Biographical annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, Part 20

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 20

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In November. 1850, Mr. Seidle married Miss Elizabeth Stevenson, born in Cumber- land county, near Harrisburg, a daughter of

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David and Leah (Shriner) Stevenson, na- tives of Pennsylvania. Three children were born to them: Albert E., who married Miss Mary Rodgers, and has one son, Albert; William D., who assists his father in the businss ; and one child deceased. In Feb- ruary, 1898, Mr. Seidle lost his wife, whom he hourly misses, she having been an unusu- ally charming and cultivated lady. Through- out his business career, Mr. Seidle has made many warm friends as well as congenial bus- iness associates, and he is very popular as well as prominent in business and social circles.

CHRISTIAN LONG. Few citizens of the Cumberland Valley were more widely known than the late Christian Long, and few deserve more admiration for those sterling traits of character which enabled him, un- aided and alone, to rise from poverty and obscurity to where he dictated measures to legislative bodies, ruled corporations and owned land in a score of States.

Christian Long was born in 1814, on the old Long farm, midway between Millers- town and Liverpool, in Pfoutz's Valley, Perry county, Pa., and he died at Shippens- burg, Jan. 16, 1892. His parents were Christian and Mary (Gable) Long, the lat- ter being of German descent. His earliest American ancestor was Isaac Long, but prior to him the family history consists prin- cipally of traditions more or less contradict- ory. According to some old records the Longs originally came from Baden, Ger- many; others indicate that they came from Normandy, in northern France, while still others show that they were of Scotch-Irish descent. All three traditions may, in some sense, be correct, and may be reconciled on the theory that the Longs were of Scotch origin, and to get away from religious per-

secution migrated across the English Chan- nel to Normandy, and thence to Baden, and ticence to Switzerland, where they espoused the cause of the Protestants, and finally emi- grated to America. As the Longs were found in the Mennonite communities of Lancaster county prior to the Revolution this explanation seems plausible. The family has furnished a number of names prominent in public affairs. Henry D. Long was for many years presiding judge of the Lancaster courts, and presented Lancaster City with a beautiful park bearing his name. He also established an asylum for women at a cost of more than half a million dollars. Charles D. Long was for many years a member of the Supreme Court of Michigan, and Ches- ter I. Long a representative in Congress irom Wichita, Kansas.

In 1754, six miles northeast of Lancas- ter City, Isaac Long erected buildings that became historical through the great meet- ing held there in 1777, at which the United Brethren Church was organized. These old buildings are still standing and in good re- pair. They are of stone, and the one in which the great mass meeting was held is a perfect square, 108 by 108 feet in size. The dwelling is also a large structure and built on the old fashioned colonial style. In Berger's "History of the United Brethren Church," reference is made to these build- ings and the masonry described as being "of a high order." Their original thatched roofs long ago gave way to more modern coverings.

Isaac Long had a son David who was ed- ucated for the ministry, and in ISII settled near the Juniata river in the sparsely popu- lated region of Cumberland county, from which Perry county was afterward formed. There he established a church, and acquired a farm that was afterward distributed to his

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children, the mansion falling to the son Christian who married Mary Gable.

Christian Long. son of Christian and Mary (Gable) Long. and the subject of this sketch, passed his boyhood and early man- hood at his home in Proutz's Valley. Start- ing out one day with his grain cradle slung over his shoulder, and in his hand his stock of worldly effects bound up in a handkerchief. he made his first break into the world and success. Obtaining employment in a harvest field on a neighboring farm, he earned a few dollars with which he bought a nice fat calf. This he killed, and. peddling out the meat, made several dollars by the venture. En- couraged by his success he came into the eastern end of the Cumberland Valley, and went into the butchering business in earnest. He bought a horse and wagon and sold to the farmers, delivering to them fresh meat three and four times a week. About this time he met at a farmhouse a stranger who was sell- ing a mantel clock, which was cheaply gotten up, but which kept good time. After some dickering with the stranger he accepted a proposition to sell clocks on commission. The clock sold readily, and he found the business so profitable that he promptly gave up butchering and devoted himself exclu- sively to the selling of clocks. In this new business of selling clocks he became ac- quainted with many prominent citizens who owned of the original stock of the Cumber- land Valley Railroad, which had depreciated so heavily that they were willing to part with it at a mere nominal figure. Being con- fident that the Cumberland Valley railroad was a valuable property, and that its stock was bound to recover, he took it in exchange for clocks, allowing for it from ten to fifteen cents on the dollar, and managing to receive in addition as much cash as the clocks cost him. In this way he quietly accumulated

