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 31
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About the year 1860 he purchased the tan- nery his father built in 1828, went into busi- ness on his own account and has continued at it steadfastly ever since, a period of over forty years. The old Kost tannery he has enlarged to four times its original capacity. introduced new machinery and new pro- cesses as rapidly as their usefulness became known, and, by keeping in touch with the spirit of progress and giving to his business all his time and attention, has succeeded in 'spite of the trusts and combinations that have so unmercifully been crushing out the individual enterprises of the country. He is a farmer as well as a tanner and gives to his farming interests the same intelligent care and direction that he does to his leather manufacturing. He has erected new build- ings, improved his old ones, and drained and fertilized his lands, making two blades of grass grow where one grew before. Nor has he been the exclusive beneficiary of his enterprise. It affords employment to many persons around him, and lie finds special pleasure in long retaining in his service faith- ful employes. One man who at this writing is one of his trusted employes has been con- tinuously in his service for twenty-eight years. another for twenty-four years, and another for eighteen years.
Mr. Kost is a Democrat in politics, but liberal in his views and independent in his actions, and when his party makes bad nomi- nations considers it a duty as well as a priv- ilege to withhold his vote or vote against them if there be better ones to vote for. He takes a live interest in the affairs of his dis- trict, has several times served as school di- rector and often been urged to be a candi- date for other offices but positively declined. He has never married, but is domestic in his habits, and even without a wife his home is
a place of such solid comfort, pleasure and contentment, that he never finds it necessary to go to the sea shore.
THE BOSLER FAMILY. ABRAHAM BOSLER. Johan Wilhelm Bossler was the earliest American ancestor of the Bosler family of Cumberland county. He came from Hanover, Germany, and. landed at Philadelphia, Oct. 28, 1738, from the ship "Bilander Thistle," and was the only person of his name on the vessel. In fact, he is the only Bosler that appears anywhere upon the immigrant records of Pennsylvania. He was yet quite young when he arrived in this country and it is not definitely known where he first settled and what occupation he fol- lowed. By 1761 he was living in Lancaster. county, between Elizabethtown and May- town, where he married a Miss Longenecker, by whom he had a large family. Among their children was a son John, born Nov. 14, 1765, who married Catharine Gish, of Lan- caster county, and engaged at farming. In 1794 he came to Cumberland county, and settled on the north side of the Conedoguinet Creek, in what is now Silver Spring town- ship. He purchased from John and James Buchanan the farm that is now owned by David R. Vogelsong, and made it his home during the rest of his days. He also after- ward acquired the ownership of two other farms, adjoining this one on the north, and for thirty years was a prominent and influen- tial citizen of that part of the county. He died Nov. 21, 1824, his wife, Catharine (Gish) Bosler, died Feb. 15, 1829, aged fifty-seven years, and the remains of both are buried in the cemetery of the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church.
John and Catharine (Gish) Bosler had five children, three sons and two daughters.
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CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
The sons were Jacob D., John and Abra- ham: and the daughters were Nancy and Catharine. Jacob was a physician and for a time had a drug store and practiced his pro- fession in Mechanicsburg. He married Ann D. Herman, daughter of Martin and Eliza- beth (Bowers) Herman, and removed to Dayton, Ohio, where he lived to a great age and where some of his descendants are still living. John was married twice. His first wife was a daughter of Rev. Jacob Keller, and his second a daughter of George Web- bert. Nancy was also married twice; her first husband was John Rife, and her second Melchoir Webbert. Catharine married Dr. John Fahnestock on Oct. 23, 1827.
