USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 45
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 45
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On the paternal side he is descended from German, and earlier (probably) of Swedish ancestry, in which "freundschaft" was Carl Michael Bellman, the great na- tional poet of Sweden and intimate friend of Gustavus II. In German the original name is Von Bellman.
Rev. Jasper Bennett owned, by his wife's inheritance, most of the land on which the beautiful town of Mt. Holly Springs is now built. Rev. Henry W. Bellman died
in 1860. in charge of a congregation at Richmond, Va.
As a child Bennett Bellman was left an orphan under the charge of two guardians, one of whom was a son of Governor Rit- ner. Six thousand dollars of the estate held by them was donated to foreign mis- sions. He had the advantage of a good academic and collegiate education, but his health failing, he finished his studies under a private tutor and subsequently took post- graduate courses in metaphysics, literature and jurisprudence. Prior to this time he read law with the broad-brained and schol- arly General A. Brady Sharpe, of Carlisle, and, at the age of twenty-one, was admit- ted to the bar of Cumberland county, and, upon the motion of his preceptor, three years later, to the Supreme Court of the State. He began to build up a success- ful practice, but was almost immediately ordered to Florida and condemned to deatlı by specialists in the name of pulmonary consumption. He did not die but realized for several years, all the feelings of a crim- inal who is thus condemned. While upon the St. John's he was for a week or more the companion of Gen. Lew Wallace, who had not yet become immortal by writing Ben Hur. He went to six countries in Eu- rope, seeing leisurely the romantic beau- ties of the Rhine, climbing some of the highest peaks in Switzerland but spending most of the time in France and amid the beautiful scenery, the historic associations and the art treasures of Italy. While in Italy he saw the meeting of King William, of Germany, and of Victor Emanuel at Milan. In Paris and in Italy he spent much of his time with Gen. Heintzlenian, of Grant's staff, and in Florence and Ver- ona wth Charlemagne Tower, now Minis- ter to the Court of Austria. While in Rome (the Rome of Victor Emanuel and Pio Nino) he studied the ruins of that ancient
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city under the instruction of the celebrated sculptor and archaeologist, Shakespeare Wood, caught the Roman fever, saw the great carnival of 1876, and visited Gari- baldi.
When he returned with health partially restored he did not resume the practice of law, but drifted into the Bohemia of News- paperdom, editing, among others, the Harrisburg Independent (1882), and be- coming, later, editorial writer of The Har- risburg Call, telegraphic editor Baltimore Herald (1886), editor of The Republican, Carlisle (1890), also first local editor of Carlisle Daily Herald and of The Leader, of the same place, but doing, frequently, literary and editorial work for other papers and magazines with which he was not otherwise connected. As a public speaker he has lectured, but always for benevolent purposes, and made, by appointment of the Republican Committee, more speeches in the Garfield campaign than any other speaker in the county.
His love for metaphysics and literature was always greater than for anything else, and he began writing verses in his teens until, finally, they attracted the kindly at- tention of Charles A. Dana and of John Greenleaf Whittier, who wrote kindly let- ters of commendation and encouragement. Many have been published in the higher class of periodicals from New England to the Pacific coast, and several of them, re- cently, in collections of poems in England, to which they floated without the author's knowledge or intention. In this he has never tried to please the popular taste but only to write honestly and artistically what he thought and felt. In 1876 he issued his first volume of 220 pages (and of 160 pieces which had not been lost) entitled "Lighter Lyries and Other Poems," which edition of 500 copies was published in the county, sold, but was, as is usual in such cases, a
financial failure. It received very flatter- ing reviews in the leading New York and Philadelphia dailies, which were the only places where it was sent for judgment.
To illustrate, among others the Phila- delphia Press said: "It was in this journal that Bennett Bellman, of Carlisle, first commanded the attention of observant readers by his very melodious verse. How copious this has been and how rarely good, this volume of some two hundred titles sufficiently attests. *
* * He ranges with equal skill from the difficult simplicity of the inanner of Whittier to the more flu- ent and complex manner of Swinburne, and in the Swinburnian style he shows himself an adept." "Some of his pastoral poems," said another paper, "are gems that sparkle at every point." And the Philadelphia In- quirer, in an able review of two columns, entitled "A Pennsylvania Poet," written by its literary editor, Robert C. McCabe, said: "The literature of America is the richer for the production. Not that he will ever be- come, strictly speaking, a popular poet, if the present volume is any basis for proph- ecy. His work and his objective point is of a cast that will not appeal to the taste of every one. The poems contain too much philosophy-too much reaching after the "over-soul," the higher life-the things not of the earth earthy, to please the careless reader whose ear is tickled by a jingle of rhyme. There is, in his work, a tendency towards too much abstract thinking, but this is easily forgiven on account of his fer- tile invention and the infinite variety of his muse and his music. * Altogether, both in style and treatment these poems possess more lasting merit than many which have assumed prominent places in the literature of this country."
