USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Centennial biography : Men of mark of Cumberland Valley, Pa., 1776-1876 > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
IOI
REV. ROBERT CATHCART, D. D.
doctrine, so in government, the republicanism of Presbyterianism struck him as beautiful and well ordered. Jerusalem to him, according to our forms, was builded as a city which is compact together. Our admira- ble Confession of Faith, our Catechisms, with their clear, racy and dis- criminating English of an age which had not yet felt foreign admixtures or domestic feebleness, was to him next to the Holy Word itself. But all this did not prevent a spirit of enlarged charity for others. Indeed, this liberality was a part of his Presbyterianism, as well as of his Chris- tianity. He could not conceive of a religion without it. In the arms of charity, he embraced all who loved our Lord Jesus Christ in sin- cerity, and felt that under various forms and different rituals, and vary- ing shades of doctrinal belief as to non-essentials, the same spirit of piety might and often did dwell.
" The character of Dr. Cathcart's piety was modified by the nature of the man. If his temperament were ever glowing, he restrained it. It appeared more in intellection and in action, than in feeling. It was observed, however, by those who knew him best and longest, that the further he went down into the vale of life, the clearer was his vision of celestial realities, -- the nearer he drew to the gates of the city of God, the more he caught of the glories of the upper sanctuary upon his spirit. Does not this seem exceedingly beautiful, when every year mellows an old man's heart, and the softening radiance of God's angels is reflected upon Lis countenance, ere they bear him away forever ? And true it is, that Dr. Cathcart's 'last days were his best days,' the whole Christianity of York being witness. And never was he so beloved, as just before 'he was not, for God took him.'
"We might dwell on other and more minute features of our departed friend, but it cannot be necessary. One was the conscience he made of punctuality, another was his untiring industry. He was fond of exertion, both physical and mental, and to this was, no doubt, owing -- allowance being made for an uncommonly robust muscular frame-his long life, his long preserved vigour, and as an especial favour of Provi- dence, the clearness of his eye-sight. He read constantly, literally from morning to night, and an uncommonly retentive memory enabled him to preserve almost anything that he read. But he was social also, retaining something European in his habits, in this respect. As long as he could walk, he would visit his old friends, and he loved to re- kindle old recollections with them. Having known nearly all the cele- brated men who were contemporary with him in America, he was very interesting in bringing out their characteristic traits, by anecdotes, told with marked vivacity, of circumstances occurring in his own intercourse
7
!
-
IO2
MEN OF MARK.
with them. In short, he was a source of unfailing interest, and his with- drawal causes a vacancy which none but himself could fill as he did. He was original, every thing he did was his own, and no man who possesses this excellent trait can fail to be interesting.
Of the last moments of Dr. Cathcart it is not my privilege to speak, nor are they material. His life spoke for him. If to have every thought softened by a Christian atmosphere, to have every purpose connected with the advancement of Christianity and the best interests of men, to be much in prayer, and devoted to every gathering together of God's people,-if these be indications of a heart right with God, then our venerable father is walking in white above, with those who are worthy."
DR. JAMES ARMSTRONG.
AMES was the oldest of the two sons of Gen. John Armstrong, and according to a family record in the possession of his son, of Washington city, he was born in 1749. This must have been very soon after the emigration of the family from the north of Ireland. He was educated at Nassau Hall, afterwards Princeton College, where he graduated about four years before the Revolutionary War with honours as an accurate scholar. After leaving college he is said to have been apprenticed, according to the custom of the time, for five years, for the study of medicine with Dr. Morgan, at that time one of the most eminent physicians of Philadelphia. He commenced the practice of his profession with high testimonials of his ability and acquirements, from his late instructor, in the vicinity of Winchester, Va., but we infer from a correspondence between his father and Col. George Washington, in reference to a new location, that his prospects there were not encouraging. Being threatened with consumption, he made a , voyage to London, where he became an admirer of the peculiar principles of Dr. Sydenham, which have since been so generally received, regarding the recuperative powers of nature. In his subse- quent practice he favoured only such prescriptions as would assist the natural powers of the body in their own appropriate work. He, however, was induced from his admiration of Dr. Rush, with whom he afterwards became intimate, to make a free use of the lancet.
