USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > Biographical annals of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical sketches of prominent men and representative citizens and of the early settled families > Part 27
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In Grimm's monumental Deutsches Woerterbuch heilman is given as a synonym for Arzt. Ger. Medicus. Lat. Doctor Eng. The interesting facts shown in the foregoing clause are that there is a family history of nearly six hundred years, and that Dr. Heilman is a member of the same honored pro- fession as his ancestor in times past was, whose eminence was such as to bring to him the distinctive appellation the heilman (cure-man).
Samuel Philip Heilman obtained an elementary education at Annville (Pa.) Academy, and Heilman Dale High School, received the degree of A. B., from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., in 1862, and A. M., in 1865 ; began to read medicine in 1864, at Lebanon, Pa., under the preceptorship of C. D. Gloninger, M. D .: took two winter and one summer courses of lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Medi- cine, and received the degree of M. D., therefrom, March 14, 1867.
I. MEDICAL RELATIONS AND ACTIVITIES .- Dr. Heilman has practiced medicine at Heilman Dale since June following his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, March 14, 1867. He is a member of the Lebanon County Medical Society : was its president in 1891 ; and again in 1898; its secretary 1893 and 1894; on its Board of Censors for three years from 1892; its treasurer 1889 and 1890; and is now the Medical and Surgi- cal Reporter of said society; is a member of the State Medical Society of Pennsylvania, was vice-president of same 1902-03, and is now a member of a standing committee on Food Adulteration appointed one year ago by said society. Was dispensary physician to the Hospital of the Good Samaritan. Lebanon, Pa., 1892; is now, and for eight years has been medi- cal inspector for the county of Lebanon to the State Board of Health and also
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is now quarantine officer for said county to said State Board. Is a member of the American Medical Association, to the annual meetings of which he has often been sent as the delegate of his county medical society.
II. RELIGIOUS RELATIONS AND ACTIVITIES .- He is a member of the Reformed congregation of the Hill Church, Lebanon county, a place of pub- lic worship established as early as 1740, one hundred and sixty-three years ago, by the large assistance of his great-great-grandfather, John Adam Heil- man, which place of worship was preceded by only one in what is now Leb- anon county, and that only by a few years. Of -this congregation Dr. Heil- man has been the organist for thirty-five years, as he is that now; was its trustee and treasurer for six years prior to 1887; a teacher in its Sunday School since 1867; and a member of its Home and Missionary Society. Is Secretary of the Committee on Sunday Schools of the Eastern Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States; chairman of the Committee on Sun- day School work of Lebanon Classis of said Synod ; vice-president and secre- tary of the Board of Trustees of said Classis; delegate of said Classis to the Eastern Synod of the Reformed Church, Shamokin, Pa., 1895, and dele- gate of said Classis to the General Synod of said church, Dayton, Ohio, 1896. and for three years prior to 1902 member of the executive committee of the Lebanon County Sabbath School Association.
[II. AGRICULTURAL RELATIONS AND ACTIVITIES .- He was the secre- tary of the Mt. Gretna Agricultural, Mechanical and Industrial Exposition Association for twelve years prior to 1903; secretary of the Heilman Dale Creamery Association for eighteen years ; a member of the Lebanon County Agricultural and Horticultural Association, of which association he is also the secretary ; delegate member of the State Board of Agriculture; lecturer at many county and local farmers' institutes; delegate by appointment of the Governor of the State to the Farmers' National Congress, Parkersburg, W. Va., 1894, Atlanta, Ga., 1895, St. Paul, Minn., 1897, Boston, Mass., 1899, Macon, Ga., 1902, and Niagara Falls, N. Y., 1903.
IV. EDUCATIONAL RELATIONS AND ACTIVITIES .- He was a director of public schools in North Lebanon township, Lebanon county, 1879-82; is now, as he has been since 1895, a member of the Board of Trustees of Frank- lin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., his Alma Mater ; a graduate member of the Goethean Literary Society of that college; a member of the General Alumni Association of said college and vice-president of same, 1900-01 ; a member of the Eastern Alumni Association of said college, and vice-presi- dent of same. 1902-03.
