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 74
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Elizabeth Shindel (John Peter I) was married to Samuel Ensmin- ger, surveyor and Justice of the Peace, and they had children-( 1) Henrietta married Swarr, and had one child, Hiram Swarr, Esq. ( 2) John married and had two children : Elmira. Mrs. Gibble, and Maria, Mrs. Thuma.
Mary Shindel ( John Peter I) was married to Samuel Ensminger, and they had children, all of whom married: ( 1) Anna Maria, Mrs. Reinhart ; Elizabeth, Mrs. Hatze; Sophia, Mrs. Brubaker: Samuel: Emanuel; Henry : and Frederick.
The following is an interesting article which appeared in the Evening Report of July 24, 1901, under the heading "A Military Lineage. the Shindel Family in the Country's Martial Records."
The Third is the only Brigade in the National Guard of Pennsylvania that has five officers who are all descendants of the same ancestor. John Peter Shindel, who served in the Revolutionary war, and from whom they have all inherited their military spirit. The five officers are: Gen. J. P. S. Gobin, Commander of the Brigade, Captain Frank D. Beary. Adjutant on Col. O'Neill's staff. Fourth Regiment, Capt. Marshall L. Case, Commander
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of Company H, Fourth Regiment, First Lieut. J. M. Shindel, of Company H, Fourth Regi- ment. Lieut. C. Fry Shindel, of Company B, Eighth Regiment.
Another remarkable feature of the family is that in the United States at present there are five gentlemen known as Lieut. Shindle, two being in the United States Army, and three in the National Guard. Those in the regular army are Lieut. J. Bayard Shindel, Sixth Infantry, and Lieut. Louis P. Shindel, First Infantry, both at present in the Philip- pines. They are sons of the late Capt. Jeremiah P. Shindel, who died several years ago, while stationed with his regiment, the Sixth United States Infantry, at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Their mother, a niece of the late Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, Ambassador to England, is a native of Wilmington, Del. In the National Guard there are the above- mentioned Lieut. J. M. Shindel, Lieut. C. Fry Shindel, and Lieut Fred Shindel, Third Regi- ment, National Guard of Maryland.
Lieut. Franklin Shindel Leisenring, Eleventh United States Infantry, at present in the Philippines, and Lieut. Edwin Hutter Webber, Twentieth Infantry, United States Army, the latter now on the retired list, are also descendants. One of the representatives of the family in the Navy is Col. James W. Forney, U. S. M. C., stationed at the Navy Yard, at Philadelphia. Another was the late Lientenant James E. Shindel, who died about three years ago, from injuries received while on duty on the battleship "Oregon." During the Civil war the family was represented by fully a dozen members, several participated in the war of 1812 and the Mexican war, and as many served in the war with Spain.
COL. JACOB A. SHINDEL, the son of Col. Jacob Shindel, a soldier of the War of 1812, and a grandson of John Peter Shindel, who served in the War of the Revolution, and a direct descendant of Baron von Schindel, of Germany, was born in Lebanon on April 15, 1829. He was educated in the schools of his native town, attending Franklin and Marshall College one term. His mother was Elizabeth Leisenring, daughter of Andreas Leis- enring and Elizabeth Miller, of Northumberland county, the said Elizabeth Miller being the daughter of Hon. Valentine Miller.
Shortly after attaining his majority Jacob A. Shindel entered the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, under Gov. Bigler, who commissioned him a Lieutenant Colonel on his staff. After leaving Harrisburg he went to Washington, having been appointed to a lucrative position under Judge Campbell, then Postmaster General: thence he went to Philadelphia, where he was an official in the custom house. Later he returned to Washing- ton, where he was secretary to Col. John W. Forney, a relative of his, then clerk of the House of Representatives, and owner and editor of the Philadelphia Press for many years. While in Washington during the Civil War he labored faithfully in ministering to the wants of the Union soldiers. In recognition of these services he was commissioned a Quartermaster, with the rank of Captain. in the United States Army. by President Lincoln, and served as such most honorably till the close of the war. In the copy of an old war newspaper-
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called The Pennsylvania Fifth, and published occasionally by the Fifth Pennsyl- vania Regiment-dated June 10, 1861, Camp McDowell, Alexandria, appears the following :
"COL. JACOB A. SHINDEL.
