USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > Biographical annals of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical and genealogical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settlers > Part 22
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Abelbitmer.
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
daughter of Isaac Kauffman, of Manor township. He iocatel in Millersville. and died there Feb. 2". 1001. The widow and several of the children still reside there. Mary was born July 28, 1836, was mar- ried to Michael R. Shank Oct. 28, 1856, and became the mother of fourteen children. They and some of the children reside in the city of Lancaster. Bar- bara was born Feb. 3, 1839, was married Dec. 2.4, 1871, to Dr. John A. Knox. of Jasper county, Iowa. and died there May 19, 1873, survived by her hus- band, but no children. Lydia was born June 7, 1811, was never married, and has her home with her brother, A. R. Witmer. Daniel L. Witmer, the youngest of the family, was born Sept. 27, 1845, and Dec. 21, 1800, married Esther Witmer, youngest : daughter of Jacob Witmer, Sr .. of Manor township. He died Jan. 21, 1882. His widow and several of the children reside in Millersville. Jacob, Benja- min and Daniel, of this large family, enlisted in the Union army and served during the war of the Re- bellion.
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Abraham R. Witmer, the eldest of this family of children, was born April 12. 1827. and raised on a farm, where he was tied down to hard work until he was eighteen, and up to that time had but once enjoyed the pleasure of getting beyond fifteen miles from home. His early educational advantages were those of the public schools, such as they were in the rural districts from sixty to seventy years ago, and he was never favored with admittance to any other. But he was remark- ably studious at home, taking more pleasure in read- ; ing and study than in play, and thus improved many : carefully preserved.
an hour snatched from the ceaseless drudgery of the farm. Several years before quitting school he had outstripped every other pupil in it, regardless of age or size. In 1846 the school board of Manor township tendered him a school, which he accepted, and taught seven winter terms within the township, to the satisfaction of the board and patrons. During his last term he made arrangements with a chance ac- quaintance of a few years before to take up the study and practice of surveying with him, at Williams- ville, Eric Co., N. Y. ; and, at the close of his school, went thither, remained a year and a half, and then returned to his old neighborhood, near Safe Har- bor, in Manor township, where he purchased sixteen acres of land, cut off from a farm, whereon he built ! a comfortable home which he still occupies, and com- menced housekeeping, having been married just previously to making the New York State arrange- ment, and taken his wife along to board with him in the family of his employer and instructor. He soon became very successful in his new line of business, embracing surveying, scrivening and clerking of pub- lic sales of real and personal property, along with farming on a small scale.
A few years later he was elected assessor of Manor township, and served four years. In 1862 he was elected a justice of the peace of Manor town- ship, and has been re-elected every term since, and
still holds the office, with, probably, less costs to the county than any other justice in it-his official fees in all the cases returned to court during forty years not yet amounting to one hundred dollars. In 1863 he was elected county surveyor, and held the office nine years. He also served as deputy coroner over Manor, Conestoga and Martic townships for nine years.
While teaching his winter term of 1851-52 Mr. Witmer took up the science of phonography, or short-hand writing, studying from text-books on the subject. without a single lesson from a teacher. There was then but one system, Benjamin Pitman's, and it was not taught outside of the larger cities, and was then something new and unheard of in the rural districts. As he was then boarding at a country tavern, where the young men of the neighborhood congregated nearly every evening to enjoy themselves playing cards and dominoes and teasing him for wasting his time in studying nonsense, as they termed it, instead of joining in with them, his bar- room studies received many interruptions, but, heed- less of their sneers and gibes, in due course of time he mastered the system to his satisfaction. In 1853 he commenced keeping a diary of the daily events of the neighborhood. of his business, incomes and ex- ¡ penses, state of the weather, and many other things. and which he has kept up without missing a dav up to the present time ; and all written in short-hand, and with special care to write plainly rather than speedily. All his diaries, from first to last, now fifty in number, are models of neatness and accuracy, and
Being fond of travel, after several shorter excur- sions, Mr. Witmer made his first tour to the Western country in the spring of 1840, leaving Lancaster with two trunks full of a miscellaneous assortment of books, to sell along the way to pay expenses. He traveled mostly by canal. along up the Susquehanna and west branch, and in course of time reached Pitts- burg, where he replenished his stock, and started down the Ohio by steamboat, with less than a dollar in his pocket. On leaving Cincinnati he took passage aboard a White Water Canal Packet to Cambridge City, Indiana. By the time he arrived there he had learned that in order to sell books with success he was obliged to either strain the truth or not tell it all. and thereby became disgusted with the business, boxed up the few remaining volumes on hand, and shipped them back home by freight. Making in- quiry, he soon found a three weeks' job of honest work at sawing and splitting cooper stuff in the woods, and then a month's work at having, harvest- ing and threshing on a farm, mowing grass with the scythe, and raking and binding wheat after a cradie. After a visit to Hamilton and Tipton counties he bought a pair of horses and rode all the way back home from Indianapolis, over 600 miles, on horse- back, arriving a few days in advance of the appointed time to take charge of his school.