V. HISTORICAL RELATIONS AND ACTIVITIES .- He is a charter mem-
i
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ber of the Pennsylvania German Society, founded 1890; a charter member of the Lebanon County Historical Society, founded 1898, of which society he has continuously been the secretary, and had a leading part in its establish- ment ; corresponding member of the Dauphin County Historical Society ; a member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution by virtue of the services of his great-grandfather, John Adam Heilman (2), as first lieutenant in the army of the war of the Revolution, who as such had par- ticipated in the battles of Princeton and Trenton; a member of the Penn- sylvania Ethnographical Survey Corps, the purpose of which survey is to collect data showing what each nationality brought hither, and to illustrate the distribution of the various race elements in our population, the interaction of these different nationalities and thereby to arrive at accurate conclusions as to the forces which have developed our American civilization.
VI. OTHER RELATIONS AND ACTIVITIES .- He was for many years a member of the Traveling Men's Club, a delegate to the National Pure Food and Drug Congress, Washington, D. C., March 7, 1900, and at many and various times delegate to county and State political conventions, and to State and national medical meetings. He is the postmaster at Heilman Dale, as he has been since March 1, 1886.
In these positions, and in his relation to these various bodies, Dr. Heil- man has contributed to the same many papers on topics medical, religious, agricultural, educational, historical, sanitary, social and miscellaneous.
VII. LOCALITY AND HABITAT .- Heilman Dale, four and one-half miles northwest of the county seat, Lebanon, is not a city, town or village, but the general name of a country settlement or rural territory, some miles in length and breadth, thickly populated, with a railroad station and postoffice as the center of its communal life and activity. Amongst the earliest settlers in the section designated Heilman Dale were John Peter Heilman, from Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1732, and John Adam Heilman, from Zuzen- hausen, Baden, Germany, in 1738. Both were tillers of the soil, as all, or nearly all, of their descendants have been, and are now. Dr. Heilman was born, reared, and lives as he has lived all his life-time, on a farm the land of which was acquired by his great great-grandfather, the said above named John Adam Heilman, immigrant of 1738, being in the fifth generation from said immigrant ancestor. The 366 acres of land originally warranted to John Adam Heilman are still in the possession of, and occupied by, some of his descendants.
On the farm owned and occupied by Dr. Heilman stands a building now used as a dwelling house, erected in 1793 by his great-grandfather, John
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Adam Heilman (2d), for a paper mill, known as the Heilman paper mill, in which was carried on the manufacture of paper from that year until 1835. Through the same farm extends the channel of the now abandoned Union canal (abandoned in 1884), the first canal built in this country, the construc- tion of which was entered upon as early as 1795, although not completed until the year 1827. It was in that day considered a marvelous work of en- gineering, attracting the attention of master engineers far and wide, and of public men, amongst the latter Gen. Washington, who visited and inspected the canal twice during the last years of his life. It extended from Reading, Pa., on the Schuylkill river, up and through the Lebanon valley, on to near Harrisburg, Pa., on the Susquehanna river, opening up navigation between these two large rivers, was seventy-seven miles in length and contained twen- ty-five locks and one tunnel 600 feet in length, the first tunnel constructed in the United States, and a remarkable piece of work in that early day.
Dr. Heilman married September 30, 1885, Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Daniel H. Beaver, of Fredericksburg, Lebanon Co., Pa., and has three children : Anna Barbara, 1886; Catharine Ruth, 1888; and John Beaver, 1896.
LIGHT. The value of genealogy is now widely recognized and many important historical facts have been discovered by genealogical research. Fam- ily history is peculiarly interesting, and it is especially so when it involves so much of historical interest. as does the history of the Light family, which has produced men of prominence in all generations since its establishment in America. Of this notable family Samuel L. Light, manufacturer of Lebanon, is a most worthy representative.
The first of the name of whom we have authentic record is John Peter Light, who came from the Palatinate in Germany, and located in what is now Lebanon county, then Lancaster, where stands the old Light fort on the old Union canal, just west of Eleventh street, in the city of Lebanon. This was between 1715 and 1720, during the reign of Queen Anne. He purchased a large tract of land embracing in its boundaries most of the site of what is now the city of Lebanon, and erected the usual log house, a structure which was later replaced by a substantial stone one. This gen- tleman was the maternal ancestor of our honored subject, though of the same name.
