Biographical annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, Part 32

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 32

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public men in Pennsylvania that James W. Bosler was on intimate terms with was Ben- jamin Harris Brewster. He ranked high as a lawyer, had held important public positions and aspired to a cabinet position. In Decem- ber, 1881, President Arthur appointed Mr. Brewster Attorney-General of the United States, and since his death extracts from let- ters written by him have been made public showing that he relied principally upon Mr. Bosler's influence to obtain the appointment to this high office.

In 1882 Mr. Bosler was nominated by the Republicans of the 32d District, com- posed of the counties of Cumberland and Adams, for State senator. The district then was Democratic by about 1,800, and al- though he was not elected, Mr. Bosler re- duced this large majority to 136. His whole career shows that he cared more for the political success of his friends than he did for his own, and in public affairs he pre- ferred to act through others, yet, had he been elected State senator, there is reason to believe, that, with his great influence and extensive acquaintance with public men and public affairs, the public interests would have been well served.

In 1860 James W. Bosler married Helen Beltzhoover, daughter of Michael G. and Mary ( Herman) Beltzhoover, of near Boil- ing Springs, Cumberland county. Going to the far west they began their married life in Sioux City and lived there for six years. On the completion of their new home at Carlisle they removed to it and there lived the rest of their days. Mr. Bosler's end came suddenly on Monday, Dec. 17, 1883. He a few days before had returned from an exhausting business trip and on the afternoon of the day named was in his office, on the beautiful grounds of his residence, when he was

stricken down with apoplexy and died before he could be removed to his house. He was in the prime of life, in the floodtide of use- fulness, and his unexpected death was a shock to the entire community, and drew the warmest expressions of sympathy from far and near. Messages of regret and condolence came to the bereaved family from Charles B. Lore, James G. Blaine, Stephen B. El- kins, Thomas Beaver, Jacob Tome. Enoch Pratt and others of the same class, and in the immense throng at his funeral a few days afterward were some of the most distin- guished men of the land. His wife, Helen (Beltzhoover) Bosler, died on Oct. 5, 1890, and their remains rest side by side in the family plat in Ashland cemetery.

To James W. and Helen (Beltzhoover) Bosler five children were born, viz. : Charles, Frank C., Mary Eliza, DeWitt Clinton and Helen Louisa. Charles died in December, 1870, in the seventh year of his age. D. Clinton was born April 25, 1873. graduated from Harvard College in 1897, and died Dec. 22, 1903.

Frank C. Bosler was born May 1, 1869, and graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1894, and, being the only son living, it is upon him that chiefly rests the responsi- bility of caring for the large estate that de- scended to him and his sisters from his father. He is largely interested in business enterprises and is a director in the Carlisle Deposit Bank, and the Farmers' Trust Com- pany of Carlisle, and is the principal owner in the Iron Mountain Ranch Company of Wyoming. Mary Eliza is the wife of Lewis S. Sadler, Esq., a member of the law firm of Sadler & Sadler, of Carlisle. Frank C. and Helen L. are unmarried, and all of them reside at "Cottage Hill," the beautiful home their father built in the suburbs of Carlisle

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in 1866. Like the family for generations past they adhere to the Presbyterian faith and are all members of the Second Presby- terian Church of Carlisle.

JOSEPH BOSLER was born March 23, 1838, and like many farmer boys alternated working upon the farm with attendance at the district school, and later was given the advantage of a course in the preparatory de- partment of Dickinson College. When he was fourteen he went to Columbiana county, Ohio, where he assisted his brother in a store. but after a few years returned home, and remained upon the farm until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he went West and located at Sioux City, Iowa. Later he was at Omaha, Neb., with his brother James, filling contracts for Indian supplies for the Government. Again his heart turned toward Pennsylvania, and he settled in Carlisle, · where he formed a partnership with his brother, J. Herman, in a grain, coal and flour business, which lasted eight years, when the young men sold out to their father and Mr. Dale. In the meanwhile Mr. Bosler was making annual trips to the West to look after his interests there, and when he dis- posed of his grain business he and his brother James established a cattle ranch at Big Bend on the Missouri river, in South Dakota, and conducted it for several years. Joseph Bosler then retired, and has so lived for the past fifteen years, but he has large realty holdings in Nebraska, the Dakotas and Virginia, and he is a director of the Car- lisle Deposit bank and of the Allen & East Pennsboro Fire Insurance Co. Politically, he is a Democrat, and he is very influential in the city.

