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 116
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Samuel Edgar Eckels, is the second child of William P. and Anna ( Hartman) Eckels. He was born Oct. 1. 1855, and married Ellen Elmira Cornman, daughter of Eph- raim Cornman, of Middlesex township. Since his marriage he has been engaged at farming, excepting several years during which he had a general 'store at Hockers- ville, Penn township. At present he is farm- ing the Eckels homestead, the farm which his father purchased from James Armstrong in 1860, about a mile north from New Kingston. He is an intelligent and worthy citizen and has made creditable progress in his avocation and business. Samuel E. and Ellen E. (Cornman) Eckels have issue as follows: Mabel Bell, born Nov. 3, 1880; William Edgar Penn, born Oct. 28, 1882; Nina Tirza, born Jan. 21, 1886; Cleveland Cornman, born March 5, 1889, and Anna Sheaffer, born May 11, 1897.
Mary Elizabeth, the youngest child of William P. and Anna (Hartman) Eckels, was born May 25, 1857, and married Lewis C. Otto, of South Middleton township, by whom she has had children as follows : Anna Cecil, born April 20, 1888; Lulu Cath- arine, born Oct. 27, 1891, and Earl B., born Oct. 27, 1893. The last named died when about two years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Otto reside at Boiling Springs, in which vicinity the Otto family have long been prominent and highly esteemed people.
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CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
FRANCIS H. SPANGLER, who car- ries on farming on a small scale in East Pennsboro township, Cumberland county, is a native of that township, born Oct. 3, 1857, on what is known as the Harry Musser farm.
Jacob Spangler, his father, was born in Dauphin county, Pa., and was the eightli of a family of nine children, viz .: George. who died in Dauphin county, Pa .; Jacob, Peter and William, who died in York county, Pa .; John, David, Susan, Nancy and Betsy, all deceased. Jacob Spangler passed his early life in the neighborhood of his birthplace, and when a young man married Miss Troups. He settled in Dover, York Co., Pa., for one year, then going west to the State of Illinois, where he remained eight years. There his wife died leaving him and three small children, John, Samuel and Jose- phine. Returning east to York county, he lived there a short time, then marrying Mary Crone and moving to Cumberland county, near West Fairview, following his trade, that of fencemaker, in York and Cumberland counties. Moving back to York county about 1858, he later bought a small farm in Newberry township, that county, where he remained until 1889. Having become in- capacitated for work by rheumatism, he was obliged to retire, and he died in June, 1891, in Goldsboro, York county, aged sixty-nine years. The three children of Mr. Spangler's first union, John, Samuel and Josephine, Mrs. Jacob Berger, all live in Illinois. For his second wife Jacob Spangler married, in York county, Mary Crone, who still resides at Goldsboro, now (1904) aged seventy-two years. To this marriage came eight chil- dren : Alfred, who married Miss Ida Mans- berger of York county, and lives in the old home place in York county; Francis H .; Zacharias, who died when young; George, who died when seventeen years old ; Edward,
a farmer of York county, who married Lydia Gensler, of Wellsville, York county; Harry, a farmer of York county, who married Annie Zinn; Charles, who remains with his mother, and Dora, Mrs. Luis Groos, of Goldsboro, both of York county. The parents were members of the United Brethren Church. Mr. Spangler was a Republican in political sentiment.
Francis H. Spangler attended school in York county, and at West Fairview, Cum- berland county, his parents moving into York county during his infancy. He re- turned to East Pennsboro township when he was about nine years old. He was reared to farming and was only ten years old when he hired out as a farm boy, working at first for his board and clothes. Later he received ten dollars a month and board through the sum- mer months, in the winter working for his board. After his marriage he located in West Fairview, where he was employed in the iron works, in the plate mill, at the same time also carrying on farming on a small scale, continuing thus for nine years. He then rented a farm in Fairview township, York county, where he remained three years, thence removing to Lower Allen town- ship, Cumberland county, where he con- ducted one of the McCormick farms for eight years. He then removed to his present home, which comprises eleven acres, which he cul- tivated to the utmost extent of its possibili- ties, deriving much benefit therefrom. He is an industrious man, and is greatly re- spected by all who know him.
Mr. Spangler was married in Harrisburg, Nov. 2, 1879, to Miss Barbara Mann, who was born near West Fairview, East Penns- boro township, daughter of George and Mary (Eslinger.) Mann, she being the youngest of a family of nine children, two sons and seven daughters. Mr. Mann was
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a native of East Pennsboro and a lifelong agriculturist of that township. He was born on his farm, and died there, and it is a note- worthy fact that until about five years ago the place was always in the Mann name from the days of the first settlers. George Mann never left the place and his children all re- mained there till after their marriage. Mrs. Mann is also deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Spangler have had one child, Mary Emma, who is now the wife of Charles Lichtenberger, of East Pennsboro, who resides in Lemoyne. Our subject and his wife are members of the Evangelical Church of Lemoyne. In politics he follows in the footsteps of his father, being a Re- publican.