His second tour he made in the spring of 1851,
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
extending it beyond the Mississippi, where the most reliable mode of travel then was by going afoot and lugging your baggage on your back, as there was then not a mile of railroad west of the great river, nor a single bridge across it anywhere. After trudging over 250 miles afoot over the sparsely settled western prairies of Iowa and Illinois, he returned to Indiana, purchased three horses and rode all the way back home on horseback, a second time. Since then he has been in every State and Territory in the Union with the exception of South Dakota : also in Mexico, British Columbia, the Klondike and headwaters of the Yukon, Ontario and Quebec. Among the endless variety of grand scenery abounding within the United States which he has visited and described in his numerous letters of correspondence for publication in The New Era and other Lancaster papers, are the Falls of Niagara : the White Mountains of New Hampshire ; the Nat- ural Bridge of Virginia; the Caverns of Luray; Pike's Peak, on the top of which he spent a night, nearly three miles above sea level ; the Yellowstone National Park, spending a week therein ; the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, and the Petrified Forest of Arizona ; the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees in California ; the Garden of the Gods in Colorado : the Bad Lands Region of Deso- lation in the Western part of North Dakota ; the pic- tured rocks along the south shore of Lake Superior ; and many other places of wonderful interest.
Mr. Witmer has visited and become familiar with nearly all the large cities of the United States and British America, including Sitka, Juncau, Skagway and other small, but important, towns in Alaska. He has visited the extensive copper mines of Lake Superior : the Treadwell Gold Mine, the largest in Alaska ; the Sweet Water Dam, ninety feet in height. and the Tuolumne Dam, 101 feet in height, both in California, and built at enormous expense for irri- gation purposes ; the Lick Observatory on top of Mount Hamilton, mounted with the monster tele- scope, 5014 feet in length, through which he peered into the crater of an extinct volcano on the surface of the moon; the great Brooklyn bridge; the steel arch bridge across the Mississippi at St. Louis ; and the steel tubular bridge across the St. Lawrence, at Montreal, which are stupendous works of ingenious mechanical engineering skill, and he has spent hours at a time in viewing each of them from different points of vantage.
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He has traveled afoot, on horseback, stage- coach, prairie schooner, canal packet, river, lake and ocean steamer ; by steamer on the Hudson, the Po- tomac, the St. John's, the Oklawaha, the Niagara, the St. Lawrence. the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Illi- nois, the Columbia, Puget Sound, Long Island Sound, all the Great Lakes and several coast lines on the Atlantic and Pacific.
Mr. Witmer has always keep strict account of all his business matters. Also a complete record of the leading fines of his scrivening, clerking, survey-
ing, and, among other things, he has written Is. wills, nearly 1,400 deeds and mortgages, and clerka .: without assistance 784 public sales of real estate a" personal property. He has also settled up twenty- four estates as executor, administrator and assign of the same; and was appointed and served as ghar- dian for quite a number of minor children. He is
and always has been, strictly temperare in his habit. and has never used intoxicants nor tobacco in an form. He says he has been trying for years past : get out of business, but finds it is now more difficr to get out of it than it was to get in.
Mr. Witmer was married Dec. 16, 1852, to Fanny Buckwalter, a daughter of Jacob and Fanny Buch- walter, of Manor township. She was born A:s. .
1827, and died July 31, 1887. To them were bor: five children, the second and third of which die . in infancy. The eldest, Annie B. Witmer, was ber: Dec. 22, 1853, and Oct. 24, 1876, was married i- Henry G. Wittmer, a son of John Wittmer, Sr .. : T farmer of near Blue Rock, in Manor township. them was born an only child, Clara W. Wittner. o: Oct. 31, 1890. They acquired one of the severa: farms of his father, on which they reside. and cult :- vate the same. Ellen B. Witmer was born Sept. 30 1862, remains unmarried, and has her home with her sister, Annie. She is greatly interested in, and de - votes much of her time and aid to church, mission- ary and Sunday-school work. £ Allen D. Wiesie: . born Nov. 28, 1865, married Bertha Steigeiman. : daughter of John Steigelman, late of Manor town- ship, deceased. He carries on a general store a: Masonville, and is postmaster of Letort, at the same place. To them have been born three children. Charles M. Witmer, on Jan. 31, 1891 ; Mary S. Wit- mer, on June 22, 1892; and Ada E. Witmer, on Oct. 6, 1901. The latter died March 1, 1902.