On Nov. 4, 1868, Mr. Bosler married Miss Sarah E. Lemen, of Berkeley county, W. Va., a daughter of Thomas Newton and

Margaret ( Billmyer ) Lemen, both natives of Jefferson county, W. Va., the family being an old one in the State. Mrs. Bosler was reared in her native State, and was married there. Mr. and Mrs. Bosler have six living children : Margaret, widow of John H. Mur- ray, of Milton, Pa., who was a native of Berlin, Germany, has one son, Samuel Wil- son Murray; Joseph, Jr., who has lived in Nebraska since 1899. engaged in a real- estate and insurance business, graduated from Dickinson College and filled the office of clerk in the revenue office at Lancaster, Pa., for five years before going West, where he is proving a very successful and enterpris- ing young man; E. Herman, an art student, graduated from the Art Students' League, of New York, and has also studied in Paris; Mary is a graduate of the S. Weir Mitchell Hospital; Susan L. is at home; Newton L., a very promising young fellow, is also at home. Two other children of this family died in childhood, Bessie L. and Catherine N.

The family are all members of the Pres- byterian Church, with which they have been prominently connected for many years, and Mr. Bosler has well sustained the honor and prestige of his family. Needless to say that Mr. and Mrs. Bosler are among the most highly esteemed people of Carlisle, or that they are leaders in the best circle of social life

HON. HARRY MANNING. The Mannings are of English descent and came to America at various times, some at a very early date. Capt. John Manning, a sol- dier in the British army, was at Boston as carly as 1650. In 1664 he came to New York, where later his government granted him the island in the East river that is now known as Blackwell's island. Formerly it was known as Manning's island.

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A Robert Manning, who was born at Salem, Mass., and died there in 1842, achieved great distinction as a pomologist. He had a sister Elizabeth who became the mother of Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was educated at the expense of Mr. Manning.

A William Manning who was born in England settled at Cambridge, Mass., in 1692. He descended from an ancient fan- ily who had their origin in Saxony, Ger- many, and settled in England in the fourth century. This member of the family was extensively interested in navigation, was prominent in the church and became the founder of a large American posterity. He was one of the selectmen of Cambridge and by appointment of the Colonial government he and Deacon John Cooper directed the erection of Harvard hall, and collected and disbursed the moneys that were raised for its construction.

A James Manning, who was born at Elizabeth, N. J., in 1738, graduated from Princeton with the second honors of his class, became a Baptist minister and figured prominently as a preacher and edu- cator in the colony of Rhode Island during the Revolutionary period. He represented Rhode Island in the Congress of the Con- federation after the Revolution and it was largely through his influence that Rhode Island eventually came into the Union.

Randolph Manning, who was born in Plainfield, N. J., became a lawyer in New York City. He afterward settled in Pon- tiac, Mich., and was a delegate to the first Constitutional Convention of that State; also served as State senator, as secretary of State, as chancellor of the State and as associate justice of the Supreme court of the State. He was a descendant of Jeffrey Manning, who settled in New Jersey as early as 1676.

Richard Irving Manning, who was born in Clarendon, S. C., in 1789, served as a captain in the war of 1812, as a member of the Legislature, and afterward became gov- ernor of South Carolina. While governor he entertained at his house Gen. LaFayette on the occasion of his second visit to this country. He afterward was elected Con- gressman and while holding that position died in Philadelphia in 1836. His wife bore the unusual distinction of being the wife of a governor, the sister of a governor, the niece of a governor, the mother of a governor, and the aunt and foster mother of a governor. Their oldest son married a daughter of Gen. Wade Hampton, served several years in the Assembly and Senate of South Carolina, and was elected governor in 1852. He was a delegate to the convention that nominated Buchanan for the Presidency and a member of the committee that notified him of his nomination. Mr. Buchanan tendered him the mission to St. Petersburg, which he declined. In the Civil war he served on Gen. Beauregard's staff. In 1865 he was chosen United States senator, but was not permitted to take his seat. Lawrence Man- ning, the father of Richard Irving Man- ning, served in the Revolution under. "Light Horse Harry" Lee, who mentions him in his "Memoirs."