RICHARD LEE CAMPBELL, secre- tary, treasurer and business manager of Irv- ing Female College, who for some three years made his home in Cumberland county, has returned to his native State, and is now lo- cated at Capon Road, Virginia.
ADAM NELL, the first member of his family to come to Cumberland county, was born in Adams county, Pa., where his an- cestors settled at an early day. He is a mem- ber of the fourth generation in the United States.
The family is of German origin, Henry Nell, the great-grandfather of Adam and the first of the name in this country, coming hither from Heidelberg, Germany, and set- tling in Adams county. Descendants of Henry Nell settled at Bermudian, Adams Co., Pa., and from there members of the family have scattered all over the United States, one son emigrating to Can- ada. Henry Nell married for his first wife a Miss Brough and for his second a Mrs. Bushey. His children were as follows:
Jacob, who went to Canada, as before men- tioned; Mary, Mrs. Snyder ; John, deceased; Susan, who married John Elicker; Henry, who married Margaret Bushey; Lydia, who married Samuel Walker; Leah, who married Daniel Hartman; and Christine, who mar- ried Nicholas Bushey.
Henry Nell, grandfather of Adam, lived on the old homestead in Adams county. He married Margaret Bushey, and they became the parents of the following named children : John married Miss Firestone; Jacob married Miss Leathery ; Rebecca married K. Albert; Henry married Miss Leathery; Polly mar- ried M. Firestone; Abraham, father of Adam, is mentioned below ; Sarah was twice married, first to Mr. Yost and second to Adam Border; Noah is deceased; Michael married a Harboldt; William was twice married, first to Miss Eurick and second to Mrs. Koons; Leah married Solomon Border ; Levi is deceased; Susan married Nathaniel Binder.
Abraham Nell also lived on the old home- stead in Adams county, and there brought up his family. He married Miss Catherine Hess, who was born in Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, a goldsmith's daughter, and came to this country when a child. To this union were born children as follows: Adam is the subject proper of this sketch. Levi first mar- ried Miss Agnew and second Miss Belle Brown. George married Lucy Nitchman. Amanda married John Zinn. Matilda died unmarried. Henry married Miss May Hos- ford, and lives in Anaconda, Mont. Abra- ham, who is unmarried, lives in Ward, Colo. Catherine is the wife of Oscar Eppley and lives in Cumberland county, Pa. Sara mar- ried William Walton and lives in Adams county, Pa. John married Miss Zeigler, and he is deceased. William died unmarried. Emily is deceased.
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Adam Nell was engaged at farming, lime burning and stock raising from early man- hood until 1892, when he secured a position with the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. as blockman. He traveled for that con- pany five years, in 1897 giving up his posi- tion with the McCormick people and taking a similar position with the Johnston Har- vester Co., in whose employ he has ever since remained. When twenty-one years of age he came to Cumberland county, and has con- tinued to reside here up to the present time.
Mr. Nell married Miss Phianna Diller, a member of an old Cumberland county fam- ily, and children as follows have been born to this union : C. Emery, who married Miss Eleanora Brandt and has three children, John, Adam and G. Emery; Anna; Cora, wife of E. M. Ensminger ; Laura ; John A., deceased ; Emily, and R. Boyd.
JACOB MILLER HALDEMAN was born March 4, 1781, in Manheim township, Lancaster Co., Pa., and died Dec. 15. 1857, in Harrisburg, Pa., where he resided the latter years of his life, aged seventy-six years, nine months and eleven days.
Jacob Haldeman, the grandfather of Jacob Miller Haldeman, was born Oct. 7, 1722, in the Canton of Neufchatel, Switzer- land, and died Feb. 27, 1783. in Rapho town- ship, Lancaster Co., Pa. During the troubles which resulted in the war of the Revolution he was one of the Committee of Public Safety for Rapho township, and appears as a member of the "Committee of Observation" for Rapho township, Lancaster county. [Vide proceedings of Nov. 8, 1775, Pennsyl- vania Archives, Vol. XIII, pp. 275 and 294.] He was a near relative of the noted British general, Sir Frederick Haldimand, K. B., who served with distinction in the armies of Sardinia and Prussia, entered the military
service of King George in 1754. and was ap- pointed lieutenant-colonel of the 16th Regi- ment of Royal Americans in January, 1756. In 1776 Sir Frederick was commissioned a general in America, and subsequently became commander-in-chief of His Majesty's forces and governor of the province of Quebec. Jacob Haldeman was one of the earliest set- tlers in Rapho township, Lancaster county, and died possessed of very considerable land there. He married Maria Miller, a daughter of Henry Miller, of Earl township, Lancas- ter county, who survived him together with a family of some twelve children.
