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 109
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Daniel Monn was the youngest son of Jonathan Monn, who came from Scotland. He became one of the progressive and wealthy men of his day. He was a distiller of considerable importance, also a miller and extensive landholder, owning several fine farms. In addition he was a heavy stock- holder in one or two banks, and a director in numerous large commercial and industrial institutions. He was one of the builders of the old "Washington Hotel" in Waynes- boro. In politics he was a Whig. In re-
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ligious matters, he was a member of the Seven Day Baptists and was a very active and liberal trustee of that denomination. He was peculiar in some of his ideas, but very kind of heart and generous to a fault. His death occurred when he was about fifty- four years of age. about the close of the Civil war. His widow lived to be eighty- four years old. They had children, as fol- 'lows : John. Jeremiah. Jacob, C. J .. William B., Susan (deceased, who married Rev. Fetterhoff), Sarah (who married Samuel Cleppinger ), Ella M. (widow of William McKee). Mary ( deceased, who married Mr. Stauffer) and Ann ( who married Sam- uel Ebersole).
William B. Monn, father of our subject, spent his life in Franklin county, in the vicinity of Chambersburg. He was a farmer and mechanic. During the Civil war, he entered Company G, 126th P. V. I., and served nine months. He conducted a flour- ishing iron working business at Quincy, and became the owner of considerable prop- erty, he being one of the live, energetic men of his community. In politics he was a Re- publican, and took an active part in the workings of his party. His death occurred Nov. 17, 1890, when he was fifty years of age. He died on the old homestead, and his remains were interred in the Salem Church cemetery. His widow later married John H. Sallenburger of Franklin county. Twelve children formed the family of which our subject is a member : C. J .; John B., a resident and farmer of Medina county, Ohio; Anna, Laura B. and Eva L., who all three died unmarried; Ira Snively, who graduated from the Mercersburg and Chambersburg high schools, engaged in teaching, and a student in the Theological department of the Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, Pa .; Harry, of Mer-
cersburg: Ella, who married Christian Waddle, of Chambersburg; William Mc .. a resident of Canton, Ohio, and department superintendent in the rubber factory of that place; Jennetta, unmarried and at home; Charlotte, deceased; and Ray, residing with his mother at Chambersburg.
Our subject was educated in the com- mon and academic schools of his native place, and after finishing his education, when a young man, he engaged in the mercantile business at Plainfield, Cumberland county, for five years, carrying a general stock. He then went to Mooredale, this county, and continued his general mercantile operations, and filled the office of postmaster for four years. His next location was at Oakville, where for nine months he conducted a mer- cantile establishment. He then bought the "Big Spring Hotel," at Newville, where he spent one year in the hotel business. In 1902, he bought the "Boiling Springs Hotel," and has since been engaged in con- ducting it, meeting with marked success. While at Mooredale, he was also engaged in 'a fruit business, and still owns a large and productive fruit ranch at Edenville, Franklin county.
Politically Mr. Monn is a stanch Re- publican, and has represented his party as delegate to various conventions. Frater .- nally, he is a member of the A. F. & A. M., Big Spring Lodge, No. 361, Newville, of which he is past master. He is also a mem- ber of the B. P. O. E., Carlisle, and this lodge elected him delegate to the conven- tion at Baltimore, Md., in 1903.
On April 17, 1888, Mr. Monn was united in marriage with Miss Amanda Dull, daughter of George and Mary (Miley) Dull, old settlers of Franklin county. Mr. and Mrs. Monn have four daughters : Mabel G., Beulah V., Mary V. and Cyrus
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Ruth. They are members of the Dickin- son Presbyterian Church, and honored miem- bers of society at Boiling Springs.
J. D. MILLER, justice of the peace, and proprietor of a prosperous cold storage es- tablishment at Boiling Springs, Cumberland county, is a native of Philadelphia, where he was born July 9, 1870. son of Albert R and Jane Ann ( Pollinger) Miller.
Albert R. Miller was born in Lancas- · ter county, Pa., in 1841, and died in 1902. He was the son of John Miller, of Lancas- ter county, and spent his boyhood in his native place. When a young man, he re- moved to Mechanicsburg. Cumberland county, and engaged in shoe manufacturing for a short time, later going to Philadel- phia, where he embarked in the same line of business, as foreman of a shoe factory. After eighteen months, about 1868, he es- tablished his own factory at Harrisburg. in conjunction with John and Henry Forney. under the firm style of Miller & Forney. This firm owned the first shoe manufactur- ing plant between Philadelphia and Pitts- burg. This house continued until 1885. building up a large and profitable business. and giving employment to from 150 to 175 skilled workmen. In 1885. the firm sold the factory to the Harrisburg Boot & Shoe Co., and went into handling shoes at wholesale in Harrisburg, under the name of Forney Bros. & Co., and continued the same for eiglit or nine years, when the Forney brothers died, and their sons assumed the entire business.