The subject of this sketch was unfortun- ate some years ago in losing all that he possessed by being led into foolish specu-
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lation, and much of his work has been done under the most disadvantageous cir- cunistances and in the teeth of fortune.
R EV. SAMUEL N. CALLENDER, D. D., a distinguished divine of the Reformed church in the United States and secretary of its Board of Foreign Missions, was born April 16, 1820, in the city of Har- risburg, Pennsylvania, the son of Norman and Elizabeth D. (Weistling) Callender. He is at present a resident of Mechanicsburg. Pa. The Callenders are of English origin and emigrated to this country early in the Colonial period. It appears that there was a Callender, in all probability an ancestor of our subject, in the city of Boston as early as 1669.
Nathaniel Callender, grandfather of Dr. Callender, married Olivia Kellogg, and re- sided at Shoreham, Vermont, later moving to Sheffield, Massachusetts. He was a shoemaker by occupation and reared a family of six sons and four daughters. A number of years after his marriage he re- moved from the State of Massachusetts and came to Shippensburg, Cumberland coun- ty, Pennsylvania, where he plied his voca- tion for a short time and then removed to Ohio, where he died.
Norman Callender, the father of our sub- ject, was born in Vermont Aug. 3, 1793, and when a youth was taken to Pennsyl- vania, when his father removed to that State. He was left by his parents in Har- risburg, Pa., to learn his trade. He fol- lowed the calling of shoe-maker during his earlier years, but later in life was engaged in the drug business in Harrisburg. He did not locate permanently in this city, however, but, after continuing in business there for some years, moved to Pittsburg and thence to Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the drug business and lived until the time of his death, which oc-
curred in 1893. During his residence at Harrisburg Mr. Callender also engaged in the iron business in partnership with Ga- briel Heister, father of the late Gen. A. O. Heister. Their mills were known as the Fairview Rolling Mills. Mr. Callender was an active member of the Reformed church while a resident of Harrisburg, but after removing from that city he became identi- fied with the Presbyterian church. During the attack on Baltimore in the war of 1812, he was one of a company of volunteers who marched to the relief of that city, but as the war closed soon afterward, he prac- tically saw no service. Mrs. Callender was Elizabeth D., a daughter of Samuel Christo- pher Weistling, a native of Colba, Kingdom of Saxony, Germany. The latter came to this country as a surgeon on a Dutch man- of-war. He landed in Philadelphia and as the ship was in need of some repairs, which would require some time to make, he and a companion traveled inland to the German settlements. On their return to report on ship he stopped at a hotel over night, and finding the landlady very ill, he prescribed for her with such success that this incident marked the beginning of a splendid prac- tice which grew up during his leave of ab- sence. This induced him to locate and practice his profession, first in Montgomery county and then in Dauphin county, where he lived five miles northeast of Harrisburg, and later, in the city itself. He built up a large and lucrative practice there, but being disabled by paralysis later in life, was suc- ceeded by two of his sons. To the union of Norman Callender and Elizabeth Weist- ling were born nine children: Samuel N., our subject; Cornelius W., deceased, who was Principal of an Institute and subse- quently President of a Female College at Franklin, Tennessee, until the time of the civil war, when he lost his position and re- tired to a farm in Sumner county, Tennes-
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see; Elizabeth C., and Maria V., who re- side with our subject; Ellen W., widow of Peter A. Laffer, now of Meadville, matron of the female department of Allegheny College; and four who died in infancy.