Only the names of his sons are of record, John, Jacob, Martin and Henry. Following the line of succession, Jacob's son John (commonly known as Honesley) became the father of John: Jacob; Joseph ; Barbara, who mar-
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ried Jacob Light; Elizabeth, spinster; and Mary, Mrs. Casper Light. The children of the second son, Jacob, were: John; Phronicia, Mrs. Felix Light; Felix; Sarah, the mother of our worthy subject: Mary, who became Mrs. Abraham Shirk; Barbara, who married E. K. Kimmell; and Gideon, who married Nancy Witmeyer.
The father of our subject was John Light, born in Lancaster county, Pa., in 1809, the son of Samuel Light and his wife, Mary. This lady was the daughter of Henry Light, the youngest son of John Peter Light. Passing again to the paternal side of the family, Grandfather Samuel Light was the son of John, who is first heard of in 1756, near the present site of Pittsburg, where he located some years before the French and Indian war. Here he and his family came very near suffering martyrdom from the Indians who infested that region. The family took refuge in Fort Duquesne, and later came back to the line of civilization in Montgomery county. He resided here for a few years, and after the death of his wife, whom he buried in old Coventry Meeting House cemetery, he again crossed the moun- tains, this time floating down the Ohio to where Cincinnati had been founded a short time before. At this point he remained until his decease, which occurred very near the hundred mark.
Grandfather Samuel Light went along to Ohio, but when he was about eight years old he and his brother Jacob returned to Lancaster, Pa., with their uncle Martin Light, with whom they lived. never returning to Ohio. It is recorded that he removed from Lancaster to Lebanon county in 1813, where he purchased a farm of 274 acres on the Berks and Dauphin turnpike, and upon which the village of Sunnyside now stands. Grandfather Light was a man of fine influence in his day, and very liberal towards educational institu- tions. He was instrumental in having the Berks and Dauphin turnpike built. and the old Lebanon Academy on Tenth street was the recipient of his bounty. He was the owner of New Market Forge which remained in the family for a period of 100 years, also of a woolen mill which burned to the ground soon after his death. He died in 1834. leaving children as follows : (1) Elizabeth married Andrew Robb, a jeweler. For this elder daughter Mr. Light built in 1820, for a residence, the building now being occupied! as a store by Mr. Hottenstein, on Cumberland street, near Tenth. (2) Jacob. the eldest son, married Mary Longenecker and lived at New Market Forge. (3) Mary (Polly) became Mrs. Levi Uhler. Old settlers will remember that the husband had a store on the corner of Cumberland and Ninth streets, the present site of the Lebanon National Bank. (4) Henry died at the age of thirty years, single. (5) Catherine married Jesse Rein-
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hold, of Lancaster county. (6) Sally was the second wife of Jesse Rein- hold. (7) John is mentioned below. (8) Ann, the youngest of the fam- ily, married Samuel Rea, of Chester county, Pa., their eldest son, James, now lives in Washington, D. C., and their second son, John, was elected National Commander of the G. A. R. in 1887.
John Light, father of our worthy subject, married, in 1834. Sarah Light, who was born February 27, 1813, and died in 1879. She was a descendant of John Peter Light. They were the parents of the following children : Ephraim, of Reading, Pa .; Mary, married to W. M. Goodman, an attorney of Reading, Pa .; Samuel L., of this review; Jacob, who died at the age of ten years; several who died in infancy. John Light was a mer- chant in early life, as a member of the firm of Shirk & Light. They owned and operated many boats on the old Union canal, and owned warehouses and handled grain. They also operated a freighting line overland from Cornwall to Lebanon, prior to the building of the Cornwall railroad. The firm dissolved in 1858, after which Mr. Light partially retired from business. During his lifetime he was a dealer in country real estate, buying and improv- ing many farms in the county. He was one of the organizers of the old Valley Bank, of which he was a director as long as he lived. He was elected county commissioner at an early date on the free school issue, after a hard fight. He died in 1884, after a long and useful life, having merited the esteem of all with whom he had been associated.
SAMUEL L. LIGHT, the immediate subject of this review, was born April 30, 1842, in the old Light residence (a log house. since torn away ). near the present Widows' Home, on North Tenth street, Lebanon. He secured a good common school education in the schools of his native village. and at Otterbein University, Ohio. At the age of twenty he was married to Maria E. Henry, a native of Lebanon county, Pa., born in October, 1843, daughter of John Henry, a native of Dauphin county, who removed thence to Franklin county, and in 1845 settled in Lebanon county. Mrs. Light died April 25. 1893. She was a woman possessed of many noble qualities and endeared herself to a large circle of acquaintances. Her children were: Harry H., an iron manufacturer: John, a real estate dealer: J. Warren. a merchant ; J. Ray, a druggist : and Florence Augusta, wife of William S. Davis, of Lebanon.