In the meantime, Albert R. Miller had established a cold storage business at Me- chanicsburg, with branches throughout Cumberland county, which business he con- trolled until his death, which occurred at Mechanicsburg. He had an active and suc-
cessful business life, and made his mark in the world, but aside from these operations, he had a quiet, uneventful existence. Fra- ternally he was a member of the Order of Odd Fellows, and was a liberal contributor toward all public measures which he be- lieved to be for the good of the community. His wife, Jane Ann Pollinger, passed away about 1883, a most excellent lady, deeply be- loved by a number of warm personal friends outside her home circle. She was a daugh- ter of George and Jane Pollinger of Sid- densburg, York Co., Penn. Four children were born to Albert R. Miller and wife: Gertrude, unmarried; J. D .; Agnes, un- married : George P., a chemist of Philadel- phia. Gertrude resides with her brother J. D., at Boiling Springs, while Agnes is a trained nurse, with headquarters with her brother and sister at Boiling Springs, although she is away from home the greater portion of the time.
J. D. Miller, the subject proper of this sketch, was educated in the public schools of Mechanicsburg, and when a lad of six- teen years, he went to Pittsburg, with the intention of entering the Iron City Busi- ness College, but being a lover of good sport, and becoming acquainted with Mr. J. D. Prindle, sporting editor of the Pitts- burg Post, he accompanied the latter to dif- ferent places of amusement, so that when Mr. Prindle asked the boy to report the progress and conclusion of a prize fight, he was able to do it so well, that young as he was, Mr. Miller received an appointment upon the staff of the Post as space writer, and in the course of a couple of months, was one of the most valued members of the force of bright young writers. He remained with that paper about a year, when he was of- fered a better position with the Pittsburg Chronicle Telegraph, and from that organ
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he went to the staff of the Sunday Capitol of Harrisburg. His next position was with the Sunday Telegram, and he remained with that paper six of seven years. His ability and intelligence were such as to command for him the admiration and respect of men treble his age.
About this time his father induced him to enter the cold storage business, but Mr. Miller has never entirely abandoned his literary work, being still recognized as one of the most able contributors to the Philadel- phia, Baltimore and New York papers. Since the death of the elder Mr. Miller, our subject has succeeded to the control of the business, making his headquarters at Boil- ing Springs, the branches being located throughout the Cumberland valley.
Mr. Miller has always taken a deep in- terest in public matters, and is a stanch Demo- crat. In 1892 lie was elected auditor of the boroughi of Mechanicsburg, and filled that office for three years. He also filled the office of mercantile appraiser of Cumber- land county, and in 1901 was elected justice of the peace in South Middleton township, this county, which office he still holds. Fra- ternally his affiliations are with the Ma- sonic order, St. John Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 260, of Carlisle; St. John Chapter, R. A. M., No. 171 ; and St. John's Commandery, No. 8, K. T. Mr. Miller is one of the energetic. intelligent, ambitious, broad- gauged young men of Cumberland county, and one who is bound to occupy much higher offices of trust and responsibility in the years to come.
WILLIAM C. SHUMBERGER. About the year 1830 a young man named Simon Shumberger settled in the lower end of Cumberland county and learned the tailoring trade. He married Mary G., a
daughter of Jacob and Christiana ( Firoved) Seiler, and made his home in that part of the county during the rest of his life. He was a kind-hearted genial man, and a very useful member of the community in which he lived. He had a large family and among his older children was a son named George, who married Catherine Miller, and, like his father engaged at tailoring, and always re- sided in the lower end of the county. He is still living and for many years has been holding the position of constable in Hamp -. den township.
George and Catherine (Miller) Shum- berger had children as follows : Simon H .; Mary, who married Reuben Eshleman ; Lizzie, who married Alonzo Tuckey; George W .. who married Sallie Simmons; Ellen, who married Solomon Weavodan; Nettie, who married George Waggoner; William L .. who married Aggie Martin; and Flora, who married Pierce Fiester. Simon H., the oldest of these children, was born in Hampden township in IS47. He was edu- cated in the common schools of his native district, and followed the avocation of farming. He married Lydia Eckert, dauglı- ter of . John and Sarah (Swarner) Eckert, by whom he had the following children : William C., the special subject of this sketch; Martha F., who married R. F. Roth and is living in East Pennsboro township; and George Richard, who died at the age of twenty-two years.
