Biographical annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, Part 8

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 8

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CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Jared Graham, of Salisbury township, Lan- caster county, for a tract of land in the manor of Maska, in what is now West Pennsboro township, Cumberland county. Jared Graham never resided on this pur- chase. He remained in Lancaster county until his death. Soon after its purchase, however, his son James, the grandfather of James H., removed from Salisbury township to this land and built his log cabin on the banks of the beautiful Conedoguinet, about thirty miles west from the Susquehanna. This property, then deep in the backwoods, was subsequently conveyed to him, and was his home and the home of his descendants through several generations. In those days clearings and neighbors were few and far between and to provide a refuge against the hostile Indians the settlers built a fort on a high limestone bluff within a few hundred rods of James Graham's dwelling. The place of this pioneer home is yet well known, but time has wrought a complete transfor- mation in the locality. Instead of the dense primitive forest there are now to be seen only isolated clumps and fringes of trees : the echo of the Redman's war whoop died out more than a hnudred and thirty years ago, and only notes of peace fall upon the traveler's ear ; the log fort on the bluff gave way to a large stone mansion which in its turn has fallen into decay, and where once fled the hunted fugitive the husbandman unmolested now pursues his daily round of toil.

James Graham died in 1808 at the ad- vanced age of eighty-two years, leaving five sons, towit : Jared, Thomas, Arthur, Isaiah and James. James Graham, the youngest son, was educated at Dickinson College, Carlisle. After graduating from college he studied divinity under the learned Dr. Rob- ert Cooper, was ordained as a Presbyterian

minister, and for thirty years was pastor of the church at Beulah, Allegheny county, Pa., where he died in 1844. Jared, the eldest, after the death of the father, moved to Ohio, and the paternal estate was apportioned among Thomas, Arthur and Isaiah. The part on which stood the cabin built by their father fell to Isaiah, the youngest of the three, and it was his home for a long time.

Isaiah Graham received a rudimentary English education and then learned the tan- ning trade. Subsequently he established a tannery on the banks of the Conedoguinet, in the vicinity of his home, and engaged at that avocation through most of his lifetime. He was a man of indomitable will and more than ordinary powers of intellect. Possessed of an intuitive desire for knowledge he from early youth devoted much of his leisure to the acquisition of useful information. He became thor- oughly versed in the history of our country and its affairs and ardently engaged in the heated political struggles which marked the early days of the republic. He was a participant in the great contest which resulted in the defeat of John Adams and the election of Thomas Jefferson. He was likewise an enthusiastic supporter of the ad- ministrations of Madison and Monroe. Nat- urally his activity in those exciting contests won for him political prominence, and in ISII he was elected a member of the Penn- sylvania State Senate. . At the expiration of his term he was re-elected, and a few years after the expiration of his second term, in 1819, he was appointed by Gov. Findlay associate judge of the courts of Cumberland county, which position he occupied till his death, in 1835. Although active in public affairs, Isaiah Graham did not permit the exciting subject of politics to divert his mind from the more important considerations of

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

religion. He early in life connected himself with the Presbyterian Church and thor- oughly schooled himself in its tenets, which were peculiarly adapted to his vigorous and discriminating mind. His library contained most of the standard works of the great Presbyterian writers of that day, and he read them with much interest and avidity, and few laymen could more ably discuss and de- fend the doctrines of the Presbyterian faith. For more than twenty years before his death he was a ruling elder of the Big Spring Pres- byterian congregation.

Isaiah Graham, in 1793, married Nancy Lindsay, who also was of Scotch-Irish de- scent and whose ancestors also were among the first settlers of the Cumberland Valley. Isaiah and Nancy (Lindsay) Graham were the parents of the subject of this sketch, James Hutchinson Graham. He was born on the Ioth of September, 1807, on the same domain which his great-grandfather bought from the Penns in 1734, and in the same cabin of unhewn logs which his grandfather built on the banks of the Conedoguinet when yet the pioneers of civilization in Cum- berland county had more frequent visits from the Redman and wild animals than from the white man. After young James had passed the branches taught in the coun- try schools of that day, he, at the age of fifteen, was placed under the tuition of Dr. David McConaughy, who then was pastor of the Presbyterian congregations of Gettys- burg and Hunterstown, Adams county, and principal of the Gettysburg Academy. In the spring of 1825 young Graham returned to his native county and entered Dickinson College, as a member of the Junior class, from which institution he graduated in 1827, sharing the honors of a class which included in its membership students who afterward were some of the most eminent divines,

