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 29
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its lieutenant-colonel, and as such served un- til mustered out of service at the close of the war. Since then he has been giving his time and attention to his profession and to civil duties. In politics, Colonel Watts is a Re- publican, firm in his convicitons, but liberal in his treatment of the views of others. In religion, he is an Episcopalian, and holds the position of vestryman in St. John's Epis- copal Church, of Carlisle.
LEVI J. SHAMBAUGH. The Sham- baugh name has been upon the Cumberland - county records since in 1793. That year a Philip Shambaugh was taxed with a hun- dred acres of land and two horses and two cows in the part of West Pennsboro town- ship, that is now included in Frankford. He may have been in the county prior to this, but this entry is the first documentary evi- dence of him having been here. It does not appear where he had lived before coming to Cumberland. but according to family tra- ditions he came here from Dauphin county, and his ancestor, named George Sham- baugh, came from Germany in 1749, and first settled in Montgomery county, Pa. Philip Shambaugh died in 1844, at the age of eighty-three. For several years prior to his death he was totally blind. His wife survived him. and died in the home of her son George, in Frankford township, at the age of eighty-nine years. Both are buried in the graveyard of the Stone Church in Lower Frankford. Of the history of his wife's family not much can be ascertained.
This Philip Shambaugh had children as follows: Peter, George, Philip, Barbara, Stephen. Anna, Mary, Hannah and Mar- garet. Of these children Stephen and Anna died young ; Barbara married Jacob Reigle, and moved to Ohio; Mary married Martin Mountz, of Frankford; Hannah married a
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Mr. Leopard, of Perry county and Mar- garet married a Mr. Shugart, of Perry county.
Philip Shambaugh's son, Philip, was born Oct. 8. 1789, and was yet a little child when his parents settled in Cumberland county. On April 24, 1826, he married Anna Margaretta Wert, who was born in Upper Paxton township, Dauphin county, March 31, 1802, and was a daughter of Joseph and Barbara (Kitch) Wert. among the early pioneers of Pennsylvania. Joseph Wert was a man of more than ordinary talent and shrewdness, of a peaceable turn of mind and a great favorite with the Indians, who shared his hospitality. and when in trouble sought his counsel. They were pliable un- der his influence, and upon one occasion, when a band of them came to his home in war paint, determined to avenge certain wrongs in his neighborhood, he gave them food, spoke kindly and begged them to spare the lives of those they intended to destroy, and by these means persuaded them not to commit the depredations they contemplated. He and his entire family, Mrs. Shambaugh alone excepted, moved to Ohio about the year 1825, and became pioneers of a section which includes Bucyrus and Massillon. Philip Shambaugh, the son, died April 15, 1846, at the age of fifty-seven years. He was a man who was held in high esteem by his neighbors for his integrity, modesty and general good character. His wife, Anna Margaretta, died in June, 1871, and their remains are buried in the graveyard of the Stone Church in Lower Frankford.
Philip and Anna Margaretta (Wert) Shamhaugh had children as follows : Sarah, John, Rebecca, Jacob, Elvina, Samuel, Philip A. and Levi J. Sarah married Adam Finken- binder, and lived in West Pennsboro. She and her husband died near Elliottson. John
married Eva A. Ressler, and moved to Clin- ton county, Iowa. Rebecca married George B. Orris, of Frankford, where both she and her husband lived and died. Jacob, when a young man, went to Iowa, and there enlisted in the army, and was killed in the battle of Iuka, Miss .. Sept. 19. 1862. Elvina died at the age of sixteen. Samuel married Jane E. Brown, of North Middleton. and moved to Missouri, but after five years' stay there returned to Frankford township. where both he and his wife died. Philip A. enlisted in Company C, 158th P. V. I., and after a nine months' service came home with impaired health. He afterward went West and lo- cated near Oakley, Macon Co., Ill .. where he married Nannie Phillips, and is still resid- ing.