William C., whose name heads this biog- raphy, was born Dec. 27, 1874, in Hamp- den township, Cumberland county, and at- tended the public schools of that locality until he was eighteen years of age. A short time after he left school he went to' the west and spent two years at Franklin Grove, Lee Co., III. In 1895 he returned to his home in Hampden township, and in 1896
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married Catherine E. Hoffer, daughter of Jacob and Susan ( Plough) Hoffer, of West Pennsboro township. After marrying he located near Leidigh's Station, in Monroe township, where he farmed six years. He then quit farming and entered upon the lumber business at which he has been en- gaged ever since. In 1903 he removed from his home near Leidigh's Station to Church- town, in order to be more advantageously located for the wholesaling and retailing of lumber. To William C. and Catherine (Hoffer) Shumberger the following chil- dren have been born : Wilber Hoffer, Silva May, Martha Florence and Lee William. Silva May died in August, 1904, but the others are at home with their parents in Churchtown. Mr. Shumberger and his family belong to the Lutheran Church, and socially are rated among the best people of their community.
In politics Mr. Shumberger is a Demo- crat, as were his paternal ancestors for gen- erations before him, but in no sense a par- tisan, and is known best as an enterprising progressive business man and a highly re- spected citizen.
ABRAM WITMER, a prosperous farmer of Monroe township, Cumberland county, and a worthy representative of a prominent old family of this portion of the State of Pennsylvania, was born in 1876, on the old Witmer homestead in Middlesex township.
Joseph Witmer, grandfather of Abram Witmer, was born Feb. 10, 1785, in Lan- caster county, Pa., and remained at home until maturity. When he started out to make his own way in the world, he secured land in Cumberland county, settling at the head of a small stream, and was one of the pioneer settlers of the beautiful valley which
is the garden spot of the great Keystone State. Being a man of industry and thrift, he prospered in lands and flocks, and be- came one of the founders of the Mennonite Church in that section. He married Cath- erine Eberly, who proved a faithful wife, one who cared tenderly for him through his last years which were filled with suffering, from which he was released by death, Aug. 15, 1853. His widow survived until April 29, 1876, and both were laid to rest in the home graveyard on the old farm, which is now the property of the Albright family. Removal of the family dead was later made to Kutze's Church cemetery. The children of Joseph and Catherine Witmer were : (1) Elizabeth, who was born in 1813, married Benjamin Givler, who was a man of remark- able weight, averaging 396 pounds. She died in 1890, leaving no heirs. (2) Jacob, born Feb. 25, 1815, died Nov. 15. 1894. He was a substantial farmer, owning a fine property one mile east of Carlisle: he mar- ried Hannah Senseman and they had four children : Mary Belle, John W., Catherine and Robert E. (3) Magdalen W., born Jan. 19, 1817. married Abraham Hertzle, of Iowa. They had no children. She is buried with other members of the family. in Kutze's Church cemetery. (4) John W., born Sept. 1, 1820, died June 28, 1837, aged seventeen years. (5) Benjamin W., born in 1822, died in promising young manhood, in December, 1852. (6) Hon. Abram, born in 1823, lived on the old homestead, gained wealth and political prominence, serving for a long time on the Bench, with Judges Graham and Moser. He was in- terested in the manufacturing of paper boards at the Middlesex mills, was a promi- nent Mason and member of the Grange, and was one of the leading men of the county. He died in 1886. He was twice
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married, first to Rebecca Fleming, and. second to her sister, Ann Fleming. (7) Samuel, father of our subject, was born Nov. 5. 1825. (S) Rebecca. born Sept. 10, 1827, died March 12, 1830. (9) Catherine, the youngest of the family, was born in 1830. married Daniel Kutz, a leading mem- ber of the Evangelical Church, and died in 1900, leaving behind her memories of a lov- ing, gentle woman, kind and sympathetic to all who knew her. No children survived her.
Samuel Witmer was born on the old homestead which has been owned by the Witmers for over 100 years. In young manhood he and his brother Abram farmed the home place, but after marriage he bought the John Miller farm, adjoining, and to this removed in 1863. He married Clarissa Williams, daughter of Samuel and Catherine Williams, and they spent many years in prosperity on this farm. After the death of his brother Abram, he fell heir to the homestead farm, to which he removed and this remained his home until the close of his life. He owned some 400 acres of very fertile land, the Witmer homestead farm being considered one of the finest es- tates of this locality, and at one time was the property of Ephraim Blaine, grandfather of the great statesman, the late James G. Blaine.