statesmen and jurists of their generation. Upon completing his college course James H. Graham registered as a student at law with Andrew Carothers, Esq., and after reading the prescribed time was admitted to the Bar in November, 1829. He remained with his preceptor until the following April and then opened an office and began the practice of his profession. At that time the Carlisle Bar included talented and experi- enced laywers like Andrew Carothers, Sam- uel Alexander, John D. Mahon. Charles B. Penrose, Frederick Watts and William M. Biddle, who in legal attainments and profes- sional standing compared favorably with the foremost jurists of the land. To enter into competition with such an array of ability was a daring undertaking for a young law- yer, but by his energy, his assiduous applica- tion, his persistent research and character- istic accuracy, combined with a thorough preliminary training, young Graham soon secured a comfortable practice.

When James H. Graham began practic- ing law the Carlisle Bar consisted mostly of Whigs, and as he from early youth had been an ardent Democrat this one-sided condition frequently involved him in the political con- tests of the day. He, however, never per- mitted political controversy to divert his mind from professional duty, nor the allure- ments of office to beguile him into the ways of the professional politician. Upon one occasion the nomination for Congress was tendered him unsolicited, but he declined the honor, although the district was strongly Democratic and a nomination was regarded as equivalent to an election. He frequently was a delegate to Democratic conventions and his opinion and advice always had great weight in the councils of his party. In 1839 Gov. Porter appointed Mr. Graham deputy attorney general for Cumberland county,

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

which position he filled for six years with marked efficiency, but he declined a re-ap- pointment at the hands of Gov. Shunk, be- cause of the demands of a large and increas- ing practice. In 1851, after the State con- stitution was amended so as to make judges elective, Mr. Graham received the unani- mous nomination of the Democratic party for president judge of the district composed of Cumberland, Perry and Juniata counties, and was elected. Through long and earnest study, and the practice of his profession, he was peculiarly fitted for the duties of this position, and at the age of forty-four, in the prime of life and vigorous intellect; he will- ingly exchanged the drudgery of a heavy practice for the less arduous but not less hon- orable duties of a judgeship. In 1861 he was renominated and re-elected, and served another full term, but retired in 1871 after an honorable career of twenty years' con- tinuous service upon the Bench. On retiring from the Bench he associated with him his son, Duncan M. Graham, and resumed the practice of the law, at which he continued till within a short time of his death, in the fall of 1882.

Judge Graham was in many ways a. useful man in the community in which he lived. He was one of the earliest members of the Second Presbyterian Church of Car- lisle, and for many years president of its board of trustees. He was director and pres- ident of the Carlisle Deposit Bank until his election to the Bench, and filled many other positions of trust and honor with scrupulous fidelity. In 1862 Dickinson College con- ferred on him the degree of LL. D. In his profession he was honored and respected by lawyers as well as laymen. At his death was held a meeting of the Carlisle Bar, which formally paid respect to his memory. Hon. Frederick Watts presided and W. F. Sadler

acted as secretary. Judge Watts. Lemuel Todd, A. B. Sharpe and Judge M. C. Her- man addressed the meeting, and paid the character and services of their deceased brother high tribute of praise. The meet- ing also resolved,

"That during the fifty-three years Judge Graham practiced at the Bar and presided in our courts he exhibited and maintained an unspotted character for integrity and faith- fulness in the discharge of duty that com- manded our highest confidence and respect.

"That the purity and consistency of his life, in all its relations, his firm and consci- entious performance of all personal, pro- fessional and judicial obligations, and his modest and unpretentious conduct and de- portment were so marked and real as to chal- lenge and possess the respect and esteem of the bar and all who were associated with him.

"That as a lawyer and judge he was learned and upright, firm and decided in his convictions, courageous and ¿trong in exe- cuting them, and at all times governed by a high moral sense of private and public duty."