John Haldeman, a son of Jacob, was born in 1753, and died in 1832. He married Maria Breneman, and they became the pa- rents of Jacob M. Haldeman, the subject of our sketch. John Haldeman moved to Lo- cust Grove, Conoy township, Lancaster county, where, in 1790, he built a large stone gristmill and, in' 1800, a distillery. Bayard Taylor's grandfather. a mason, worked on this mill, and ran away with and married a relative of Mr. Haldeman's wife, the match having been bitterly opposed. John Halde- man was one of the boldest and most suc- cessful business men in the State, gradually increasing the number of his acres and ex- tending his business until his operations fre- quently extended far beyond his own State. As an instance of his activity and hardiness. it is related of him that he would occasion- ally make the trip to Philadelphia in one day, a distance of nearly ninety miles, starting early in the morning and arriving the same evening. His flour and produce he sent down the Susquehanna river to Wright's Ferry and thence to Philadelphia. He was elected to the Legislature in 1800. After retire- ment from active business he took up his residence in Columbia, Lancaster county, where he died, after first having the pleasure
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of seeing all his sons become successful men of business.
Jacob Miller Haldeman obtained a good English and German education under the private instructions of an English officer. At the age of nineteen years he was sent by his father to Pittsburg, making the journey on horseback, through many Indian settle- ments, to purchase flour to send down the river in flatboats to New Orleans. Not find- ing a good market there, he chartered a ves- sel and took his cargo to Havana, Cuba. About 1806, or before, assisted by his father to the extent of some $30,000, Jacob M. pur- chased the water power and forge at the mouthi of the Yellow Breeches creek, Cum- berland county, and established himself in the iron business. In six years he had paid back in full the $30,000 borrowed from his father. Mr. Haldeman manufactured a su- perior grade of iron which found a ready market, and he soon added a rolling and slitting mill to his works. During the war of 1812 he supplied the Government with iron which he forwarded across the South Mountain on muleback to the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, where it was manufactured into guns. All of this iron he gave to the Government. In 1814 he established the town of Haldeman, now New Cumberland, where he built a sawmill and gristmill. He managed all his business without the as- sistance of a manager or clerk. In August, 1809, he and Thomas Fisher bought the mill and forge of John Walker, situated on the Conedoguinet creck, a mile due north of Hogestown, and jointly operated both until in December, 1814, when Mr. Haldeman sold out to his partner, who in his own name carried on an extensive business at that place until in 1834, when he died. In June, 1830, Mr. Haldeman, with John Moore and John D. Mahon, bought the Mary Ann and Au-
gusta furnaces, situated along the "Old Bal- timore Road" in Southampton township, and operated them for several years.
In ISIO Mr. Haldeman married Eliza Ewing Jacobs, who was born at Mount Hope Furnace, Lancaster county, on June 13, 1789. Her grandfather, Richard Jacobs, was of Welsh birth and was one of the early iron manufacturers of Pennsylvania, while her father, Samuel Jacobs, was engaged in the same industry, not only at Mount Hope but also at Colebrook. After the war of 1812 he invested largely in real estate in Dauphin county, and in 1830 he moved to Harrisburg, Pa., and purchased a residence on Front street (Nos. 25 and 27 North Front street), in which he lived until his death. He was one of the incorporators of the Chestnut Hill Iron Ore Company, of Columbia, in 1851, and was also one of the incorporators and managers of the Susquehanna Tide Water Canal Company. He was largely interested in all local enterprises, aiding greatly in building the bridge over the river at Harris- burg, and was president of the company owning it, the Harrisburg Bridge Company. He was one of the founders and a director of the Dauphin Deposit Bank at Harrisburg, also became a large stockholder in the Har- risburg Bank, of which he was chosen pres- ident in 1853, and held the position until his death. Mr. Haldeman was independent and . liberal in his political views,. but was known as a Whig, and in his religious affiliations was a Presbyterian. He enjoyed the ac- quaintance of many prominent men of his day and derived great pleasure in inter- course with them when opportunity per- mitted or they visited this part of the coun- try. By those who knew him he was re- garded a man of extraordinary foresight and judgment, whom they considered in advance of his time and environment.