Levi J. Shambaugh, the youngest child, and subject of this sketch, was born Sept. 14. 1843, on his father's farm on the north bank of the Conedoguinet creek, in Frank- ford township, a short distance to the north- west of Plainfield. His father died while he was yet less than three years of age, and he was left entirely to the care of his mother. He was sent to the country district school until old enough to do manual labor, and then lived out on a farm at two dollars a month during summers, but was brought home and sent to school in the winters. He was thus employed for six successive sum- mers, at the end of which time he had accum- ulated a bank account amounting to fifty dollars. He then made an effort to obtain an education, and for three terms, two win- ters and one summer, attended Prof. Gil- lelen's select school at Greason, by which time his money was exhausted. Having no one to advance the necessary cash, or to give him advice, he again hired on a farm. The Civil war being in progress he enrolled his. name in a company of home guards at Plain-
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field, and acquired some rudimentary mili- tary training. That fall he was urged to apply for the position of teacher of the Lo- gan school in Frankford township. He re- luctantly entered the class for examination, but secured a certificate and successfully taught that school for one term. That was an important period in his lifetime, and he has often since regretted that he did not then put his mind to hard and continuous study, and make an effort to obtain a higher edu- cation. He felt so inclined, but the great excitement of the war enticed him into other channels, and he went to Harrisburg and engaged at driving government teams. At this he continued until the fall of 1864, and then enlisted in Company F, 209th P. V. I., in which he served as sergeant to the close of the war. He participated in all the hard marches, skirmishes and battles that stand to the credit of the Hartranft Division of the 9th Army Corps, the most important en- gagements being the battles of Ft. Steadman and Petersburg. In the battle of Petersburg . he responded from the sick call, at the re- quest of his commanding officer, First Lieu- tenant H. A. Bigler, the captain being a prisoner in Libby, and the Second Lieuten- ant disabled at Ft. Steadman. In front of Petersburg his company were in the thick of the fight, and two of his bunk mates were wounded, and all of his superior officers put out of action, but he came through the or- deal unscathed. On its way homeward his regiment encamped at Alexandria, and tak- ing advantage of the opportunity he visited the celebrated Marshall House, in that town. and viewed the staff from which Colonel Ellsworth tore the rebel flag May 23, 1861. Another of his memorable experiences was his participation in the Grand review, which was given in Washington City in celebra-
tion of the ending of the war, May 23-24, 1865. He reached Harrisburg on his way home May 31, 1865.
After returning from the war Mr. Shambaugh bought from J. C. Keiser a half interest in a general store at Greason, and formed a partnership with Mr. Keiser un- der the firm name of Keiser & Shambaugh. They rented the warehouse at Good Hope, now Elliottson, and for one year conducted a mercantile, forwarding and coal business at that place. At the earnest request of friends who offered him financial support, Mr. Shambaugh, in the spring of 1867, took the entire business upon himself, and con- tinued in it for three years with marked success. Prices then were extremely high. Wheat commanded as much as $3.15 a bushel, and other grains were proportion- ately high. Prints sold for as much as thirty cents a yard. and muslins for seventy- five cents. In the spring of 1870 he bought of John Greider a farm located in Frank- ford township, and moved to it. This change he has always considered a mistake, as in purchasing the farm he contracted a debt which the panic of 1873, with its con- sequent decline of values, made burdensome. In December, 1879, he exchanged his farm and personal property, excepting his house- hold goods, for the store house and stock of store goods of George H. Greider, at Bloser- ville. On taking possession he built a new dwelling and store house, and also bought the adjoining property and remodeled the house upon it. He now again entered the mercantile business and gave to it all his at- tention until 1894. when, owing to failing health, he transferred his business to his two oldest sons. Mr. Shambaugh is a Democrat in politics, but has never been a partisan. He has never sought public position, but in
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his time has filled nearly every township of- fice there is on the list. He was elected jus- tice of the peace for four times in succession, and was often urged to become a candidate for county treasurer and for the Legislature, but never yet yielded, except to serve the last term as justice of the peace.
On Jan. 7, 1868. Levi J. Shambaugh married Mary E. Shuff. daughter of James M. and Elizabeth (Shaeffer) Shuff. James M. Shuff was a native of Adams county. His parents died while he was yet a child and he was raised in the home of friends named Gardner. He married Elizabeth Shaeffer, who was born in Germany. After his marriage he settled in West Pennsboro, Cumberland county, where he lived until the end of his days. He died Sept. 27, 1889, and his remains are buried at Plainfield. His widow still survives and resides at Car- lisle.