"We can not speak in too high terms of Col. Jacob A. Shindel of Pennsylvania, now a clerk in the House of Representatives, for the many acts of kindness manifested to the soldiers of our regiment. He is a most worthy and exemplary citizen, is never weary in well- doing, and our soldiers can never forget his devoted and unceasing attention to their wants. In their hearts he occupies a large space, and they long for an opportunity of giving him a substantial manifestation of their gratitude. He is one of Nature's noblemen and may God bless him."
In 1867, in a civil capacity, he entered the United States Treasury Department at Washington, where he remained for twenty years, resigning in 1889 because of ill health. Having returned to his native town in 1893, he was elected City Controller as a Republican ( though the other municipal offices were carried by the opposite party ), and held that office at the time of his death.
Col. Shindel was a most public-spirted and highly respected citizen of Lebanon. He was an enthusiastic supporter of every measure relating to the advancement of the public schools, the spread of practical Christianity and the general cultivation of love and charity amongst all men. Until the breaking out of the Rebellion he was a strong Democrat, but then became a Republican like many others. He was a member of the Lutheran Church, a prominent Odd Fellow, much interested in Lebanon's fire department, a devoted phi- latelist and a member of the American Philatelic Society of Philadelphia, and became a member of the Pennsylvania-German Society at its organization.
In 1851 he married Miss Priscilla Burgelbach, of Lancaster county, who survives him, together with their only child, Jay M. Shindel, of the Lebanon and Philadelphia Bars, and who filled the unexpired term of his father as City Controller.
The Colonel's sister, Mrs. Elizabeth E. Hutter, of Philadelphia, prom- inent throughout the State for her numerous charities, survived him only four months. The devotion of this brother and sister to each other was frequently noted and commented upon. The Colonel died at 3:00 A. M. on Saturday, February 16, 1895, of pneumonia and heart failure, after an illness of two weeks.
LIEUT. JAY MARTIN SHINDEL was born in Lebanon, April 6, 1867. His ancestors on the paternal side were identified with the earliest history of
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Pennsylvania and traced their ancestry to Baron von Schindel, of Germany- of an ancient noble family founded in 1280.
His father was Col. Jacob A. Shindel, and his mother, living at this writing. was Miss Priscilla A. Burgelbach, a daughter of Martin Burgel- bach. a soldier of the war of 1812, and a member of the well known Lancaster and Lebanon county family connected by ties of consanguinity with the Kulp and DeKalb families.
The subject of this sketch, after the usual preliminary course in the public schools, completed his academic education at the Riggs Academy, the Washington (D. C.) High School and the Spencerian Business College of Washington, at which place his boyhood was spent, his father residing in that city while in the Government service. In 1882, desiring to gain a knowl- edge of practical business methods, he accepted a clerical position in the freight department of the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Co., under Harvey A. Snyder. Esq., general western freight agent. with offices in Philadelphia, which he filled for a year, and then entered the general offices of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co .. in whose employ he remained two years. Subsequently he became a student at law in the Philadelphia office of Hon. Benjamin Harris Brewster, a member of President Arthur's cabinet as Attorney General of the United States during the Arthur administration. After being graduated from the law department of the University of Pennsylvania the young man, who had attained his majority, began the practice of the law, in which he has since been engaged, being now an active member of the Bar, both in Lebanon and Philadelphia, where he maintains offices in the Land Title & Trust building. Broad and Chestnut streets, with Edward J. Coll. Robert J. Wright and Henry Birck, Esquires. During the World's Fair in 1893 he was appointed by the Austrian Imperial Commissioners representing the Emperor Francis Joseph to a special mission which necessitated his traveling over the greater part of the United States. For more than a year he practiced in New York City in connection with Peck & Field, the well-known corporation law firm.
Lieut. Shindel's first public office was that of City Controller of Lebanon. to which he was elected in 1895 to fill out the unexpired term of his father. who died in that year. In this position he was succeeded by Capt. Marshall L. Case. In 1895 he was nominated and elected District Attorney of Leb- anon county on the Republican ticket, and served the full term of office, except when he was with his regiment in Porto Rico for a part of 1898. during which period Col. A. Frank Seltzer was Deputy District Attorney.
