inson College, Carlisle, Pennsyl- vania, is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Williams) Mohler, and was born at Boiling Springs, Cumberland County, Pennsyl- vania, October 30, 1864. The Mohler family is one of the old German families of Lancaster County, and its descendants are now resident in various counties of time State. One of their descendants, Jacob Mohler, was a farmer in Lancaster County and afterward removed to Cumberland County, where he died in 1878, at Me- chanicsburg, aged eighty-five years, while his wife lacked but three birthdays of reaching the century mark. Mr. and Mrs.
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Mohler were Dunkards or German Baptists and reared a family of twelve children all of whom attained to a ripe old age. Their son, Samuel Mohler, was born February 13 1830, being next to the youngest child of the family and was the first of the children to die, passing away March 31, 1883, at 53 years of age. He followed his trade of mill- wright until the year 1862, when he en- listed in Company C, 168th Pennsylvania volunteers. By promotion he reached the rank of first lieutenant, and served up to July, 1863, when he was honorably dis- charged. Returning home he was success- fully engaged in farming, first near Boiling Springs and next at Middlesex, where he died. He was an active member and worker of the Evangelical Association and in politics supported the Republican party. He served as justice of the peace for a num- ber of years, and married Elizabeth Wil- liams, a daughter of David Williams, a far- mer of Cumberland county. To their union were born five children: William D., a machinist of Harrisburg; Laura, wife of Rev. G. S. Smith, of Callaway, Nebraska; Ida, wedded Charles W. Heagg, of Car- lisle; Professor John F., and Susan, wife of William Staat, of Blackbird, in the State of Delaware.
John F. Mohler was reared on the farm and attended the common schools until he was sixteen years of age when he com- menced teaching in order to acquire means sufficient to obtain a college education. After teaching three years he entered Dick- inson College in December, 1883, and after losing one year was graduated from that in- stitution in the class of 1887, of which he was valedictorian. Leaving college he taught a short time at Mechanicsburg, was then instructor in mathematics and science in Wilmington Conference Academy of Dover, Delaware, for three years, and went to Wesleyan Academy of Wilbraham,
Mass., where he held the chair of mathe- matics for four years. In 1894 he attended Johns Hopkin's University and made spec- ialties of physics, astronomy and mathe- matics for a year, was appointed assistant in astronomy in that institution and a year later was made a fellow in physics. Leaving Johns Hopkins in June 1896 he came to Carlisle, and was elected professor of phy- sics in Dickinson College. Professor Moh- ler not only endeavors to teach the essen- tial facts of the science, but also emphasizes the value of scientific method as necessary intellectual discipline. He is the author of several works upon subjects in the line of lis specialty among which are "Notes on Refraction," "Index of Water and Alcohol for Electrical Waves," "Effect of Pressure on Spectral Lines," and "Surface Tension of Water at Temperatures below Zero De- gree Centigrade."
Prof. Mohler is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Dickinson College, and a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Allison Methodist Episcopal church.
In June 1892 Professor Mohler married Sarah Loomis, a daughter of Rev. Phineas Loomis, a native of Bloomfield, Connecti- cut, and a member of the New York East Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. Their union has been blessed with two children: Frederick and Samuel.
R EV. DAVID BITTLE FLOYD, A. M., pastor of Zion's Lutheran church of Newville, Cumberland county, Pennsyl- vania, was born at Middletown, Frederick county, Maryland, and is the son of Heze- kiah and Lydia (Bittle) Floyd.
By his paternal ancestry, the subject of this sketch, is of English extraction. Mary (Douglass) Floyd, his great-grandmother, and founder of the branch in America,
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landed at Baltimore, Maryland, from Eng- land in 1770. She was a widow with seven children and settled in Howard county, Md., at Lisbon, near Ellicott's Mills. She was of Scotch-Irish descent and in religion was a Roman Catholic. 'Her children were: Philip, William, Obadiah, Elizabeth, John, Sarah and Providence.
John Floyd, who was the grandfather of Rev. David B. Floyd, was born March 6, 1766, in England, and was the youngest of his mother's sons. He was only four years cld when brought to this country. During the last quarter of the Eighteenth Cen- tury, Nicholas Bowlus, a prominent farmer in the Middletown valley, Frederick county, Maryland, was engaged in hauling produce to and from Baltimore city. He invariably stopped at the home of Mary Douglass Floyd, and, when John Floyd developed into manhood, he was received into the Bowlus family. March 19, 1797, he married Elizabeth, a daughter of Nicholas Bowlus. Subsequently he became the owner of a val- uable farm near Myersville, Frederick county, Maryland, where he lived and died. He was a man of powerful physique and muscular development, and was the recog- nized champion of strength in Frederick county. He was the father of nine children, viz: Elizabeth, Catharine, Sophia, Mary, Margaret, John, Jr., Eleanor, Henry and Hezekiah. These children inherited certain traits of character, which distinguished them. They were hardy, thrifty, resolute, upright and honorable. The sons inherited the prodigious strength of their father, and the daughters, the superb and daring eques- trian skill of their mother. John Floyd was born a Roman Catholic. His wife was born and raised a Lutheran, and was a very consistent member of that faith from her childhood to her death. All their children partook of the religion of their mother; but having married into families connected with
other branches of the Protestant faith, some of them have become identified with other churches.