Mr. Light began life as an agriculturist in North Lebanon township. where he remained for three years. He then engaged for a time in the cattle business. Of late years his field of activity has been exceedingly wide. He has been the promoter and organizer of a large number of successful
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enterprises, and is looked upon as one of the shrewdest financiers of the county. It will not be out of place to mention some of the enterprises which he has been instrumental in organizing, and with many of which he is still connected : Gideon Light & Company, brick and coal dealers; S. L. Light & Co., ice; proprietor of the Lebanon Rolling Mills from 1876 to 1879; secretary and treasurer of the Lebanon Stove Works; J. D. Kerr & Co., grocers ; Light & Co., wholesale shoes : S. L. Light & Son, wholesale grocers ; stockholder in the East Lebanon Rolling Mills, and now in the trust, H. L. Light, his son, being a director; director in the Lebanon County Trust Com- pany ; director in the Lebanon Central Market House, director in the City Mutual Fire Insurance Company : director in the Lebanon Valley Iron Com- pany ; president of the Lebanon Textile Company and S. L. Light Brick Plant. Mr. Light also built and started the "St. George Hotel" of Lebanon.
Possessed of indefatigable purpose and wide experience in the manip- ulation of business forces, Mr. Light has been a power for good in the com- munity of Lebanon, where he is universally regarded as a man of the strict- est probity of character. He is forceful but fair, and many a young man has had cause to thank him for kindly advice and financial assistance in his early business struggles. The lives of such men are a continual source of inspiration to a community, and Lebanon citizens are a unit in their appre- ciation of the career of this native son.
GEORGE W. UHRICH (deceased), who passed out of life at his com- fortable home on Main street. Myerstown, February 26, 1900, was one of the leading citizens and honorable men of Jackson township. For fifty-five years.he had lived an estimable life, giving an influence in favor of temper- ance and morality. supporting the Lutheran Church, extending kindness to his neighbors, helping those in need or discouragement, and at the same time industriously providing for the welfare fo his family. What better summing can there be at the end of a life?
The birth of the late George W. Uhrich took place June 24, 1845. in Tackson township. He was a son of Valentine and Katherine ( Mace) Uhrich, the former of whom for fifty years was a leading farmer of the township, dying at the age of seventy-five years. The name of the grandfather was Val- entine also, and he is supposed to have come from Germany early in the settle- ment of Lebanon county, with his father, also Valentine, who established the family 160 years ago. The children of Grandfather Valentine were : Michael. Valentine, John, Elizabeth, Katherine and Malinda. Valentine (3) was born in 1812 on the old homestead in Jackson township, and died in
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1887. In 1839 he married Katherine Mace, of Heidelberg township, and their four children who grew to maturity were: John, a retired farmer of Myerstown; George W., deceased; Amanda, the wife of Dr. Willoughby Kline, of Myerstown; and Valentine, a retired farmer of Myerstown. Like all his family, Valentine Uhrich was a consistent member of the Lutheran Church. In politics he was a Democrat.
The late George W. Uhrich was reared on the farm, and attended the district schools and later the Myerstown Academy. His life was given to farming, and until within seven years of his death he continued to engage actively in farm work. Then he purchased a nice home in Myerstown to which he removed, and there he died, surrounded by all the comforts of life. In November, 1864, he married Mary Tice, who was born July 6, 1846, daughter of Andrew and Eliza (Shirk) Tice, of Jackson township, who still reside on their old home. Ten children were born of this marriage, as fol- lows: Katherine, deceased, wife of Jacob Bomberger; Annie, who died at the age of fourteen; Valentine, who died young; George, a clerk in the firm of Stambaugh & Hoak, in Lebanon: Ira, a farmer on the old home in North Jackson township: John, of New York; Mary, wife of Harry Gernert, a farmer of Jackson township; Harry, of Lebanon ; Ida, wife of William Nolb, of Myerstown; and Wallace, at home.
Mr. Uhrich was a life-long Democrat but never cared for office. In the Lutheran Church he was a leading member, deacon, elder and trustee. In addition to his fine farm of 130 acres, he owned the comfortable home in Myerstown and a house in Lebanon, and was regarded as one of the sub- stantial men of the township. Mr. Uhrich was a kind husband and father, and the whole community mourned him sincerely, every one being his friend. His family is held in high esteem.