enough stock to entitle him to a share in the management of the road, and to enable him to dictate to its directors and other officials. He never sold any of his holdings, and the subsequent rise in the value of the stock made him a very rich man. This stock trans- action demonstrated that he possessed nat- ural business sagacity and foresight of a high order. It gave him reputation and in- fluence, and when the Pennsylvania Railroad Company began to reach out for alliances with other corporations they sought Mr. Long's services, and it was he who secured the right of way for the Philadelphia & Erie railroad for a large part of the distance between Harrisburg and Erie. He was a stockholder in the Cumberland Valley, in the Pennsylvania and in the Northern Cen- tral railroads; and through the sale of his interest in the Somerset railroad, became a bondholder in the Baltimore & Ohio. Being always faithful to the corporations in which he held stock he was intrusted with some of their most important business, and he suc- cessfully negotiated and adjusted matters, which ordinarily would have been entrusted only to astute and experienced corporation lawyers.

In many ways he was eccentric-a per- missible condition with those who are able to control great interests-and one of his eccentricities was his pride in being able to keep intact the confidences reposed in him. One of the incidents related of him was, that to perfect some secret arrangements he, upon one occasion, traveled thousands of miles without once stopping at a hotel, where suspicious lawyers would have had opportunities to interrogate him, and all the food he needed upon the entire trip he car- ried in his pocket. Upon another occasion, when past three score years old, he made a trip from Harrisburg to Parker's Landing

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to settle a claim against the Allegheny Val- ley railroad. On arriving at Parker's Land- ing he learned that the party who held the claim lived at a place nine miles from the station, which he reached through the mud, made a settlement of a twenty-five thousand dollar claim for eight hundred dollars, se- cured a release and in less than twenty-four hours was on his way home. His life was full of incidents illustrating his close calcula- tion and wonderful business foresight. He bought land, and it turned out to be valuable oil fields; he invested in small enterprises and they developed into great corporations. Business was his occupation and delight, but occasionally he interested himself in politics sufficiently to demonstrate that if he chose he could likewise be a potent factor in that turbulent field.

As is not always the case Mr. Long had an entirely different side to his character. He was devoted to the welfare of his family, and he loved his modest home, which with its familiar surroundings was most comfor- table to him, although his great wealth would have permitted much display had he cared for ostentation. He made warm friends and kept them, and by his closest kin- dred was simply adored.

1837 Mr. Long married Hannah Ellen Atkinson, a native of York county, who survived him, but passed away Oct. 28, 1895. One son, Ira, died in the West, July, 6, 1881, but the following of his children still survive: Mrs. Anna E. Geiger and Mrs. Ella M. Barner. of Shippensburg ; Mrs. Laura R. Loh, of Harrisburg; Mrs Fannie A. Williams, of Los Angeles, Cal., and Christian, Jr., of Shippensburg.

Until the very last Mr. Long retained the bodily vigor and mental strength of one of but half his years, and had not a neglected cold prostrated him, and finally closed his

activities, it is quite possible that he would have undertaken other and still larger enter- prises and probably have carried them to successful completion. His associates in business were men prominent in great af- fairs, who were not slow to testify to the high esteem in which they held him. For some years his son-in-law, John L. Barner, a prominent citizen of Shippensburg, had been associated with Mr. Long in the man- agement of his multitudinous interests.

WILLIAM MILLER WALKER. One of the most familiar names upon the early records of Cumberland county is that of Walker. There are, however, different branches of the family, and whether the search is directed backward or forward, care is required upon the part of the historian to keep the lines separate and distinct. As in the case of many of the first settlers of Penn- sylvania, the several branches of this family came from Ireland. Some time prior to the war of the Revolution there immigrated to this country from the North of Ireland a Walker, whose Christian name has become lost in the lapse of time, but who furnishes a worthy progenitor to the subject of this sketch. According to tradition he settled in the eastern part of the Province, and partic- ipated in the struggle for American inde- pendence. At the battle of Brandywine he was captured by the British, who to prevent him from escaping bound him to the wheel of one of their gun carriages. This Revolu- tionary sire afterward had a son named Miller Walker, who married Mary Marsh, a native of Scotland, but of whose lineage' nothing further is known. Miller and Mary ( Marsh) Walker had children as follows: Joseph, Miller, Olive, Mary Ann, Ezekiel, John, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas.

