Biographical annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families, Part 87

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 87

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of a delegation of beautiful and charming maidens selected through Dauphin county to go to a point along the march of General Washington, as he made his way from MIt. Vernon to New York, for his inaugural. and was particularly noticed by the great chief- tain as she strewed flowers in the path of his coach. Later we find this beauteous maiden the wife of Christian Hamaker, a learned man who could read the Bible in three dif- ferent languages. After her death her hus- band married a Miss Black, and a survivor of this union is Amos Hamaker, a resident of Stevens Point, Wis. Daniel Scott Ham- aker, maternal grandfather of Dr. Draw- bangh, was educated at Yale, and was a man of learning and prominence.

UNDERWOOD FAMILY. In June. 1775, there landed at Philadelphia a man named John Underwood, who was born in County Antrim, in the North of Ireland. on Oct. 14. 1739. He was of Scotch parentage, and, as near as can now be ascertained. was one of five children, three sons and two daughters. The sons were John, William and James; and the daughters Jenny and Betty.

Soon after his arrival in America John Underwood settled in Lancaster county. Pa .. eight miles east of the town of Lancaster. The war of the Revolution already being in progress when he came, he was soon found in the ranks of the patriots battling for American liberty and independence. His first commission from the Assembly of the Colony bears date of March 15, 1776, and is signed "John Morton, Speaker." It ap- pointed him ensign of the 5th Battalion of the Associators of the County of Lancaster, and he was afterward promoted to the rank of captain.

This John Underwood was twice mar-

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ried. His first wife was Janet McCord, of whose children William B., born in Lancas- ter county March 8, 1779, alone lived to maturity. His second wife was Sarah Mor- rison, who also was a native of County An- trim, Ireland, and like her husband was of Scotch parentage. She came to America with her brother, John Morrison.

About the year 1788 John Underwood came to Cumberland county, and settling on the Yellow Breeches creek for some time en- gaged at farming. Afterward he came to the town of Carlisle, where, during the rest of his active days, he engaged in general merchandising. He and Sarah Morrison, his wife, had six children, all of whom were born in Carlisle, namely: James, Janet. Sally, Morrison, Joseph and Ann. Janet and Sally died in infancy. Joseph, a young man of great promise, died Feb. 10, 1823, in his twenty-fifth year. Ann married Ephraim Steele, of Carlisle, and died in 1880. Mor- rison was born in 1795, and when yet a young man went to Greensburg, where he clerked in the office of his uncle, John Mor- rison, who was prothonotary of Westmore- land county. Later he became a prominent business man and banker of Greensburg and Pittsburg. After the death of his wife, in 1876, he returned to Carlisle, where he died in 1885. For some years previous to his death he was totally blind.

JAMES UNDERWOOD, the eldest child of John and Sarah ( Morrison) Underwood. was born Oct. 14, 1789. He grew up in the town of Carlisle and became a printer, at -which occupation he engaged most of his lifetime. During the war of 1812, while working at his trade in Baltimore, he enlist- ed in Captain J. H. Moore's Company, Ist Baltimore Volunteers, and served one year on the Niagara frontier, participating in the battles of York and Fort George. His term

of service having expired. he was honorably discharged September 8, 1813. at Lewiston. After his return from the war he resumed hi's vocation of printing and for some time conducted a press' at Greensburg, Pa. Wil- liam B. Underwood, son of John Under- wood, by his first marriage, was also a prin- ter, and in 1814 established the American L'olunteer, associating with him as editor and proprietor his half-brother. James Un- derwood. In the publication of the paper both engaged for many years, James until his death, in 1834, and William B. until 1836, when he retired because of bodily in- firmities. William B. Underwood died Dec. 7. 1850, after many years of disability from paralysis. His wife, Ruth Marshall, a na- tive of Maryland, and a daughter, Jane Mc- Cord Underwood. survived him several years.

James Underwood in 1818 married Catherine Goddard, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Scott) Goddard, of English na- tionality. Her father was born in Boston, Mass., of English parents, and Mary Scott, her mother, was born in London. England, but came with her father, Capt. John Scott, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she met and married Thomas Goddard. In 1785 Thomas Goddard and his wife removed to New York City, where in 1796 their daughter Cather- ine was born. While Catherine was yet a child her father died, and her mother after- ward married Jacob Squire, and with him and her child by her first marriage came to Carlisle, where Catherine grew to woman- hood and married.