On his return, and when he was forty years of age, he married Mary Stevenson, a daughter of one of the oldest settlers in the valley, a man of wealth and eminent position in Carlisle. She was a woman of remarkable piety, could repeat both the Longer and Shorter Catechisms of her church, with their proofs, and insisted on her children being instructed in a similar manner. They had nine children, three of whom died in early life, and two still survive. Soon after their marriage they removed to the Kishacoquillas valley, then almost a wilderness, and there became possessors of a large tract of land on which they lived for nearly twelve years. In ISor he sold his property there and pur- chased another called Richland Lawn, about six miles west of Carlisle. On this he resided for eight years, when (1809) he was induced by greater advantages for the education of his children, to return to Carlisle. There in the family mansion in which he had been born, and had spent
104
MEN OF MARK.
his childhood, he lived in refinement, congenial society and the practice of his profession. He never sought political distinction, but while he resided in the Kishacoquillas valley he was requested by his fellow citizens to represent them in Congress. But as he was a Federalist of the Washington school in politics, as he disliked Jefferson, and was not in favour of the war with Great Britain in 1812, he had no great interest in promoting the public policy of the day, and after one term he retired again to private life.
Dr. Armstrong was well read in his profession, and familiar with general literature. A warm patron of education, he was, for thirty years, or thereabouts, the President of the Board of Trustees of Dickinson college, of which he had been one of the most active founders. He had no talent for the acquisition or the preservation of wealth. He had inherited from his own and from his wife's father a princely fortune, but he is said to have despised all ordinary methods of economy or of making money, and to have died insolvent. His home was a centre of lavish hospitality and of a generous patronage of all public ente prises. His talents and acquisitions might have secured him a high position in his profession, but a retirement from its active duties and a disinclination to those arts which are needful to popularity in it, prevented his attainment of a more than moderate success. His manner was studiously polite and dignified; his person tall and well pro- portioned; his dress was of the best materials, and fitted by the most artistic workmen ; his wig with its somewhat antiquated queue was of the most scrupulous finish; and his conversation, though fluent, was carefully worded and high toned. To his friends and equals he was genial and agreeable, but common people could not approach him with familiarity. His keen gray eye, his large aquiline nose, his six feet stature, and a rather severe manner, made his presence uncongenial to such as were not of his own circle. And yet his strict integrity, his high sense of honour, his quick sympathy with the injured and distressed, his uniform interest in the public welfare, and his strict morality and religious principle made him valuable in every society.
Not a single vice has ever been attributed to Dr. Armstrong. The profaneness, and excess in drinking and in gambling, which were so common in his day, he detested and reproved with severity. Ho is said to have been passionately fond of horses and to have been himself an elegant horseman ; "he always rode with whip and spur, and vaulted into his saddle with dignity and grace. He would as soon have thought of stumbling into a ball room as of mounting a horse awkwardly." He retained to the last most of his faculties of mind and
105
DR. JAMES ARMSTRONG.
body, free from infirmities usually incident to old age, his vision was distinct. his voice clear, his form unbent. his limbs were active, and only his hearing was impaired until his death. Until within a few years of his death he made an annual journey on horseback from Carlisle to Kittanning, a distance of two hundred miles. According to an inscription on his tombstone in the Old Cemetery of Carlisle, he " died in April, 1828, aged eighty-two." There is a slight discrepancy apparent between this inscription and the reported time of his birth in the family record. Having been brought up in the strictest principles and forms of the Presbyterian Church, he lived and died in its communion.
One who knew him well, both by personal acquaintance and reputa- tion, writes of him : "A higher toned man than Dr. James Armstrong the state of Pennsylvania never produced. He was one who had an utter scorn for everything and everybody that was low or mean. He could not stoop to secure any favour. He would sacrifice everything to his self-respect. He would and did without a murmur dispense with not only the comforts but some of the very necessities of life rather than even appear to cringe. And yet he never boasted of his wealth, or family, or position in society. Wealth he held in light esteem, office had no allurements for him, and so reserved was he in speaking of his family that his surviving children were left in almost entire ignorance of its history."
HON. WILLIAM WILKINS.