It is the object of this historical sketch

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to deal principally with the line of Ezekiel Walker. He was born July 21, 1816, near the battlefield of Brandywine, in Chester county. where he grew to manhood, and for his life occupation learned the shoemaking trade. In 1839, when ready to take upon himself the serious duties of life, he located at Newville. Cumberland county, and there engaged in his vocation of shoemaking, soon gaining for himself the reputation of being a very capable workman. He married Har- riet Rowe, of Green Spring, Newton town- ship, a native of the vicinity of Reading, and a daughter of Peter and Elizabeth (Kendig) Rowe, of German ancestry. Subsequently . he moved to the village of Oakville, and there continued his business of making and mending shoes. He was an industrious, frugal and upright man, lived a modest quiet life, and raised his family in comfort. He was reared in the Presbyterian Church, and in politics was a Democrat, firm in his polit- ical convictions. but never an active politi- cian. In his later years he removed from Oakville to Shippensburg, where in 1892 he closed his long and well-spent life, and where his widow is still living, at the age of eighty. Ezekiel and Harriet (Rowe) Wal- ker, had the following children: William Miller is mentioned below. Jennie H. be- came the wife of H. J. Fosnot, of Lewis- town, Pa., where her husband is a promi- nent citizen, and editor and publisher of a Democratic newspaper. Simon H. is an employe in the Pennsylvania railroad shops at Altoona. Samuel C. is a clerk in the offices of the Pennsylvania Railway Com- pany at Altoona. Sarah H. is the wife of the Rev. H. Doner, of Shippensburg. Susan S. is the wife of Fred Kniley, of Lykens, Pa. Carrie E. is a teacher in the public schools of Lewistown, Pennsylvania.

William Miller Walker, the eldest child

of the family and the subject of this sketch, was born Sept. 8, 1844, at Oakville, where he passed the years of his youth and young manhood. He was educated in the public schools, but at a comparatively early age was put to work in his father's shoemaking shop, and taught the art of making shoes, a training that has proved especially useful to him in the occupation in which he is now en- gaged. In 1879 he entered upon untried fields. Going to Philadelphia, he secured a position as traveling salesman with B. Ayers & Co., and was a trusted employe of that house for seven years. He next engaged as traveling salesman with Potter & Right- ington, of Boston, Mass., in whose employ he continued for seven years, traveling over the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Mary- land. In 1892 he came to Carlisle. and asso- ciated himself with the Lindner Shoe Com- pany, as general salesman, in which capac- ity he has ever since been engaged. His duties are of a responsible character, and re- quire him to canvass systematically a large section of the country, necessitating frequent trips and much traveling. Of his success as a salesman, and his fidelity and honesty as a representative of large business interests, his historian is forbidden to speak, but on that point the long terms of service which have passed to his credit are a testimonial sufficient to satisfy the most interested reader.

Although much from home and fre -. quently at a great distance, Mr. Walker from a sense of duty and a natural affection al- ways tenderly cared for the aged parents, who tarried there. It was his especial pleas- ure to give to both, while they lived, the ministrations which contributed most to their comfort and joy, and since the father is gone those same filial devotions go to the

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waiting mother in double measure. Frater- nally, Mr. Walker is a Mason, belonging to Big Spring Lodge, No. 361. Newville; St. John's Chapter, No. 171, Carlisle; St. John's Commandery, No. 8, of Carlisle : and Zembo Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Harrisburg. Pa. In 1900 he married Annie E. Ander- son. daughter of David and Martha ( Don- nelly) Anderson, of Shippensburg, and they live in a pleasant home of their own at No. 555 North Hanover street, Carlisle.