James and Catherine (Goddard) Under- wood had six children, viz .: Sarah Morri- son, Mary Scott, Martha Ker, Anne Har- riet, Edmund and John Morrison. Martha Ker graduated with honor from the Steu- benville Seminary and afterward taught in

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the schools of Carlisle for thirty years, being principal of the Girls' High School for six- teen years. She and her sister, Sarah Mor- rison. died in the month of January, 1890. Mary Scott married Dr. . Isaiah Champlin Loomis, by whom she had four children. One of her sons, an officer in the United States navy. was lost in the ill-fated ship "Huron" on Nov. 24, 1877. She died at the home of her son, J. Harry Loomis, in Philadelphia, Sept. 30. 1903. Edmund, the elder of James and Catherine Underwood's two sons, was born Feb. 23. 1828. In 1847 he joined the Cameron Guards of Harris- burg. Capt. E. C. Williams, and served as a volunteer in the war with Mexico. In March, 1848, he was appointed second lieu- tenant in the regular army and assigned to the 4th Infantry, the regiment in which Gen. Grant in the early part of his career was quartermaster. For several years the regiment was on duty at various points along the Canadian frontier, but in 1852 was ordered to the Pacific coast. Before sail- ing Lieut. Underwood was married to Mary Beardsley. of Otsego county, N. Y., who accompanied him to California. He was stationed at various points on the Pacific coast until the breaking out of the Civil war. when he was ordered East. On March 24, 1853, he was promoted to first lieutenant; on March 11, 1856, to captain ; and on May 14, 1861, be was commissioned as major. He died Sept. 5, 1863, at Utica, N. Y., where he was then stationed as mustering and disbursing officer for southern New York. He left two sons: Edmund Beardsley Un- derwood, who was born in California in 1853; and Champlin Loomis Underwood, who was born at Richfield Springs, N. Y., in 1857. The former graduated from the Naval Academy, Annapolis, and is now commander in the United States navy

and stationed at Tutuilo, Samoan Islands ; his wife was Charlotte Hamilton, only daughter of the late Prof. E. J. Hamilton, of Oswego, N. Y. His brother, Champlin Loomis Underwood, married Deborah Cres- well. of Overbrook, Pa., and they have one little daughter, Josephine.

John Morrison Underwood, the young- est child of James and Catherine (Goddard) Underwood, was educated in the public schools of Carlisle and at Dickinson College, class of 1853. He studied law with A. B. Sharpe. Esq., and was admitted to the Cum- berland county Bar April 11, 1855. He then removed to Greensburg, Pa., and on May 14, 1855, was admitted to practice in the courts of Westmoreland county, and in the following year was elected district attorney of that county. He continued to practice his profession at Greensburg until the fall of 1861, when, his health failing. he re- turned to Carlisle, where he died in May, 1862.

Oi the six children of James and Cath- erine (Goddard) Underwood only Anne Harriet survives. Like her sister, Martha K., she long was a teacher in the schools of Carlisle, teaching continuously from 1858 to 1873. She resides in the old home on South Pitt street, Carlisle, where she was born. and which has been in the Underwood name and occupancy since April, 1823.

JOHN S. TAYLOR. The Taylor fam- ily is an old and honored one in the Key- stone State and was founded in York county by Isaac Taylor, who came here from Eng- land and purchased the land upon which the old town of York stands.

The grandfather of our subject was a son of Isaac Taylor, the founder, was born in York, and inherited extensive properties. Later he engaged in a transportation busi-

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ness and owned teams between Pittsburg. Philadelphia and Baltimore, long before even good roads had been established. His death is recorded as taking place on one of liis farms, in Newberry township, York county. He married in his own neighbor- hood and reared two children: Sarah, who died unmarried, and William. father of John S.

William Taylor was born in 1820, near Newberry, York Co., Pa., and was only seven years old when his father died. This accounted for his never having had any school opportunities. When he was about fifteen years of age he began to learn the carpenter's trade, and not until he was six- teen had he any chance to go to his books. Possessing, however, a quick intellect, he soon mastered the rudiments and became, for his day, a well-educated man, and he was a successful business man, engaging in building and contracting. After his mar- riage he moved to Huntingdon and contin- ned contracting until 1864, when he moved to a farm he had purchased in 1861, in Fair- view township, York county, and died there in 1890. He was a Democrat in his politi- cal sentiments and for a long time was post- master at Huntingdon. In religious faith he was of the new school Baptists. He was a man of the highest integrity and his record for absolute honesty was never questioned. At the same time, he was a man of such strong convictions that when he believed a thing right no influence brought to bear could make him change his opinion. Of such stuff were the men of the past genera- tion, who left a decided impress upon the history of the community in which they lived.