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CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
RICHARD JACOBS HALDEMAN, youngest child of Jacob Miller Haldeman and Eliza Ewing (Jacobs) Haldeman, was born at Harrisburg, Pa., May 19, 1831, and died in the city of his birth, Oct. 1, 1885. His early teaching was obtained in private schools, among them the academy and Capt. Partridge's military school at Harrisburg, when he was sent to Yale College, Connecti- cut, entering and graduating with the class of 1851, with high honors. The same year he visited Europe to complete his educa- tion and studied at the Universities of Heid- elberg and Berlin, at both of which institu- tions he received marked commendation from his professors for scholarship. In 1853 he went with Hon. John Y. Mason (of Vir- ginia), United States minister to France, as attache of legation in Paris, and later accom- panied Hon. Thomas H. Seymour in a sim- ilar capacity to St. Petersburg. Because of his acquaintance with the European lan- guages, especially French and German, Mr. Haldeman was peculiarly valuable to his chiefs in his diplomatic services. During his residence abroad and later visits he traveled extensively and minutely through- out Scandinavia, central and southern Europe, and the far East. In 1857 he pur- chased the Daily and Weckiy Patriot and Union, in Harrisburg, and edited it until 1860. In politics Mr. Haldeman was a Dem- ocrat and first became a nominee .of his party for the office of State senator in Dau- phin county, fall of 1857, but was defeated by John B. Rutherford in a Republican dis- trict, after one of the fiercest campaigns ever recalled there. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Charleston and Baltimore conventions.
Some time in 1867 Mr. Haldeman took up his residence in Cumberland county, upon a farm inherited from his father, known in the neighborhood as the "Bunker Hill" farm,
and situated along the river at the confluence of the Conedoguinet creek with the Susque- hanna river. Here he retained his residence until the late years of his life, when he began to reside more continuously in Harrisburg on account of the schooling of his children. In 1869 he was elected to Congress from the Fifteenth District, Cumberland, Perry and York counties, where he served two ternis, obtaining marked recognition because of his ability as a speaker and a forceful writer. Upon retirement from Congress Mr. Halde- man retired from politics.
On May 12, 1870, he married Margar- etta Cameron, daughter of Gen. Simon Cam- eron, and Margaretta (Brua) Cameron, of Harrisburg, Pa., who survives, together with their three children : Donald Cameron ; Eliza Ewing, of Harrisburg, and Richard Cameron, of Pittsburg, Pa. An older brother of Mr. Haldeman, Jacob Samils Haldeman, was at one time a member of the State Senate and was later sent as United States Minister to Sweden.
JOSEPH KOONS. As in numerous other instances the name Koons is spelled in as many different ways as it is possible to spell it. The branch of the family whose history is here given prefer the form Koons and have adhered to it through generations. It may not be the original form, but it is a logical common sense form and answers the purpose as well as any.
The Koons family is of German origin and representatives of it have been coming to Pennsylvania at various times since as early as 1732. It is impossible to tell from the data at hand from which of these differ- ent representatives the subject of this sketch descended. His father was the second oldest child of a family of nine, seven sons and two daughters. The sons were David, Isaac,
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John, Adam. Jacob, George and Philip; and the daughters were Mrs. Willis and Mrs. Catharine Black. Isaac Koons was born near Lancaster City. Pa., where he grew to man's estate and received a common-school education. From Lancaster he removed to Franklin county, where he learned the tan- ning trade, and from Franklin he came to Cumberland county, where he settled in the northern part of Newton township and en- gaged at tanning and farming. He was an active and prominent citizen and as early as ISIS was supervisor of Newton township. He died on March 18. 1874. and is buried 'in the cemetery of the Big Spring Presby- terian Church.
Isaac Koons married Jane Carnahan, and by her had nine sons. viz. : Robert, Isaac. John. William, Alexander, Thomas, Adam, James and Joseph. There was also a daugh- ter who die'l in infancy. Of this large fam- ily of sons. Robert, Isaac, John, Thomas and Alexander are dead. Of the living, William married Mary Jane Stewart; Adam married Mary Mitchell, and James married Mary Thompson. These three live in Newton township and are engaged at farming.
Joseph Koons, the youngest of these nine brothers, was born in Newton township. He was reared on the farm and given a com- mon-school education. When twenty-eight years of age he married Miss Louisa Sharp, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (McNitt) Sharp. After his marriage he for some time continued on his father's farm, which was his home without interruption for forty years. In the year 1897 he went West and spent thirteen months in Indiana, on a farm which his wife had inherited, and then re- turned to his native county in Pennsylvania. In 1901 he sold his farm in Indiana and in the following year bought the well-known "Happy Retreat" farm, situated just out-
side the western bounds of Carlisle in South Middleton township. Here he and his fam- ily are now living. Joseph and Louisa (Sharp) Koons have issue as follows : Charles, Mary B., Martha, Ella and Jesse. Charles is married to Della Logan and is farming the Koons homestead in North Newton township. Jesse is in the employ of the Westinghouse Company at Pittsburg, and the three daughters are at home at "Happy Retreat."