JOHN HUNSICKER, a prominent citizen and manufacturer of Leb- anon, and president of the select council of the city government. is a native of Lebanon county, having been born in Union township, August 10, 1840, a son of Jacob Hunsicker.
Jacob Hunsicker, the father, was a son of Christian Hunsicker, who was a native of Bethel township, Lebanon county, born near Fredericksburg: it is thought he served in the Revolutionary war. The ancestry of the family is Swiss. Jacob Hunsicker was born in 1804, and died in 1864. He was a farmer. His wife, Catherine (Groh), born in 1808. in Fredericksburg, died in 1881 : she was a daughter of John Groh, a native of Bethel township. They had children as follows: Joshua, deceased: John, of Lebanon: Annie,
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who married David Light, of Lebanon; Elizabeth, who married Edward J. Bomberger, of Union township, Lebanon county; and Sarah, who married John B. Rauch, of Lebanon.
John Hunsicker was reared on a farm and attended the public schools, finishing his education at the Millersville State Normal School. In 1860 he began teaching school, and taught one term very successfully. In 1862 he enlisted for service in the Civil war, entering Company E, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, a fine regi- ment, attached to the Second Brigade, Second Division, Second Army Corps. For the time it was out this regiment saw much service, and Mr. Hunsicker was a faithful soldier, until June, 1863, when his term of enlistment expired. He was in the battle of Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, and at Chancel- lorsville, in May, 1863. Upon his return home Mr. Hunsicker resumed school teaching, but the death of his father, in 1864, recalled him to the home farm. He took charge of the property, but in 1865 came to Lebanon and con- tinued to teach until 1868.
In the above year Mr. Hunsicker went to Middletown, Pa., and accepted a position as bookkeeper at a furnace, continuing in that position for three years. Coming back to Lebanon at the expiration of that period, he, in 1871, entered the store of John B. Rauch, in Lebanon, and remained there until the following May, when he became timekeeper for the Lebanon Manufactur- ing Company. In 1878 he was made treasurer of that company, and retains this responsible position, also attending to the bookkeeping. His responsi- bilities were further increased and the confidence of the company shown, in I894, by his selection as secretary of the company also. When the plant of the Lebanon Manufacturing Company was leased for a period of ten years by the M. H. Treadwell Company, in 1892, Mr. Hunsicker became treasurer, and in 1897 he was made treasurer of the Union Boiler Company; in 1896 he became president of the Lebanon Steam Company. Mr. Hunsicker is a director in all of these companies, and is connected in the same way with the Lebanon Market House Company and the Washington Fire Insurance Com- pany. His prominence and influence in the city were recognized by his elec- tion, in 1886, as a member of the select council of Lebanon, from the Fourth ward, and with the exception of one year he has filled the office continuously up to the present time. In 1892 his efficiency resulted in his election to the presidency of this body, and he was again chosen to that incumbency in 1903.
In 1873 Mr. Hunsicker was united in marriage to Annie E. Shirk, who was born on a farm near Fredericksburg, daughter of John Shirk. They
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have two children, John and Thomas J., survivors of a family of six, the deceased members being, Paul S., William J., Bessie and Annie.
Mr. Hunsicker is a member of Sedgwick Post No. 42, G. A. R. The religious membership of the family is with Trinity United Brethren Church, of which our subject is a trustee. Not only is Mr. Hunsicker known as a fine financier and excellent business man, but his good judgment and progressive ideas have rendered him one of Lebanon's most useful public citizens.
KILLINGER. The Killinger family is one of the oldest and most prominent in Lebanon county. So far as known at present. the founder of the family in Pennsylvania was Michael Killinger.
Michael Killinger was born May 15, 1731, and died July 11, 1815, and was buried at the old historic Hill Church, in North Lebanon township, Leba- non county. He received a patent from the Penns, proprietors of Pennsyl- vania, dated September 9, 1765, for 1,000 acres of land along what is now the Berks and Dauphin pike, in Londonderry township, Dauphin county (now North and South Annville townships, Lebanon county ), and he built his home on the banks of the stream called Killinger's Run. These children were the issue of Michael Killinger and wife: Andrew, George, Michael and John.
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