In 1842 Mr. Taylor married Elizabeth Sutton, who was born in 1820, in Fairview township, York county, and died March 15,

1898. Her father, John L. Sutton, was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was of Ger- man and Irish extraction, and died at the home of his daughter, in his ninety-third year. He was a weaver by trade, and it was his industrious habit to farm during the day and do his weaving by night. He was fond of telling of his first housekeeping equip- ment, which consisted of three plates, two knives and forks, and a store box which made a capital table and sink. Ordinarily this would not have been a wonderful story to many pioneer young householders, but it gained in interest as having been the begin- ning of a fortune of some $30,000.

Mr. Sutton first married Elizabeth Huff- stadt, and Mrs. Taylor was the only daugh- ter of this union, there being four sons, John. Washington, Daniel and Hanniah. His second marriage was to a Miss Laird, and his third to Polly Snellbaker.

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Tay- lor were as follows : John S., of this review; Margaret, wife of John Gladfelter, deceased; Jane, who married Ephraim Bushry, de- ceased; Mary, married to John Stair, of Steelton : Clara, who married Joseph Harry, of Salt Lake City; Elizabeth, who married Harry Killian, of Harrisburg : Miss Adwin- na; Catherine, who married Charles Chap- man, of New Cumberland; and Minnie, who died aged twenty-one.

John S. Taylor was born Nov. 18, 1844. in Huntingdon county, Pa., and was edu- cated in the local district schools. At the age of fourteen years, he began to learn the car- penter's trade with his father, having a nat- ural capacity for it. Before he could reach the tool table he would pile up blocks on which he stood to reach the working bench. He took much interest in this industry and displayed unusual skill, at the age of seven- teen years being able to make almost any

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article of furniture for domestic use. In 1863 he moved to Fairview township. York county. On account of sickness the father was neither able to attend to the transport- ing of the goods to the new home, nor to complete a large quantity of unfinished fur- niture. His son. our subject. took this op- portunity to prove what an ambitious and capable youth can accomplish. This was no light task and required the judgment not al- ways found in those without experience. He went ahead with the work on the furniture, completing it, and looked after the moving while the father rested at a hotel, with one of his daughters to look after his needs. Owing to heavy snow, the six-horse mule team used in transporting the family goods was urged along with difficulty, and reached its destination long after evening had fallen, so that the moving was no easy task.

Mr. Taylor remained with his father until the latter retired from business. Al- though then twenty-one, and the master of his own time, he remained until he saw his parents comfortably settled on the farm, when he went to work again at his trade. re- maining with his cousin, Henry Moore, at Mechanicsburg, for five years. He was with Henry Eberly, contracting, for one year. and then went to Pittsburg, for Wilson Bros., and later to Canton, Ohio, where he was engaged with Poyser & Campbell, well known contractors, on the court house. Upon his return to Harrisburg he found good openings for capable workmen like himself, and was engaged to as- sist in the building of the magnifi- cent home of Senator Don Cameron. Later Mr. Taylor was engaged by the McCormicks as foreman of their · worl-working department and remained there some five years. In 1873, when the

plant was closed, he was approached by the superintendent and asked to remain to do piece work, but he knew his value too well for that, and immediately entered bids on a number of public buildings, which were ac- cepted. About this time he took advantage of the opportunity to buy a small tract of land, consisting of thirty-five acres in Fair- view township. York county. An amusing incident of the public sale was, that his father was sitting along side of him and was exceedingly surprised to find who was the final purchaser. Here Mr. Taylor built a nice residence and lived eleven years, after the first year doing no more work at his trade, devoting all his attention to the de- velopment of the farm. Later he rented it and moved on the Eichenger farm, near New Market, and later to Major Reynolds's farm of 200 acres, where he entered into a dairy business. When this estate passed partly into the hands of the Improvement Co. and 100 acres of it was laid out, adjoin- ing New Cumberland, Mr. Taylor was the contractor engaged to do the grading. In the spring of 1897 he made a sale and moved to his home in New Cumberland, a hand- some and comfortable residence he had just completed, having built a store room on the lower end of his property in 1894. Since then he has lived partially retired, enjoying the fruits of a long and active life.

In 1867, in York county, Mr. Taylor married Mary A. Weigle, a native of York county, daughter of Jacob and Barbara (Seidenstricker) Weigle, and five children have been born to this union, as follows : Frank E. married a Miss Thorly, and lives in New Cumberland; William A. married Maud Krietzer, and lives at Riverton; Charles married a Miss Freize, of Mechan- icsburg; Bruce, of New Cumberland, mar-

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ried Maggie Ebersole; Elizabeth is at home. All these children have been well educated and are respected members of society.