The military record of Lieut. Shindel dates from the time he was a member of the Washington High School Cadets, a crack organization of its
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kind. under the training of Major Bates, U. S. A. Mr. Shindel was one of the organizers of Company H, Fourth Regiment of Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania, in which he was commissioned as First Lieutenant, which commission he holds at present. He saw service in the coal strike riots at Hazleton in 1897; Shenandoah and Tamaqua Riots in 1900; and in the great coal strike of 1902 was on active duty at Mt. Carmel, Shamokin, Plymouth, Wilkesbarre, and other points in the coal regions. During the war with Spain he served as an officer with the rank of first lieutenant of Company H, Fourth Pennsylvania Infantry, United States Volunteers. He participated in the Porto Rican expedition in the Spanish-American War and was with his company and regiment attached to the Second Brigade, First Division, of the First Army Corps, when the latter, protected by the fire of the guns of the cruisers "St. Louis," "Glouces- ter" and "Cincinnati," directed against an opposing Spanish force, landed at Arroyo. He was also in line of battle at Guayama, when what promised to be a bloody conflict was averted by the news cabled from Washington that hostilities had ceased. His military predilections are in the natural order of things. His great-grandfather, Peter Shindel, was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, while his grandfather, Jacob Shindel, served with distinction in the War of 1812 and later was commissioned a Colonel of Militia. His father, Jacob A. Shindel, was a member of Gov. Bigler's staff with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and during the Civil War received a Captain's appointment and commission in the army directly from the hands of Presi- dent Lincoln. After the war the father, Col. Shindel, became an official of the Treasury Department at Washington, and was in the Government service for many years. It was after this long term of office that Col. Shin- del returned to Lebanon where he spent his remaining years and was hon- ored by having received one of the largest majorities ever accorded a candi- date when elected City Controller. He was a man generally beloved for, his fine character qualities and the poor had in him a generous friend. It was his custom each New Year's Day to distribute a thousand loaves of bread among the needy, and the son still maintains the custom out of respect to the father's memory.
It can be truthfully said of the subject of this sketch that he is a polished, courteous gentleman, of pleasing address and charming personality. In political life his career has been remarkable in that he has commanded the respect, friendship and support of his party colleagues, regardless of faction, and his popularity among workingmen is a strong reminder of the similar strength of his father. He is a believer in fair play and deprecates harsh
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judgment of motives or individuals, preferring to find what is good in men and institutions rather than look for evil. In his military career Lieut. Shindel, as was evidenced upon his return from the Spanish-American War, has evinced the rare faculty of winning at once the esteem of his fellow officers and the good-will of his men. As an officer in dealing with the enlisted man or soldier he has the reputation of being firm yet kind. Socially his standing is such as arises from blood connection with the best and oldest families of the State, some of whose members now and in other times held and hold public positions of trust and honor in State and Nation.
While a student at law, Lieut. Shindel made his home with his aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth E. Hutter, in Philadelphia, now deceased, and noted for her works of charity. She was the widow of Rev. Dr. E. W. Hutter, assistant Secretary of State when President Buchanan held that portfolio. Mrs. Hutter, it will be recalled by many, was the President of the Board of Managers of the Northern Home for Friendless Children and Associated Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Institute, filling that chair for forty-five years, and having enjoyed the distinction of being the first and only President of that institution at the time of her death. Her palatial residence was a social center and wit- nessed the frequent assemblage of leaders of intellect, culture, wealth and society, whose names were and are familiar in all parts of the country. Such a social atmosphere was of inestimable value to the young law student.
Lieut. Shindel is a member of the Steitz Club, named after George Steitz, the founder of Lebanon; the Lebanon Club; and the Century Wheel- men, also of Lebanon. In Philadelphia he holds membership in the Univer- sity Club; the United Service Club, eligible to officers of the army and navy; the E. Spencer Miller Law Club, and the Philadelphia Law Academy. In New York he is a member of the Army and Navy Club. He is also a member of a number of societies, including the Patriotic Order Sons of America, Camp No. 254, to which the Marching Battalion of which he is the Major and commanding officer is attached; the Elks ; the Eagles, of which local aerie, No. 472, he was the first Worthy President ; Moehegan Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Lebanon County Historical Society; the Pennsylvania German Society; and the Gibson Chapter of the Phi Delta Phi Fraternity at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a companion of the Order of Foreign Wars; the Military and Naval Order of the Spanish- American War; a member of the Society of the War of 1812, as well as the Society of the Porto Rican Expedition; and also of the Spanish-American War Veterans, of which local post he is the captain, and has served as aide- de-camp with the rank of Colonel on the staffs of Gens. William J. Hulings
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and James B. Coryell, when each in turn was commander-in-chief of the national organization and is now an officer on the staff of the Department of Pennsylvania.
