USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Biographical annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families > Part 101
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John C. Behney was born April 17, 1864. and educated in the public schools of Hum- melstown and the Chester Valley Academy at Downingtown, graduating from the latter in 1882. After his graduation he taught in that academy while taking a special course. and the year after leaving the Chester Val- ley Academy he taught the Rock Ridge pub- lic school in Derry township, Dauphin coun- ty, for one year. He then entered Gettys- burg College, where he spent two years, but at the end of that time gave up further studies to enter the business world. Enter- ing the establishment of Dives, Pomeroy & Stewart, at Harrisburg, he was associated with them for three and a half years, at the expiration of which time he associated him- self with Einstein's mercantile establishment in Harrisburg for several months. An op- portunity presenting itself. Mr. Behney be- came a member of the McNeil Medicine
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Company, as stockholder and manager of the office and books. He was connected with this firm for two years, when he sold out and once more became associated with Dives. Pomeroy & Stewart for three and one half years, having charge of the depart- ment of dress goods and silks. Severing his connection with this firm, he opened the dry-goods department for Williamson & Foster in their Harrisburg store. He re- mained with this firm as buyer and manager for four years, and then on June 6, 1896, in company with Joseph H. Snyder and A. G. Snyder, established a business in furnish- ings for men and women in Harrisburg (on Market street) under the firm name of Behney & Co. On March 4th following, the opportunity having presented itself, they opened the first department store in Carlisle, which they have successfully conducted up to the present time, the firm name being Behney & Snyder. They have built up an extensive business, and carry a complete as- sortment of all kinds of goods found in a first-class department store. No other estab- lishment in Carlisle carries as high grade stock as does this firm. They are centrally located on North Hanover street, occupying three floors ; the main floor is 200 feet deep, including the warehouse, and they have some 10,000 feet of floor space.
Mr. Behney is a member of the Carlisle Board of Trade; St. John's Lodge, No. 160, F. & A. M .; and St. John's Chapter, No. 171 ; he is also a member of the P. O. S. of A. and the Modern Woodmen, being a charter member of the latter.
Mr. Behney married (first), Nov. 14, 1884, Miss Emma K. Wenger, only child of Samuel and Susan Wenger; one child was born to them, Charles C. Mrs. Behney died in 1885. Mr. Behney married (second), June 14, 1889, Miss Minerva K. Snyder,
daughter of John B. and Rebecca Snyder, of Reading, Pa. Two children, Byron Stan- ley and Chalmers Bertolette, blessed this union. The family are members of the first Lutheran Church, Mr. Behney belonging to the vestry.
THOMAS M. DERR. The Derr fam- ily have been in Cumberland county for a hundred years or more. Peter Derr, a farmer, was upon the tax list of Frankford township as early as 1805, and from that date down to the present, the name has been continuously upon the county records. Peter Derr probably died young, for soon after 1805 his name disappears from the Frank- ford tax list, and nowhere reappears. In the absence of all family records the early history of the Derrs is hard to trace but enough data have been gathered from the public records to furnish a basis for plaus- ible theories. It is probable that Peter Derr had the following sons: Henry, George, John, Jacob and Daniel. What daughters he had, or whether he had any, has not been ascertained. Of the sons here named Henry appears in West Pennsboro in 1811, taxed with two horses and three cows ; and in 1814, and afterward, in Frankford township, where he owned land and engaged at car- pentering and weaving, and later at farm- ing. George was a blacksmith, and lived continuously in Frankford. John became a miller, and early in the thirties he and a man named Heterick engaged in the milling busi- ness in West Pennsboro, but afterward he was in that business by himself. In 1840 he quit milling and went to farming. Jacob became a stone mason, but he did not tarry long in Frankford, as, in 1832, he was lo- cated in North Middleton township, and in 1835 in the town of Newville.
While it is not absolutely certain that
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Daniel Derr was a son of Peter Derr, all the facts at hand point that way. According to family tradition his parents died when he was quite young, and he was put out among strangers to shift for himself. For some years he lived with a family named Wolf, who cared for the lad with parental tender- ness. Next he lived with a farmer named Doner, in West Pennsboro, with whom he received a course of training that specially fitted him for the success which he after- ward attained at tilling the soil. On reach- ing manhood's years he married, and in 1823 began farming in West Pennsboro. He continued to farm rented land until in 1835, when he bought, from Nicholas How- ard, of Newville, a farm in Newton town- ship, two miles due west of Newville, up:" which he lived till to the end of his active days.