Thomas Courtland Manning, born in North Carolina, in 1831, became a lawyer and removed to Louisiana, where he had a distinguished and honorable career. In the Civil war he rose to the rank of lieu- tenant-colonel in the Confederate service, and later was appointed adjutant-general of the State with the rank of brigadier-general. In 1864 he was appointed an associate justice of the Supreme court of the State and served till the close of the war. In 1876 he was vice president of the National

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convention that nominated Samuel J. Til- den : in 1877 he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme court, serving until in 1880. In 1882 he was a third time placed on the Supreme Bench and served until in 1886, when President Cleveland appointed him United States minister to Mexico, which post he held until his death, in 1887.

A Jacob Merrill Manning, born at Greenwood, N. Y., in 1824, graduated at Amherst, became a distinguished clergyman in the Congregational church, and for a long time was pastor of Old South Church in Boston. He was chaplain to the Massa- chusetts State Senate, chaplain to the 43d Massachusetts Regiment in 1862-63, for six years an overseer of Harvard, for seventeen years a trustee of the State library and for six years a lecturer at Andover Theological Seminary. He died in Portland, Maine, in 1882.

Daniel Manning, born at Albany, N. Y., was educated in the public schools until in his twelfth year, when he entered the office of an Albany newspaper and rose step by step until he reached the position of presi- dent of the company that owned it. He also became director of several banks; president of the National Commercial Bank of Al- bany, and interested in a railroad. Becom -. ing a leader in Democratic politics he rose to great prominence and influence and in 1885 was appointed secretary of the treas- ury by President Cleveland.

It is not the purpose of this article to show the relationship of these different branches of this distinguished family; but as it may be within the range of possibility to do so reference is made to them with the view of lending assistance to the genealo- gist of the future. Besides, it may also add interest to what the writer hereof has to

relate about the Pennsylvania family that is the special subject of this sketch.

The American progenitor of the Penn- sylvania Mannings settled in Lancaster county some time prior to the war of the Revolution. He married a lady of German ancestry and both lived in that part of the State to the end of their days. Among his children was a son George who was born in Manor township. Lancaster county, some- time between the years 1788 and 1790. He married Mary Kendig, a member of a representative Lancaster county family, and subsequently moved to the vicinity of Mid- dletown, Dauphin county. George and Mary ( Kendig) Manning had the follow- ing children : John. Christian, Martin and Elizabeth. John, the oldest of these four children, was born in 1813, in Dauphin county. In 1832 he married Lydia Culp, of Lancaster county, whose mother was a Boughter, and the member of a family who rendered valiant service in the war of the Revolution. Soon after his marriage he began farming and farmed upon his father's farm near Middletown until in 1837, when he moved to Silver Spring township, Cum- berland county, and followed farming there. In his latter years he engaged at milling with his son. He died on July 16, 1892; his wife, Lydia (Culp) Manning, died June 26, 1864, in the fifty-second year of her age, and the remains of both are buried in the graveyard of the Silver Spring Church. John and Lydia (Culp) Manning had seven children, viz .: Henry, born Oct. 29, 1834; Samuel, March 25, 1837 (died Jan. 20, 1841); Abraham, in 1839 (married Emma Leeds, of Carlisle) ; John, in 1842 (married Emma Sanderson, of Newville) ; Sarah, in 1846 (married William Hauck, of Silver Spring township; died in January, 1904) ;

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Lillie, in 1852 (married Levi Baer, of Silver Spring township), and J. Anderson, who married Lucy Clepper. With a single ex- ception all of their children were born in Silver Spring township, Cumberland county. Henry, the oldest child, was born near Mid- dletown, Dauphin county, and nearly all his life was popularly known as Harry Manning. His childhood and youth were spent with his parents upon the farm, do- ing such work as usually falls to the lot of farmer boys and attending the country dis- trict school. When sixteen years of age he went to the milling trade, at which he served a two years' apprenticeship. He then went to Ohio and there worked at milling a year. . Returning to Cumberland county, he worked a year in the mill of Thomas B. Bryson of Hampden township, and then began business on his own account at the Silver Spring Mill, located on the turn- pike a short distance east of Hogestown. He then was not yet twenty-one years old, but he applied himself so diligently and tried so hard to please that he from the very start made good progress. In 1862 he formed a partnership with J. H. Singiseo, of Me- chanicsburg, and bought the mill at the head of the Big Spring and jointly carried on a milling business there until in 1867, when Mr. Manning sold his interest to his partner and purchased the warehouse property at Oakdale. Here he engaged extensively in the grain and forwarding business, also handled coal and lumber, and achieved a wide reputation as an honorable and suc- cessful dealer. In 1891 he sold out at Oakville and a year afterward, with his son, entered upon the same line of business at Newville, where he continued until his death.

