USA > Pennsylvania > Book of biographies; This volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of the Seventeenth congressional district, Pennsylvania > Part 10
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Our subject was educated in the common schools and remained under the parental roof until he attained the age of twenty-two years, during which time he was preparing himself for the ministry, but, on account of poor health, he was obliged to give up his studies. Later he entered a mercantile store and was engaged as a clerk for ten years. In 1864 he associated with Isaiah Bower and M. E. Jackson, and under the name of I. & H. R. Bower they conducted a mercantile store on the corner of Front and Mulberry streets. The firm conducted the business under the above name until 1870 when Mr. Jackson retired. In 1880 our subject became sole proprietor and successfully carried on the business until 1891 when he wisely concluded to retire from active labor and care and leave the field open to younger and more vigorous men. Mr.
Bower has bought and sold considerable prop- erty and is still the owner of several fine tene- ment houses; he also owns a handsome resi- dence on West Second street which he makes his home.
Mr. Bower has served in the town coun- cil a number of years and has been secre- tary of the council for six years; president of
the board of health; and secretary of the Ber- wick Cemetery Association twelve years. He chose for his life companion Rebecca Martz, a daughter of John Martz, a resident of Briar- creek township, Columbia County. As a re- sult of this union five children were born to them, namely: Layman F., treasurer of the Dickson Locomotive Works of Scranton, Pa .. who united in marriage to Gertrude Hen- ninger who bore him four children,-Flor- ence, Russell, Harold, and Layman. Jr. ; Aaron B., a Methodist minister residing at Scranton, Pa., who wedded Harriet Garney and three children were born to them, namely,-Helen, Harriet, and Wallace: Frank, who died aged three years; Minnie, who is the wife of Wil- liam C. Smith of Tarrytown, N. Y., and has one child, Lenora; and Elizabeth. who wedded Luther W. Mendenhall of Pittsburg. Pa., and is the mother of one child, Luther W.
Our subject is a member of the Berwick Lodge, No. 246, I. O. O. F., and is also past grandmaster of the same. Mr. Bower and family are all members in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Our sub- ject occupies an enviable position in his com- munity as a good citizen, and is held in high esteem by his neighbors and acquaintances. Mr. Bower has served one year as president of the County Sunday School Association and is now holding the office of county fieldsman. At the State Sunday School Convention of 1898 he was elected president of the Sixth District, comprising Columbia, Luzerne and Wyoming counties.
T® HILIP PETERMAN is one of the leading and enterprising business men of Sullivan County, Pa., and has for the past two years been successfully engaged in merchandising in the village of
GENERAL JOHN KAY CLEMENT.
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U.S.V.
COLONEL CHARLES M. CLEMENT.
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Nordmont. He is a native of Laporte town- ship, that county, his birth occurring Febru- ary II, 1870, and is a son of James and Han- nah J. (Hunter) Peterman.
James Peterman was born and reared in Sugarloaf township, Columbia County, Pa., and was a son of Benjamin Peterman, who was a well-to-do farmer of Columbia County. James received a common-school education and in early life purchased a farm in his native township and carried on agricultural pursuits. In 1861 our subject's father was offered a pro- fitable price for his farm; accepting the same he moved to Sullivan County and purchased a new and uncultivated tract of land; he cleared a portion of his purchase and carried on both farming and lumbering with marked success. He passed to the unknown beyond at the age of fifty-nine years. He was joined in the bonds of wedlock with Hannah J. Hunter, a daugh- ter of John Hunter, a well-to-do and prosper- ous citizen of Sullivan County. As a result of this happy union ten children were born, as follows: Jennie; Carrie; Minard; Philip, the subject of this biography; Susie; Shadrach; Glen, who is operating the homestead; Alice; Chester; and Harry. Our subject's mother re- sides on the homestead with her son and is surrounded by many friends, who hold her in high esteem. Mr. Peterman was well known and took an active interest in local politics, giving his support in favor of the principles of the Democratic party. He served as super- visor, tax collector, overseer of the poor, and school director. Religiously, he and his fam- ily were members of the Methodist Church.
Philip Peterman, the subject of this sketch, was reared to manhood on his father's farm and acquired a liberal education in the public schools of his native township. In 1896 he re- moved to the village of Nordmont and bought out the mercantile store of M. W. Botsford.
