USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 49
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 49
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nine children, five sons and four daughters: John; David, a resident of the State of Il- linois; Mary, deceased, wife of Leonard Wise; Benjamin, subject; Jacob, retired,
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living in Illinois; Peter, resident of Me- chanicsburg, Pa .; Sarah, wife of Daniel Stanibaugh; Annie, deceased, wife of Henry Pressel.
Benjamin Plank, our subject, was brought up in his boyhood to the trade of blacksmithing and from the age of seven- teen to twenty years was his father's assis- tant in the latter's shop. He then ob- tained a clerkship in a store which he re- tained for some three years, at the expira- tion of which time he removed to Barnitz, Dickinson township, and engaged in a gen- eral mercantile business which he contin- ued for thirteen years. In 1865 he disposed of the store in Dickinson township and re- moved to Carlisle where he opened a boot and shoe store. This business remained in his possession until 1872, since which time Mr. Plank has been practically retired from active business concerns, devoting his time exclusively to looking after his real estate in Carlisle and his farm in Dickin- son township. Mr. Plank is a Republican in politics and has always shown a laud- ableand intelligent interest in the issues and welfare of the party. In 1872 he was elec- ted Justice of the Peace and served con . tinuously for a period of ten years. In all his relations Mr. Plank has exhibited the qualities of a good citizen and broad- minded man. He is careful, frugal and de- voted to every cause which has for its pur- pose the up-building of the home and the community. In these respects he has won the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellow townsmen. He is an attendant at and liberal contributor to the Methodist Episcopal church.
On March 4th, 1851, Mr. Plank married Mrs. Mary Zug, daughter of John Wolf, of South Middleton township and widow of John Zug. By this union three children were born: Sarah Anna and Harry Bech- told, both deceased in infancy; and John
W., whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Plank is still living at the ad- vanced age of seventy years.
OHN W. PLANK, the leading dry goods merchant of Carlisle, Cumber- land county, Pennsylvania, is a son of Benjamin and Mary (Wolf) Plank and was born in the afore mentioned county on Jan- uary 28th, 1859. His career has been marked by unusual success in his particular sphere and is due to his characteristic en . ergy, pluck and business management. He started in life with no other capital than a good education obtained in the Carlisle public schools from which latter he was graduated in 1875. Shortly after this date he indentured himself to learn the printing trade in the Herald Publishing office of Carlisle, and six months after finishing his apprenticeship he began an independent career in the general merchandising busi- ness at Boiling Springs as a member of the firm of D. B. Shelley & Company. This connection he maintained for a period of three years when he returned to Carlisle and opened a dry goods store in his father's building on North Hanover street where he remained in business until 1887. This year Mr. Plank purchased the residence on South Hanover street, formerly owned and occupied by ex-Judge Graham, deceased, and made extensive additions and altera- tions. What is now known as the Plank building was then erected and since 1889 constant enlargements have been made to meet the growing exigencies of business expansion. The present building occupied by his various interests has a frontage of sixty feet and depth of one hundred and sixty feet. From very modest beginnings his business has rapidly gained both in im- portance and volume until it now covers every important branch of the dry goods and notion trade. Mr. Plank carries a J
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stock of from $50,000 to $75,000 and the gross sales aggregate about $100,000 an- nually. In 1893, in addition to his mer- chandising business, Mr. Plank organized the John W. Plank Wrapper Company, Lt'd, a substantial and progressive concern devoted to the manufacture of wrappers and other standard articles of raiment for women and children. From the very be- ginning the enterprise gave emphatic signs of success and under its skillful manage- ment it now stands among the first indus- tries of Carlisle. In 1896 it became a lim- ited stock company, with John W. Plank as president and directing head.
Mr. Plank's business success has been little short of phenomenal. Starting in 1883 with a borrowed capital of $3,000, he has risen step by step through inherent en- ergy and perseverance to his present posi- tion of prominence among the business men and interests of his native county. He is a man thoroughly awake to the demands of the times and has seized with wonderful alacrity upon such modernized methods as seemed to him most likely to result in a proper expansion of his business interests and at the same time give additional zest and stability to the community with which he has identified himself. His general fa- cilities, courteous demeanor, quality of mer- chandize and fairness of dealing have com- manded John W. Plank to the public in an unusual degree. In his religious affilia- tions he is a member and officer of the Lutheran church and in politics a votary of the Republican party.