Mr. Witmer attended the local schools and in later years he sent his children to the same schools, which had been improved but had not developed into the great institutions of learning which his grandchildren now en- joy. For a number of years he was promi- nent both in the agricultural and business life of this township, his main occupation being farming and stock raising, but for a season he also operated a coal and grain station at Middlesex Station. In the autumn of 1893 he contracted a cold which de-
veloped into a sickness from which he never recovered, his death occurring on the fifth of the following December. Both he and his wife were consistent members of the German Reformed Church at Carlisle.
Their six children were: Elizabeth, born Sept. 15, 1864, died June 25. 1866; Anna Mary, born May 29, 1866, married Arthur Huston, son of James Huston, and they live in Mechanicsburg, where Mr. Huston is engaged in the saddlery business, and is the patentee of what is known as the "Huston knot," used in the manufacture of the Hus- ton net (their one son, Witmer, died young) ; Joseph, born June 4, 1869, and re- siding on the old homestead, married Cora Heifner, of Harrisburg, daughter of the ticket agent of the C. V. R. R. in that city, and they have one son, Joseph; Benjamin Emerson, born Nov. 15, 1871, died Oct. 29, 1872; Samuel, born Oct. 2, 1873, died Oct. 19, 1880; and Abram.
Abram Witmer was educated in the same school as was his father, and was seventeen years of age when his father died. Being the youngest son, he remained with his mother until her decease, and then took charge of a farm which he had been given, as had all the children, by his father's will. This consisted of ninety-three acres of good land in Middlesex township, and he lived there until the fall of 1902, when he pur- chased a small farm of twenty-two acres in Monroe township.
In 1898 Mr. Witmer married Lydia Davis, daughter of Jacob and Kate (Funk) Davis, and they have two children : Samuel, born Aug. 4, 1900; and Clarissa, born Dec. 26, 1902. In politics Mr. Witmer is a Re- publican. He is one of the wide awake, progressive young men of this township, one who is well known and most highly es- teemed.
CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
CHESTER CASE BASHORE, EsQ. The Bashore family is of Huguenot origin. and the name, according to good philologi- cal authority, is a corruption of LeBaiseur. They are widely scattered throughout Amer- ica, but appear most numerous in south- eastern Pennsylvania. Many years ago one David Bashore, from Berks county, Pa., settled in Cumberland. Little is known con- cerning his previous history, but he prob- ably descended from one George Bashore, who is known to have located in Bethel township. Berks county, prior to 1738, and was a progenitor of the late Prof. I. D. Rupp, the historian, and the late Hon. Charles S. Wolf, of Lewisburg. David Bashore for some time lived in North Mid- dleton township, two miles west from Car- lisle, but later removed to Monroe, where he remained to the end of his days. He was twice married. His first wife was Sarah Miller, of Adams county, who bore him the following children : John S., David G., Dan- iel, Elizabeth, Sarah, Isaac and Harry. Sarah (Miller) Bashore died Sept. 19, 1850, at the age of forty-nine years, and was buried in the graveyard of the Letort Spring Evangelical Church, near Carlisle. Mr. Bashore afterward married for his second wife Catharine Krysher, a sister of Rudolph Krysher, who for many years was a prominent justice of the peace and active business man at Churchtown. By his sec- ond marriage he had no issue. Catharine (Krysher) Bashore died May 27, 1879, at the age of seventy-three years, and is buried in the Mount Zion cemetery near Church- town. David Bashore was a farmer and followed that avocation till late in life. Dur- ing his latter years he lived in Churchtown, retired from the active duties of life, and died in that town on April 10, 1868, aged seventy-three years. His remains are buried
by the side of those of his first wife in the graveyard of the Letort Spring Church.