Daniel Derr was married four times. His first wife was a Miss Bowers, who die ! shortly after their marriage and left no chil- dren. Her remains are buried in the grave- yard of the Brick Church, in Frankford township. He next married a sister of his first wife, who bore him two children, Eliza- beth, who married John Lay; and Samuel, who married Nancy Wolf, had five children, and some thirty years ago moved to Indiana. Daniel Derr's second wife died while yet a young woman, and he afterward married Elizabeth Diehl, who bore him the follow- ing children: John Amos, who married Elizabeth Wolf, and had nine children, four boys and five girls; Matilda, who married Samuel Minnich, and had five daughters; Ferdinand; Daniel M., who married Eliza Minnich, and had five children, Reuben, Jane, David, John and Matilda; Isaac, who married (first ) Fanny Shuler (by whom he had one son, Emanuel Mcclellan), (second) a Miss Guthrie (who bore him one son, Wil-
liam), and (third) Mrs. Elizabeth (Oyler) Hays (who bore him two sons). Isaac Derr twenty-seven years ago moved to the West, and those of his descendants who survive are living somewhere in Colorado. Eliza- beth (Diehl) Derr, Daniel Derr's third wife, is buried in Prospect Hill cemetery near Newville, and he afterward married Mrs. Barbara (Brelnn) Hefflefinger, by whom he had no issue. Daniel Derr died Sept. 2, 1876, in Newville, at the age of eighty years, three months and two days. The re- mains of both himself and wife Barbara are interred in the Prospect Hill cemetery.
Ferdinand Derr, the third child and sec- ond son of Daniel and Elizabeth ( Diehl) Derr, was born Nov. 7, 1828.in West Penns- boro township. He grew to manhood on the farm and followed farming in the townships of Newton, Penn and West Pennsboro, while health and strength remained to him. He relinquished farming in 1879, and in his retirement lived in the families of his differ- ent children, some of whom reside in Cum- berland county, and the others in Holt coun- ty, Missouri.
Ferdinand Derr married Mary Kissin- ger, who was born Sept. 22, 1824, daughter of Major Joseph Kissinger, of West Penns- boro township. They became the parents of the following children: (1) Ezemiah Jane, born Nov. 7, 1852, died July 25, 1893; (2) Thomas Mckinney, born April 9, 1854; (3) William Alexander, born April 4, 1856; (4) Sarah Emma, born Aug. 10, 1858; (5) Joseph Kissinger, born June 20, 1860; (6) Linn Mccullough, born Dec. 28, 1861. Mary (Kissinger) Derr died Nov. 21, 1872, and Ferdinand Derr, her husband, died Jan. 19, 1904. Both are buried in Prospect Hill cem- etery near Newville.
Thomas Mckinney Derr, the second child of Ferdinand and Mary (Kissinger) Derr,
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was born in Newton township. During his minority he remained at home helping on the various farms which during his long career as a farmer his father at different times occupied. He attended the country district school but as the farm and its affairs required much of the boy's time, his scholas- tic training was but meager. While yet a boy he turned his attention to the growing of live stock, and finding that money could be made by the judicious handling of stock he engaged at buying and selling it. His first transactions were few and small but they grew in number and importance by easy stages, and by the time he reached the years of mature manhood he was a full fledged stock dealer. Soon after he married he be- gan farming on his own account and has engaged at that vocation most of the time since, but whether at farming or any other occupation he continued to buy and sell stock, and has long enjoyed the reputation of being one of Cumberland county's most popular and successful stock dealers.
On March 1, 1877, Thomas M. Derr married Wilhelmina Rebecca Smith. daugh- ter of George O. and Susan (Stickle ) Smith, of West Pennsboro township. In the spring of 1878 he began farming on the Henry Bitner farm, situated on the State Road, two and one-half iniles west from Carlisle. A year later he moved to the farm of John H. Weaver's heirs, one and one-half miles farther west on the State Road, where he farmed for six years. His wife died June 4, 1884, at the age of twenty-seven years and one month. The following spring he sold off his stock and farming implements, and removed to Carlisle where for one year he devoted his entire time to stock dealing. At the end of a year he resumed farming on the Andie Kerr farm at Middlesex where he
farmed for one year. He then again sold off and a second time, for a short period, made his home in Carlisle.
