Biographical annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, Part 14

Author: Genealogical Publishing Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Genealogical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 994

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 14

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Martin Eichelberger, father of Mrs. Su- sanna (Eichelberger) Barnitz, was the oldest son of Philip Fredrich Eichelberger, who was born near Sinsheim, Baden, in 1693, and in 1714 married Anna Barbara Dorners. They emigrated to America, by way of Rotterdam, in 1728, landing in Phil- adelphia, and he died at Hanover, 1776. He had nine children, six being sons, and was the ancestor of many influential families.

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Martin Eichelberger was born in Germany, and came with his father to America. He purchased Lot No. 120, in York, when it was laid out in 1741, and was one of the original members of the Lutheran Church there. He was a very influential citizen ; was commissioned Court Justice by George II. and also by George III : and subsequently justice of the peace: and the latter also by the convention that framed the first consti- tution of Pennsylvania. He was one of a committee of eigliteen prominent citizens, who joined in a communication to Benjamin Franklin. President of the Committee of Safety, Sept. 15. 1775, relating to the form- ing of new battalions, choosing officers, and so forth. He also filled many other positions of trust. He died in 1781.

Jacob Barnitz, the father of William, according to the family record, neatly kept by Daniel, was the oldest of nine children who lived to maturity, six being sons, and was born in Hanover, April 6, 1777. He married Miss Mary G. Etzler, and resided on a farm. purchased by him near Hanover, until 1836, when he removed to Cumberland county, where he had purchased a mill prop- erty on the Yellow Breeches, in Dickinson township, at present the station Barnitz on the Harrisburg & Pittsburg branch of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad. This station is now operated by U. Grant Barnitz, son of William. Jacob Barnitz was a man of enterprise in his day. He was one of the originators of the Carlisle & Hanover Turn- pike, and was interested in education. He diedl in 1863, aged eighty-six. His children were. Henry, Charles, Eliza (married to Michael Bucher, of Hanover), Mary (mar- ried to Michael Carl, of near Hanover), Jacob Elder, Daniel, Susan, William, Alex- ander, Jane, and Augustus.

William Barnitz, the subject of this

sketch, was born near Hanover, July 29, 1817. He received his education at Penn- sylvania College, Gettysburg, and Dickinson College, being a member of the class of 1840 in the latter institution. After his graduation he taught school in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Since his marriage he has resided in Carlisle, actively engaged in vari- ous manufacturing and business operations.

In 1851 William Barnitz married Miss " Caroline Wonderlich. daughter of John and Susanna ( Hetrick) Wonderlich, old settlers of Middlesex township. Cumberland county. His children, all born in Carlisle, are: John A. H., deceased, born in 1853, graduated at Dickinson College, 1875; Jacob Edwin is a prominent lawyer of Carlisle; S. Marian was educated at the Moravian Seminary, at Bethlehem, Pa .; U. Grant graduated at Dickinson College in 1888, and at present is engaged in the merchant-milling and for- warding business at Barnitz, and is a direc- tor in the Farmers' Trust Company, of Car- lisle.

William Barnitz is esteemed in the com- munity in which he has spent the greater part of his long and useful life as one of its leading. business men, highly intelligent, and always thoughtful and practical in his meth- ods, and of unquestioned integrity. He was one of the original stockholders of the Farmers' Bank, now the Farmers' Trust Company, and for seventeen years was the president of the original corporation. He has always been a prominent and influential member of the Lutheran Church in Carlisle.

WILLIAM SCOTT COYLE. The subject of this biographical sketch is a de- scendant of James Coyle and Eliza Carson. James Coyle is said to have been of Irish and Eliza Carson of Scotch-Irish ancestry. They were married on Jan. 1, 1760, and at some

David Coyle

John Gogh

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

unknown date came to America and settled in Pennsylvania. It is not definitely known where in Pennsylvania they located, but there is reason to believe that in their latter years they lived in the section that is now included within the bounds of Franklin county. James Coyle died Nov. 11, 1798.