In politics, Mr. Taylor has always been identified with the Democratic party, and he has been prominent in city affairs, in a quiet way, always advocating improvements which gave promise of being of substantial benefit; he is a member of the board of health. For many years he has been an elder in the Church of God. He belongs to the order of Heptasophs.

WILLIAM H. PEFFER. On Oct. 7, 1751, there arrived at Philadelphia in the ship "Janet," from Rotterdam, a Philip Pfeiffer. With him on the same ship came a Christian Peifer and a Mathias Pfeiffer, who were probably brothers of Philip. There is nothing at hand to show where in the Province of Pennsylvania these immi- grants first settled, but the records of Cum- berland county show that a Philip Peffer was on the Yellow Breeches creek, in West Pennsboro (now Dickinson) township, as early as 1775. His name that year first ap- pears upon the tax list of Cumberland coun- ty, but he in all probability was in the local- ity .named even prior to that date, for the Provincial records show that in 1786 there was issued to him a warrant for land on which there was then already an "improve- ment," and interest on the amount charged for the land was to commence on March I, 1773. The Philip Pfeiffer of the ship "Janet" and the Philip Peffer of the Yellow Breeches, it may safely be assumed, were one and the same person.

Philip Peffer continues regularly upon the tax list of that part of the county for many years taxed with both real and personal property. His chief occupation was farming, but he also engaged in distill-

ing, as were many farmers at that early date in this part of Pennsylvania. He also took a great interest in public affairs, and in 1806, and again in 1807, was elected one of Cum- berland county's representatives in the State Legislature, which then sat at Lancaster. His colleagues in the Legislature were James Lowery and John Orr. He and his wife Mary died in 1830, within less than a day of each other, she on Sunday evening, Oct. 17th, and he on Monday morning. Oct. ISth. She was seventy-seven years old and he eighty-three, and both were buried in the same grave. He left a will from which it appears that he had the following children : Henry, Benjamin, George, Joseph and John, sons, and also daughters, Christina Plyler and Mary Black. In a codicil to his will he also speaks of a son-in-law named Isaac Brandt. In 1781 there were upon the tax list of West Pennsboro township the names of two Philip Peffers, one designated free- man, from which it may be inferred that Philip Peffer also had a son Philip. but if he had it is strongly probable that he died without issue and before his father made his will.

Henry Peffer was one of the two execu- tors named in Philip Peffer's will-David Glenn being the other-but it is not certain that he was the eldest son. He married Mary Wolfensberger, and had the following children : Adam, William, John, Benjamin and Mary. He also had a son Henry, who died in August, 1826, aged about twenty- two years. Mary Peffer, wife of Henry Peffer and mother of Adam Peffer, died June 16, 1845, in the seventy-fourth year of his age, and her husband died two weeks afterward, on July 1, 1845, at the age of seventy-three.

Adam Peffer was the eldest of Henry Peffer's children. He was born. Dec. 14,

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1797. on the ancestral homestead in Dickin- son township, and spent all his lifetime in that vicinity. He was twice married. on Feb. 24. 1825, being united to Miss Mary Kerr. by Rev. Benjamin Keller, pastor of the Lutheran Church of Carlisle. Mary Kerr was a daughter of Andrew and Eliza- beth (McGranathan) Kerr, of Carlisle, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. By this mar- riage he had one child. Henry Kerr Peffer. Adam Peffer's first wife died early and he. afterward married Elizabeth Glancey, a daughter of William Glancey, a native of Ireland.

Henry Kerr Peffer. the only child of Adam and Mary ( Kerr) Peffer. was born Jan. 13. 1827. in South Middleton town- ship, where he grew to manhood and re- ceived his education in the public schools. On Feb. 10. 1848, he married Jane Mary, daughter of Nathaniel Weakley, of Dickin- son township. Nathaniel Weakley was the son of a James Weakley, who was a son of James Weakley, who about 1725 came from Ireland and settled near the Yellow Breeches creek, in what is now Dickinson township. In 1853 Henry K. Peffer migrated to War- ren county, Ill .. where for ten years he en- gaged at farming. He then took up his

residence in Monmouth, the county seat of Warren county, and formed a law part- nership with Col. James W. Davidson, in which he continued for three years. In 1862 he was elected to the Illinois Legisla- ture as a Democrat, and at the expiration of his term was unanimously nominated by his party for State senator. In 1864 he was a Presidential elector, on the Mcclellan ticket. In the fall of 1865 he removed with his family to Carlisle, Pa., where, after spending a year looking up business interests in Texas and the Southwest, he permanently located. In 1871 he was nominated by the