In his domestic relations Judge Graham was very fortunate, and he found much of comfort and happiness in the quiet of his home. He was twice married and left a large family. His first wife was Nancy Davidson, of West Pennsboro township, by whom he had the following children : Isaiah H., late captain U. S. Volunteers, who died from the effects of wounds received in the service ; Jane, deceased : and Laura, of Phil- adelphia, now deceased. His second wife was Mary Criswell, of Shippensburg, who bore him the following children: John C., who died at Evansville, Ind. ; Agnes M., of Washington, D. C .: Samuel L., lieutenant U. S. Navy now stationed at Mare Island, California; James H., formerly of St. Louis,

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Mo .. now deceased: Mary, who married C. H. Watts. of Washington, D. C .; Alice P .. of Carlisle, Pa .; Duncan M., of Carlisle. Pa .: Sarah, who married Rev. Rodgers Israel. D. D .. of Scranton, Pa .: Lillian. of Scranton : and Frank Gordon, of Utica. New York.

DUNCAN M. GRAHAM, Esq., the son of James H. Graham and Mary Criswell Graham, received his preparatory education in the common schools of Carlisle and the preparatory school of Dickinson College. He entered Dickinson and graduated after the full four years' course in the class of 1873. After graduation he was attached for two years to the United States slip "Ports- mouth" in a surveying expedition and taking deep sea soundings in the Pacific ocean. Upon his return to Carlisle he entered the office of his father, Judge Graham, with whom he studied law, and was admitted to practice in August. 1876. Mr. Graham has been engaged in the practice of his profes- sion from that time to the present. He has filled the offices of city and county solicitor acceptably to the people, and in 1891 was appointed assistant to Hon. W. U. Hensel. attorney general of the State, a position he held for four years. He is the author of several statutes now in force in Pennsyl- vania. One permitting illegitimate children born of the same mother to inherit real and personal property from each other remedied what was regarded as a great injustice and has been adopted by a number of States. Another relating to tramps and vagrants has saved the taxpayers many thousands of dollars. As secretary of the Board of Ex- aminers of the Cumberland county Bar he took a deep interest in reforming the system of admitting law students to the Bar and aided in the establishing of the State Board

of Examiners appointed by the Supreme Court.

Mr. Graham married, in 1893, Mary Latimer Coble, of Carlisle, and of the chil- dren born to this union, three daughters, Mary, Elizabeth and Sarah, are now living. Mr. Graham is president of the board of trustees of the Second Presbyterian Church, and interested in everything that makes for the good of the community.

GEORGE MIFFLIN DALLAS ECK- ELS. A. M., Sc. D. The name Eckels is spelled in various ways. It most frequently occurs on the earlier records spelled Eccles, which is probably the original spelling, but at the present day it is generally spelled Eckels, which form is preferred by the branches of the family touched upon in this sketch.

In the Eckels family there has long been cherished a tradition that a child in the kin- ship was born upon the sea, while its parents were on the way to America. The story has it that the elder Eckels, with his family, set sail from Ireland in a ship that became dis- abled, and had to return to the port from which it started for repairs. While out the Eckels child was born, and on the vessel's re- turn the family disembarked, concluding to defer migrating to America till some more suitable time. Soon afterward the wife died. which event, for the time being, ended the project of finding a home in the new country beyond the sea. In course of time Mr. Eckels married again, and finally reached America, settling in what was then western Pennsylvania. This progenitor, it is said, had six children by his first marriage, and six by his second. Among his children by his first marriage were a Nathaniel and a Francis, and among his children by his sec- ond, a James. Accounts differ as to whether

G. M. D. Echele

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

it was Nathaniel or Francis that was born upon the sea, but viewed from the stand- point of the present, the weight of circum- stances favors the theory that it was Francis.