"Happy Retreat" as a farm and a home has a somewhat interesting history. The buildings stand more than a hundred and fifty yards south from the turnpike and pre- sent an antiquated and romantic appearance. The house has a rough cast exterior and shows signs of age. The rear side of it faces toward the turnpike, which is ac- counted for by the fact that it was erected when the "Great Road" of Colonial days was yet the main highway up through the Cum- berland Valley and was built to face upon it. Afterward the turnpike came and paralleled the " Great Road," practically abolishing it, and improvements that had been made to conform with the latter were left away from and out of conformity with the new high- way. It has borne the name "Happy Re- treat" from time immemorial, and it has always been a query why it was so named. A story, somewhat like a tradition, says that it was the site where Indians once encamped and held a treaty with the whites, the out- come of which was so satisfactory that the place was ever afterward known as "Happy Retreat." It may have been, but as there is. nothing anywhere in the early records to justify such a theory, it is more likely that the story is the product of some one's imagin- ation. Two important treaties were held with the Indians at Carlisle, one in Septem- ber, 1753, and another in January, 1756. In
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the former Richard Peters, Benjamin Franklin and Isaac Norris were commis- sioners for the Province and arrived at Car- lisle some days ahead of several wagonloads of presents intended for the Indians, and as the Indians would not treat until they had been well bribed nothing could be done until the presents arrived and had been distributed. During this delay the Indians must have been encamped somewhere in the vicinity and it may have been on the place now known as "Happy Retreat."
The "Happy Retreat" farm as at present constituted contains a little more than ninety acres of land. Originally it consisted of two tracts granted to John Montgomery at two different times by the Penns. On Sept. 19, 1772, Thomas and John Penn patented to him the first tract, and on June 24, 1800, John and Richard Penn, by their attorney in fact, Edmund Physick, patented to him the other. As John Montgomery was a resi- dent of Carlisle as early as 1754 it is prob- able that he had possession of these tracts of land prior to the dates of his patents, but lacked formal title to them, which was a common thing with the settlers in the Cum- berland Valley at that early date. On June 24, 1813, John Montgomery, surviving exe- cutor of John Montgomery, deceased, con- veyed these two tracts as one body to George Fahnestock, and in the deed he gave de- scribed it as "a plantation situated in South Middleton township, containing 91 acres and 114 perches, called Happy Retreat." On July 26, 1813, George Fahnestock and Bar- bara his wife conveyed 45 acres and 137 perches of it to Solomon Gorgas, and on May 15, 1815, Solomon Gorgas and Cath- arine his wife conveyed the same back to George Fahnestock, by which several con- veyances the title to the two tracts of land became legally vested in George Fahnestock
in fee. On Sept. 23, 1824, George Fahne- stock, of Allen township, and Barbara his wife, conveyed the two tracts as one to Mar- garet Bentz and Catharine Kane, of Man- chester township, and Godlove K. Kane, of the borough of York, all in the county of York. On Aug. 27, 1828, Margaret Bentz, Godlove K. Kane and Margaret his wife, and Robert Symonds and Catharine his wife, all of York county, conveyed it to Daniel Dinkle of the same county, who on Feb. 19, 1830 (then of South Middleton township). conveyed it, and with it a tract of twenty-six acres in Frankford township, to John F. Stineman, of the city of Lancaster, who on March 6, 1832, conveyed these same proper- ties back to Daniel Dinkle, whose executor, Robert Richey, on Oct. 1, 1855, conveyed "Happy Retreat" to Jolin Sanderson of Carlisle. At that time "Happy Retreat" was bounded by lands of Jacob Duey. Judge Watts, James Hamilton, Esq., John Graham and John Noble, George Spangler and John- ston Moore, and contained ninety acres and eighty perches. John Sanderson died in April, 1862, and on Nov. 1. 1862, his ad- ministrator, Abraham Lamberton, and James A. Sanderson and Margaret his wife, con- veyed it to Abner W. Bentz, who on April I, 1865, conveyed it to James H. Graham, who on April 1, 1869, conveyed it to Tilgh- man Wickert, of Lehigh county, who on Jan. 30, 1873, conveyed it back to James H. Gra- ham, who afterward conveyed it to William A. Coffee, who conveyed it to Joseph Koons, whose name introduces this sketch.
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