Abrahamı Bosler was the youngest child. He was born Aug. 19, 1806, on the farm which his father purchased from the Buch- anans in the part of East Pennsboro town- ship that is now included in Silver Spring. Here he grew to manhood and received such education as the district schools of that sec- tion afforded. Although reared on the farm and trained to that vocation he had scarcely reached the years of maturity when he turned his attention to merchandising. He engaged at merchandising in the village of Hogestown for several years and then formed a partnership with Francis Porter in the produce and forwarding business, ship- ping by arks and boats to Baltimore by way of the Susquehanna river, and by canal to Philadelphia. He also was a large dealer in cattle, which he purchased in Ohio and west- ern Pennsylvania and then drove them to the Eastern markets. His business ventures were quite successful, but he still retained his interest in farming. For some years he farmed a farm which adjoins Hogestown on the northwest, now owned by the McCor- mick estate, and in March, 1838, bought a fine farm from Martha Cunningham. This
farm lies next to the place on which he was born, in a peninsula on the north side of the Conedoguinet, due north of Hogestown, and since Mr. Bosler has parted with it it has been owned by the Mussers. Here he farmed, manufactured brick, erected new buildings and made other improvements, and lived twelve of the most strenuous years of his entire career. In April, 1850, he sold his possessions in Silver Spring township. moved his family to his wife's brother, Christian Herman, near New Kingston, and went West. He made an extended trip and purchased a large tract of land near what is now Monmouth, Ill., and then returned to Pennsylvania for his family. His wife, however, was averse to going West, so in the spring of 1852 he moved to South Mid- dleton township, a short distance south from Carlisle, where the fall previous he had pur- chased a farm, a mill and a distillery. He engaged in these various branches of indus- try in that locality until 1863, when the revenue taxes became exorbitant and he closed his distillery. Later he sold his inter- ests at this place to his son, J. Herman Bos- ler, and in 1872 moved to Carlisle, where, under the firm name of A. Bosler & Dale, he engaged in the grain and coal business for seven or eight years and then retired.
On Feb. 25. 1830, Mr. Abraham Bosler was married to Miss Eliza Herman, by Rev. James Williamson, pastor of the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church. Eliza Her- man was a daughter of Martin and Elizabeth (Bowers) Herman, and a member of a prominent Silver, Spring family whose his- tory appears in another part of these annals. Soon after their marriage they connected with the Presbyterian Church at Silver Spring, where they continued faithful at- tendants until they removed to South Mid- dleton, when by certificate they transferred
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their membership to the Second Presby- terian Church of Carlisle, of which church they were devout members and liberal sup- porters until the end of life. Mr. Bosler died Dec. 21, 1883; his wife died Dec. 7. 1885, aged seventy-five years, and their remains rest in the family plot in Ashland cemetery in Carlisle. They had eight children, name- ly: John Herman, James Williamson, Ben- jamin C., Joseph, Elizabeth Bowers, Mary Catharine. George Morris and Charles A. The last-named died in infancy, but the rest all grew to maturity. Elizabeth B. is unmarried and a resident of Carlisle. Mary. C. married Joseph R. Stonebraker and re- sides in Baltimore, and George MI. resides in Carlisle. where he has extensive business in- terests. Benjamin C. was reared upon the farm and in 1857 went to Illinois, where he resided until the early 'sixties, when he re- moved to California and died in a mining camp in 1862. He was unmarried.
Abraham Bosler was a strong character in the business and social life of Cumberland county, and his activity, honesty of purpose and integrity won for him an honorable place in its history.
JOHN HERMAN BOSLER was the oldest child of Abraham and Eliza ( Her- man) Bosler. He was born Dec. 14, 1830, near Hogestown, in Silver Spring township. His childhood and youth were spent upon the farm and at the Hogestown district school. When seventeen years of age he en- tered Cumberland Academy, a preparatory school then in existence at New Kingston, from which he entered Dickinson College, where he pursued his studies through the years of 1850 and 1851. Being predisposed to business rather than books, he then with- drew from college and entered into partner- ship with his father in the milling and dis- tilling business, in which he continued for
five years. He next engaged at the manut- facture of iron in Huntingdon county for a period of two years, after which he returned to Cumberland county and again engaged at milling, and also at buying and shipping grain.
On Oct. 1, 1856, J. Herman Bosler was married to Miss Mary J. Kirk, of Mifflin- town, Juniata county. Mary J. Kirk was a daughter of James and Martha (Sager) Kirk, and a descendant of an old and promi- nent family of central Pennsylvania. Will- iam Kirk, Sr., was born in the North of Ire- land. He immigrated to America at an early date, married Mary McConnel, and settled near East Waterford, Lack township, in what is now Juniata county, at the same time that other members of his family settled in what is now Fulton county. He died in 1781. His son, William Kirk (2), was married twice, first to Mary Elliott and sec- ond to Jane Clark. He died on the old home- stead in Lack township in 1843.