EDWARD CORNELIUS HALI. (deceased' who for many years successfully conducted the "De'- monico," the well-known hotel on Center Square. Lancaster, and at the same time carried on classes for dancing and deportment, was born in Strasburg. Lancaster Co., Pa., Sept 1, 1854.
Mr. Hall was a son of Carpenter and Elizabet: (Treen) Hall, of Strasburg, who removed to Lar- caster when Edward C. was a small boy. They ha : a family of eight children, as follows: Abra: 1. and Joseph, both residents of Canton, Ohio: John F., in Massillon, Ohio; Edward C., whose nar ... introduces this sketch; and Harry, Albert, Mis- Ella and Ida (wife of George Swain), all four res !- dents of Lancaster.
After following various occupations Edward (. Hall engaged in the hotel and cafe business, which: he carried on with marked success for sixteen year- or more, his place of business being known as ti "Delmonico." For eighteen years, ably assisted b. Mrs. Hall, he conducted dancing classes, which ::. their day were the most popular in Lancaster, recei: - ing the patronage of the best people of the city. MI :.
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
Hall died Dec. 6, 1899, at the age of forty-five years, in the prime of life, and so popular and highly es- vemed was he that it seemed. as if the entire city ttended his funeral to pay the last sad tribute of steem and regard. Ile was a Knight Templar Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias, Knights i the Golden Eagle, Knights of Malta, and Arti- sans. In politics he was a Democrat.
In 1875 Mir. Hall was married to Miss Sarah Matilda Afflebach, daughter of the late Daniel Afile- Fach, who belonged to an old and well known family of this section. He died just ten weeks after the ·iecease of Mr. Hall. To this union were born four
children, as follows : Miss Mabe! Gray, living at home : Charles Willison, who is learning the jewe !- er's trade with L. C. Reisner & Co. : Walter Daniel. attending Ycates Institute : and Reah Baker, also at schoo !.
Mrs. Hall bravely took hold of the work her litts- hand had laid down, and the "Delmonico" is kept fally up to the high popular standard it has all along maintained.
CYRUS D. STAUFFER. A prominent mem- her of one of the old Lancaster county families which has long been noted for those qualities which have given this locality its high standing, is Cyrus D. Stauffer, now a retired farmer of West Doncgal township, in the outskirts of Elizabethtown, where he erected his fine brick mansion in 18:3.
Cyrus D. Stauffer was born Alay 21. 1543, SON of Samuel K. and Mary ( Dieffenderfer) Stauffer. of Mt. Joy township. The former died in 1895. in East Donegal township, aged eighty-one years, and his widow survived three years, dying at the age of seventy-five, both being buried in Bossier's Meeting House cemetery, in West Donegal town- ship. For a decade prior to his death. he lived a retired life. Both he and his wife belonged to the Old Mlennonite Church. Their children were as follows : Aaron D., a retired farmer in East Done- zal township; Cyrus D .: and Samuel D .. a prom- inent resident of Lancaster.
On Sept. 20, 1800, at the home of the bride. in West Donegal township. Cyrus D. Stauffer was :married to Miss Susan E. Heisey, and the children born to this union were: M. Grace, who married Benjamin F. Hoffman. of Conoy township: Dora M .. who married R. S. Buch, a manufacturer of Elizabethtown: Irvin H .. who is the teller in the Exchange Bank, in Elizabethtown: Katie H., at home; and Mary, Paul H. and Abner H., who ail died young.
Mrs. Stauffer was born May 9. 1845, in West Donegal township, daughter of Henry B. and Cath- erine (Wolgemuth) Heisey, both of whom were born in Mt. Joy township, but died in West Donc- gal, where Mr. Hcisey was a farmer in his carlier years, and where he lived for thirty years prior to his death in retirement from activity of that kind. He died in 1895 at the age of eighty-seven. his wife
having died in 1890. when seventy-four years old. Both were buried in Pleasant Hill cemetery, in West Donegal township. They were most estimable, Christian people, devoted members of the River Brethren Church.
Until 1893 Cyrus D. Stauffer continued to farm the old homestead. during which time every part of his domain was kept up to its full measure of capacity, winning for Mr. Stauffer the reputation of being one of the best farmers in his locality. For several terms Mr. Stauffer served West Don- egal township on its school board. He belongs to the Brethren in Christ Church and is a man highly respected by all who know him.