Nathaniel, Francis and James are favor- ite names in the Eckels family, and the first to appear upon the records of Cumberland county. They were sons of the first Eckels, who came to this part of America. Finding the section they first settled in too wild and dangerous a locality, they came into the lower Cumberland Valley, and cast their lot with their Scotch-Irish kindred and ac- quaintances. Nathaniel Eckels took up his abode in East Pennsboro in 1779, and re- mained there until in 1787. He then moved west of Carlisle, and for about twenty years lived in the townships of West Pennsboro and Dickinson. John Huston, a brother- in-law, also from East Pennsboro, moved to that locality about the same time, and it is probable that their going there simultane- ously was by mutual arrangement. While living in that part of the county, it appears, he was a member of the Big Spring Pres- byterian Church, for in December, 1787, the southern part of that congregation asked the consent of the session to the appointment of one of their number as a ruling elder, and among the signers to the petition was Na- thaniel Eckels. In 1810 he returned to East Pennsboro, and for a year or two lived upon the farm of another brother-in-law, also named John Huston. This farm is now ( 1904) owned by Abraham Gutshall. Here his second wife died, and he soon afterward bought a small property situated near the North Mountain, just east from the Stony Ridge, now owned by the estate of the late William Jacobs. After living here a few years he retired from active life, and for the rest of his days made his home in the family of his youngest son.

Nathaniel Eckels was twice married. It it not now ascertainable who his first wife was, but it is said that by her he had chil- dren as follows: Samuel. Charles, John, James, Nathaniel and a daughter whose name is unknown. His second wife was Mrs. Isabella (Huston) Clendenin, a daugh- ter of Samuel and Isabella ( Sharon) Hus- ton, whose first husband was James Clen- denin, a son of John and Janet ( Huston) Clendenin. On the farm where Nathaniel Eckels lived for a short time after his return to East Pennsboro, there is a famous burying ground, which is now almost obliterated. It was first located deep in a pine wood, from which circumstance it was named Pine Hill Graveyard, and it is still so designated, though the wood with its tall pines long ago entirely disappeared. Nathaniel Eckels, his two wives, and four of his children by his first wife, are buried in that graveyard. By his second marriage Nathaniel Eckels had children : William, born March 3, 1787, died Nov. 15, 1861 ; and Francis, born April 1, 1791, died Feb. 6, 1860.

Francis Eckels, the second son, was born in West Pennsboro township, and grew to manhood in that part of the country. He was reared on the farm, but like most farmers in those days did much wagoning on the road, and while yet quite young drove his father's team to Baltimore and back. His long and useful career marks him as a man of more than average intellect, and of great strength of character, but it nowhere appears that he received any education other than what the country schools of the period afforded. He early in life engaged at coop- ering, which seems to have been the family trade, as his brother William started as a cooper, as did also some of his other near Eckels relatives. He also did merchan- dizing and scrivening, and gave so much

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

attention to public affairs that while vet comparatively young he was sin- gled out for places of trust and re- sponsibility. From ISIS till his death in 1860 he was justice of the peace. first by appointment by the Governor of the State, and afterward by election by the people. From 1829 to 1831 inclusive he was county commissioner ; in 1843 he was elected a member of the State Legislature, serving one term. Besides filling these offices of honor and responsibility he for a long time was school director, and almost continuously en- gaged in the settlement of estates. In church work he was equally energetic and prominent, and from November, 1840, to the day of his death held the position of ruling elder in the old Silver Spring Pres- byterian Church.

On April 3. 1817. Francis Eckels was married by the Rev. Henry R. Wilson, then pastor of the Silver Spring Church, to Isabella . Clendenin, of East Pennsboro, who was born Feb. 2, 1790. daugh- ter of John and Elizabeth (Caldwell) Clendenin. Soon after their marriage Mr. Eckels purchased a small home in the north- western part of East Pennsboro, and lived there until in 1829. In the spring of that year he moved to a large farm on the south side of the Conedoguinet Creek, and for al- most all the remainder of his lifetime en- -gage at farming. In October, 1834, he purchased a farm a short distance to the north of New Kingstown, in Silver Spring township. took possession of it in the follow- ing spring. and. improving it, made it his home for the rest of his working days. To Francis and Isabella ( Clendenin) Eckels were born the following children : Nathaniel Huston; Elizabeth; Agnes; Isabella ; John Clendenin : William Penn : and Catherine A.