On February 12, 1885, Mr. Plank was united in marriage with Annie M. Miller, daughter of David Miller, deceased, of Me- chanicsburg, Pa. To this marriage union two children have been born: Benjamin Leroy and John Forney, aged 10 and 3 years respectively.
D R. ELBRIDGE H. GERRY, a phy- sician, of Shrewsbury, York county Pennsylvania, is a native of that borough, and was born October 18, 1836, a son of James and Salome (Hoxman) Gerry. He is of Scotch origin. His grandfather, James was a citizen of Cecil county, Maryland, and a native of Scotland. He was a farmer but took great interest in the public affairs of his State, serving at one time as a mem- ber of the House of Delegates.
The father of our subject was born in Maryland in 1796, was educated at West Nottingham Academy and was principal for three years, studied medicine in the Univer- sity of Maryland and afterward located in Shrewsbury, where he spent the remainder of his life, having practiced medicine for over fifty years. He was prominent in the Methodist Episcopal church and in the pol- itics of his State and county, and a member in national, State and county conventions, serving two years in Congress to which he was first elected in 1838. His children were: Lydia Ann, Mary, E. H., James and Susannah. He died in 1873, thirty-one years after the death of his wife.
Our subject secured his earlier education in the public school of Shrewsbury and at the town academy. Afterward he attended Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pa., where he graduated in the class of '61. He then taught school for three years and entered upon the study of medicine which he fur- ther pursued at the University of Mary- land, graduating in 1867. He was associa- ted with his father in practice at Shrews- bury until 1870 and then with his brother James until 1888, when the partnership was dissolved and the doctor continued to practice alone. He has a large and lucra- tive clientele in the town and in the ad- joining country and has the reputation of being a skilled physician and surgeon. The doctor is a very active Democrat and has
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attended many county and State conven- tions as a delegate, was also a member of the State Central Committee and served in most of the borough offices, and as director of the Shrewsbury Saving Institution.
He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church having served as lay delegate, S. S. superintendent, class leader, steward and trustee and is also a member of the Masonic fraternity, being connected with Shrewsbury Lodge, and York Com- mandery, Knights Templar.
In 1868 he married Anna, daughter of Ezekiel and Sarah (Mitchell) Scarborough, of Baltimore. She died in February, 1871, and in 1873 the doctor married his second wife, who was Arabella, daughter of Wil- liam and Mary (Beck) McAbee, of Shrews- bury. They had four children: Elbridge B., in the revenue service at Lancaster; James J .; William, deceased; and David M.
L EWIS K. STUBBS. Thomas Stubbs emigrated from England to Amer- ica 1718. Mary Minor came from Ireland about the same time, a descendant, how- ever, of English parents. Both were sin- gle, but in 1720 they were married in Chester county. Both were Friends. Their children numbered nine: Daniel, Esther, Thomas, John, Joseph, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah and Ann. Of these children, Daniel was the lineal ancestor and great-great- grandfather of L. K. Stubbs. His son Vincent was a native of Chester county where he was born March 17, 1753, and died May 12, 1821. He was a farmer by occupation and in his time was greatly de- voted to the chase. His habits were rigid- ly temperate. He never visited a tavern, nor would he permit his sons to do so. He married Priscilla Cooper, a daughter of John and Hannah (Wheeler) Cooper, and had a son also named Vincent, who was the grandfather of our subject. He was
born March 6, 1797. He died April 8, 1875. This ancestor married Mary England Haines, of Cecil county, Maryland, July 14, 1802. This lady was the daughter of Jos- eph and Rebecca Haines. The family lived during the greater part of the father's life in Lancaster county, where they car- ried on farming. Vincent Stubbs was a Whig in politics. He had ten children: Joseph H., Rebecca, Thomas, Elizabeth, Verlinda, Hannah, Sophia, Priscilla, Mary, and a son who died in infancy.
L. K. Stubbs, our subject, is the son of Thomas and Mary (Brinton) Stubbs. Tho- mas Stubbs, his father, was born in Lancas- ter county, July 14, 1826, and died April 3, 1896. The homestead where he was born was occupied by the family over 150 years and with the advent of Thomas into the world the house in which he was born saw the birth of the third generation within its walls. The elder Stubbs remained a far- mer all his life. He was an active Republi- can and took a prominent part in local pol- itics.