James and Eliza (Carson) Coyle had a son named David, who was born on Dec. 22, 1777, in what is now Fulton county. At one time during his life he lived near the vil- lage of Burnt Cabins. Fulton county, but as early as 1808 was a resident of Tyrone town- ship, in what is now Perry county, where he that year was assessed with land and per- sonal property. Subsequently he lived near Ickesburg, in Saville township. He was a farmer all his lifetime. David Coyle mar- ried Martha Linn, whose parents were resi- dents of Madison township, and by her he had the following children : James, Betsey. Andrew, Martha, Ann, John, Ellen, Wil- liam, Jane, Scott, Samuel A. and Mary. James, on Oct. 17, 1822, married Mary Pat- terson, of Toboyne township. Perry county. Andrew, on Nov. 1, 1827, married Eliza Mc- Collough, of Newton township, Cumberland county. Betsey married David McCollough. Martha married John Fleming, of North Middleton township, Cumberland county, who was killed on the railroad on Main street, Carlisle, Aug. 12, 1839; his widow survived him until in January, 1873. Ann married James Clark, a farmer of Madison township, Perry county. Ellen married Wil- liam Blair, who was for many years one of Carlisle's leading business men ; she died in March, 1868, in the fifty-first year of her age. Jane married McGinley Walker, and moved to Fountain Green. Ill. William died when quite young. Scott went into the mercantile business with his brother Andrew in Newville, later was in business

by himself in Newville, and afterward pur- chased and ran Doubling Gap Springs hotel for several years. Subsequently he for sev- eral years kept what is now the "Lochiel Hotel," in Harrisburg. He then relinquished hotel-keeping and went into the mercantile business with his nephew, James Coyle, in Philadelphia. On retiring from business he removed to Newville. Samuel A. married Eliza Linn, and Mary married Thomas Mc- Candlish.

David Coyle died Aug. 22, 1865: his wife, Martha Linn, died Nov. 19, 1831, and the remains of both are buried in the grave- yard of the Center Presbyterian Church in Perry county. Mrs. Coyle's ending was peaceful and singularly impressive. She had returned home from church at about half past eight o'clock in the evening. About nine the family were called together for de- votion, and while they engaged in singing a hymn she leaned upon the knee of her hus- band, who was sitting by her side, and in this position expired without a struggle or a groan. Her death came when all her eleven surviving children, except a daughter of eight years, were in full communion with the church. Although for the greater por- tion of his life a resident of Saville town- ship, Perry county, Mr. Coyle died at New- ville, Cumberland county. He was a quiet; unobtrusive, efficient Christian, long a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church and for more than fifty years a ruling elder. He took a warm interest in everything relating to the spread of evangelical truth and the advance of Godliness.

John Coyle, the sixth child of David and Martha (Linn) Coyle, was born Nov. 16, 1806, on the parental homestead in Saville township. He grew to manhood in that part of the country, and on Feb. 16, 1832, mar- ried Elizabeth T. McCord, of Madison town-

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

ship, who was born in Perry county in Sep- tember. 1807. Upon beginning life for him- self he engaged in the mercantile business in Newville with his brother Andrew, and continued there for five years. He then re- turned to Perry county, where for a short time he farmed his father-in-law's place, which he afterward purchased. Next he and his brother Samuel opened a store in Land- isburg where they continued in business several years. In search of a larger field, they in 1842 removed to Hogestown, Cum- berland county, where under the firm name of J. & S. A. Coyle they for years did a flourishing business. Finally Samuel A. withdrew and went into business in Carlisle, and on Oct. 15, 1855, Jolin died, and by reason of his death the business was closed out. John Coyle's remains were first interred in the cemetery of the Silver Spring Church, but subsequently removed to the Center Presbyterian Church, in Perry county, and interred by the side of those of his wife, who died in 1840.

John and Elizabeth T. (McCord) Coyle had the following children : Samuel McCord, William Scott and David Linn.

Samuel M. Coyle, the eldest of these sons, began his business career as a salesman in Philadelphia. Afterward he and his brother W. Scott, for a few years, conducted a gen- eral store at Andersonburg, Perry county. W. Scott sold his interest to David L. and Samuel and David as a firm continued it for several years more. Wishing to make a change of locality they sold out and Samuel came to Carlisle, and for a while clerked in a store. On Dec. 16, 1858, he married Annic M. Campbell, of Carlisle, and began house- keeping in Andersonburg, Soon afterward he and his brother W. Scott began the wholesale notion business at Carlisle, and he then removed to a home on East Pomfret

street, Carlisle, where he lived until his death, which occurred Aug. 23, 1879.