To Mr. and Mrs. Shambaugh the fol- lowing children were born : Mervin James ; John Edwin; Charles Albert; William Ira; Clara Elizabeth, who died when two years old: and one who died in infancy. Mervin J., the oldest son, married Elizabeth Burg- ner, and is in the mercantile business in York. John E. married Flora K. Fry, and is in business in Bloserville. Charles Albert graduated from Dickinson College, and from the Dickinson Law School and is a member of the Cumberland county Bar ; he is unmarried and lives at home with his parents. William Ira is a member of the United Evangelical Church, and now pastor of a charge at Scranton; he married Mary M. Mundis, of York.
In the spring of 1904 Mr. and Mrs. Shambaugh moved from Bloserville to Car- lisle, and now reside in a pleasant home on North Pitt street in that town.
ABRAHAM HOSTETTER. one of the venerable residents of Shippensburg. was born April 27, 1818, in Franklin county, Pa., within eight miles of Chambersburg. His father, Abraham Hostetter, was born in 17SS in Lancaster county.
The Hostetter family originated in Switzerland, and the first member to escape the religious persecutions of the time in his native land, was one Jacob Hostetter. who reached America in 1712, settling at Cones- toga, Lancaster county, and died at Lan- caster in 1761. He purchased a large tract of land, a part of which is now the site of., the present city of Lancaster. Possessing not only business ability, but also a fine edu- cation, he naturally became somewhat of a leader among his countrymen, and the fam- ily has continued to be a prominent one to the present day.
Jacob Hostetter, the grandfather of our subject, was one of the pioneer settlers in that part of Pennsylvania. He married Ma- ria Kreider, who was born at Lebanon, a daughter of Jacob Kreider, and their five sons were: Abraham, John, Jacob. Benja- min and David.
Abraham Hostetter, son of Jacob and fa- ther of Abraham, was born in 1788. in Lan- caster county. He died when his son Abra- ham was seven years of age, and his wife died in 1860. Two sons and two daughters had been born to them: Abraham: Jacob, who was a teacher, merchant and man of large property holdings ; Anna, who married Christian Sollenberger ; and Mary, who mar- ried Joseph Dohner, and settled near Day- ton, Ohio.
Abraham Hostetter was reared in Frank- lin county. He received only common- school advantages, and for a time attended school when the sessions were held in an
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old log church, clay being used for the "chinking and daubing." All that was re- quired of a teacher in those days was that he should be able to instruct in the three "R's" and triumphantly engineer his pupils through the "Double Rule of Three." He continued to attend school and work on the farm until the age of sixteen years, when he was apprenticed to learn the tailoring trade, with a Mr. Betchtel, of Strasburg. After completing his term of apprenticeship, ac- cording to the practice of the time, he started out to work as a journeyman, and finally reached Pittsburg, where he made his home for two years. While in Pittsburg he made the acquaintance of Elizabeth Patchel. whom he married in 1847, when they re- moved to Shippensburg, and he turned his attention for a time to farming, but later formed a business partnership with Samuel Patchel, under the firm name of Hostetter & Patchel. This continued until Mr. Patchel went into the army, but Mr. Hostetter con- tinned the business and built up a large cloth- ing trade. In 1864 he disposed of his busi- ness, fears being entertained at that time that Shippensburg would suffer the same fate as did Chambersburg, which had been burned by the Confederate troops. Business was at a standstill. It was during this time of business depression and public inaction that men like Mr. Hostetter came to the front. He had been elected burgess of Ship- pensburg, and, with a just sense of his re- sponsibility, he used every precaution and planned every possible measure which he could carry out to save the city. Sufficient to say that Shippensburg was not burned. although an army of 90,000 men marched through its streets, and one of those who suffered a loss of hundreds of dollars worth from their looting, was Mr. Hostetter.
After the close of the war Mr. Hostetter
was elected justice of the peace for a term of five years. While administering that office he embarked in the dry-goods business which he continued for three years. For some years he was connected with a private bank, which was known as the Farmers and Mechanics Bank. He still owns much prop- erty, and since the early days of Shippens- burg, has been more or less connected with the city's financial institutions. His fine farm of eighty acres is under rental, as is a large amount of property in the city.
Mr. Hostetter has been twice married. his first wife passing away in early married life. On May 22, 1865, he married Eliza- beth Reside, of Shippensburg, born in Franklin county. No children were born to either marriage. Mr. Hostetter has al- ways worked with the Democratic party. being a zealous supporter of its doctrines and privileges, and claims that his party is the founder of one of the best governments that ever existed. During the past twenty-five years he has diverged somewhat, conscien- tiously considering the claims of the Prohi- bition party. Both our subject and his es- timable wife are members of the Church of God, of which he has been a communicant for more than sixty years. Although the snows of many winters rest upon his honored head, Time has touched him gently. With faculties all intact, and blessed with health and strength, he is a fine example of hale and vigorous age.