Mr. Manning was essentially a busi- ness man, delighted in business, directed all

his attention and energies upon his business enterprises and in every sense of the word was a successful business man. He was a Democrat both by inheritance and convic- tion, but up until in his latter years figured in politics only to serve his party and his friends. In the summer of 1896, after much pressure, he consented to stand as a candi- date for the Legislature. He was nomin- ated and elected and his official course was so satisfactory that two years afterward he was renominated and re-elected by a large vote. With the experience of his former term he returned to his post more zealous than ever to render to his con- stituency acceptable service, but just as the avenue was widening before him, beckon- ing him onward to greater usefulness and higher honors, an unseen hand stretched forth and removed him from earthly scenes forever. He died at his home in Newville on Jan. 27, 1899, of pneumonia, after an illness of less than a week. His remains were interred on Jan. 30th in the cemetery of the Big Spring Presbyterian Church, the church with which he and his family affil- iated. Among the large concourse present to pay their last respects were special com- mittees from the Senate and House of Rep- resentatives at Harrisburg, besides many other members of both branches of the Legislature. The House subsequently held special memorial services, at which ad- dresses were made and resolutions passed expressive of the high esteem held regard- ing the deceased. The Democratic Stand- ing Committee of Cumberland county, at the first meeting it held after his death, also gave formal expression of the deceased's public services and high personal character.

In person Mr. Manning was tall and spare. and in manner modest and reserved. He was not a product of the schools, but

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his long business experience and free inter- course with all classes of people gave him a training which served him well in whatever sphere he was called upon to act. He was not a man of many words, but when he spoke he expressed himself with a dignity and deliberation that gave his words peculiar weight and secured respectful attention.

On Feb. 18, 1862, Mr. Manning was married to Margaret Beistline, at the hands of Rev. William H. Dinsmore. pastor of the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church. Margaret Beistline was a daughter of George and Sarah (Wynkoop) Beistline and a member of an old representative Sil- ver Spring family. To their union two chil- dren were born, both sons: George, born Nov. 20, 1862, who died Oct. 20, 1865; and Edgar S., who survives and with his mother comprises all that remains of the family of the late Hon. Harry Manning.

HON. EDGAR STUART MAN- NING, son of Harry and Margaret (Beist- line) Manning, was born at Oakville, Cum- berland county, on Oct. 8, 1865. He grew to manhood in his native village and was educated in its public schools and in the Cumberland Valley State Normal School at Shippensburg. Besides these scholastic ad- vantages he at the same time received a busi- ness training of a most practical kind. As soon as it was safe for him to go outside the front yard gate he was given the range of his father's office and warehouse, where he whiled away the leisure hours of his early years as in a playhouse, drinking in a knowledge of his father's business in the way of entertainment and recreation. By the same natural and easy gradation came the practice, and by the time he reached the years of young manhood he, by taste, habit, education and inheritance, was a grain and

forwarding merchant, and in every sense qualified to share the cares and responsibil- ities of his father. He was given an interest in the business, the firm becoming H. Man- ning & Son. Manning & Son remained at Oakville until 1891, when they sold out with a view of finding a field in which they could operate upon a more extensive scale. In 1892 they located at Newville, where they purchased property and erected a large warehouse and elevator and the business has continued in successful operation ever since. Although the senior member of the firm died in 1900 the firm name is still H. Manning & Son, and has earned a perma- nent and honorable place in the business his- tory of the Cumberland Valley.

In politics as in case of business the son followed in the footsteps of the father. He early espoused the cause of Democracy, promptly took rank with its most zealous young workers and when his father died was nominated for the vacancy in the lower house of the State Legislature caused by his death. Owing to the peculiar condition of State politics at the time extraordinary efforts were made to elect a Republican, yet Mr. Manning won by the phenomenal ma- jority of 1998 votes, the largest any candi- date of either party received in the county in many years. His public services began immediately and under exacting circum- stances. During his first term he served upon the committees on Elections, Corpora- tions, Law and Order and Judiciary Local, and was one of the most conspicuous young members of the House, notwithstanding the fact that it was his first term in the body. The following year he was re-nomin- ated and re-elected and in his second term served upon the following committees : Cor- porations, Education, Iron and Coal, Rail- roads and Judiciary Local. He was a mem-

Eu D. Maning.

