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 35
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In politics Mr. Paules is a Republican, and he has served his fellow townsmen as school director nine consecutive years. He and his family are mem- bers of the Lutheran Church, and socially they min- gie with the best people of the township. Mr. l'aules has been a remarkably successful farmer, has acquired a competence and is now enjoying at his case the fruits of his early industry.
HENRY LEAMAN, of Strasburg township, is one of the representative men of Lancaster county, and belongs to one of the old and esteemed families, which established itself here through grandfather Abraham Leaman, who was a prominent farmer of his day. He married Mary Bowman, by whom he had one son, Benjamin, who was born May 26, 1787, and died June 2. 1857.
Benjamin Leaman adopted farming as his pro-
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fession, made his home in East Lampeter township and there became the owner of a large acreage of land, one farm comprising 110 acres, and an adjoin- ing one seventy-five acres, both of which he operated himself. at one time. As time passed on and his family grew up around him, he purchased a farm for cach son, all of these lying in East Lampeter and Leacock townships. His friends through the com- munity were many, and such was the confidence which they placed in him that all his spare time was occupied in the settlement of estates and caring for those who were placed in his charge as wards.
On May 19. 180 ;. Benjamin Leaman married as his first wife Catherine Cryder, born March Is, 1789, who died Dec. 30, 1838, the children born to this union being: Abraham, born in 1808. died in 1839. a farmer, who had married Barbara Buckwal- ter: John, born in 18to. died in 1882, a farmer in Leacock township, who married two sisters by the name of Landis ; Barbara, who died in infancy : Ben- jamin, born in 1813, died in 1891, a farmer of Leacock township; Susannah, born in 1815. the wife of Jacob Ranck, of Strasburg township; To- Dias, born in 1817, died in 1859, a farmer of East Lampeter township; Jacob, born in 1810. died in 1889, a farmer of Leacock township; Henry, born in IS22, who resides in Strasburg township; Isaac, born in 1824, a farmer of East Lampeter: joseph, born in 1828, died in 1857, a farmer of East Lam- peter ; the last of this large family being an infant son, born in 1830. who died early. The second mar- riage of Benjamin Leaman was on Sept. 6, 1842, to Mrs. Elizabeth ( Heller ) Rohrer, a widow. The parents were members of the Old Mennonite Church and the children adhered to the same faith.
Henry Leaman was reared on the farm. in East Lampeter township, and received his education in the public schools of his district. On Dec. 3, 1844, he was married to Sarah Buckwalter, a daughter of Martin and Nancy (Lefever) Buckwalter, who was born Feb. 5, 1823. After marriage the young couple located on a farm in Strasburg township and two years later purchased a farm of 102 acres near Refton. which Mr. Leaman operated from 1847 until he retired from the cares of active life. At that time he erected a comfortable home in Refton, re- maining there until 1892, when he removed to his present home, which is located one-half mile north- east of Strasburg and contains sixty acres, one of the best improved places in the county, and now managed by his son, Reuben.
Henry Leaman has been one of the successful agriculturists of the county and has always been known as an upright, honorable man, worthy of the confidence and respect which he receives, and a con- sistent member of the Old Mennonite Church. The children born to Henry Leaman and his wife were; Eliza. born in Oct., 1845. who was the wife of Elias Herr. a lime-barner and merchant of Warren county, Va., and who died Dec. 9, 1901, aged fifty-six years, leaving five children, Harry, Francis, Addie, Reu-
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ben and Ira : Susan, born in January, 1847, who mar- ried Peter Esbenshade, of Manheim township, and has three children, Frank, Elmer and Cora ; Emma, . born in July, IS48, who resides with her parents ; Sarah Ann, born in January, 1851, who married John P. Rohrer, of Strasburg, and had seven chil- dren, Lillie, Frank, Emma, Jolin, Charles, Harry and Clair ; Martin, who died young : Henry B., born in November, 1856, who married Emma Groff, re- sides in Paradise township and has two children, Ross and Mary; Franklin, born in November, 1858, who married Amanda Schaffer, resides in Sadsbury township and has four children, Roy, John, Clair and Edna; Mary, born in October, 1861, who died the same year; and Reuben B., born Nov. 23, 1863, who married Alice Stoner and has four children, Anna, Lizzie, Mary and Harry. Mrs. Sarah ( Buckwalter ) Leaman died Sept. 20, 1901, aged seventy-eight years.
Reuben B. Leaman is a progressive farmer and successful dairyman of this county, as well as one of the most solid and substantial of its citizens. The family is held in the highest respect through the whole township and can justly be regarded as rep- resentative.