CHARLES PETER ADDAMS, of Carlisle, is descended from mixed English and German ancestry. One of his paternal ancestors, Robert Adams, came from Ox- fordshire, England, shortly after the convey- ance of 500 acres of land to him by William Penn, by deed dated Dec. 22, 1681, and lo- cated in what is now the city of Philadelphia.
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William Adams, his paternal great-great- grandfather, settled in Lancaster county, and in 1761 founded the borough of Adams- town. His son, Isaac, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a captain of light infantry, in the Revolutionary army. He had six sons : William, the eldest, served in the Legislature, twice as presidential elector. commissioner, associate judge, and two terms in Congress. Another son, Gen- eral John Addams, in the second war with Great Britain, commanded one of the two brigades of State troops furnished by Penn- sylvania for the defense of the nation. An- other son was the grandparent of James Addams Beaver, Governor of this State from 1887 to 1891. Another son, Peter. the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. was a presidential elector for Jackson in 1825, and for Harrison in 1840, and in 1848 ran on the Whig ticket, with Henry Clay for President, as the candidate for Congress from the Berks district against William Strong, afterward Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. George E. Addams, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a well known clergyman of the Reformed Church.
The name Addams was originally spelled with one d, as is customary, but Richard Adams, in order to distinguish the family, added a second d, and this mode of spelling the name has been followed for nearly a century.
On the maternal side Mr. Charles F. Addams is of German ancestry, dating back to 1765, when one of his lineal ancestors came from Germany with Pastorious and settled at Germantown.
Charles Peter Addams was born at Car- lisle in 1863; graduated from Dickinson College, Carlisle, in 1884; read law with Henderson and Hays, was admitted to the
Bar of Cumberland county in 1887, and lo- cated at Carlisle where he now resides. He took an active interest in politics, and served as chairman of the Republican county com- mittee from 1887 to 1891, and again from 1901 to 1904, inclusive. He was a delegate to the Republican State Convention of 1894, which nominated Daniel H. Hastings for Governor. He was chief clerk in the At- torney General's Department, at Harrisburg, from 1895 to 1899 and law clerk since 1899.
In December, 1888, Mr. Addams was married to Laura, daughter of Franklin and Sarah Jane Gardner, of Carlisle, and has one son, Lawrence Gray.
GEORGE WASHINGTON HAUCK was born in Mechanicsburg, Pa., on the 6th day of May, 1841. He was the second son of Adam and Susannah ( Wonderly ) Hauck, being one of four children. Adam Hauck was a founder and iron manufacturer and manufacturer of stoves. He often took his son George, then a mere boy, with him, when he drove through the adjoining and more remote counties of the State, looking after his interest in the iron trade. When George was a boy fourteen years old, his father died.
Mr. Hauck obtained his early education at the Mechanicsburg public schools. When he was eighteen, he went to the Cumberland Valley Institute, where he remained between one and two years, studying Latin and the higher branches, and displaying a high and rare order of talent. Being a natural and able mathematician, he finished higher alge- bra before he was twelve years old. Between the ages of fifteen and nineteen he learned the tinner's trade with his uncle, William Wonderly, and afterward formed a part- nership with his uncle, Frederick Wonderly. Mr. Hauck worked at his trade in a number
George Zo Lauch.
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of cities, among which were the following : Cincinnati, Rochester, Wabash (Ind.), Washington (D. C.), and Harrisburg.