David Linn Coyle, the youngest of the three Coyle brothers, was born May 1, 1838, on the old McCord farm in Perry county. He received the principal part of his educa- tion in the public schools, and early in life turned his attention to mercantile pursuits. On the breaking out of the Civil war he en- listed in Company E, 9th Pennsylvania Cav- alry, and for more than three years served his country as a soldier. After the war he was for several years a clerk in the commis- sary department of the army at Baltimore. From there he went to S. A. Coyle & Co., wholesale grocers of Philadelphia, as a sales- man, became a member of the firm and event- ually the head of the house. The name of the firm was afterward changed to Coyle, Mc- Candlish & Co., and for a time was one of Philadelphia's leading business houses, much of its prominence and success being due to David L. Coyle's energy and good business tact. He died July 31, 1891, at At- lantic City, and was buried at Center Church. The following testimonial from the Phila- delphia Grocers' and Importers' Exchange is an indication of the esteem in which he was held :

"Having received the sad intelligence of the death of our esteemed late fellow mem- ber, David L. Coyle, the Grocers' and Im- porters' Exchange, in memorial meeting as- sembled, do hereby give expression to their appreciation of the many estimable qualities of the deceased, notably his spotless integ- rity, his sense of mercantile honor, and his genial, kindly disposition, joined to an ur- banity of deportment that won the confidence and respect of all who were brought in con- tact with him. As a former director and long time associate we shall miss him from our number, and herewith tender our sincere

I'm legle

David Lloyde

A. Scott Coyle.

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

sympathies to his family in their affliction."

William Scott Coyle, the second of these three Coyle brothers, and the especial subject of this biography, was born on July 20, 1836, on his father's farm in Madison town- ship. Perry county. Prior to his father's ownership of the farm it belonged to a:id was the home of his McCord grandparents. His early days were passed upon the farm. By the time his father removed to Hogestown he had reached the school age and became a scholar in the Hogestown school. John Firoved. Thomas Hampton, Mr. Senseman, Eliza Thomson and Miss Greathead were some of his teachers; and the Buchers, the Boslers, the Snowdens, the Capps, the Clen- denins, the Firoveds, the Bells, the Ketter- ings, and other well known people of that vicinity, were among his schoolmates and as- sociates. On leaving the public school he attended for a term and a half the famous academy of Prof. R. C. Burns, located at what was then known as Good Hope Station, on the Cumberland Valley Railroad, five miles west of Carlisle. Then for a while he attended the Cumberland Valley Institute, conducted at Mechanicsburg by Rev. Joseph Loose. In the summer of 1855 he was sent to his uncle, James Clark, in Perry county, for the benefit of his health, where he re- mained for some months. While there his father took sick and word was sent to him to come home. When the summons reached him he was suffering from a severe attack of fever and ague and was in a bad condition to travel, but started. He went by stage by way of New Bloomfield to Newport, from which point he went by train to Harrisburg and from there by train to Mechanicsburg. At Mechanicsburg he happened to meet a friend in a conveyance who took him up and landed him at Hogestown, so weak that he

could scarcely walk. After his father's death he had his home with his uncle James Clark in Perry county. He also for a while attended the Mt. Dempsey Academy at Landisburg, of which Prof. Theodore Buch- er, whose parents resided at Hogestown, was the principal. Next he taught a country school in Perry county, near the home of his uncle James Clark. He taught one term and then he and Robert Clark, a cousin, opened a general store in Andersonburg. In a short time Robert Clark sold his interest to Samuel M. Coyle and for a while the two brothers continued the business. Then Wil- liam Scott sold his interest to David L., and in 1857 Samuel and David sold out their joint interest. In 1861 W. Scott came to Carlisle, where he invested in a horse and wagon and took to the road, wholesaling no- tions to the country stores. His trade in- creased rapidly, and at the end of the first six months had so enlarged that he needed a two-horse team. He and his brother Samuel then formed a partnership under the name of Coyle Brothers. At first they had their store in a room in the basement of Samuel's resi- dence, on East Pomfret street, but the busi- ness grew and soon more commodious quar- ters had to be provided, and they rented a large room in the Inhoff building, on South Hanover street. Inside of two years their business also outgrew these quarters and they rented the large room in the Good Will Hose Company's building in South Han- over street. Here the business was contin- ued until in 1893. when it was removed to the building that was formerly the Methodist Episcopal Church, at the corner of Main and Pitt streets.

After Samuel Coyle, the senior member of the firm, died, W. Scott Coyle associated with him as partners W. Linn McCullough

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

and James G. Linn. but retained the old firm name until he nominally retired from the business. About 1893 the firm became Mccullough & Linn, but Mr. Coyle contin- ued to be a silent partner for several years afterward. After retiring from the notion business he became interested in the Letort Carpet Company, and later also a partner in the Indian Rug Company, of Carlisle, and between these two manufacturing industries, his farms, and his investment interests, he now divides his time.