IRVIN H. STAUFFER, teller in the Exchange Bank. of Elizabethtown, Pa., was born Sept. 25, 1870, in West Donegal township. His education was acquired in the common schools and until he was seventeen years of age, he assisted his father on the farm. As be advanced to early manhood, . the restrictions of rural life and the limited oppor- tunities for development of business ability, caused him to seek a position as clerk in Lancaster. For a year and a half he clerked in a clothing store in this city, but desiring to perfect himself in the higher branches of knowledge, he resigned this po- sition and became a student at the Millersville State Normal School. There he took two courses, returning home in the spring of 1800, in time to accept the responsible place offered him of teller in the Exchange Bank, in Elizabethtown. In this position he has made a record for faithful service and is in direct line of promotion, possessing every qualification for a successful financial career. He takes an intelligent interest in politics, belongs to the Republican party and is prominent in social life. He is a member of Christ's Reformed Church. is one of its liberal supporters and a promoter of cvery worthy enterprise in his community.
On Nov. 27. 1001. he was married to Miss Cora McAllister, daughter of Jacob and Barbara ( Grei- der) McAllister. of Pequea township. She was born July 5. 1873.
DANIEL ZIMMERMAN. Among the re- spected and substantial farmer-citizens of West $ Earl township, is Daniel Zimmerman, who resides in great comfort upon his fine farm of seventy- three acres, located about one mile from the village of West Earl.
Daniel Zimmerman was born Dec. 25. 1846, a son of Emanuel and Mary (Stauffer) Zimmer- man, the former of whom was well known as a good farmer and worthy citizen. The family of Eman- ucl and Mary Zimmerman numbered nine children, these being: David, deceased; Jacob, a farmer of Earl township: Daniel; Samuel, a farmer of Earl ; Annie, the wife of Samuel Abot, a farmer of Earl; Elizabeth, the wife of Jacob Horst, an Earl farmer; Mary, the wife of John Good, of West Earl ; Lydia, at home; and one child who died young. Mr. Zim-
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
merman was born in 1823 and died in 1805. while his wife was born in 1822. and died in 1802. The grandfather of Daniel was Christian Zimmerman, a man of means in his day, whose ancestors came to America from Germany, and he and his wife reared a family of ten children: John. Christian, David, Jacob, Martin, Elizabeth, Barbara, Susan, Emanuel and Peter.
Daniel Zimmerman was reared on the farm and all his life has taken a great interest in agriculture. His present farm gives every evidence of good man- agement, for his buildings are of the best construc- tion and all of the other improvements thoroughly modern. Mr. Zimmerman was educated in the pub- lic schools, and he has supplemented this with read- ing, so that he is one of the intelligent and progres- 'sive men of the township.
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Daniel Zimmerman was married in 1870 to Miss Annie Erb, a daughter of Jacob L. and Elizabeth (Groff) Erb, of West Earl township, and this union has been blessed with two sons and two daughters : Benjamin, a farmer of West Earl: Martin, who re- sides at home; Mary, the wife of Christian Risser. of Clay township; and Elizabeth, the wife of Will- iam Good, of West Earl township.
In politics, Mr. Zimmerman is a staunch Re- : baugh, registrar of wills at Greenland. Pennsy :- publican: and he is a consistent member of the vania. Mennonite Church. His personal character is high:, and he enjoys the esteem of the whole community.
SIMON DENLINGER, a retired farmer of Leacock township, and one of the most highly es- teemed and upright residents of that community, was born in Paradise township, Oct. 23, 1845, a son of Jolin and Mary ( Brubaker ) Denlinger. His fa- . ther was born in Paradise township, and his mother in West Hempfield. The father, who was a farmer AMOS P. SMITH. Among the honorable and respected farmers of Drumore township is Ame- I'. Smith, who resides on his fine farm of 115 act all his life, died in 1895, at the age of seventy-nine ! years, his wife having passed to her reward two ! vears previously, at the age of seventy-eight. The | situated less than a mile from Fairfield. Pa. M .. remains of both are resting in the Hess cemetery, of Smith was a grandson of Joseph Smith, who wa- a native of Chester county, Pa., coming to Lancas- ter county when a young man. There he marrio Salisbury township. Mr. Denlinger had retained his physical abilities to such an extent that he had
been retired only six years before his death. He : Tracy Shoemaker, of Drumore township, who was and his wife were members of the Mennonite born in 1806, he being five years her senior. an? Church.