Rev. Dr. Callender received his educa- tion at Allegheny College, from which he was graduated in 1841, and at the Theolog- cal Seminary of the Reformed church, Mercersburg, Franklin county, Pa., from which latter he was graduated in 1845. After his graduation he immediately be- came pastor at Funktown, near Hagers- town, Maryland, where he remained five years. He then became pastor at Jeffer- son, Frederick county, Maryland, but re- inained there only eighteen months. In 1852 he came to Chambersburg, where he remained as pastor of the Reformed congre- gation for four years. The next nine years of his life were spent in the drug business at Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he en- tered into partnership with his father and temporarily disassociated himself from the ministry. In 1866 he resumed preaching at Greencastle, Pennsylvania, where he filled a pastorate for four years. Failing health caused him to retire a second time and he settled on a farm in Rockingham county, Virginia. He, however, soon after regained his licalth and for the next twenty years was actively engaged in ministerial work. He remained in Rockingham county, Virginia, sixteen years and then re- moved to Mt. Crawford, Virginia, where he resided four years. In 1890 he was ap- pointed Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions and the following year he re- moved to Mechanicsburg, where he still re- sides.
October 16, 1848, he married Eliza Jane, daughter of Daniel Harbine, a farmer of Clear Spring, Maryland, by whom he had eleven children: Norman H., who died in boyhood; Daniel W., dead; Maria Eliza-
beth, at home; Mary E., now living; Eliza Jane, who died in infancy; Catharine, who died at the age of twenty-one; Martha Ann, Adelaide, both of whom died in in- fancy; Cornelius T., a farmier of Rocking- ham county, Virginia; and John and Ger- trude, both deceased.
In 1872 Rev. Callender received the de- gree of Doctor of Divinity from Mercers- burg College, Mercersburg, Pa.
H E. PASSMORE, supervisor of the Northern Central R. R., is one of the oldest and most highly respected offi- cials connected with that line, which has had his uninterrupted service since 1859. He is a son of Jason D. and Anna (Etter) Passmore, and was born on the site of Goldsboro, Newberry township, York county, Pennsylvania, October Ist, 1834. Of English and Quaker ancestry, rugged constitution, and large size, the Passmores trace their American ancestry to an early period in the history of the State. For several generations past the fam- ily has been mainly resident in Lan- caster county, where John Passmore, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch was born and reared. The lat- ter was a farmer by occupation but his son, Jason D., left the farm early in life to learn carpentering and afterwards engaged in contracting and related lines of business.He was principally employed in railroad con- struction and similar operations. Jason D. Passmore was born at Doe Run, Lancaster county, on July 6, 1806, and died at York, Pa., at the age of 84 years. He wedded Anna Etter, a daughter of Henry Etter, of Newberry township, and to their union was born two children.
H. E. Passmore was reared and received his education in his native county, and at an early age engaged in clerical work, which he followed at Harrisburg, York and
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Middletown until the year 1856. In that year he commenced railroad contracting on the Philadelphia and Erie railroad, and three years later entered the service of the Northern Central R. R. Company as the conductor of a construction train, which position he held until 1862. In the latter year he was appointed storekeeper of main- tenance of way, in which position he re- mained three years. He was then made as- sistant supervisor, and in less than a year was promoted to the head of that depart- ment, which important place he has held ever since. To his efforts the company is largely indebted for the superiority of its road bed and the excellent care taken of its track. When he assumed his present po- sition, he found a field of hard work, as well as unseen possibilities, but working steadily and utilizing every means within his grasp he has managed to bring about a well organized system of road manage- ment.
On May 15, 1853 Mr. Passmore wedded, at Middletown, Pennsylvania, Anna L. Rebman, who was a daughter of John and Catharine Rebman, natives of Dauphin county. Mrs. Passmore passed away on November 29, 1895, and is entombed in Prospect Cemetery, York. She was a wo- man possessing many virtues of character, a consistent member of the Lutheran church, and left surviving six children: Seneca S., connected with the Northern Central R. R., in the capacity of weigh- master; John R., a resident of Maryland; Henry E., Jr., of Philadelphia; Anna Kate, wife of R. W. Wilt, foreman of the Colum- bia Iron works, Georgia; Mary F., and Lu- cile W., wife of C. H. Sitler, a locomotive engineer, of York.
is a man of sterling qualities, possessing more than an ordinary executive capacity, a public spirited citizen and places himself upon the side of all worthy movements for the moral, educational and social upbuild- ing of the community.