Nathaniel Huston Eckels, eldest child of

Francis, was born Dec. 29, 1817, in the northwestern part of what is now Silver Spring township, where his parents began their married life. He continued at home on the farm until almost a man grown, when he for a short time held a clerkship in the store of William and Thomas Loudon, in New Kingstown. Later on he taught school, and was the first teacher of the Mt. Pleasant school in Silver Spring township, then known as the McHoe school. That was in the winter of 1838-39. soon after the law establishing free schools went into operation. Twenty- five years afterward his son, George M. D. Eckels, taught his first term of school at the same place. In 1846 he moved from New Kingstown to the north side of the Conedoguinet Creek in Hampden township, to a farm which his father had bought, and of which he afterward acquired the owner- ship. While living here, in the winters of 1847-48 and 1848-49, he taught the school on the State Road long known as Shaull's. In 1870 he sold his farm in Hampden town- ship, and bought one a short distance north of New Kingstown, where he spent the re- mainder of his days. He died Jan. 21, 1871, and is buried in the Longsdorf graveyard near New Kingstown station.

Nathaniel H. Eckels had no educational training except what he gained in the coun- try schools of his day, but being naturally of a bright mind he acquired much informa- tion through persistent reading, and by in- tercourse with intelligent people, and was re- garded as a leader in the community in which he lived. He took great interest in public affairs, was an active worker in the Democratic party, and in 1858 was elected county commissioner, which responsible po- sition he filled satisfactorily at a very trying period of the country's existence. He was a . member of the Lutheran Church at New

CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Kingstown, as were nearly all of his immedi- te family. On Sept. 15, 1840, Nathaniel H. Eekels married Margaret Williams, daugh- ter of George and Elizabeth (Slonaker) Williams, by whom he had children as fol -. bus: Francis Luther, George Mifflin Dallas. Elizabeth Jane, Isabel Catharine, John Clen- Jenin, Sarah Agnes, Margaret Alice, James Milton and Mary Gertrude.

George Mifflin Dallas Eckels, the second son of Nathaniel H., was born in a log house on the old Saxton farm near New Kings- town, Dec. 23, 1844, and spent the first eigh- teen years of his life upon the farm, and in attending the country district school. He then spent three terms at the Millersville State Normal School, preparing himself for teaching, and in the winter of 1863-64 taught his first term at the Mt. Pleasant school in Silver Spring township, as above stated. He next taught in Hampden town- ship; then again in Silver Spring ; then for a year was assistant principal of the Wick- ersham Academy at Marietta, Pa. After this he taught in New Kingstown, and then for six years in the schools of Mechanics- burg. In addition to the course of instruc- tion received at the Millersville normal school he took, while teaching, private in- struction from competent teachers in Latin. Greek and French. He had already made arrangements with Dr. Brown, head of the faculty of the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, to enter in the fall of 1871 upon a theological course, when the death of his father interrupted his plans, and he contin- ued in the work of teaching. In this field he has found rich opportunity for rendering his best services to his fellowmen, and he has never regretted the fact that circum- stances uniformly held him fast to the pro- fession of teaching. In May, 1878, he was a candidate for county superintendent of

public schools, and made a creditable show- ing, but was not elected. In the summer of 1878 he entered into a partnership in the general merchandizing business at New Kingstown with his brother-in-law, W. H. Humer. This partnership was dissolved in the early part of 1882. In the fall of that year he was elected a member of the lower branch of the Pennsylvania Legislature as a Democrat, and reelected in 1884. In the Legislature he served on the most important committees, such as Ways and Means, Ju- diciary General, Constitutional Reform, Ag- riculture and Elections, and on all of them was efficient and influential. In the special session called by Governor Pattison to ap- portion the State, a duty which was neg- lected in the regular session, he was honored with an appointment on the Apportionment committee, which was the sole committee of the House for this special session. He de- livered what was considered to be, from the Democratic standpoint, the ablest argu- ment for a fair apportionment presented to the House at that session. During his sec- ond term in the Legislature the marriage li- cense law of the State was placed upon the statute books largely through his influence and efforts. He led the Democratic forces in support of the Bullit bill, and made its passage in the House possible, and was an ardent friend of all legislation calculated to promote the cause of education. He was urged by leaders of his party at the end of his second term to become a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, but refused to con- sider the matter on the ground that he wished to retire from politics. There were strong influences at work to have him ap- pointed superintendent of public instruction at the close of Dr. Waller's term of office, but he refused to co-operate with his friends in the matter because he believed that Dr.

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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 8

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