On Sept. 16, 1886, Mr. Derr married for his second wife, Rebecca Jane Bird, of New Castle county, Del .. who was born Sept. 4, 1858, daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth (Webster ) Bird, whose mother was a daughter of Clark and Elizabeth (Abbot) Webster, of Dela- ware, and who is of English ancestry both by her paternal and her maternal lines. About this time Mr. Derr bought the hotel property at Plainfield, and for eight years kept hotel, but during that time also con- tinued dealing in stock. On relinquishing hotel keeping he bought a home close by the hotel, and, moving to it, lived there for three years. His business prospered, and being able to make other investments he bought the property in West Pennsboro township long known as the Wolf farm, and later the Newcomer farm near the Conedoguinet creek, on the north side of the same town- ship.
The Derr family for generations were Democrats, and Thomas M., being active and energetic in the affairs of his party nat- urally was suggested and urged for public position. West Pennsboro is a Republican district, but he was elected one of its school directors, and rendered faithful and satis- factory service. Through his political activ- ity and extensive stock dealing his acquaint- anceship spread, his name came to be used in connection with county office, and in June, 1903, he was nominated for sheriff by a large majority, carrying every township excepting one and every borough excepting Carlisle. The campaign which followed was hotly contested, but he was elected by a ma- jority of 161, and, on the first Monday of
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1904, was formally inducted as sheriff of Cumberland county, in which capacity he is now serving.
Thomas M. Derr by his first marriage had one child, Henry Smith, who married Minnie Catharine Mentzer, a daughter of Francis and Mary (Drawbaugh) Mentzer, who was born in Frankford township. They live in Plainfield, and the young man is in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Enola at lucrative wages.
By his second marriage Mr. Derr had children as follows: Clark Webster, born Aug. 28, 1896; and Annie Van Camp, who was born April 26, 1898. Also Mary Eliza- beth, Clark Baldwin and Eleanor Hetrick, who died in infancy. Mr. Derr is not a com- municant member of any church, but his re- ligious predilections through inheritance are Lutheran, as his parents and his grandpar- ents before him were members of that de- nomination. His present wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, as did her parents before her.
HON. JAMES MARION WEAKLEY. Sometime between 1725 and 1730 tliere came from England and settled upon the Yellow Breeches creek, in what is now Dick- inson township, one James Weakley. He purchased from the proprietaries a tract of six hundred acres of land on which he built a house, enclosed by a stockade, for the pro- tection of his family and neighbors from the attacks of the Indians. He increased his pos- sessions by purchases, and at his death was owner of large estates in lands. He died June 6, 1772; his wife Jane, died Nov. 30, 1763, and their remains are interred in the Meeting House Springs burying ground.
This Weakley progenitor had six sons and five daughters. His tenth child in the order of birth was a son named James, who
married Rebecca Mckinley, by whom he had the following children : Jean, Isaac, James, Rebecca, Nancy, Nathaniel, Wil- liam King and Elizabeth. He inherited the tract of land his father purchased from the Penns, and lived upon it until his death. He served two enlistments during the Revo- lutionary war, returning with the rank of captain. Of his children, William, the youngest son, died in early manhood, but all the others lived to an advanced age. Cap- tain James Weakley died in 1814, at the age of eighty-four years.
James Weakley, second son of Captain James Weakley, born April 16, 1785, inher- ited the name of his ancestors. When more than forty-five years old he encoun- tered financial trouble, and the old home- stead was sold from him. He then married Elizabeth Lockhard, daughter of a farmer in Dickinson township, and began anew. Engaging in the manufacture of lumber, by hard work and rigid economy he soon began to acquire property. When he retrieved his fortune, he purchased a farm in Penn town- ship, to which he removed in 1847, and re- sided there until his death. In 1861, when seventy-six years old, he repurchased the old homestead, paying for it a price four times greater than it brought when it was sold from him in 1835. He died Aug. 30, 1873; his wife passed away June 7, 1854. He was a strong, earnest, indomitable man. James and Elizabeth (Lockhard) Weakley had three sons and one daughter, viz. : James Marion, W. H. Harrison, Wilson C., and Rebecca.
James M. Weakley, the oldest child and subject of this biographical sketch, was born in Dickinson township, April 12, 1839. He received a fair academic education, and in 1860 began the study of law with William H. Miller, of Carlisle. He was admitted to
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the Cumberland county Bar in 1862, and has been in active practice ever since in the courts of this and other counties of the State. On Sept. 12, 1865. he married Mary F. Sul- livan, of Carlisle, who bore him three chil- dren : Florence, who died in childhood ; Mary F .. who graduated from the Academy of Visitation, Georgetown. D. C., and who died May 15. 1903: and Francis J., a graduate of St. John's College, Fordham, New York city, and of the Dickinson School of Law, who died Jan. 20, 1904.