In politics Mr. Coyle is a stanch Republi- can. and he cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, but he is not a biased partisan nor a seeker after office. In relig- ion he is a Presbyterian, to which church be- longed his ancestors for generations past. He is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, in which he holds the po- sition of deacon. In his earlier years he was also an active worker in the Sunday-school. To church and charitable causes he gives lib- erally, and in 1891 he built a parsonage and a sexton's house. at the Center Presbyterian Church. where members of his family for four generations lie buried. He has been a director of the Merchants' National Bank of Carlisle : is the trustee for the Thorn Fund, devised by a member of that family to the church : is frequently selected to take charge of responsible business trusts, and were it not for the misfortune of defective hearing he would be yet more in demand for such duties. He is a highly esteemed and useful member of the community in which he lives. Through energy, good judgment. industry and close application he has succeeded in every laudable purpose save in that of get- ting a wife. At this writing he is still un- married, for which many of his friends cen- sure him.

JAMES RAMSEY MEANS. The de- scent of the Means family of Cumberland county is readily traced back to John Means, of Paxtang, Dauphin county. To go back of him the historian must rely mainly upon traditions that necessarily are vague and doubtful. Little is known as to when John Means settled at Paxtang except that it was at some date prior to the Revolution, and when that part of the province was yet in- cluded in Lancaster county. An Adam Means lived in that vicinity at the same time, as is shown by the Paxtang Church records. According to a well founded tradition John and Adam Means were brothers. Their father was probably Joseph Means, of Coun- ty Tyrone, Ireland, who never came to America.

In 1776 John Means enlisted under Cap- tain John Murray, whose company was a part of Col. Samuel Mile's rifle battalion, which participated in the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton and Princeton, Subsequently he was in several other enlist- ments and rendered his country valuable service down to the end of the war. He died Oct. 3, 1795, at the age of fifty years, and is buried in the graveyard of the Paxtang Presbyterian Church in Dauphin county. His wife was Martha Ramsey, daughter of James and Janet (Woods ) Ramsey, and granddaughter of Robert Ramsey. She was a brave, self-reliant, God-fearing woman, and several years after her husband's death removed from Paxtang to Allegheny coun- ty, carrying on the backs of pack animals her household effects and her children, one of whom was a baby boy who was not yet born when his father died. This baby boy was named Joseph McCord Means, and sub- sequently became a distinguished citizen of Cumberland county, the head of one of its

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

representative families and a most exem- plary church worker. As soon as his years and strength permitted. he learned the tan- ning trade under his brother, Nathan, in Allegheny county, and later, in quest of em- ployment, came to Carlisle on foot, carry- ing in a small budget all his personal effects. He first obtained work with Andrew Blair in Carlisle, who then had a tannery upon the lot on South street, where now are the Ep- pley livery stables. Next he for some time worked at Newville for a man named David- son. On Feb. 15. 1820. he was married to Jane Woods, of Dickinson township, the Rev. George Duffield. pastor of the Presby- terian Church of Carlisle, performing the ceremony.

After his marriage Josepli M. Means lo- cated at Newburg, in the northwestern part of Cumberland county, where with no capital save his own energy and a thorough knowledge of the trade, he succeeded in es- tablishing a large and profitable tanning business, and also acquiring several farms. His private affairs, although extensive and exacting. did not cause him to neglect the duties of the citizen. He gave to public affairs a due share of his time and attention, which gained him prominence, and in Jan- uary, 1827, Gov. Shulze appointed him a justice of the peace for the district composed of the townships of Shippensburg and Hope- well, a position which he held for more than forty years. He was known by the familiar title of "Squire Means" during more than half his long lifetime. and by it recalled to memory for many years after his death. In 1835 he was elected county auditor, and in 1845 member of the State Legislature, and in each capacity rendered his constituents efficient and satisfactory service. The train- ing of his pious mother landed him withir

the folds of the Presbyterian Church in his early youth, and he continued active and zealous in its cause all through life. In the year 1836 he was elected an elder in the Mid- dle Spring Presbyterian Church, and held that honored station until 1875, when he transferred his membership to the Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle. In 1867 he removed from Newburg to a property he purchased at Middle Spring. The years were now rapidly accumulating upon his head, and he was gradually entering upon a well- earned retirement. Six years later he re- moved to Carlisle where on Jan. 8, 1878, his wife died. After her death he had his home with his daughter, Mrs. D. W. Huston. As man and wife they had lived as one for almost three score years, and in deatlı were not long divided. He died on June 8, 1880, and their remains rest side by side in Ashland cemetery at Carlisle.