On September 11, 1897, the store was de- stroyed by fire, and, although our subject met with a severe loss, he immediately rebuilt and has greatly increased his stock, now owning and conducting one of the best general stores in his section of the country. Our subject also owned a part interest in the Temperance Hotel, conducted by his brother Minard, which was also destroyed by fire. He is now erecting a modern hotel, 30 by 40 feet, three stories high, and when completed it will be one of the finest hotels in the village. Mr. Peterman is recognized as one of the valued members of the community and lends his in- fluence toward all enterprises that tend to ad- vance the interests of his adopted village. He is an honest, upright citizen, and enjoys the confidence and respect of a host of acquain- tances. In his political views he upholds the principles of the Democratic party, both by acts and ballot. Socially, he is a member of the P. O. S. of A., whilst religiously he is a member of the Evangelical Church.
ENERAL JOHN KAY CLE- MENT, deceased, was one of the most prominent criminal lawyers of the state of Pennsylvania and participated in many of the most famous cases tried in the section in which he lived. He lived at Sun- bury, Northumberland County, Pa., where he acquired a very extensive practice, mainly criminal, and was for many years a well- known figure in the public eye. He was a son of Evan C. and Hannah (Kay) Clement, and was born in Philadelphia, Pa., January 1, 1820.
Gen. Clement descended from a prominent family of Quakers in England, the earliest an- cestor of whom we have any record being Gregory Clement, who was one of the famous body of Regicides and with four others was
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hanged. When Gregory was arrested in 1660, his son James escaped and emigrated from his native country to America, landing on Long Island. He subsequently located in Camden County, N. J., near Camden, where he found- ed the village of Clementon nearly 150 years ago. He became a large landowner and sur- veyor and his descendants continued at that occupation for a number of generations fol- lowing. His companion in the pathway of life was Sarah Field and among the children who blessed their union was one Jacob. Jacob Clement married Ann Harrison and they were the parents of Samuel Clement, the great- grandfather of our subject. .
Samuel Clement, the great-grandfather, married Rebecca Collins, a grand-daughter of Francis Collins, who came to America in 1688, locating in New Jersey, where he became a man of distinction. He served for a time in the capacity of a judge and was a member of the Provincial Legislature of New Jersey.
Samuel Clement, the grandfather of our subject, married Mary Foster and they reared Evan C., the father of our subject, who was born in Camden County, N. J. In connection with his father, Evan engaged in the manufac- ture of glass and became a man of consider- able means. He was a soldier of the War of 1812, serving with the rank of sergeant-major. He was a life-long resident of Camden County, dying there in 1827, at the age of thirty-seven years. He was united in mar- riage with Hannah Kay, a daughter of John Kay, who was a great-grandson of John Kay, the first settler of the name, who was several years speaker of the Provincial Assembly of New Jersey. John Kay, the father of Mrs. Clement, married Kesiah Thorne, a daughter of Capt. Joseph Thorne, a soldier of the Revo- lutionary War.
Gen. John Kay Clement, the subject of this
biography, was but seven years of age when his father died and, as the latter had failed a short time previous to death, John was thrown upon his own resources at that youthful age. He received his early education in the Friends' School at Philadelphia, and at the age of eighteen years entered upon the study of law, a profession for which he proved him- self eminently fitted. He studied in the office of his cousin, Richard Howell, of Camden, N. J., and at the age of twenty-one years was admitted to the bar at Trenton, N. J., in 1841. Shortly thereafter he removed to Schuylkill County, Pa., making his home first at Miners- ville and subsequently at Pottsville. While residing in that county he was made briga- dier-general of the state militia, and he also practiced law there until 1854. when he moved to Sunbury, Northumberland County. Being a man of unusual power and eloquence as a speaker and pleader, he had by this time at- tracted considerable attention as a lawyer, and in 1859 he was elected district attorney of Northumberland County. He was re-elected to that office in 1871, and received an appoint- ment to the same office in 1877. He practiced law to the exclusion of everything else, mak- ing a specialty of criminal law, up to the time of his death, and he took rank among the lead- ing criminal lawyers of this state. . From 1871 to 1878 he was engaged as counsel for the prosecution or defense in every important case brought to trial and his efforts in almost every instance were attended by success. "Bear" Dolan, the first "Molly Maguire" con- victed, was prosecuted by him in 1872; and Peter McMannes, the last one tried, was de- fended by him. Besides being an eloquent speaker, Gen. Clement excelled as a man of great reasoning power and his knowledge of the law was almost unlimited. Politically he was a Democrat prior to the Civil War, but
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subsequently he stanchly supported the prin- ciples of the Republican party, and for some years was a member of the Sunbury Council. Gen. Clement took an active part in the Civil War, showing great patriotism and devotion to the cause for which the government was fighting. He was captain of the Pottsville Light Artillery, which organization still exists as Company F, 4th Reg., N. G. P., and he served in the First Battle of Bull Run as aide to Col. Cameron. In 1862 he was made pro- vost marshal of the Fourteenth District of Pennsylvania and served efficiently until 1864. During the war he also served as a private in Company D of the 4th Pennsylvania Emer- gency Troop.