For several years Mr. Weakley was in- terested in journalism. He was for eight years editor and part owner of the Carlisle Herald, the Republican organ of Cumber- land county, and for two years editor of the Carlisle Leader. He is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, and a past master of St. John's Lodge, F. & A. M. He was several years president of the Cumberland Valley Mutual Insurance Com- pany, and has held other positions of trust and responsibility. His political career be- gan in 1865. when he was elected a member of the Carlisle borough council, in which he served until 1868. The year following he was appointed by Governor Geary Assistant Secretary of the Commonwealth, which im- portant and responsible position he filled from 1869 to 1872. In 1871 he was elected State Senator from the district composed of Cumberland and Franklin counties, and he was a member of the Senate three years, serv- ing on the committees on Corporations. Ju- (liciary General and Constitutional Reform. Just prior to his election to the Senate he was chosen a member of the school board of Carlisle, and re-elected four times, being president of the board the last ten years of his service.
In 1891, Mr. Weakley was elected pro- ie-for of Pleading in the Dickinson School
of Law, and the following year was niade Professor of Equity. He has filled these positions ever since. Since his retirement from politics Mr. Weakley las engaged in the practice of law, and has maintained a high position in his profession. He has had a varied, honorable and successful career.
REV. ELIAS D. WEIGLE, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church at Mechanicsburg, Cumberland county, was born Jan. 19, 1848. in Adams county, Pa., son of Christian and Elizabeth (Guise) Weigle, both of whom were natives of York county, the latter being a daughter of Nicholas Guise, whose ances- tors came from Germany. The Weigle fam- ily is also of German extraction. John Wei- gle, Dr. Weigle's grandfather, coming from that country.
Dr. Weigle passed his boyhood on the homestead farm in Adams county, growing up one of a family of seven children. After completing the district school course, he en- tered Mercersburg Institute, where he was prepared for college. in 1873, entering the sophomore class at the University of Penn- sylvania. There he was graduated in 1875, and then accepted the chair of Mathematics and Language in the Mercersburg Institute. In 1876 he entered the Gettysburg Theo- logical Institute, was graduated in June. 1878, and was licensed in the same year, at Chambersburg. He was ordained by Bishop Weitsell, of the West Pennsylvania Synod, and took charge of St. Paul's Lutheran Church at Little's town, Pa. Dr. Weigle remained nine years in charge here, and then went to Alton as pastor of the First Lutheran Church, serving most acceptably for another long period. aggregating eight years and nine months. On July 1, 1896, he came to Mechanicsburg, and took charge of the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. At
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that time the membership was 250, and this has been increased to 500. In addition to bringing about a condition which resulted in this doubling of membership. Dr. Weigle has assumed many other duties. He worked diligently until he succeeded in organizing a church at Camp Hill, the church edifice there completed Dec. 24, 1902, at a cost of $7.500, where he also officiates.
On Oct. 16, 1879. Dr. Weigle married Hannah M. Bream, born in Adams county, daughter of William and Harriet Bream, and they have two children, Rev. Luther A., who was ordained a minister in 1903, and is located at Bridgeport, Conn .; and Harriet E., who is a graduate of Irving College.
Dr. Weigle has been honored by many of the leading educational institutions. In 1893, the degree of D. D. was conferred on him by the Susquehanna University, and in 1898 he was also honored by the University of Pennsylvania. For the past seventeen years he has been one of the trustees of Irving College, and for five years has been a director of the Theological Seminary. He is a man of great scholarship, of amazing executive ability, and one whose zeal for the church and whose personal attributes have made him one of the leading members of the clergy of his religious body.
TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCHI. The congregation out of which Trinity Lutheran Church of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland Co., Pa., was evolved, was the Evangelical Luth- eran Congregation of Mechanicsburg. The lot upon which the first small, frame church edifice was erected in 1843-44, was pur- chased from Valentine Schoch, in 1843. It was located on the north side of East Main street, where the building occupied and owned by the Business Men's League of Mechanicsburg, now stands. At that time Rev. N. J. Stroh was in charge, and he was
succeeded by Rev. A. Babb, who served as pastor of the charge for about five years, and was succeeded on April 1. 1851, by Rev. Adam Height. On Dec. 24. 1852, Rev Height organized the first Lutheran Trinity congregation at Mechanicsburg.