Joseph M. and Jane (Woods) Means had the following children: John, Jane Mary, Martha Ramsey, Samuel Woods, James Ramsey, Elizabeth, Joseph McCord, William Davidson, Agnes Rebecca and John Alfred. There were also three others who died in infancy. John, the first named child, died in his twenty-third year, and before his brother, John Alfred, the youngest child, was born.

James Ramsey Means, the seventh child of this large family, was born at Newburg, Oct. 30, 1829, where he grew to manhood. His education was limited to the public schools of his native town, and for an avo- cation he learned the tanning trade with his father. His brothers preferring to do the work of the farm, it fell to him to work steadily in the tannery, which he did until he was twenty-six years of age. Having become discouraged by the losses suffered

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

frequently by floods, he concluded, soon after marriage, to relinquish tanning and engage at farming.

On Sept. 20. 1855, James R. Means was married. by the Rev. Alexander K. Nelson, pastor of the Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church, to Susan Smith McClelland, daugh- ter of John McClelland and Martha Ann Cummins, his wife, and granddaughter of Thomas and Susan (Smith) McClelland. Thomas MeClelland was a son of Thomas McClelland, and his wife, Janet Trimble, who was the first white child born in the vicinity of Newburg. John McClelland died in 1859. at the age of fifty-four years; his wife died in 1883. at the age of sixty-nine, and both are buried in the graveyard of the Rocky Spring Church, Franklin county, of which church he was an elder, and in the vicinity of which the Cummingses lived. The McClellands and the Smiths lived within the bounds of the Middle Spring Church. Mar- tha Ann Cummins was a daughter of Wil- liam and Catharine ( Patton) Cummins, and a granddaughter of Charles Cummins. Cath- arine Patton, Susan McClelland's maternal grandmother, was a daughter of Samuel Patton, who was a captain in Col. Joseph Armstrong's battalion in the war of the Revolution. Many of her Patton and Cum- mins ancestors are buried in the graveyard of the Rocky Spring Church, for whose main- tenance a grand uncle, Matthew Patton, left a legacy. In the time of the Revolution the congregation of this church was both large and patriotic, and at the close of the war it was found that all its male members, except- ing one or two, had been soldiers.

In April, 1856, James R. Means moved to South Middleton township, three miles southwest of Carlisle, to a farm then belong- ing to his father, but of which he afterward acquired the ownership. Ifere he lived and

farmed for many years. In different ways he greatly improved his property, and later bought an adjoining farm. In 1893 he quit the farm, and moved to a home lie pur- chased in Carlisle, where he contentedly spent the declining years of his life. Like his ancestors for generations before him he was a devout Presbyterian. He was a mem- ber of the Second Presbyterian church of Carlisle, in which he was for many years a trustee. He died Dec. 4, 1901. and his re- mains were interred in Ashland cemetery.

James R. and Susan ( McClelland) Means had children: Martha Jane, Mar- garetta Anna and Joseph James. The last named was born on Oct. 23, 1873, and died April 7, 1876. The daughters are both graduates of Millersville State Normal School. Margaretta Anna is married, and Martha Jane and her widowed mother comprise all of the family now living in the pleasant home at 263 West South street, Carlisle.

On Dec. 26, 1878, at Carlisle, Marga- retta A. Means, daughter of James R. and Susan (McClelland) Means, was married to Prof. R. Willis Fair, son of James and Harriet (Smith) Fair, of Indiana county, Pa., Rev. George Norcross, D. D .. perform- ing the ceremony. A hundred years ago the Fairs, the Smiths and the McClellands lived comparatively near each other, and it is probable that they knew of each other, and that they may in some way have been related. About that many years ago there lived in the Path Valley, which now is in- cluded in the bounds of Franklin county, a young man named Samuel Fair. With the general westward trend of emigration he drifted from that locality to Westmoreland county, where he married Ann Campbell, who bore him sixteen children, ten of whom were sons. The oldest son-and second

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Biographical annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, Part 14

Author: Genealogical Publishing Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Genealogical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 994

Author: Genealogical Publishing Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Genealogical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 994