To Mr. and Mrs. John Denlinger were born the following children: Franie, who died young: Bar- bara and John, both unmarried, and living on the old farm; Lizzie, who is the widow of Elias Lea- man, and has her home in Intercourse, Pa. : Samuel. a retired farmer in Paradise township: Elias, a re- tired farmer in Salisbury township: Simon : Jacob ; Mary, wife of H. E. Musser. of Paradise. Pa .. whose sketch may be found elsewhere; Tobias. of whom a sketch is given elsewhere, died in 1808; Christiann, married to Henry Hershey, of Inter- course, Pa .; Evaline, wife of E. H. Hostetter, liv- ing in Leacock township.
Simon Denlinger was married Nov. 24, 1870, 1 in Paradise township, to Anna Mary Leaman, by i a young man.
whom he became the father of the following fam- ily: Noah B., a farmer, and engaged in the culti- vation of the old Denlinger homestead and married to Hannah Ebv; Leaman J., a farmer in Leacoci township, who married Emma Hoover, and with whom Mr. Denlinger makes his home: Jason, whi died in infancy ; Harry, living on the old homestead with his brother Noah.
Mrs. Anna M. Denlinger was born in Leacock township, March 14, 1851, and died Aug. 10. 1807. Her remains rest in the Hess cemetery. Salisbur. township. She was the daughter of Jacob and. Lydia (Buckwalter) Leaman, both of Lancaster county. They were the parents of the following children : Catherine, who is the widow of John Kreider, and resides in Paradise township: Susan married to Ephraim Hershey. of Salisbury town- ship: Elam, a farmer in Leacock township. mar- ried to Mina Landis: Jacob, a farmer in Leacoc !: township, who married Annie Hershey : Anna Mi .. the wife of Mr. Denlinger ; Frank, of Gordonvil !.. Pa., married to Ida Hershey: Ezra, a cigar hay manufacturer in Paradise township, married to Grace Hunsecker. The father, Jacob Leaman. :: farmer. died and his widow married Albert Deffer .
'Mr. Denlinger remained with his parents unti his marriage, when he began farming in Hemprich township, in which he was engaged eleven years. At the end of that period he removed to a farm in Paradise township, on which he was located unti: 1808, when he retired. and came to live with his son. Both he and his wife were members of the Mennon- ite Church; in his politics he is a Republican.
they had a family of four children who grew to ou .- turity: Rachel, a resident of Drumore township : George and Amos, twins : and Ellen W .. who is the wife of Hon. William Brosius, a member of th Legislature from this district, more extended men- tion of whom may be found elsewhere.
George Smith. the father of Amos P., was bor: i in 1825, and married Emily Tennis, who was be". in 1826. They were married in 1848 and reara four children: Amos P., who was born Oct. 1849; Annie M., born Feb. 15, 1852, wife of Gare. ner Crawford, of Perryville, Md .: Gerritt. bor !. Oct. 17, 1857, who resides on the old home plan. and whose biography appears in this work; am. Ellsworth. horn Sept. 6. 186t. who died while st .
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
Amos P. Smith was married on Dec. 5, 1871, to) Lydia S. Lamborn, who was a daughter of Smedley and Margaret ( Bolton) Lamborn, of Mar- tic township. She was born Oct. 20, 1851. This marriage has been blessed with these children: Ellsworth W., born Nov. 27, 1877, at home, unmar- ried; Eva May, born Jan. 2, 1882: Edna R., June 14, 1884; Emeline T., Oct. 24, 1880; Joseph E., Jan. 4, 1890 ; and George A., Sept. 22, 1892.
Mrs. Smith was reared in a family of ten chil- dren, as follows: George S., of Martic township : Aquilla B., of Britain township:" Emeline, the wife of Joseph Shoemaker, of Drumore township; Ell- wood, deceased ; William, deceased : Mary E., the wife of Thomas B. Hambleton, a merchant of Fern- glen, whose sketch appears elsewhere; Sarah E., the wife of Jacob K. Brown, of Fulton township, whose sketch is a part of this volume; Alice, the wife of William L. Shoemaker, of Fulton town- ship, whose sketch also appears; Lucinda, the wife of Benjamin F. Tennis; and Lydia S., the wife of Mr. Smith.
The fine, well-improved farm which is now the home of Mr. Smith and his family was purchased by him in 1899, and is one of the most desirable properties in this county. It is under excellent cul- tivation, while the attractive residence, commodious barns, fruitful orchards and complete fencing, show that Mr. Smith is a very capable manager of it all.
Mr. Smith is a Republican in politics, although in no way a politician, and both he and his wife manifest a great interest in the welfare of the local- ity. As he was reared, so he has continued, a con- sistent and worthy member of the Society of Friends. He has taken a great interest in the work- ings of the W. C. T. U., believing it to be a great moral factor, and his daughter Eva is the secretary of the Union at Fairfield. This is one of the truly representative families of Drumore township.
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