Although possessed of exclusive social affiliations, he is altogether demo- cratic in manners, ideas and friendships, and his popular hold is shown by the fact that he was formerly president of the Fifth Ward Republican Club and also of the City League of Republican Clubs of Lebanon, and the Sixth Ward Republican Club of Philadelphia. He served two terms as Secretary of the Republican County Committee and was County Chairman during McKin- ley's second Presidential campaign, in 1900.
In 1897 Lieut. Shindel was married to Miss Carrie Louise Patschke, oldest daughter of Charles F. Patschke and Mary Ellen O'Bryan Shindel. Their union is blessed with one daughter, Lilioukalani Elizabeth Leisenring Mary Millmore Shindel.
MRS. ELIZABETH E. HUTTER, president of the board of managers of the "Northern Home for Friendless Children," Philadelphia, for a period of nearly forty-five years, was born in Lebanon, Pa., November 18, 1822. She was a daughter of Col. Jacob Shindel. a veteran of the war of 1812, and Elizabeth Leisenring, of Sunbury, Pa., a granddaughter, of John Peter Shin- del, who for some years represented his district in the Pennsylvania Legis- lature, and a direct descendant of Baron Von Schindel. of Germany. She was married to Rev. Dr. Edwin Wilson Hutter, of Allentown, April 26, 1838. They had two children, both sons, Christian Jacob, who died in infancy, as did also James Buchanan, whose godfather was President James Buchanan.
During the first few years of her married life Mrs. Hutter lived with her husband in Allentown, where he was editor and proprietor of the Independent Republikaner, and Lchigh Herald, and also held the office of prothono- tary of Lehigh county. Leaving AAllentown, they went to live in Harrisburg, where Dr. Hutter was State Printer for two terms and during Gov. Porter's administration was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth. They also lived in Lancaster when Dr. Hutter was editor of the Lancaster Intelli- gencer and Journal. In 1845 Hon. James Buchanan, then Secretary of State in President Polk's cabinet, called Dr. Hutter into his service to act in the capacity of Assistant Secretary of State, thus necessitating a residence in Washington. Mrs. Hutter's culture and personal attractions made her a star in the society of the capital. and a general favorite with the diplomatic corps. Her home was a center where men and women prominent in the affairs of the nation mingled, amongst whom were Webster, Calhoun, Clay, Jefferson
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Davis, Generals Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor, Chief Justice Taney, Harriet Lane Johnson, Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
On the death of their two children Dr. Hutter felt impelled to devote the remainder of his life to the preaching of the gospel. As an inducement to keep him in political life, President Polk offered him the post of Minister to Italy, which he declined, and shortly afterward he became the editor of the Lutheran Observer, a church paper. When her husband decided to study for the ministry Mrs. Hutter, without relinquishing social functions, removed with her husband from Washington to Philadelphia, which was her home until her death. In 1850 Dr. Hutter was unanimously elected pastor of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church at Broad and Mt. Vernon streets, and three years later Mrs. Hutter became interested in a philanthropic project which resulted in the estab- lishment of the Northern Home for Friendless Children. She was chosen the first president of the board of managers, a position which she held for the remainder of her life. She was also the president and one of the founders of the Newsboy's Aid Association, which was established in 1879.
During the Civil war both Dr. and Mrs. Hutter were enthusiastic adher- ents to the government of the United States and the flag which was so dear to their hearts. They did much to relieve the sick and wounded soldiers, labor- ing upon the battlefield of Gettysburg, where with characteristic kindness they ministered alike to the men of the Union and Rebel armies. At the first battle of Bull Run President Lincoln telegraphed for Dr. Hutter, and he and his wife were the first civilians to pass through the Union lines. They enjoyed the confidence and respect of the President, who on several occasions sum- moned them to the White House for consultation. One of Mrs. Hutter's most highly prized mementoes of war-times is a visiting card bearing the President's own hand writing, addressed to Secretary of War Stanton, which reads : "I really wish Mrs. Hutter to be obliged in this case-She is one of the very best friends of the soldiers-Hon. Sec. of War, please see her. Nov. 4. 1864. A. LINCOLN." Frequently they visited the soldiers in hospitals at Washington, throughout the Shenandoah Valley and at City Point, distribut- ing money, food and clothing, and doing much by their presence to soothe and cheer the sufferers. When the memorable "Sanitary Fair" was held, in 1864, Mrs. Hutter was placed at the head of the labor, income and revenue department, in which capacity she raised $247.500 to be applied to the comfort of the defenders of the Union in the field and hospital. It was a common thing that those approaching death would ask, "What will become of our chil- dren ?" Mrs. Hutter asked herself the question, and it was not long before the answer was seen in the formation of the "Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan Insti-
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tute," in connection with the Northern Home. In 1867 she was appointed in- spector and examiner of the State Department of Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan Schools, and up to the time of her resignation, in 1883, enjoyed the distinction of being the only woman in the history of Pennsylvania to whom a Governor's commission had been granted.