On May 18, 1854, Gen. Clement formed a matrimonial alliance with Mary S. Zeigler, of Sunbury, a daughter of Isaac and Mary (Eyer) Zeigler. She is now living in Sunbury at the advanced age of seventy-two years. Five chil- dren blessed their home, only one of whom survives. Gen. Clement passed to his eternal reward on October 15, 1882.
COLONEL CHARLES M. CLEMENT, a prominent and influential lawyer of Sun- bury, is a son of Gen. John Kay Clement, whose biographical sketch immediately pre- cedes this, and was born in Sunbury, North- umberland County, Pa., October 28, 1855. He acquired a good education in the acad- emies at Sunbury, Pa., and Burlington, N. J. Leaving school at the age of seven- teen years he accepted a position as a clerk in the prothonotary's office and continued as such for six years. He then read law in the office of his father and after his admis- sion to the bar, on March II, 1878, he began practice, being associated with his father until the latter's death. He made a thorough study of legal principles and had the happy faculty
of applying them to practical every-day busi- ness affairs. He soon acquired a good client- age, and has also succeeded to that of his father. Ilis practice is general, but is in the main corporation law. He is attorney for the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania, of which he is also president; attorney for the Shamokin Valley Telephone Company, and for the Sha- mokin & Mount Carmel Electric Railway. From April, 1891, to April, 1898, he was asso- ciated in practice with the Hon. S. P. Wolver- ton, a gentleman of distinction, whose life is re- corded elsewhere in this Book of Biographies. Col. Clement is a firm supporter of the Re- publican party and has frequently been called upon to serve in official capacity. For several years he was a member of the council of Sun- bury and was assistant burgess for one term. He was also borough solicitor and solicitor for the school board for several years, and is so- licitor for the overseers of the poor. On Octo- ber 1, 1887, he was appointed corporation clerk of the State Department by Charles W. Stone, and on November 29, 1890, was ap- pointed Deputy Secretary of the Common- wealth of Pennsylvania, in which capacity he served with credit. From 1879 to 1883 he served as secretary of the county committee of the Republican party, and from 1883 to 1888 was chairman of the committee. He was one of the organizers of the Sunbury Guards, Company E, 12th Reg., N. G. P., in 1877, entering the service as a private, and was pro- moted in regular .order to a captaincy, an office to which he was three times elected-in 1882, 1887, and in 1892. In 1896 he was elect- ed Major of the 12th Regiment and in 1898 was elected Lieutenant-Colonel. Volunteering for service against Spain, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the 12th Reg., Pa. Vol. Inf., which was mustered out of service Octo- ber 28, 1898. Col. Clement's eldest son, John
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES.
Kay Clement, seventeen years old, was a cor- poral in Company E of the same regiment.
On November 19, 1879, Col. Clement was united in marriage to Alice Withington, a daughter of Martin J. D. Withington, and they are the parents of four sons, John Kay, Martin W., Charles Frances and Theron Ball.
Socially, Col. Clement is a member of the Sons of Veterans, Sons of the Revolution and the Society of the War of 1812. He also is a trustee of the Mary M. Packer Hospital at Sunbury.
The publishers of this work take pleasure in announcing that portraits of Gen. John K. and Col. Charles M. Clement are presented on preceding pages in connection with the above life histories.
ILLIAM A. KENNEDY, a thrifty and enterprising; business man of Laporte, Pa., is foreman of the Union Tanning Company, of Laporte, a position for which he is well qualified, as he has been engaged in the tanning business nearly all his life, having learned the trade during his boyhood days. The gentle- man whose biography we write was born at Camden, N. Y., August 21, 1857, and is a son of Jeremiah and Bridget (Luby) Kennedy and a grandson of Edward Kennedy.