His religion was that of the great founder of the commonwealth, as that of his father before him had been. He mar- ried Isabella Scott and had no issue. His second wife was Mary Brinton, by whom he had two children, twins: Our subject and Slater Russell, who lives in Millville, New Jersey, and is a supervisor on the West Jersey railroad. Lewis was sent to the public schools where he obtained his preliminary education, and afterward to the West Chester State Normal School. Leav- ing that institution he engaged in banking at Oxford, being employed as teller in the Farmers' National bank for five years. In January, 1890, he came to Delta, and hav- ing helped to organize the First National bank there in 1889, he became its cashier. January 1, 1890, the institution opened for business with a capital of $50,000. Mr.
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Stubbs is also identified with the civic in- terests of Delta. He is a town councilman, treasurer of the borough, secretary of the board of trade, director of the Delta Elec- tric Light company, president of Delta Tel- ephone company and director and treasurer of the Delta building and loan association. Mr. Stubbs has been honored in public of- fice more because of his fitness and integ- rity than for any other reason. Neverthe- less he has always been elected as a Re- publican. He has always clung to the re- ligion of his fathers and is a member of the Society of Friends. In September, 1890, he was married to Sophia Duffield Hodg- son, daughter of Mark A. and Margaretta (Cann) Hodgson, of Oxford, Chester county. They have one child, Margaret Elizabeth born 1893. Mr. Stubbs is rec- ognized throughout the whole lower End of York county as a shrewd business man. He has inherited those excellent traits of character which made the Quaker people, despite their austere religion, a liberal minded, industrious and thrifty class of citi- zens, law-abiding, intelligent and philan- thropic.
W TILLIAM B. McILHENNY, deputy sheriff of Adams county, is a son of Jacob G. and Sarah A. (Lott) McIlhen- ny, and was born at Knoxlyn Mills, Adams county, March 11th, 1860. He is of Scotch-Irish origin. His paternal grand- father, Hugh McIlhenny, married Ann Taughinbaugh, followed milling and farm- ing and reared eight children, of whom Jacob G. McIlhenny was the second. In politics Mr. McIlhenny was a Whig and later a Republican. He was a member of the Great Conewago Presbyterian church, which he served as elder up to the end of his life. He died at the age of ninety-one at Gettysburg. His children were: John T., Jacob I., Robert, William A., Mrs.
Martha Majors, Mrs. Margaret Knox, Rosa and Rebecca.
Jacob G. McIlhenny was born February 19, 1830, and was reared on a farm and ed- ucated in the common schools. He learned milling under his father and for twenty years followed that occupation. During his later years, up to the time of his death in 1895, he devoted most of his time to cul- tivating a large farm located near Hun- terstown which he had acquired by his own exertions. He was active in church mat- ters, served his township as school direc- tor for a number of years, and was elected County Commissioner 1881, and served three years. Mr. McIlhenny was united in marriage in 1854 with Sarah A., a daughter of Henry Lott. Mrs. McIlhen- ny's paternal and maternal ancestors orig- inated in Holland and were early settlers in Adams county. Prior to her marriage she taught school very successfully in Adams county for several terms. To that union were born seven children: Henry Lott, now a practicing physician in the State of Kansas; William B., our subject; Jacob Harrison, now located in Chicago; Robert Alexander, now a physician in Kansas; Jchn King, who lives at Hagerstown Maryland; Rebecca, deceased; and James Gray, a student at Pennsylvania College. Mrs. McIlhenny died in 1893; her husband survived her until August, 1895.
William B. McIlhenny was reared on his father's farm and acquired his education in the common schools. He then farmed in Straban township until 1881, when he went to Kansas and worked on a farm for one season. Then he entered the Studebaker wagon works at South Bend, Indiana, and worked there for one year and a half. He then returned to Adams county and worked on the farm of his father until 1887, when through his identification with poli- tics, he received the appointment of deputy
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NINETEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
sheriff. This position he held for six years, when he himself became the candidate, and was elected high sheriff of the county in 1893. At the expiration of his term of three years, Sheriff Miller, his successor re- appointed him deputy, and he still retains that position. Mr. McIlhenny is a Repub- lican in politics, and has been secretary of the county committee for a number of years, and has been in the forefront of every political battle in the county for the past ten years. He owns and operates suc- cessfully two large farms (460 acres in Straban township). Mr. McIlhenny is a Republican in politics. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and ofthe Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a director and was active in the organization of the Adams county telephone company, and takes a praiseworthy interest in the de- velopment and growth of every interest of the town of Gettysburg. He is very popu- lar and is regarded as one of the best citi- zens of Adams county. Mr. McIlhenny is unmarried. He was a delegate to State convention 1896.