Mrs. Hutter was also prominent in other work. When the Confederate general. Jubal Early, burned Chambersburg, in 1863, and the refugees made their way to Philadelphia, she secured the rooms of the Board of Trade, and, gathering provisions, fed the homeless and starving. After the great fire in Chicago, and the flood at Johnstown, she was most active in collecting and forwarding aid. She was at the head of the executive committee that had charge of the State Educational Department of Pennsylvania during the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, and was presented with a beautiful gold medal, as a token of her services. As president of the Northern Home she received from the Centennial Commissioners a diploma and also a medal in honor of the Home, which was thus certified to be the first in the State in respect to its department, industrial and educational features. The Kindergarten depart- ment of the home was very highly commended.
On May 14, 1878, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Northern Home for Friendless Children and of Mrs. Hutter's presidency was celebrated at the Academy of Music, and on this occasion she was presented by the citizens of Philadelphia with an elegant and massive silver service, in recognition of her labors in the canse of humanity. It was her custom to pay an annual visit to Lebanon, the place of her birth, the last one being on the occasion of the death of her only brother, Col. Jacob A. Shindel, to whom she was devotedly at- tached, surviving him but four months, her death occurring on the 18th day of June, 1895. She is buried in Laurel Hill cemetery, Philadelphia.
Her children having died in infancy, Mrs. Hutter took to live with her four nieces and nephews: Lieut. Edwin Hutter Webber, United States Army: Ida Hutter Webber. married to Harvey A. Snyder, Esq., of Chicago; . Lieut. J. M. Shindel, of Lebanon, Pa. ; and Anna Grove Ely, married to Emile W. Maass, of Vienna, Austria, son of Hon. Otto Maass, United States Vice- Consul General at that place.
WILLIAM H. BAESHORE. Among the thousands who offered themselves as defenders of the Union, when, in the spring of 1861. the break- ing out of the war of the Rebellion made it necessary to call for volunteers. was a boy of sixteen, who had been reared in comfort on a Pennsylvania farm. With no thought of bounty or reward. he exchanged his home life
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for the dangers and hardships of a soldier's career, and gave three years, one month and one day of faithful service under the Stars and Stripes, partic- ipating in all the battles and skirmishes his regiment was engaged in until May 18, 1864, when at Spottsylvania Courthouse, Va., he lost his left arm. This boy soldier whose history reads like a romance, was William H. Bae- shore, who was born in Union township, Lebanon Co., Pa., March 4, 1845, a son of Thomas and Leah (Shuck) Baeshore.
Thomas Baeshore was born in Union township, on his father's farm, which he afterward owned, and which is now in the possession of a Mr. Alspach and his son, William H. On this farm he grew to manhood, became manager of it, and in time purchased the interests of the other heirs, and there died. His opportunities for acquiring an education were confined to the district school near his home, and mingling with men in his capacity of a well-to-do farmer. Until his marriage to Miss Magdalena Copenhauer, his mother, who is still living, was his housekeeper. His first wife bore him four children : Peter C., who married Sarah Lash; Thomas, who married Miss Wedge, of Baltimore, and is now deceased: Catherine, who married Daniel U. Jerberich (both deceased) ; and Lovena, who married Levi Felty, and both are deceased. For his second wife Mr. Baeshore married Miss Leah Shuck, who was born in Union township. a daughter of Henry Shuck. To them were horn children as follows: Mary, who married Joseph Shuey, and has had three children, Lizzie ( deceased ), Alice and Sally ; Levi, who mar- ried Mary Walmer, and has no children : William H. : Sarah, who married John Fox : David, who married Emma Parter and had three children : Nathan- iel, who married Maria Rhodes, and their children are, Allen, Harvey, Lizzie, Sally and Emma.
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