David G. Bashore, son of David and Sarah (Miller) Bashore, was born in Mon- roe township. Ile was reared a farmer and agriculture was his principal occupation throughout his lifetime. He married Emeline F. Lutz, a member of another rep- resentative Monroe township family whose genealogy is traced to Berks county. She was a daughter of John and Catharine (Miller) Lutz, and John Lutz was a son of George and Catharine (Wolf) Lutz. George Lutz came to Cumberland from Berks county at an early day and settled in North Middleton (now Middlesex) town- ship. He was a wagonmaker and worked steadily at his trade. In 1803 he removed from North Middleton to Allen (now Mon- roe) township and built a shop where the Forge Road crosses a beautiful stream one mile east from Boiling Springs. Here the Lutzes for three generations engaged at wagon and coach making, and the hamlet that grew up about them came to be known as Lutzestown and the stream by the name of Lutz's Run. George Lutz died April 8, 1856, in his eighty-eighth year, and his wife, Catharine Wolf, died Aug. 29, 1848, aged seventy-one years. John Lutz, the son, died March 20, 1881, in his seventy- second year, and his wife, Catharine Miller, died Dec. 20, 1880, in her seventieth year. and the remains of all of them are buried in the Mount Zion cemetery near Church- town.
David G. and Emeline (Lutz) Bashore had issue as follows : John E., Ella, Chester Case and Annetta. David G. Bashore died Feb. 23, 1904, aged about sixty-six years. and his remains are interred in Mount Zion cemetery. At this writing his widow is still
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living and resides at her home at Lutzes- town in Monroe township.
Chester C. Bashore, the second child of David G. and Emeline (Lutz) Bashore, and the subject of this biography, was born Nov. 13. 1867, in Monroe township. He grew up on the farm and the rudiments of his education were received in the public schools of that part of the county. Subse- quently his parents removed to the vicinity of New Cumberland and while living there he attended the public schools of New Cum- berland and graduated from the high school of that town in 1885. He next took a course in the Cumberland Valley State Normal School. at Shippensburg, and graduated from that institution in 1887. He then taught for several years, after which he returned to the Cumberland Valley State Normal School and in 1891 graduated from it in the scientific course. With this additional preparation he resumed teaching and for two years was superintendent of the public schools of Wiconisco, Dauphin county. He then relinquished teaching and turned his attention to the law, registering as a student- at-law with E. W. Biddle, Esq .. of Carlisle. At the same time he entered upon a course in the Dickinson School of Law and grad- uated from it in the class of 1895. He was admitted to the Cumberland county Bar in that same year and immediately began the practice of his profession in Carlisle, where lie has successfully continued its practice ever since. He is a Republican in politics, has always taken an active interest in pub- lic affairs, and in 1898 was his party's nominee for district attorney, but under the unfavorable drift of the political tide of that year he failed to be elected. Fraternally he is a F. & A. M .; an I. O. O. F .; a K. of P .; a Jr. A. M .; also a member of the Royal Arcanum and of the Delta Chi.
On March 15, 1899, Chester C. Bashore married Miss Fleta K. Bosler, youngest daughter of the late J. Herman and Mary (Kirk) Bosler, of Carlisle, and a member of one of Cumberland county's oldest, most re- spected and influential families. To their union two children have been born, a daugh- ter named Margaret Bosler Bashore, and a son named Chester Bosler Bashore. Mr. and Mrs. Bashore attend the Second Pres- byterian Church, of Carlisle, of which church Mrs. Bashore is a member, as were her family for generations before her.
SAMUEL ELMER BASEHORE. The name Basehore in the past three hun- dred years has been changed many times. Originally it was LeBaiseur. The family were French-Huguenots, and during the Reformation were persecuted on account of their religious convictions, and some of them fled to England. One Jaque LeBaiseur and family were members of the French Protestant Church at Norwich, England, as early as 1614. One was selected by Will- iam Penn to assist in locating and laying out the "great town" of Philadelphia. In a letter to James Harrison, dated Aug. 25, 1681. Penn names William Crispin, John Bezar and Nathaniel Allen, as commission- ers delegated to make the survey. They arrived at Upland late in that same year and the following spring entered upon their duties as soon as the river was cleared of ice. An account against Penn for the per- formance of this work, settled in 1713, con- tains the name of John Beazor as one of the acting commissioners. Evidently another branch fled to the Palatinate, or some other Protestant part of Germany, whence several of the name came to Pennsylvania. The emigrants of this branch were Brethren or Dunkards, a faith to which hundreds of
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their descendants cling to the present day.
It is not within the province of this bio- graphical sketch to deal exhaustively with all the different branches of this great fam- ily, but in a general way it may be stated that the Boeshors who settled in America experienced their full share of the hardships and dangers incident to the early settlement of the country. A Jacob Bashore appears upon the records of Lancaster county in 1735. and the name of a Baltzer Boeszhaar appears upon the records of Earltown. Lan- caster county, as early as 1739. A Matthias Boeshor lived in the Swatara Valley. now Berks county, as early as 1748, and near Fort Swatara had a personal encounter with an Indian, in which he was wounded.
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