D R. JOHN W. BOWMAN, comes of worthy German ancestry. He is the son of Samuel and Susan (Koons) Bowman and was born in Wormleysburg, Cumber- land county, Pa., December 20th, 1846. The family in the time of the subject's grandfather were located in Lancaster county at Ephrata and Christian Bownian was born and reared there. He was mar- ried to Mary Mohler, daughter of John Mohler, of the same place. They moved to Cumberland county near Boiling Springs, where they engaged in farming, and for a time were engaged in the grain and flour business. About 1827 he bought a farm in East Pennsboro township, Cumberland county, where he was engaged in farming
until 1841, when he sold his farm and bought another near Harrisburg on the Jonestown road, where he lived until 1856, when he sold this farm and moved to Miami county, Indiana, where he lived until the time of his death which occurred at the ad- vanced age of 92 years. He had 3 sons and 2 daughters all of which grew to ma- turity. Mollie, was married to John Lon- genecker. They were engaged in farming in East Pennsboro township, Cumberland county, Pa., until 1856 when they removed to Randolph county, Indiana, where she died at the advanced age of 80 years. John married Katie Longenecker, but died at the age of 29 years, leaving a widow and 3 sons. Samuel, father of our subject; Annie mar- ried Rev. Daniel Balsbaugh. They resided in East Pennsboro township, Cumberland county until 1856, when they removed to Miami county, Indiana, where Mr. Bals- baugh became a noted preacher in the Ger- man Baptist church. Christian Bowman married Susan Brightbill, daughter of Henry Brightbill. They are living near Harrisburg, Dauphin county, Pa., where they own a fine farm, and for several years he was steward at the Dauphin county home.
Samuel Bowman was born near Boil- ing Springs in Cumberland county, on the 13th of May, 1820. He was reared on the farm and learned the trade of cooper, which he followed for six years, when he engaged in farming in East Pennsboro township, where he still lives. He has always been an ardent Republican. He married Susan Koons, daughter of Jacob Koons, a native of East Pennsboro township, and a son of George Kuntz, who came to America from Baden, Germany, in the year 1764. The elder Kuntz married a daughter of Daniel Snyder, a nicce of Governor Snyder. Samuel and Susan Bowman had five sons and three daughters: John W.,
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA.
our subject; Mary, died in childhood; Su- san, wife of David Mumma, a farmer in Hampden township; Jacob, who died in infancy; Samuel, a farmer of Cross, Okla- homa; George, Katie and Christian, all three at home yet.
Our subject was reared on the farm and educated in the public schools, and at White Hall Academy. In 1869 he engaged in the mercantile business. In 1873, commenced the study of medicine with Dr. J. D. Bow- man and J. T. Criswell as his preceptors. In 1875 he entered Jefferson Medical Col- lege, graduating in 1877, when he immed- iately located at Hogestown, Cumberland county, Pa., where he succeeded the late Dr. Joseph Crain and succeeded in build- ing up a large practice. He remained here until April Ist, 1881, when he moved to Camp Hill where he enjoyed a large practice for 12 years, 8 of which he was physician to the White Hall soldier's or- phan school. April Ist, 1893, he moved into his present home in Riverton. Dr. Bowman is physcian to the Northern Cen- tral railroad. He has been a member of the Cumberland county Medical Society since 1878, and in 1896 was its president. He is also a member of the State and of the American Medical Associations; of Eu- reka Lodge, No. 302 Free and Accepted Masons of Mechanicsburg, Pa .; and an el- der in the Christian church at Riverton and an active Sunday school worker. At present he has a large and lucrative prac- tice.
June 28th, 1871, he married Annetta Oy- ster, daughter of the late George Oyster, of Camp Hill, Pa. They have two children: David G. Bowman, a druggist, but at pres- ent a motorman on Harrisburg and Me- chanicsburg electric railway. He is also a member of the firm manufacturing wall plaster at Riverton. He married Mary, youngest daughter of Dr. A. W. Nichols.