James Kirk, a son of William Kirk (2), by Mary Elliott, was born in Lack township and grew to manhood in that locality. He was educated in the common schools and under the private tuition of a Mr. White, an old Scotch teacher who had his home in the Kirk family for many years. When sixteen years old he left home to fight life's battles for himself, going first to Churchtown, Cum- berland county, where he taught school a term. . He next went to Mifflintown, and there for a while clerked in the store of Rob- ert Gallagher. From Mifflintown he went to Fulton county, where he and a cousin, also named James Kirk, for a short time jointly engaged in the mercantile business. He then returned to Mifflintown, and on June 9. 1835, was married to Martha Sager. After his marriage he went back to Fulton county and there spent two years more in the mer- cantile business, after which he for the third
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time went to Mifflintown, and there-first with Joseph Patterson and afterward by himself-conducted a general store until his death. He died in Mifflintown in September. 1870; his wife, Martha (Sager) Kirk, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Bosler, in Carlisle, March 16, 1884. Mr. Kirk was a Democrat, was active and prominent in poli- tics, and was treasurer of Juniata county one term.
J. Herman Bosler continued in business in the vicinity of Carlisle for fifteen years with marked success. In 1869 he became in- terested in stock ranching in Nebraska and Wyoming with his brother, James W., in- vesting heavily in the cattle business. They were the pioneer representatives of the west- ern cattle business in Cumberland county and were very successful. Afterward J. Herman and George M. Bosler, with others, purchased a large body of land near the growing city of Omaha. This land subse- quently was transferred to the South Omaha Land Company, of which J. Herman Bosler became vice-president and one of the heaviest stockholders. This proved to be a most for- tunate purchase, for upon it was founded the town of South Omaha, which at first was three miles from the center of Omaha prop- er, but since has become a corporate part of the city itself. It today stands as a testi- monial to the judgment and foresight of its founders. Mr. Bosler also interested him- self in business enterprises as far away as the Pacific coast. In 1891 he and others, under the corporate designation of South San Francisco Land and Improvement Com- pany, bought a large tract of land in San Mateo county, Cal., near the city of San Francisco. Subsequently this company made a second and much larger purchase of lands, with the view of developing its natural re- sources and establishing upon it, on an ex- tensive scale, such industries as the rapid
growth of that section calls for. This com- pany has a capital of $2,000,000.
In his search for business opportunities Mr. Bosler did not overlook those which his own locality afforded. He assisted in organ- izing the Carlisle Manufacturing Company, which for many years provided steady em- ployment to a large force of hands and was the means of bringing much needed money to the town. He was also president of the Carlisle Shoe Factory; a director of the Carlisle Deposit Bank; of the Merchants' National Bank ; of the Carlisle Gas & Water Company; of the Cumberland Valley Rail- road Company, and president of the Carlisle Land & Improvement Company, an enter- prise which built up a large addition to the town of Carlisle and established some impor- tant manufacturing industries. He owned a number of valuable farms in different parts of the county, in the management of which he found great pleasure, chiefly because it afforded him a restful diversion from busi- ness. Through his farming interests, and his close association with others similarly in- terested, he was induced to join the Cumber- land County Agricultural Society and proved himself a most influential friend and patron of that useful organization.
Although a man constantly vexed with a great load of business cares and responsibili- ties, Mr. Bosler was possessed of most agree- able social qualities. He was genial, affable and kind. He had a pleasant word for everybody and few people were more gener- ally known or more highly esteemed and popular. He was a man of excellent habits and character, took a deep interest in re- ligious affairs, was a member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, and gave liberally to its support and the support of all its charities. In politics he was a stanch Democrat and supported his party and its policies zealously, but never sought office.
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CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
In ISSS he was the Democratic Presidential elector from the Nineteenth Congressional . district and was frequently urged to stand for higher office, but always declined because of the pressure of his many business inter- ests. He died on Nov. 18, 1897, and his remains are interred in Ashland cemetery. He was one of the most honored and most conspicuous citizens of his section of the State, and few men in this country have won the measure of business success that lie achieved.