GEORGE HUMMEL, whose death occurred at Mechanicsburg, March 29, 1893, was one of the honest and upright business men, who was held in universal esteem, and whose death left a place not easily filled in the ranks of business, or in the hearts of kindred and friends. Mr. Hummel was born Feb. 7, 1822, in the city of Harrisburg, son of David and Susan (Kunkle) Hummel, the former of whom was born Sept. 8, 1784, at Hummelstown, and the latter May 31, 1790, in Harrisburg, Dauphin county, Pa. Both families are of German extraction, and old settlers of Lancaster and Dauphin coun- ties. The children of David and Susan Hummel were: Catherine, David, Christian, Mary, Elizabeth, Susan, George, Albert, Anna, Emily, and others who died in child- hood. By trade David Hummel was a sad- dler, and at one time was a man of property in Harrisburg, owning a part of the land where the "Commonwealth Hotel" now stands.

The late George Hummel was educated in the excellent schools of Harrisburg, com- ing later to Mechanicsburg, Cumberland county, to engage in the lumber and ware- house business, in which he continued many years, amassing a comfortable fortune. He was one of the directors of the First National Bank, of Mechanicsburg, and was its presi-

dent at the time of his death. In politics, he was an active Republican, and served with much credit as a member of the council of Mechanicsburg, also filling other offices of a public nature. In religious belief and ob- servance Mr. Hummel was a Lutheran.

In 1850 Mr. Hummel married Sarah Dietz, of York county, who was born Aug. 19. 1825, and five children were born to them, as follows: Luther M., who died at the age of twenty-seven years; Catharine D., of Mechanicsburg : Mary W .; Susan K .; and Elizabeth G., who married John L. Shelley, an attorney at Mechanicsburg, and has six children, Sarah E., Elizabeth G., John L., Jr., D. Hummel, Paul Webster and Rachel.

Mr. Hummel was always very active in church and Sunday-school work, and was liberal in his donations to all religious affairs. He was known as a man of high moral character, charitable to the poor and devoted to his home and family. His bereaved widow survived him until March, 1898, when she, too, met a Christian death. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hummel were widely known, and were considered with feelings of esteem and affection by a large circle.

COL. JOSEPH TOTTON. Among the well known and highly respected citizens of Mechanicsburg, Pa., who has served his country in war and peace, Col. Joseph Tot- ton is deserving of special mention. He is now prominent in business circles in that city as the proprietor of the Totton livery stables, as well as the supporter of all meas- tires calculated to prove of benefit to his community. Col. Totton was born at Dills- burg, York county, Pa., July 8, 1823, son of John and Hattie (McClure) Totton.

Jolin Totton was born in Portadown, Ireland. By trade he was a shoemaker. He

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enlisted in the English army. and served nine years during the French war, when he was brought to America, in 1812. He, however, refused to fight the Americans, and became a citizen of the United States, settling at Dills- burg. York county, where he married. His death occurred there in 1847. when he was sixty years of age. His wife, Hattie MIc- Clure. died in 1849. aged fifty-eight years, a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church. Their family consisted of six chil- dren : Joseph, Margaret, David, Margery, Rachel and Mary Ellen.

Col. Joseph Totton acquired an educa- tion in a little school house in Dillsburg. after which he learned the trade of shoemaker, and remained in his native town until 1855, when he went to Shippensburg. In 1857 he located in Mechanicsburg and embarked in a boot and shoe business, but at the out- break of the Rebellion he raised the Cumber- land Guards, which became Company H. 7th Pennsylvania Reserves, of which he was elected captain, and subsequently became a lieutenant-colonel. He remained with the regiment one year, when being compelled to resign on account of impaired health, he re- ceived an honorable discharge. He came home, and in a year opened his present livery stables. In 1873 he was elected sheriff of Cumberland county, and resided in Carlisle three years, during his term of office, since which time he has made Mechanicsburg his home.

On June 8, 1848, at Dillsburg, Mr. Tot- ton was married to Miss Lydia Wagner, born in East Berlin, Adams Co., Pa., daugh- ter of Samuel and Lydia (Oyler) Wagner, of whom the former, a blacksmith, was born in Adams county, the latter in Hanover, York county. Mr. and Mrs. Totton have had eleven children, nine of whom grew to maturity : David E., born in Dillsburg, Oct.