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ber of the Pennsylvania Commission of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis : he also acted as a substitute for Com- missioner George R. Dixon, at the Charles- ton Exposition in 1901. He frequently takes extensive excursions during summer and has visited Colorado, California, Ore- gon, the Puget Sound country, Canada and other scenic sections. Fraternally he be- longs to the Masonic order, being a member of Cumberland Star Lodge, No. 197, F. & A. M., St. John's Chapter, No. 171, R. A. M., and St. John's Commandery, No. 8, K. T., of which he is a Past Commander, serving in the year 1902; Harrisburg Con- sistory, A. A. S. R., and Zembo Temple, Mystic Shrine, Harrisburg, Pa .; he has at- tained to the thirty-second degree. He is also a member of Lodge No. 163, I. O. O. F., of Newville, Pa .; Camp No. 413, P. O. S. of A., and Big Spring Council, No. 1910, Royal Arcanum, and is District Deputy Grand Regent of the 32d district, Royal Arcanum, of Pennsylvania.

JOHN BEETEM (deceased), a well- known resident of Centerville, Cumberland county, whose family still reside at that place, was born May 12, 1820, at Huntsdale, this county and was a son of Capt. Abram and Elizabeth (Smith) Beetem. Of their chil- dren we have record of Joseph, deceased, formerly of Carlisle; Abram, of Carlisle; Samuel, of North Middleton; Miss Mary, of Carlisle, and Mrs. Daniel Sellers, of North Middleton.

John Beetem received only a common school education, and as he was but nine years of age when his father died he felt the responsibilities of life at an early age. When fifteen he entered upon an apprentice- ship to the carpenter's trade, which he fol- lowed for a number of years, becoming quite

noted as a builder and contractor throughout Cumberland county and all this section. During that period he erected many of the finest barns in the county. For a time he was engaged in the grain business at Carlisle, and during the Civil war he did quite a lucra- tive business furnishing hay to the Govern- ment by contract. In his later years he fol- lowed the occupation of farming, settling on the farm at Centerville, where his widow and several of his children now make their home, and there he died April 2, 1898. The place comprises 148 acres of valuable land, and the dwelling is admirably situated, com- manding a beautiful view of South Moun- tain. The Philadelphia & Reading railroad skirts the farm.

Mr. Beetem was twice married, his first union being with Elizabeth Ann Crebs, by whom he had the following named children : Catherine, now the wife of Charles L. Hal- bert, of Carlisle; Abram Luther, of Car- lisle; William Elder, formerly of Philadel- phia, deceased; and Laura, widow of Harry Evans, living in Carlisle. The mother of this family passed away Oct. 4, 1867, and on April 6, 1879, Mr. Beetem was united in marriage with Miss Eliza Ann Fickel, daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Hurd) Fickel, who lived at York Springs, Adams county, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Fickel are now deceased. Both were devout Chris- tians, holding to the doctrines of the Ger .- man Reformed Church. Besides Mrs. Beetem they had the following named chil- dren : James Oliver, who is a resident of Adams county; Silas Gilbert, of Adams county ; Daniel Webster, of Adams county; John Conrad, who lives in Texas; Martha Jane, deceased, wife of Samuel Baker; Emma Catherine, wife of Charles Webb; Ed- win Francis, living in Adams county; and George Calvin, of York county. To John

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and Elizabeth Ann (Fickel) Beetem were born children as follows: Sarah May, who is a trained nurse in Philadelphia; and Sam- uel, Charles Keller, Emma Jane, George Franklin and Harry Smith. all at home.

Mrs. Beetem continues to worship in the Lutheran Church at Centerville, of which her husband was long a prominent member, and it was he who gave the land upon which the present edifice of that congregation stands, same being a portion of the Beetem farm. He was well and favorably known all over this and adjoining counties, and was noted everywhere for honor and integrity in all his dealings. He was unselfish and kind- hearted, always ready to help his fellow men, and was sincerely mourned in many places outside of his home circle. He was laid to rest in Centerville cemetery.

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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 32

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