JAMES LAW, who has been for a long time known to the literary world as James D. Law, poet, is a native of Scotland, having been born in Lums- den village, West Aberdeenshire, on April 5, 1865. To distinguish him from an uncle of the same name, for a time Mr. Law adopted the middle initial D., but in recent years he has gone back to the original form of his name: and, while he is still known to the business world as James D. Law, his literary work is often autographed as shown under- neath the annexed portrait specially prepared for this work.
On his father's side, Mr. Law's ancestors have been purely Celtic for countless generations. His mother dying before he was a year old, he was left to the care of his uncle. John Law, an excellent type of the sturdy, well informed and enterprising Scotsman. Our poet attended a "Dame's school" for a time, and is perhaps one of the youngest men living, who learned his letters from "the brods." He remembers carrying a peat to school every morning, as his daily contribution to the school fire-fund of the village Dominie. In due course he passed through the various stages of schooling. filling in his Saturdays and holidays "herding kye," and at other work on his uncle's small farm, thus becoming familiar with all kinds of rural activities. A voracious reader, he soon exhausted the little public libraries and the more pretentious private collections of the district. He served four years as a pupil teacher, and at the age of eighteen secured a position as assistant to the factor of the Durris estate, Deesidle, County of Kincardine. There he remained three years, when he decided to emigrate to America. Before sailing he was united in mar-
riage to Miss Agnes Duff, daughter of Robert : Duff, Esq., of New Noth and Old Noth, on Bogie- side. Mrs. Law, a lady of high culture and fine personal attainments, was a successful teacher in Scotland, holding a first-class government certifi- cate. In May, 1886, the young couple landed in Boston, and at once proceeded to Philadelphia. Being without either friends or acquaintances, after a rather trying probation Mr. Law secured a position as bookkeeper to an oil-cloth manufacturer in Camden, N. J., and soon after took up his resi- ! dence there. In 1800 he connected himself with the J. F. Portuondo Cigar Manufacturing Com- pany, of Philadelphia, having been its first Secre- tarv and attached to it for a year after the death of Mr. Portuondo. In October, 1898, he came to Lancaster to take charge of the Havana Cigar Company and the other Lancaster interests of Mrs. A. B. Bloomer, a wealthy and accomplished resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, but allied to Lancaster county by hereditary relations, her father, Martin Bare, Esq., having been born in the Bareville her grand- father founded. Mr. and Mrs. Law have been blessed with seven children, viz .: (1) Duff Christie; (2) Nanette Margaret (deceased) ; (3) Estella Maria: (4) John James (deceased) : (5) America Portuondo; (6) Russell Gordon; (7) Evelyn Agnes.
Mr. Law's predilection for rhyming and his irrepressible wit and humor were soon asserted, some of his effusions appearing in the Aberdeen newspapers before he left school : and even as early as 1883, in Edward's Fifth Series of "Modern Scottish Poets," Mr. Law although then only eighteen years of age, received a lengthy and flattering editorial notice, accompanied by several pages devoted to specimens of his verses. He never allows the muse to interfere with business, and, to his credit be it said, he has not missed a day's work since he first got a foothold in the New World. He is a man of the strictest temperate habits, not even being a smoker, although for many years intimately connected with the great cigar industry. Essentially a home man, the only club that can claim him is the St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia. At the same time, there is nothing sour or ascetic in his composition; no one better enjoys a social chat than he does, and wherever he goes he is a welcome and honored guest in the best houses and establishments in the land. In his busi- ness trips all over the States, he has cemented by personal contact many friendships begun through the medium of the mails. Perhaps no one in the Commonwealth has a finer collection of holograph letters from modern celebrities, not "purchased with a price," as such valued rarities generally are, but received by Mr. Law himself in the ordinary course of his correspondence. In a hurried glance through a partial list are noted specintens of Gladstone and Lord Rosebery among statesmen ; Whittier. Holmes. Riley and Austin among poets : Blackie
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¿ Furness among critics : Collyer and Ingersoll ny orators ; Allan, M. P., jostled Brosius, M. : Brewer, of the. Supreme Bench, rested beside
Mir. Law has been a welcome contributor to the our among scientists, while DePeyster and rerie among philanthropists "led all the rest." have come so intimately in touch with such men : light and leading is in itself no mean tribute to ::. Law's ability and versatility. A lover of books in his earliest years, he has naturally collected the library, which has been enriched by many gifts leading metropolitan journals, and his popularity here is, if anything. exceeded by his reputation in the old country. The leading Scottish critics have long since admitted that the best Scotch in the world is written in America, and Mr. Law is con- sidered by many to be the foremost poetical exponent of the Scottish dialect. Several years ago : admiring friends and fellow-authors. One 'i of the collection, numbering 5,000 volumnes he was awarded the N. A. U. C. A. prize for the I best original Scotch poem, the competition being : more, is made up of books relating exclusively i open to Canada and the United States. He is also
: ) Scotland and Scottish literature, which still re- : : uns Mr. Law's first choice. Books, indeed, seem : be in very nook of his beautiful home in East thay street, a well-stocked case in his dining room ! ning considered as essential to the welfare and ḷ piness of the family as the clock upon the :: intel. Raised in such an atmosphere, and with sich surroundings, it is easy to understand why Mr. Law's children attending school are pronounced "y their teachers to be "the best all around scholars" in their respective departments.