As a lasting memorial to Mr. Bosler, his widow and five children erected a handsome public library building in Carlisle, known as "The J. Herman Bosler Memorial Library." Entirely completed and equipped with furni- ture and books, it was formally transferred to trustees on Jan. 30, 1900, together with an endowment fund of $20,000. The pre- sentation address was made by Herman E. Bosler, son of the deceased, at a large and representative assemblage in the building which was presided over by Hon. Edward W. Biddle, President Judge of the county. Addresses were made by the chairman and by Rev. George Norcross, pastor of the Sec- ond Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, and by Rev. Dr. George Edward Reed, president of Dickinson College and State Librarian. The building has a frontage on West High street of 57 feet and a depth of 88 feet, standing 011 a lot 63 by 110 feet. It is a handsome speci- men of classic architecture, the front being constructed of Avondale marble with a mas- sive columned entrance. About 4,400 books are now upon its shelves under the care of the efficient and popular librarian, W. Homer Ames. The trustees are: Rev. Dr. George Norcross, president; Hon. Edward W. Bid- dle, vice-president; John M. Rhey, secre- tary; Edward B. Watts, treasurer; J. Kirk Bosler; Mrs. Edward W. Biddle; Charles F.
Himes ; Joseph Bosler; Mrs. Ellen A. Park- er; John B. Landis; Mrs. Florence P. McIntire.
To John Herman and Mary J. (Kirk) Bosler the following children were born : Gertrude D .; Herman E .; Lila Mcclellan ; Jean M .; Fleta K., and J. Kirk. There were also four others who died in infancy. Ger- trude D. is the wife of Judge Edward W. Biddle, whose biography appears in anothe: part of this volume. Herman E. was secre . tary and treasurer of the Fidelity & Deposit Company of Baltimore until ill healthı com- pelled him to give up the position four years ago. He married Carolyn Dickey Dulany and resides in Baltimore. Lila McClellan married Edward Hooker, of Omaha. She died April 3, 1896, without issue. Jean M. is the wife of James I. Chamberlain, Esq., attorney at law, of Harrisburg, and Fleta K. is the wife of Chester C. Basehiore, Esq., attorney at law of Carlisle.
JAMES KIRK BOSLER, youngest child of J. Herman and Mary J. ( Kirk) Bosler, was born Oct. 11, 1876, in Carlisle, and has always resided there. He was edu- cated at Dickinson College, entering the preparatory department in 1890, and grad- uating from the college proper in 1897. He then took a course in the Dickinson Law School, from which he graduated in 1899, and was admitted to practice in the Cumber- land county courts on June 3, 1899. He is president of the Carlisle Paper Box Com- pany, and secretary of the Carlisle Shoe Company; also a director in the Farmers' Trust Company, of Carlisle, and his time is occupied chiefly in attending to his various manufacturing and business interests. He was married on Nov. 19, 1903, to Miss Mary A. Mullin, daughter of Hon. Charles H. Mullin, of Mt. Holly Springs.
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JAMES WILLIAMSON BOSLER was the third son of Abraham and Eliza ( Her- man) Bosler, and was born on April 4, 1833, near Hogestown, in Silver Spring township, Cumberland county. He was a grandson of John and Catharine (Gish) Bosler, who in 1794 came from Lancaster county and set- tled in what is now Silver Spring township. He grew up on the farm and received the rudiments of his education in the public school of the neighborhood. Later he at- tended the Cumberland Academy at New Kingston, and still later took a partial course at Dickinson College. In 1852 he left college and went to Moultrie, Columbiana Co., Ohio, where during the winter of 1853- 54 he taught school. From Moultrie he went to Wheeling, Va. (now West Virginia), where he read law and was admitted to the Bar. Although prepared for it, he did not naturally incline toward the practice of the law and instead of entering upon a profes- sional career he for a while clerked in a store in Wheeling, which, coming at the time it did, was a valuable bit of experience, for it taught him self-reliance and encour- aged him to venture into business on his own account. He bought a store in Columbiana county, Ohio, near where he had taught school, laid in a stock of goods and bid for trade. He gave to his mercantile enterprise all his time and attention, but before suc- cess had time to wait upon him a disastrous fire wiped out his business and ended his career as a merchant. With the hope of changing his luck he now decided to change his location, and removed to Sioux City, Iowa. The change was advantageous, for it proved to be the beginning of his re- markably successful business career. He formed a partnership with Charles E. Hedges in the real estate business, and later the two established the "Sioux City Bank,"