Hezekiah Floyd, the father of Rev. David B. Floyd, was born August 15, 1816. In his youth he became a member of the Lutheran church at Middletown, Maryland, under the ministry of Rev. Abram Reck. For many years he was a deacon of the church. In politics he was a Democrat, until the war began, when he became a Republican. He was a lieutenant in the militia of the Maryland line in the Mexican war. In later years he was on the police force in the city of Greencastle, Indiana. He was a man of positive character, and possessed strong and decided convictions in political and re- ligious matters. He was twice married. On May 10, 1835, he became the husband of Lydia Bittle. The union was one of uniform cordiality and felicity. After her death he married Elizabeth Brown by whom he had two children: Sarah and Edward Z. Floyd.
Hezekiah Floyd was environed with some of the best and most distinguished men and women of the Lutheran church. Lydia Bittle, who became his first wife, was a sis- ter of Rev. David F. Bittle, D. D., the founder and first president of Roanoke Col- lege in Virginia; another brother-in-law was Rev. Daniel H. Bittle, D. D., of Sa- vannah, Georgia. Hezekiah Floyd's niece was the wife of Rev. Ezra Keller, D. D., first president of Wittenberg College, in Ohio. His sister-in-law was the aunt of Rev. Charles P. Krauth, D. D., LL. D., who was the professor of intellectual and moral phi- losophy in the University of Pennsylvania.
By his maternal ancestry, Rev. David B. Floyd is of German extraction. In 1780 George Michael Bittle, who married Anna Marie Elizabeth Beale, emigrated from Prussia to America. He was a sturdy Ger- man Lutheran, who first located in Adams county, Pa., and afterwards moved to Fred-
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erick county, Maryland, locating near Bealesville, so called in honor of his wife's name. His children were five in number, as follows: Thomas, George, Elizabeth, Catharine and Jonathan.
Thomas Bittle, Rev. David B. Floyd's maternal grandfather, was born February 22, 1783. He was a lieutenant in the war of 1812. He was known throughout the Middletown valley in Frederick county by the sobriquet of "Honest Thomas Bittle." In February, 1810, he was united in mar- riage with Mary, a daughter of Philip and Elizabeth (Loerne) Bear, of Frederick county, Maryland, who were also of Ger- man extraction and came to America in 1768.
Lydia Bittle, the daughter of Thomas Bittle, who, by her marriage with Hezekiah Floyd, became the mother of the subject of this sketch, was born January 11, 1815. She was a woman of unusual consistency in re- ligion and of deep piety and devotion in the Lutheran church. She was called to move in a conspicuous, rather than an ele- vated sphere of life, where she exhibited peculiar wisdom, prudence, patience, econ- omy and all the domestic virtues.
The children of Hezekiah and Lydia Bit- tle Floyd were eight in number, viz: Amanda Elizabeth Floyd, who married Sanford Fortner, a captain and staff officer of the 2nd Brigade, 3d Division, 14th Army Corps, during the Rebellion; Dr. John Thomas Floyd, who died of apoplexy at Noblesville, Indiana, in 1867. He was captain of Company D, IoIst Indiana Regiment, in the late war, and assistant in- spector general on the staff of General J. J. Reynolds. At the close of the war he grad- uated from the Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati, and, after receiving his degree, practiced medicine until the time 'of his death; Major Mahlon Henry Floyd, who married Clarinda H., a daughter of Hon.
James L. Evans, member of the 44th and 45th Congresses of the United States. Dur- ing the war, Mahlon H. Floyd was Major of the 75th Indiana Regiment. He died August, 1891; Mary Jane Floyd, who mar- ried Rev. Martin L. Culler, a Lutheran minister, who was a member of the Chris- tian commission during the war; Captain Daniel Hezekiah Floyd, assistant quarter- master of the United States Army, who graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was assigned to the ninth cavalry as a second lieutenant and served on the frontiers of Texas and New Mexico. In 1874 he was appointed to pursue a post graduate course in the gov- ernment artillery school at Fortress Mon- roe, Virginia; and two years later was pro- moted to the rank of first lieutenant in the 18th Infantry. In command of a detach- ment of his regiment he was sent to quell riots in the States of North and South Caro- lina during the political imbroglio of 1876. In 1883 President Arthur appointed him captain and assistant quartermaster. He died in 1894; Charlotte Cordelia Floyd died in infancy and George Edward Floyd was not quite three years old when he died.
Rev. David Bittle Floyd, A. M., was born March 15, 1846. He was baptized in in- fancy and confirmed in manhood by his uncle, Rev. David F. Bittle, D. D. In 1858 lie removed with his parents to Hamilton county, Indiana. His youth and early man- hood were spent at school, where he soon gave promise of future development of mind and heart. In 1862, when a mere youth, he abandoned his studies and vol- unteered in the service of his country, serv- ing as sergeant for three years in Company I, 75th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers. He was one of the youngest soldiers of the war, being only sixteen years of age at the time of his enlistment. On August 19, 1862, there were presented to him through
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a small window of the arsenal at Indianapo -; lis, a Springfield rifle and cartridge box, and three years afterwards, at the close of the war, he returned the same rifle through the same window. He holds a lieutenant's commission, granted for meritorious con- duct, by Indiana's war governor, Oliver P. Morton. He fought with Thomas, under Rosecrans at Chickamauga, under Grant at Chattanooga, and marched with Sher- man to the sea.
During the winter of 1866 the subject of our sketch was a medical student in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In 1867 he entered Asbury (De Pauw) Univer- sity at Greencastle, Indiana; and in 1868 he became a student at Roanoke College, Vir- ginia, graduating in 1872 with second honor in his class. In the winter of 1872-3, he entered Bellevue Medical College, New York city; but a few months prior to grad- uation he became convinced that it was his duty to abandon his medical studies and enter the ministry of the Lutheran church. In consequence of this decision he left New York and taught school at Martinsburg, West Virginia, until the opening of the ses- sion of 1873-4 of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, from which he graduated in 1876.
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