Mr. Law is the author of several books which have been widely circulated and received with un- qualified approbation by the first critics of the age. It would take a volume to quote the press notices evoked from all quarters of the globe on his "Dreams O' Hame" and other poems, Scottish and American, published in 1893 by Gardner, of Paisley and London. The very handsome general appear- Ance of the book was the subject of much favorable comment, and bearing the imprint of the Queen's publisher was in itself a high compliment to an .American citizen. Mr. Law's latest volume, en- titled "The Sea-Shore of Bohemia," is his most ambitious effort, and deals with some little-known episodes in the life of William Shakespeare, special attention being given to the Scotch friends and experiences that unquestionably influenced the Great Dramatist's life and writings. Mr. Law's joern is in dramatic form, with lyrical interludes, and historical data can be furnished for all the interesting incidents introduced into his brilliant "Conversations." Says a recent critic :
"A remarkable fact about Mr. Law's Muse is that he is at home in every style of the poetic art, :arning out dramas, epics, elegies, odes, lyrics and satires with equal facility, and excelling in all. He :s complete master of every known form of rhyme and rhythm, and has even invented some new measures, which is not a small poetic feat at this ate day in the history of prosody. He personally claims that he can only write well in Scotch, his native tongue; English, as he says, being a foreign language to him; but the truth is that he gains much of his power froin the fact that his harp is a two-keyed instrument. He has, it is plain to be teen, a natural gift for writing, and we have it from the best authority that his poems are entirely
extemporaneous, which may account to a large extent for the charming spontaneity of his style.'
a fine conversationalist and debater, and is philoso- pher enough to understand that a good listener is not unappreciated. All the local newspapers have had their pages enriched by Mr. Law's musings. one of the most admired of his recent effusions hav- ing been the following Sonnet on the sudden death of the highly honored Congressman, Hon. Marriott C. Brosius. We cull it from the New Era of March 18, 1901 :
MARRIOTT BROSIUS.
"Native here and to the manner born."
But yesterday we saw and hailed our friend, As. full of life, he passed along the street ; Ere dawn to-day his heart had ceased to beat. So swiftly did the fatal stroke descend, The knell that none could fail to comprehend, The certain summons that we all must meet; And now the glory of a higher seat
Succeeds the term that here has reached its end.
A soldier-statesman: in his chosen field We honored him as our repeated choice Until his name was to the nation known; And at the last, with all his worth revealed, While we lament we also can rejoice That brilliant Brosius was our very own!
We regret that space will not permit us to give a better representation of Mr. Law's poetry, but we cannot refrain from adding to the value of this meager sketch by inserting his "Columbia-Cale- donia." This Scottish-American song has already been accepted on both sides of the Atlantic as a sort of International Anthem, beautifully blending as it does the love for the Old Country with the love for the New, in an exalted strain of the purest patriot- ism :
COLUMBIA-CALEDONIA.
THE LAND WE LEFT-aye, to us dear ! We've sung it lood and lang: But hae we nae a country HERE As worthy o' a sang? While Scotland's name and Scotland's fame Wi' us can never dee, .
COLUMBIA noo we've made oor hame, And praise to her we'll gie! The Mither Land! The Mither Land! Let's couple wi' her name The Independent ither land We noo hae made oor harne!
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
Shak' oot the Starry Banner's fauld, And let the Thistle wave; The Rampant Lion's nae mair bauld Than is the Eagle brave! The land we're in's a peerless land, As big as Scotia's wee; Weel worthy by her side to stand And ave oor hame to be! We'll ne'er forget the Mither Land, Nor need a Scot think shane To sing with pride the ither land We noo hae made oor hame !.