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Jeremiah Kennedy, the father of our sub- ject, was born and reared in Turbal, County Roscommon, Ireland, and was the first of this branch of the Kennedy family to locate in the United States, coming here when a young man. He first settled in Schoharie County, N. Y., where he pursued his trade as a tanner and at different times was foreman for the tanning companies at Camden, N. Y .; Moose River, N. Y .; Port Leyden, N. Y .; Ledgedale, Pa .; Thorndale, Pa., and at Laporte, where
he resided until his death. In 1889 our sub- ject's father purchased the building used by Dr. Fleshet as a drug-store and also his dwell- ing and remodeled and enlarged the same into a hotel and conducted what is known to- day as the Commercial Hotel, which is now managed by his son, Thomas E., who took charge of it in September, 1894, Mr. Ken- nedy retiring on account of poor health. He passed from this life September 21, 1894, at the age of seventy-nine years. Mr. Kennedy was united in marriage to Bridget Luby, who was born in St. Charles, County Roscommon, Ireland. Her father came to America and set- tled on Staten Island, where he resided at the time of his death. The following children were the result of this marriage: Edward, a tanner by trade, wedded Maria Brown, and they are the parents of seven children, Ray- mond, Edward, Nellie, Robert, Donald, John. and Percy James, deceased; Mary, wife of Dr. E. S. C. Foster, with two children, Jeremiah and Solon; William A., the subject of this brief notice; Jerry, a tanner, of Titusville, Pa .. joined in marriage with Lizzie Scanlon, with two children blessing their home, Genevieve and James Francis; Maggie, wife of George Nortz, and the following children have been reared by them, Lena, Ray, Ebe, Vincent, and Mary; John M., engaged in the laundry busi- ness; Thomas E., a prominent hotelkeeper, whose sketch may also be found in this Book of Biographies; and Annie, at home.
Our subject was educated in the common schools and when a lad he began to learn the tanner's trade, serving an apprenticeship with his father; under the instructions of his father he soon became quite proficient in that line and upon attaining his manhood he was made foreman of the Shaw Bros.' tannery at Grand Lake, Me. He then accepted a position for the same firm at Lincoln, Me .; worked a short
WILLIAM H. M. ORAM.
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SEVENTEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
time for Ferdinand A. Wyman, of Kingman, Me .; then for Henry Poor & Son; later went to Brace Bridge, Ontario, Can., where he was foreman for the D. W. Alexander Company; he then returned to Maine, where he accepted the foremanship of the E. Church Tanning Company at Beddington. As the winters were very cold in Maine, Mr. Kennedy formed the habit of visiting his father during the cold months, and while on one of his visits, in 1893. he secured the foremanship of the Laporte Tanning Company, and has occupied that po- sition to the present time, although the La- porte Tanning Company has been succeeded by the Union Tanning Company. This tan- nery is one of the best and largest in the state and gives employment to over two hundred hands; sixty hands are employed in the tan- nery and also over 150 woodsmen, who cut and bring to the tannery about 600 tons of bark every year. Thirty teams are also constantly in use. The tanning buildings cover about eighty acres of land and the tannery is operated by steam power and has one hundred and fifty boilers and seventy engines. The hides all come from South America and are tanned and finished by the best of skilled labor and marketed at Boston, New York and Philadelphia. Mr. Kennedy has established an excellent and en- viable reputation as a foreman, giving entire satisfaction to the company, and is a favorite with the employees. He is also recognized as one of the valued members of the community and always supports enterprises that tend to advance the interests of his borough and county.
Mr. Kennedy was united in matrimonial alliance with Rosanna Stubbs, a daughter of Bruce Stubbs, of Ontario, Can., and four chil- dren brighten and beautify the home of our subject and wife, namely: Roy, Thomas, Vin-
cent and Mary. Politically, Mr. Kennedy is a solid Democrat and has served in the town council and as overseer of the poor. Reli- giously, he and his family are members of the Roman Catholic Church.
ILLIAM H. M. ORAM, attor- ney-at-law, of Shamokin, whose re- cent portrait is presented on the op- posite page, was the first lawyer to practice in Shamokin, opening his office there when it was a town of but 2,500 population. His brilliant attainments and his ability as a pleader have placed him in the first rank of the attorneys not only in Shamokin but in this state. He is recognized as a fluent and adept pleader, and so carefully and fully does he prepare his cases that he is admitted to be one of the most formidable men in the profes- sion in the state. Mr. Oram is a son of John F. and Louisa (Farr) Oram and was born in Philadelphia, Pa., April 6, 1842.