under the firm name of Bosler & Hedges. They did a general banking business, and also furnished supplies for the Interior and War Departments of the Government on the North Missouri river. Sioux City was. then on the frontier and much of the busi- ness of its citizens had connection with gov- ernment operations. Large numbers of In- dians were confined to near-by reservations and these were fed by the Government under treaty, and to do so vast amounts of sup- plies were necessary, and Bosler & Hedges, and afterward Mr. Bosler alone, provided a large share of these supplies by contract. The boundless plains just beyond the Mis- souri river, where erstwhile roamed myriads of buffalo, were blooming into national pasture fields and upon them it was easy and very profitable to raise and fatten cattle. Here was an exceptional opportunity, and James W. Bosler was among the first to recognize and take advantage of it. He be- came one of the pioneer spirits in the new industry of raising cattle on the Western ranges, invested in it heavily and reaped golden profits by it. Besides being active in real estate, banking and cattle raising, he at times engaged in building operations and by contract erected both the public school build- ing and the jail of Sioux City. He also in- terested himself in politics and one year was the Democratic nominee for state treasurer of Iowa. He was not elected to this office, but at another time was elected a member of the Iowa State Legislature, and in 1860 was a delegate to the National Democratic Con- vention, held at Charleston, S. C., where "a distempered individual broke down one of the great parties of the country and made- civil war inevitable." Having accumulated a large fortune, he carefully organized his- various interests, and in 1866 returned to his native county in Pennsylvania and made ar-
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rangements for the domestic peace and com- fort of his later years. He built himself a beautiful residence in the suburbs of Car- lisle, where, although still continuing his extensive business in the West, he resided until his death. After becoming permanent- ly settled at Carlisle, he became one of the most active and efficient promoters of busi- ness enterprises about his home. He helped to organize the Carlisle Manufacturing Com- pany, and was its first president : he was a director in the Carlisle Deposit Bank, a di- rector of the Carlisle Gas & Water Company, and also owned extensive farm interests in different parts of the county. He also was one of the incorporators of the Independent National Bank, of Philadelphia, and a di- rector of it until his death. His active, gen- erous spirit promoted business directly and indirectly, for he not only invested person- ally but freely and cheerfully extended finan- cial aid to persons who engaged in business, or bought property about him, and never dis- tressed them when adversity came. And when he gave it was with a liberal hand. At the centenary anniversary of Dickinson Col- lege, in 1883, at a meeting of the trustees, he subscribed ten thousand dollars for the en- dowment of a Prof. Mcclintock chair. He died before this bequest was carried into execution, but after his death his widow, emphasizing her husband's generous motives seven-fold, gave to the institution the splen- did "James W. Bosler Memorial Hall," which now stands upon the college campus as a monument to his memory.
Early in his career James W. Bosler was a Democrat, but his associations and business relations during and immediately after the Civil war being largely with influ- ential Republicans, he about that time allied himself with the Republican party. Pos- sessed of wonderful resource and tact, and
being a good judge of men, he was very use- ful to the organization and for years was much sought after in close and doubtful cam- paigns. He was in close touch with a large number of the most distinguished members of the party and was frequently entrusted with their most important political secrets. He was a warm personal friend of Hon. James G. Blaine, and at the Republican Na- tional Convention in 1880 was one of a com- mittee of three-the other two being John Roach, the shipbuilder, and Senator Chaffee, of Colorado-who had charge of Mr. Blaine's interests as a candidate for the Presidency. Mr. Blaine did not upon this occasion receive the nomination, but every time he made a campaign for the Presi- dency James W. Bosler was his unswerving friend, and not only contributed heavily himself, but made others give up to his measure. For this substantial friendship Mr. Blaine showed due appreciation all through life and when Mr. Bosler's remains were borne to the tomb he was a mourner at the side of his bier. Several years afterward, in writing to Mrs. Bosler, he said: "As the years go by I realize more and more how great was my own loss in the death of your husband, and from that I can realize in some faint degree how inestimable was your affection. He was the dearest and most un- selfish of friends, and I keep his memory green in my heart." Although the friend he so loyally championed at the National Convention of 1880 was defeated, Mr. Bos- ler did not sulk or withhold his support from the nominee. He promptly went to the front and gave proof of the sincerity of his ac- quiescence by giving liberally to the cause. Through his example other men became equally generous, and to him, as much as to any man in the United States, the election of Gen. Garfield was due. One of the great
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