R EV. CLEMENT A. SCHLUETER, pastor of St. Mary's Roman Catho- lic church, of York, was born January 15, 1837, at Nordkirchen, Province of West phalia, Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, the son of Ernest Melchior and Marianna Schlueter. Rev. Schlueter acquired his earlier education in the parochial schools and graduated from St. Paul's Gymnasium at Muenster in 1860. He then turned his attention to theology and prepared to enter the priesthood at the Universities of Muen- ster, in Westphalia, and Linz, in the Em- pire of Austria. He completed his studies in July, 1864, and having shown all the qualifications and met all the requirements as a candidate for holy orders, he was or- dained on the thirty-first of the same month and ever since has been occupied in the work of the church. His first charges were at different places in Upper Austria. With due permission he entered the Diocese of Harrisburg in the fall of 1872 and was made pastor at Danville, then at Locust Gap, later at Chambersburg and when ap- pointed to the pastorate of the York church, was serving on the New Freedom circuit, which includes the congregations of New Freedom and Dallastown, York county. Rev. Schlueter has during his pastorate thoroughly endeared himself to his congregation. He is possessed of more than ordinary literary culture and in 1889 published a volume of poetry in Germany, entitled "Natur und Gnade" which has met with critical and popular approval on both sides of the Ocean. Rev. Schlueter is also
Mr. Passmore is a supporter of the Re- publican party, served as a member of the council of York, when it was still a borough, and is a high degree Mason. He a splendid linguist, writing, speaking, and
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preaching in German, English, Polish, Italian, Latin, Greek and French.
St. Mary's congregation was founded in 1852 by Rev. Martin, an Irish priest, who did not understand the German language, but became identified with the German congregation through the circumstance of their worshiping with his people. By or- der of Rt. Rev. Neumann, bishop of Phila- delphia, Rev. Cotting, S. J., of Conewago, Adams county, called a meeting of the Ger- mans and organized the congregation which Rev. Martin had founded. It was decided to build another church and a lot of ground was purchased on South George street on which the present church now stands, then in the suburbs of the town. The corner stone of a small brick church was laid July 25, 1852, and on October 8, Holy Mass was celebrated for the first time in the new edifice. The first resident rec- tor was Rev. Father Wachter, a Tyrolean, who started a German school at the same time. Father Wachter attended the small church maintained between New Free- dom and Shrewsbury and the congre- gation at Dallastown, and this addi- tion to his charge necessitated assist- ance in the work. Rev. Wachter, therefore, secured as an assistant Rev. F. X. Treyer, also a native of Tyrol. June 4, 1859, Rev. Treyer died and was buried in St. Mary's cemetery a mile and a half south of York. He was succeeded by Rev. Matthew Meurer, a native of Mon- tabaur, State of Nassau, Germany. Rev. Meurer was followed by Rev. Joseph Hamm, a native of Baden, Germany, who had the old school house removed to the rear of the grounds and a new two-story pastoral residence of brick built beside the church. In the latter part of Decem- ber, 1865, Rev. Bernhard Baumeister suc- ceeded to the pastorate. He was a native of Muenster in Westphalia. After him
came, in the year 1873, Rev. George Pape, born at Warendorf, Westphalia, who built the present church in the year 1884, and resigned in the fall of 1889, on account of his health and returned to Germany. He was succeeded by Rev. Henry Relt, who was born at Gescher, Westphalia. He bought a residence for the venerable sisters of St. Francis, who teach in the parochial schools, and have in their charge two hun- dred of the children of the parish. Rev. Relt died May 24, 1894, and was succeeded by Rev. Schlueter, the present pastor. The strength of the parish is about two hun- dred families, mostly composed of emi- grants from Franconia, Germany, and their numerous descendants. The Franciscan sisters of whom previous mention has been made, came to the parish November 22, 1869,during the pastorate of Rev. Pape. The latter had a brick building erected to serve as a school and dwelling for the sisters; but recently a residence adjoining the rectory lias been secured to lodge the sisters.
R EV. T. C. BILLHEIMER, professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Sci- ence in the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Adams county, Pennsyl- vania, is a native of Northampton county, Pennsylvania, where he was born October II, 1842, the son of Jesse and Julian (Boehm) Billheimer. He is of German an- cestry and is descended from Christian Billheimer, who landed at Philadelphia in 1764 and became a great land holder in early colonial times in the province of Pennsylvania. He had among other sons one named John, who was born in North- ampton county and succeeded his father as a wealthy land owner and farmer.