The ancestors of our subject on the paternal side were of Scotch stock and on the maternal side of Irish extraction. His paternal ances- tors came to the United States prior to the War of the Revolution, but on the breaking out of that great struggle returned to Scot- land. The great-grandfather of our subject. Thomas Cooper Oram, remained in Philadel- phia and served during the Revolution in "Mad Anthony" Wayne's division in the New Jersey line as an officer. He was for some years a resident near Bristol, Bucks County, Pa., where he had charge of farms owned by Nicholas Biddle, who was a prominent banker, being president of the United States Bank, located where the custom house now stands, in Philadelphia, Pa. Mr. Oram lived many years after the Revolution ended and
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES.
took part in the parade and the reception ten- dered Gen. Lafayette in Philadelphia.
William Oram, grandfather of the subject of this review, was a native of Philadelphia, Pa., where he was reared. He was a soldier in the War of 1812 and died in camp at Richmond, Va. He was a silversmith by trade.
The father of our subject, John F. Oram, was born in the city of Philadelphia July 2, 1810, and was reared by his grandfather, Thomas Cooper Oram, in Bucks County. He engaged in the wholesale shoe business in Philadelphia, which he followed nearly his en- tire business career, retiring in 1877. Subse- quently he migrated to Shamokin, Northum- berland County. He was a notary public and also an insurance agent. He passed to his final rest in 1895. Mr. Oram was a man of positive religious beliefs and for many years an ardent church member, serving some time as a dea- con in the church of which he was a member.
Our subject's mother was born February 14, 1815, and was a member of the old Jack- son family. She traced her ancestry to those of the Revolutionary period, who were among the earliest settlers and Quaker stock of Ches- ter County, this state. Her grandfather fought at Brandywine and one of his brothers was taken prisoner by the British and sent to England, where he was confined in Ports- mouth Prison until the war ended. Mrs. Oram's father, Joseph Farr, was a tailor by trade and resided near Kennett Square. To the couple were born three sons and three daughters, as follows: Josephine, who is the wife of Thomas M. Helm, of Shamokin; Wil- liam H. M., the subject of this sketch; James R., who is a resident of Philadelphia and is head clerk for the John Hancock Ice Com- pany, served in the Rebellion for a year as a member of the Keystone Battery; John A., now of Newport News, Va .; Clara, widow of
Theodore F. Nields, who is now a public school teacher in Shamokin; and Frances V., who died in infancy.
Our subject received his primary education in the public schools of Philadelphia and grad- uated from the high school in that city at the age of twenty years, receiving the degree of B. A., and subsequently the degree of M. A., from that institution. He then entered the law office of Daniel Dougherty, the distin- guished attorney and remarkably eloquent orator, in the Quaker City, and studied under his guidance for two years. He pursued his third year of study of law in the office of John Hanna, also a leading lawyer of that city, at the same time attending the law depart- ment of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated. He was admitted to the bar April 15, 1865. Mr. Oram immediately removed to Shamokin, where he opened an office, the first lawyer to locate in the town. He has since practiced his profession continuously in Shamokin, a period of thirty- four years. He was admitted to practice in the United States Court in 1867 and to practice in the Supreme Court of this state in 1871. An indefatigable student and a hard worker, Mr. Oram soon acquired an excellent reputation and a lucrative busi- ness, being unusually successful from the be- ginning of his practice. Gifted rarely with elo- quent speech, a keen analyst of human pas- sions and motives, Mr. Oram powerfully and convincingly sways jurors in presenting an argument. He is constantly engaged and has a very large general practice. In March, 1877, our subject was appointed receiver of the Northumberland County National Bank by John J. Knox, then Comptroller of Currency of the United States, and he successfully wound up the affairs of the institution. Since 1871 Mr. Oram has been attorney for the Min-
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eral Railroad & Mining Company; he has for a number of years acted as attorney for the well-know firm, J. Langdon & Company, and for seventeen years he was attorney for the borough of Shamokin.
In his youth Mr. Oram identified himself with the Republican party and for years his time and efforts have been devoted to ad- vancing the interests of that party and de- fending its principles and measures. He has been prominent in party councils and as a speaker has a reputation of being one of the most eloquent and forceful ever heard in cam- paigns in this state. Several times he has been honored by his party in being a nominee for office. He was the Republican candidate for the judgeship in his district in 1891; in 1876 he was a candidate for senator from his dis- trict, but was defeated for nomination by a combination of the sort which is common in politics; in 1881 he was an aspirant for the position of president judge, but, by agreement with two other candidates, withdrew from the contest for nomination; he frequently has served as a delegate to conventions.
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