In 1869 George Hauck and his brother Samuel formed a partnership in the stove and tin business, under the firm name of Hauck & Co. - In August, 1878, George and Samuel Hauck and J. K. Seifert bought out the hardware stand of George Bobb, on West Main street, and formed the new firm of Seifert & Hauck. The Messrs. Hauck, Seifert and S. H. Coover, in 1881, organized the Huston Net Company, for the manufact- ure and sale of a high grade of leather fly- nets. Mr. Coover soon resigned from the fly-net business, and several years later the Messrs. Hauck purchased Mr. Seifert's in- terests in both the fly-net and the hardware business. Both of these the Haucks together conducted until the death of Mr. George W. Hauck, on the 15th of May, 1902. The fly-net business continued under the old name. and the name of the hardware busi- ness. upon the resignation of Mr. Seifert, was changed to Hauck Brothers. Under the Haucks the hardware trade grew rapidly. In seven years the business had doubled. They became cramped for space, and they decided to erect a new, larger and finer build- ing. In 1889 they built the commodious and imposing structure that now stands on West Main street. It is four stories high, 190 feet long and 44 feet wide, is built of brick with handsome Indiana limestone front; and, al- together, it is one of the finest hardware houses in Pennsylvania. Three of the floors, besides several warehouses, are used for the hardware business, and the salesroom occu- pies the entire first floor. Hauck Brothers did an immense wholesale and retail busi- ness. the territory covered by their salesmen including the Cumberland Valley, south- eastern Pennsylvania, and portions of
Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia. Mr. George Hauck managed the fly- net business, and made the "Huston net" famous from Maine to Cali- fornia. He found a market for his fly-net in almost every State of the Union, and had even shipped some of them to Australia. He personally inspected the materials and super- vised the workmanship; and so successful was he in placing a good article upon the market that he commanded from five to fif- teen per cent more than any other manufact- urer and employed, in the busy season, more than a hundred work people.
During the summer of 1892 George W. Hauck, in company with S. F. Huston and J. D. Landis, went to Howard, Center county, Pa., to examine into the condition of a manufacturing concern with a view to its possible, or probable, removal to Mechan- icsburg, if everything should prove satis- factory. The results of this trip were the location of the D. Wilcox Mfg. Co. (manu- facturers of fifth wheels, carriage hardware, bicycle forgings, and other kinds of drop forgings) in Mechanicsburg and the recap- italization and complete reorganization of the company. To the untiring efforts of Mr. Hauck, aided by Messrs. Huston and Landis, is due the credit for bringing this, Mechanicsburg's largest and foremost in- dustry, into our midst, and securing the cap- ital necessary to equip the plant properly. The people of Mechanicsburg had enough of confidence in the integrity, foresight and business ability of Mr. Hauck to believe that, when he said a thing was right, it was right, and to risk their capital in any venture in which he invested his capital, so that Mr. Hauck had no trouble to raise the funds nec- essary to bring the Wilcox plant to this place. The growth of the business of this company was phenomenal from the start,
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and since its organization, its success has been unchecked. It worked through the last panic with a full force of workmen. Its business grew from a small beginning with great rapidity, and kept doubling itself every three or four years, until now it is the largest carriage-hardware factory in the United States, sends its forgings to every State in the Union and to many of the Provinces of Canada, and employs a small army of men. Darius Wilcox was its first president : Mr. Hauck was its first vice-president. When Mr. Wilcox died in 1896, Mr. Hauck became its president and was reelected to that office every year until his own death, in 1902.
It is the able, shrewd, trained man of affairs that brings success to an undertak- ing of any kind, be it large or small, and not the man that does the mechanical part. Mr. Hauck was just such an able and trained business man. A lightning calculator, an expert mathematician, a quick, exact and able thinker. a man of broad experience in the iron industry, he possessed all the requi- sites for success in any business enterprise he might undertake. The whole history of the Wilcox Co. is essentially a part of the history of this man. He employed able as- sistants and trained men to take his place in the management of the concern when he no longer should be here to manage it himself. However, one of his ablest and proudest acts as its president was his purchase of a large quantity of steel, just before the price rose in 1898, on which he made for the com- pany the great sum of $30,000. Mr. Hauck owned nearly a fourth of the capital stock at the time of his death, and was the largest single stockholder in the concern.
Mr. Hauck was a director of the Me- chanicsburg Gas & Water Company, and was its second largest shareholder. He was also a member of the board of directors of
the Second National Bank, of the same place, up to the time of his death, and an honorary member of the Washington Steam Fire En- gine Company. For many years he was the owner of a one-fourth interest in the large general store of H. H. Lamb & Co., at Shep- herdstown, one of the largest and best equipped "country stores" in Cumberland county. He was also interested in many other enterprises of the town in which he lived, and he was sought by many of the town's business men for advice in their busi- ness affairs. In politics he was a stanch, strong and consistent Republican ; and he believed thoroughly in the principles which dominate that great party. He was also a member of Col. H. I. Zinn Fost. No. 415. G. A. R.
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