30, 1849; James M., born in Monroe town- ship, Sept. 25, 1851; George B., born in Dillsburg, and now a farmer in Silver Spring township; Ellen, deceased, wife of Talbot Crane, of Cumberland county ; Annie, of Mechanicsburg; Maggie, with her parents ; Joseph, Jr .; John and Frank, who both as- sist their father : Samuel M. and Hattie, de- ceased. Mrs. Totton is a member of the Pres- byterian Church, in which she is an active worker. Fraternally, Col. Totton is a mem- ber of Mechanicsburg Lodge No. 215, I. O. O. F., and is the oldest member of that organization in the town, having been con- nected with the lodge for fifty-seven years. He is also a member of Carlisle Post No. 201, G. A. R. Col. Totton is one of the prosperous business men of Mechanicsburg, and few are better or more favorably known in this locality than he. For the past fifty years he has given the Democratic party his stanch support, and he is an important fac- tor in its ranks. As a soldier and private citizen, Col. Totton has always done what he believed to be his duty, and has not only made a success of his life work, but placed himself in a very enviable position in the esteem of his fellow townsmen.

SAMUEL KUNKEL, whose death, March 23, 1892, at his late home in Ship- pensburg, Cumberland county, removed one of the oldest and most highly respected citi- zens of that place, had lived a long and use- ful life, and will ever be recalled with feel- ings of veneration and esteem.

Mr. Kunkel was born May 26, 1817, at Harrisburg, Pa., the youngest of a large family, whose only survivor at present is his elder sister, Mrs. Ross, of Middletown. After the death of his father, when he was still small, he left Harrisburg and went to Middletown, where he assisted an older

Samuel Hunkel

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brother in various business ways. In Feb- ruary, 1843, he became a resident of Ship- pensburg, which was his home for almost a half century. Here he at once entered upon an active business career. The energy which was so marked in him all his life was shown in the days of his early business career, but the sedentary life and close application ren- dered it necessary for him later to make business changes. He began business in the room on West Main street now occupied by the Shyrock grocery store, in 1849, and con- tinued there for a few years, moving thence to a building of his own.

Mr. Kunkel was a most devoted husband and father and was repaid by the tender re- gard of a loving family. As a lifelong member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church he was not only a devout communicant, but also a useful official, and for many years was superintendent of the Sunday-school. He contributed largely to the erection of two church edifices during his residence in Ship- pensburg-one built in 1847, and the present one, which was completed a few years prior to his decease. In borough affairs Mr. Kun- kel, in his younger years, took a very active part, serving in the council and as a mem- ber of the school board, discharging his du- ties with a conscientious regard for the pub- lic weal, irrespective of self-seeking.

On May 26, 1842, Mr. Kunkel married Rachel Bomberger, who was born February 26. 1821, in Middletown, Pa., and whose lamented deathi took place at her residence on West Main street, June 14. 1898. For some months she had been in failing health, but the immediate cause of death was an affection of the heart. This admirable woman had been a resident of Shippensburg ever since her husband had embarked in mer- cantile business here, and few residents were better known or more sincerely beloved. For

many years a devout member of the Memorial Lutheran Church, her religion was not confined within its bounds. but overflowed to all who came within her kindly presence. It made her devoted to the wel- fare of her family and kind and generous to all in need. She survived her husband but six years, and is survived by the following named children : George J. and Mrs. Anna E. Montgomery, of Shippensburg; Charles A., of Harrisburg; Samuel, who, with his brother Charles, owns the Mechanics Bank at Harrisburg: Mrs. Serena Motter, of Frederick, Md., and Mrs. Lily Aughin- baugh, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

We are permitted to copy the testimonial of one who knew this most estimable woman well :

"A gentle life has just been ended. a consistent Christian, a loving mother. a true friend, a kind neighbor, passed quietly on to the beatific vision of her Lord. Mrs. Kun- kel's piety was unobtrusive. Through the years of childhood and maidenhood were planted seeds that bore rich and precious fruits. Her children can recall the songs she sang at their cradles. Her soul ever longed for the House of God. She was there from love and from principle. Endowed with more than ordinary mental gifts, she had stored her memory with the great and pre- cious promises which, both in public and private prayer, she could plead effectually before God. Shrinking and distrustful of her own attainments in holiness, the prospect of death, at the first symptoms of illness, terrified her for the moment. but as the last enemy drew nearer and nearer, her lifelong faith asserted its supremacy, and with joy- ful breath she passed on, more than a con- queror through Him that loved her."

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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 20

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