The hame we had-the hame we hae!
O, lang and far ye'll ca' Afore ye meet, if c'er ye may, Wi' sic anither twa! Auld Caledonia's first and best O' lands across the sea !
And here's the glory of the West, The country o' the free! God's blessing on the Mither Land, And a' within the same, And also on the ITHER LAND We noo hae made oor Hante!
Shortly before his death Col. Robert G. Inger- soll wrote to Mr. Law as follows :
"Your beautiful poems have given me real pleasure. They are full of good feeling-comrade- ship. They are genial and social and human. Besides they are perfectly natural. They come from the heart as springs from the ground. Versifi- cation is easy for you and many of the verses are worthy of Burns. The comic, the pathetic, smiles and tears are side by side, and in nearly all the poems I find the pulse of joyous life. Nothing cynical, and nothing morose, nothing of night; appreciation, admiration, morning everywhere. Good health in every line-nothing morbid, diseased or deformed, but all wholesome, natural and true. I congratulate you."
From the eminent Shakespearean scholar, Dr. Furness, Mr. Law recently received the following flattering acknowledgement relating to his poem on "Shakespeare's Gloves :"
"My Dear Mr. Law :- The copy of your delight- ful verses duly reached me, and I have read, and re- read and re-read thiem with ever increasing pleasure. They are charming. I think Burns him- self would have chuckled over the humor, appreci- ated the sentiment and would liave been glad to acknowledge the lines as his own. Can one hair's breadth be added to this towering praise? If it be possible, it does not lie in the power of
"Yours very cordially, "HORACE HOWARD FURNESS."
The words of a distinguished Scottish-Ameri- can critic we have pleasure in reproducing :
"We advise Mr. Law to continue to exercise his poetic powers. He has accomplished much in the past, but he is still a young man, and his countrymen both at home and abroad believe that he will yet produce something that will send his name ringing through all parts of the civilized world where the English language is known. The
Scotch portions of the Globe already know of hin .. and in the words of their leading journals have repeatedly declared, 'among living Scottish poets Mr. Law is unquestionably entitled to a foremes: place.' May he never have cause to regret having sung :
Columbia treats her strangers weel, The langer kent she grows mair dear, And, aff the heath, nae Scot can feel So much at hame as here!
In July, 1902, Mr. Law made a long con- templated trip to Europe, where his family had preceded him, revisiting his native land after an absence of over sixteen years. He saw everything and everybody worth seeing, from the cot to the castle, and from the King to the Commoner, cover- ing Scotland and England very thoroughly, and also looking in on Ireland. Wherever he went he was well received, and made the recipient of many honors and high compliments. Amidst all ha found time to share his pleasures by penning man; delightful "Letters of Travel" for American papers. and contributed various articles in prose and verse to the Scottish press. He returned to Lancaster in February, 1903, and received a hearty welcome from all his friends and acquaintances. He has been officially requested to write the college poem. song and chorus for the Franklin and Marshall Golden Jubilee to be celebrated in June, 1903.
DAVID K. GRUBE, a retired farmer and one of the most highly respected and influential men cf East Hempfield township, was born April 1. 1839. a son of Christian and Rebecca ( Kurtz) Grube.
The founder of the Grube family in America was Casper, a native of Switzerland, who located in the vicinity of Kissel Hill, in Lancaster county, and was the great-grandfather of David. This worthy man had two sons, of whom record has been kens: Christian, the grandfather of David, and a 501 ( name unknown) who died at Kissel Hill. Chris- tian. the grandfather. a farmer of Neffsville, who owned and operated two fine farms, is supposed to have been a member of the Lutheran Church, and lived to the advanced age of eighty-five, his death cc- curring in 1845. His family consisted of fourteen children : George, a farmer, who lived and died in Lancaster county ; Christian, father of David : Cas- per, a farmer, whose whole life was spent in Lan- caster county ; David, a farmer and cattle raiser of Lancaster county, Samuel, a butcher, who went west to Indiana, where he died; Joseph. also a butcher. who lived and died in Lancaster county: John. a farmer, who went west to Ohio; Jacob; Sally, who married Henry Hotenstine : Susan, who was the sec- ond wife of Mr. Hotenstine ; Elizabeth, who married Jacob Stoner; three other daughters, names un- known.