Jesse Billheimer, the son of John and the father of our subject, was a merchant by oc- cupation and kept a country inn in North- ampton county. He had a common school
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education and was a man of intelligence, pleasant manners and sturdy character. In religion he was a member of the Lutheran church. He died at Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1885 at the age of eighty years. Mrs. Billheimer was a daughter of Philip and Elizabeth Boehm, of Northampton county. She became the mother of 7 children: John O., Martha Ann, Cecilia, Jacob, Stephen, Lucinda and Thomas C. She died in 1842 and Mr. Billheimer afterward married Ly- dia Ann, nee Shaeffer, by whom he had four children: Preston S., Elemina, Josiah and James.
Thomas C. Billheimer received his pre- liminary education in the common schools of Northampton county and in 1861 was sent to Pennsylvania college at Gettysburg, from which lie graduated in 1865, with honors. He then entered the Lutheran Theological Seminary in the same town and took the prescribed course of study. After his graduation in 1867, Rev. Bill- heimer was ordained by the Susquehanna Lutheran Synod and accepted as his first charge, the pastorate at Watsontown, Penn- sylvania, where he remained one year. He spent the next 5 years as pastor of the Ship- pensburg charge and then went to Pitts- burg, where he remained 4 years and then resigned to accept a call from the St. Mat- thew's Lutheran church, at Reading, Penn- sylvania. His pastoral term at Reading lasted 16 years and in 1893 he resigned to accept a call to the chair of Hebrew and Old Testament Science in the Seminary, a position he has since filled. Rev. Bill- heimer is one of the acknowledged theolog- ians of the Lutheran church and has con- tributed not a little to its growth and wel- fare. He is a stanch believer in the doc- trines taught by Luther, is a pulpit orator of marked ability and eloquence, a force- ful writer and ready debator and possesses that genial spirit, which, if not essential,
has ever contributed so largely to success in ministerial work. During his residence at Reading he was made chaplain of the Fourth Regiment, National Guards of Pennsylvania and achieved an instant and lasting popularity among the guardsmen.
December 31, 1867, Rev. Billheimer married Emma C., a daughter of Rev. Jacob and Anna Mary Ziegler, of York, Pennsylvania. To that union were born 5 children: Charles, a resident of Reading ; Roland, deceased; Rev. Stanley, a resident and pastor of Washington, D. C .; J. Ed- ward and Albert.
D R. O. C. BRICKLEY, one of the oldest and most representative phy- sicians of York, is a son of Dr. George and Mary A. (Wingert) Brickley, and was born in Buffalo Valley, Union county, Pennsyl- vania, September 3, 1833. Dr. Brickley is a descendant of an old and honorable family whose original ancestor came from Germany to America at an early day. He married and reared a family, one of whose sons, John, became the grandfather of our subject. John Brickley was a physician by occupation and a life long resident of Union county, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Lutheran church, a physi- cian of note and attained to considerable prominence among the citizens of that county. He married a Miss Moyer, by whom he had a family of four sons: Daniel, a minister of the Evangelical church, who subsequently located in the State of Ohio; John, a farmer of Indiana county, Pennsyl- vania; Jacob, deceased, and Dr. George, father of Dr. O. C.
Probably no man was more widely or favorably known in his chosen fields of work among the laity in York county than was Rev. Dr. George Brickley, whose memory is still green in the minds of those with whom he labored as pastor and phy-
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sician for more than half a century. En- dowed by nature with an indomitable will and possessed of a tenacious memory he was early recognized by his fellow-men as a worthy leader. Although not a native of York county, the best years of his life were spent in the ministry and the practice of medicine in this vicinity, and so closely identified did he become with York that he has always been looked upon as one of its worthiest representatives. He was born in West Buffalo township, Union county, Pennsylvania, January 31, 1806. His early days were spent upon the farm, and in the township school he received the educational groundwork which in after years made him a power in the ministerial and medical pro- fessons. Dr. Brickley at the age of twenty- one connected himself with the Evangelical Association, at a time when it had just be- gun to receive recognition at the hands of the other religious denominations, and for twenty years he toiled laboriously, with his soul in his work, to further its interests, riding circuits (on horse back) which cov- ered large areas, through the chilly blasts of winter and the withering heat of sum- mer. Throughout his entire ministry, Rev. Dr. Brickley was recognized as one of the strong men of the church, and the honor- able record left behind him attests the fact that he was no idler but ever diligent in the advocacy and propagation of his Master's cause.
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