The first officers were: Elders, Lewis Bricker and Lewis Bobb : Deacons, Emanuel Seifert and Jeremiah Senseman. Henry E. Williams was the first sexton. and George Hummel was leader of the choir, both before and for some years after this reorganization. It is interesting to note the names of the faithful pastors of this church and the dura- tion of their pastorates : Adam Height, Dec. 24. 1852-54; Cyrus Reightmyer, April I, 1856-61 ; J. R. Groff, October. 1861-62; C. A. Gelwicks, Oct. 1, 1862-68: T. C. Pritch- ard, June 7, 1868-71; H. C. Fleck, April 7. 1872-75; M. Ort, March. 1876-95 (died Aug. 2, 1895) ; E. J. Wolf ( supply), Aug. 25, 1895, to Jan. 1, 1896: and the present incumbent from the above date. At the time of organization there were fifty-three mem- bers, all of whom signed the constitution which was then adopted. Of the original members these still survive ( 1904) : Henry William, Sophia Slyder, Susan Senseman (Eckels), Catherine Steinouer (Green), Mary Steinouer (Stout ), and Susan Reigel.
The present church edifice was erected in 1858-59. The lot was purchased at public sale, Sept. 2, 1858, and the architect em- ployed was William Limens, of Harrisburg. the contractor being Henry Myers, of Car- lisle. The corner stone was laid Sept. 22, 1858, Rev. Weiser preaching prior to the ceremony, which was conducted by the pas- tor, Rev. Reightmyer. The first sermon in the new edifice was preached Aug. 13, 1859, by Rev. Schoch, in the completed basement, and the building was dedicated on Christ- mas Day, 1859, Dr. Kurtz, of Baltimore,
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preaching the dedication sermon. Many im- provements have been introduced. extensive repairs being made in 1889; steam heat put in in 1899. and lighting- by both gas and electricity. The church was rededicated Feb. 10, 1890.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL. A very import- ant branch of the church is the Sunday- school, and this nursery has not been in any way neglected by the devoted members of Trinity. The present flourishing school is an outgrowth of the old Union Sunday- school of this place. The first meeting for organization was held Sept. 3. 1859. in the lecture room of the church, with Rev. Reight- myer presiding . At this time officers were appointed and also a committee on rules. The first session, one of great interest, was held Oct. 9. 1859, in the afternoon, a change being made to the morning in 1871. The first superintendent was Isaac H. Baker, with a working force of eleven earnest teach- ers and sixty interested pupils. Work was carried on with an enthusiasm which brought wonderful results, and soon efforts were made to enlarge. The first general celebration was in 1860.
The ten years included between 1860 and 1870 were not as prosperous for the school as before and since. The troubles in- cident to the great Civil war affected the school, taking many of its most interested workers into other paths of duty and useful- ness, some of whom, alas, never could re- turn. The infant class was organized with Mrs. John Riegel as teacher, a lady most admirably adapted, on Nov. 17, 1861. The first Christmas entertainment was on Dec. 25, 1861, and the first collection taken for Mission boards was in the same year. The low water mark for the school was Oct. 27, 1862.
By 1874 the infant class had grown so
large that it occupied the Bible room; ¿ blackboard was made use of first in 1875. I1 March, 1876, the Bible class first occupied a separate room, and from 1880 to 1890, the school made the best showing. In 1894 piano was introduced.
From a very complete account of the school, its officials and work, arranged by Mr. D. E. Longsdorf, we learn that the list of superintendents who have given gener- ously of their time and interest to the devel- opment of the present large and intelligent school membership, includes these well- known men and earnest Christian workers: 1860-61, Isaac H. Baker; 1862, E. S.Keene: 1863. Samuel Eckels; 1864-69, William Mathews; 1870, B. W. Mattison ; 1871, until June, Rev. T. C. Pritchard; 1871, from June, B. W. Mattison ; 1872, Benjamin Lan- dis; 1873, S. J. Kast; 1874-78, G. M. D. Eckels: 1879, D. E. Longsdorf; 1880-83, Ed. S. Wagoner; 1884-86, G. M. D. Eckels; 1879, D. E. Longsdorf; 1888-93, J. L. Shelley; 1894, E. E. Campbell; 1895, E. R. Wiland; 1896-97, J. J. Brehm; 1898-99, Dr. E. D. Weigle; 1900-1902, H. H. Mercer.
ALEXANDER LINDSAY is still re- nembered by many residents of Cumberland county, in South Middleton township, where he was engaged in farming for many years, and in Carlisle, where he passed his latter days in retirement. Several of his children still reside in this section, and the members of this family have always ranked among the most esteemed residents of the community.
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