Christian Grube, the father of David, was born at Neffsville, in March, 1795, and died near that
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town in 1880. Early in life he learned the carpen- for trade, which he followed for many years. but about 1850 he turned his attention to farming. The Maiden name of his estimable wife was Rebecca Kurtz, a daughter of John Kurtz. Her birth oc- erred at Roseville, Lancaster county, in the fall of 1795, and she died in 1867. To her husband she Dore seven children: John, first a carpenter. later a butcher, and a resident of Perry county, Pa. : Ma- caretta, wife of Reuben Bird, of Nefisville : Chris- can a carpenter, a resident of Lebanon, Pa. : Ed- ward, a cigar manufacturer, who is a resident of Nerfsville; Lydia; Jacob, a resident of southern Missouri ; and David K.
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David K. Grube spent his boyhood upon his father's farm and received his education in the public schools. At the age of eighteen he commenced to learn the trade of a carpenter, and followed it sac- cessfully until his marriage, when he embarked in farming, to which he gave his attention, in conjunc- tion with burning lime, until he retired, in 1896. The property owned by him, and upon which he resides. is a fine one, consisting of ninety-nine acres, one mile south of Petersburg, and upon it he has made many desirable improvements. Nearly all of the excellent buildings were erected by him, and the entire farm speaks well for his thrifty management.
In 186; David Grube was married to Amelia Kauffman, a daughter of Christian and Martha ( Miller) Kauffman, who was born Oct. 19, 1840, , erine ( Johnston) Byers, both natives of Lancaster and died Nov. 26, 1894, after having borne her hus- band four children : Alice, wife of Christian Hoov- i er; Morris, unmarried, who resides in the West : David, unmarried, who operates a portion of his father's farm ; Jacob, at home.
David K. Grube is a consistent member of the German Baptist Church, in which he takes a promi- nent part, and he is highly respected throughout the community for his integrity and honesty.
JOHN C. FORREY, a retired farmer of West Hempfield township. Lancaster county. Pa., was born on his present farin of 125 acres Aug. 30, 1833, and is a son of Jacob and Mary (Cophenherter) For- rey, of whom Jacob was also born on this farm and Mary elsewhere.in the township. Jacob was a suc- cessful agriculturist and passed his entire life on the home place, dying in November, IS;1. when seven- ty-one years old; in 1843 he had lost his wife, who died when but twenty-five years of age. They were members of the Mennonite Church, and their mortal remains were buried in the private or family burial ground on the home farm. The only children born to Jacob and Mary Forrey were John C. and Jacob.
The paternal grandparents of John C. Forrey were Jolin and Veronica (Seitz) Forrey, the former of whom was also born on the present homestead, and the latter in Manor township, but both died on the farm. Mrs. Forrey lived to the great age of 103 years, eleven months, sixteen days. The John last mentioned was a son of Daniel, who was also
born on this same West Hempfield farm. and Daniel was a son of John. the founder of the Forrey fam- Bly in America, who came from Switzerland and se- cured the grant of the farm from the William Penn estate in 1746.
In November, 1878, in Lancaster City. John C. Forrey married Anna Moore, and to this union were born to children. John M. and Jacob M., both of whom died young and were interred in the family burying ground on the farm. Mrs. Anna ( Moore) Forrey was born in West Hempfield township and is a daughter of Henry and Mary Moore, who were natives of York county, but who settled in Lancaster county early in life.
John C. Forrey has always been a good man- , ager, and has succeeded admirably in all his under- takings and well deserves his reward for his early industry and economy. He has always been active and public-spirited, is a director in the Columbia Trust Company and was one of its first stockholders, and has been a school director for six years as the 1 choice of the Republican party, of which he has been a lifelong member. He still continues the cultivation of the home farm, but hires help to do the work.
JACOB J. BYERS, a retired farmer of East Drumore township, was born in Pequea township Dec. 13, 1836, his parents being John and Cath- . county, where he was born March 16, 1807, and his wife Dec. 9, 1815.
John Byers was the son of Henry and Barbara (Crider) Evers, both of whom were born in this county, and whose parents came from Germany about 1730. Henry Byers, the grandfather of Jacob 1 .. first settled in Martic township, and different members of the Byers family sustained an honored part in the Revolutionary struggle. They took up a tract of government land in Pequea and Martic town- ships, where they lived and reared large families. Henry Bvers and his wife had nine children: Hen- Ty Bvers, of Ohio : Jacob, of Lancaster county ; Mich- ael, of Indiana: Daniel. who died in Lancaster ; John : Sarah, the wife of David Eshleman, of Pequea township : Mary, the wife of Benjamin Longenecker, of Illinois; Nancy, the wife of Michael Crider, of Lancaster: and Barbara, who married Christian Warfel, of Lancaster.
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