Democrats, in the district composed of Cum- berland and Franklin counties, for State senator. but his party that year was gener- ally unsuccessful and with one or two excep- tions the entire ticket was defeated. In 1872 he was admitted to the Cumberland county Bar. but shortly afterwards took charge of the l'alley Sentinel, then published at Ship- pensburg, and entered upon the newspaper business, in which he continued until shortly before his death. In 1874 he became the sole owner of the Sentinel, removed it to Carlisle. and in 1881 began the publication of the Evening Sentinel, the first daily news- paper in Cumberland county. In 1888 he was appointed postmaster of Carlisle and the following year was succeeded in the pub- lication of his newspaper by his two sons, William H. and Charles A. Peffer. In re- ligious faith Mr. Peffer and family were Presbyterians and long active and prominent in the Second Presbyterian Church of Car- lisle. He died on April 13, 1891, at his home near Carlisle; his wife died at Mon- mouth Jan. 19, 1895, and the remains of both rest in the Old Graveyard at Carlisle.

Henry K. and Jane Mary Peffer had issue as follows: Mary Elizabeth, born March 2, 1852; William Henry, born Jan. 4. 1857; Charles Alvin, born April 4, 1859; and Adam Franklin, born Feb. 25, 1861. The first named, Mary E., was born in Cum- berland county, but the three sons were born at Monmouth, Ill. Mary E. married Milton S. Sprout, a native of Hampden township, Cumberland county, who died Oct. 3. 1893. and she died July 28, 1896; their remains are buried at Monmouth. They left no chil- (Iren. Charles A. married Ella Krause, of Carlisle, and has children-Mary, Addie, Ruth and Ernest. Adam F. married Sarah Mull, of Carlisle, but has no children.

William H. Peffer, the eldest son, was

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eight years old when his parents returned to Pennsylvania and located at Carlisle. He attended the public schools of Carlisle until he reached his fifteenth year and then en- tered the Sentinel office and learned the printing trade. His cares and responsibili- ties increased with his knowledge of the business. and upon his father's retirement he succeeded him as publisher and soon after- ward as proprietor of the newspaper. He continued the publication of the Sentinel until 1894. when, being appointed postmas- ter of Carlisle. he sold it and turned his at- tention to his official duties and business enterprises. About this time he purchased a farm at Bonny Brook, a short distance south of Carlisle, where he has since en- gaged at farming and also for some years at dairying. This place is still his home.

Mr. Peffer's long newspaper career brought him in close touch with Cumberland county politics, and in 1899 he was nomina- ted by the Democrats for clerk of the courts and recorder, but through dissensions in the party failed of election by a small majority. Three years afterward he was elected coun- ty treasurer, which responsible office he now holds.

William H. Peffer, on May 30, 1883. was married to Miss Eleanor Hoffman. of Carlisle. Rev. W. S. Freese, pastor of the First Lutheran Church, of Carlisle, perform- ing the ceremony. To their union have come the following children : Henry Kerr. born March 9, 1884; Edith Kelly, May 19. 1886: and Milton, July 4, 1888 (who died in the following September).

JOHN RADABAUGH, one of the well-known, substantial and representative citizens of East Pennsboro township, Cum- berland county, was born July 2, 1836, in this township, son of John Radabaugh, who

was born in 1808 in Cumberland county. The early family records fail to tell the name of the grandfather, although it is recorded of him that he served his country in the war of 1812, and John Radabaugh has the old flint-lock musket that he carried during that war. His wife, Barbara, appears to have been a woman of strength of character and good business ability, as she kept a hotel for years in Wormleysburg, where her last years were spent.

John Radabaugh, father of our subject, followed the coopering trade and was inter- ested in lumber transactions. It is recorded of him that he was so expert in his trade that he could go to the mountains for his lumber and there complete a barrel without the aid of any shop machinery. He mar- ried Rebecca Welch, daughter of Peter and Elizabeth (Boyer) Welch, and she passed away aged sixty-eight years, and is buried at Camp Hill. His death took place in 1841. and he was buried in Poplar cemetery, East Pennsboro township. Politically, he was a Democrat. Religiously, he was a Methodist. His two children were: Susanna, who died at the age of twenty-two years and was buried in the Poplar cemetery ; and Jolin, of this sketch.

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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 87

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