William C. Bowman, a graduate of Ship- pensburg Normal School, is Principal of the Riverton schools and is also engaged in the insurance business.
M AJOR WILLIAM M. ROBBINS, the southern member of the Get- tysburg National Park Commission, is a native of Randolph county, North Caro- lina, and was born October 26, 1838, the son of Ahi and Mary (Brown) Robbins. He is of English and Irish ancestry, with a strain of French Huguenot. His pater- nal grandfather, Joseph Robbins, was a prominent planter of Randolph county, North Carolina, in ante-bellum days. He was the father of five sons and five daugh- ters.
Ahi Robbins, the father of our subject, was educated in the public schools of his native State and became one of the wealthy planters of North Carolina. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and always manifested an active and com- mendable interest in religious matters. Mr. Robbins married Mary Brown, a union which resulted in the birth of six sons and three daughters. The sons were: William, Julius, James, Frank, Madison and Ros- well, all of whom, except William and Frank were killed in battle in the civil war. Mr. Robbins died in June, 1886, at the age of eighty-eight years.
Major Robbins received his primary ed- ucation in North Carolina, and in 1857 graduated from Randolph-Macon College in Virginia, with first honors. He then read law and was admitted to the bar in the State of Alabama, where he practiced until the outbreak of the war, when he enlisted as a private soldier in the 4th Alabama in- fantry and served throughout the war. His gallant service in behalf of the lost cause won him promotion and at the close of the war he retired with the rank of Major. In
REV. ANDREW N. HAGERTY.
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NINETEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
several of the battles in which he partici- pated he was slightly wounded and at the Battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864, he suffered a severe and serious wound. The record of his battles is a long and honora- ble one and proves him to have been a brave and valorous son of the South. The war over, he settled in North Carolina, his native State, and took up the practice of his profession at Salisbury. In 1868, against his wishes, he was drawn into pol- itics and elected to the State Senate of North Carolina, where he served four years. The four years' service in the State Senate represented two terms. In 1873 he was elected to the National House of Representatives. and served three suc- cessive terms, from 1873 to 1879. In the latter year he retired and resumed the prac- tice of his profession at Statesville, North Carolina, which is now his home. In March, 1894, Secretary of War Lamont, without Major Robbins' knowledge, ap- pointed him one of the Gettsyburg Battle- field Commissioners and since that time he has spent most of his time at Gettysburg, where, incidental to his duties and resi- dence, he has made many warm friends.
Major Robbins has been twice married. He has five living children, of whom his only son Frank Lee Robbins after his ed- ucation had been completed, was pur- suaded by his father to acquire a know !- edge of the business of cotton manufac- turing, for which Major Robbins saw there was a large and profitable field in the South. The son followed his advise and started as a laborer in the lapper room. From that department he worked his way up until every detail of cotton mamifac- turing was familiar to him. At present he is superintendent of one of the largest cotton spinning establishments in North Carolina, receives a handsome salary and
is known all over the State as a successful and clever young business man.
R EV. GERNY WEBER, A. M., pas- tor of the Glen Rock charge of the Reformed church, is a son of Joseph Karl and Rebecca (Hockman) Weber, and was born at Rebersburg, Center county, Pa., September 14, 1868. He is descended from a German ancestry. Joseph, the father of our subject, was born at Rebers- burg, January 7, 1822. He received a common school education, and besides en- gaging in farming followed wagon making and the manufacturing of farming imple- ments. In politics he was a Democrat, but held no public positions beyond those of clerk and tax collector. He died Sep- tember 14, 1891, a deservedly esteemed and worthy citizen, and a consistent Chris- tian, having outlived his wife over twenty years.
Our subject secured his rudimentary education in the public schools and in a private academy at Rebersburg. He ob- tained his college training in Franklin and Marshall College and graduated in the class of '92. Having taken this course with a view of entering the ministry in the Reformed Church, he at once entered the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church located at Lancaster, and gradu- ated three years later in the class of '95. This same year the trustees of the College conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts.
June 15, 1895, he was called to the pas- torate of the Glen Rock charge, and has been there since.
R EV. ANDREW NEELY HAG- ERTY, pastor of the First Presby- terian church, Carlisle, Pa., is an earnest and successful minister, of ability and thorough education. He is a son of Wil-
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