HE HON. WILLIAM WILKINS, lawyer and judge, was born in Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pa., in 1779, his father, John Wilkins, having been a resident of that place. He was educated at Dickinson college, and studied law under the direction of Judge Watts, with whom he continued until his admission to the bar in Carlisle.
Settling in Pittsburgh in 1800-6, Mr. Wilkins practised successfully as an attorney, and was appointed judge by Governor Findlay. He was a General of the militia, also an influential member of the Legis- lature. He was elected to Congress upon two occasions, and for several years ably discharged the duties of United States Senator. During the administration of General Jackson, he was appointed by him Minister to Russia, and under the presidency of Tyler, became Secretary of War. Subsequently, although firmly attached to the Democratic party, he strenuously supported the Government during the war. While in his eightieth year, when the Home Guards were organized, he was mounted throughout the day, and took his position on parade.
During a period extending to more than sixty years, Judge Wilkins was the most prominent man in western Pennsylvania, was well known throughout the country, and was eminently influential as a popular chief and leader. As a lawyer he won high and widespread distinction, and participated importantly in public affairs, taking especial interest in the cause of education. He was twice married -- to Catharine Holmes. of Baltimore, Md., and to Matilda Dallas, daughter of Alexander James Dallas, formerly Secretary of the Treasury. He died in June, 1865, in his eighty-sixth year, leaving as survivors four daughters.
1
WILLIAM CRAWFORD, M. D.
NE of the most prominent citizens of Adams county, for the forty years between 1783 and 1823, was Dr. William Crawford. He was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1760, and in 1781, on receiving his diploma from the University of Edinburgh, came to this country. He landed in Philadelphia, where he met acquaintances who induced him to settle near Gettysburg. For a time he lived in the town, which had not then become the county seat of Adams, but was one of the villages of York county. In 1794 he bought the farm on Marsh creek, on which he thereafter lived until death. In 1795 he returned to Scotland on a visit, and in 1796, on his return, was married to Miss Ann Dodd, who had come, with an uncle and other friends, from Scotland in the same vessel with him on his return voyage.
Dr. Crawford was an active practitioner for a long period, and his practice extended into the neighbouring counties of Cumberland and Franklin, and of Frederick and Washington, Maryland. His reputa- tion was very high and especially in surgery. He became early interested in public affairs, was for several years one of the Associate Judges of the county, and was, for the eight years of Mr. Madison's presidential term, a Representative in Congress for the district of which Adams formed a part. On the expiration of his term of service he resumed the practice of his profession, in which he was actively engaged when overtaken by disease. His death occurred in I823, in the sixty-fourth year of his age.
REV. CHARLES NISBET, D. D.
OON after the close of the War for Independence the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania chartered a college to be erected and established in the borough of Carlisle, to be forever called and known by the name of Dickinson college. The act recites that the honour of this name was conferred on Governor John Dickinson, in memory of his great and important services to his country, and in commemoration of his very liberal donation to the institution. In 1783 the country had been exhausted by a long and destructive war ; there were few wealthy men, and the property of these few was small in comparison with that of the class called " rich men " in 1875. The donation of ten thousand dollars .at that time was very liberal -- as liberal, in public estimation, as the donation of ten times that sum in our day of large figures.
The original charter of the college contained some wise provisions, and a few otherwise. The Principal -- as the President is called in the charter --- was declared incapable of holding the office of trustee. This cut off from the Board the man who, of all others, best knew the interests and necessities of the college. Another clause was construed to give the students the right of appeal to the Board against the deci- sions of the Faculty in cases of discipline. This was the seed of bitter fruit, as the early history of the institution attests.
In 1784. Charles Nisbet, D. D., an eminent clergyman of the Presby- terian Church of Scotland, was elected President of the college. He was a man of vast and varied learning, tenacious memory, subtle and ready wit, remarkable conversational power and exemplary piety. He had been an outspoken friend of the American Colonies in their struggle for independence, and this fact, added to his great reputation as a scholar, made his appointment exceedingly popular in this country. The most flattering representations and promises were held out to him by leading members of the Board of Trustees to induce him to accept the presidency to which he had been unanimously elected. These were doubtless made in good faith, but without adequate knowledge of the endowment which was needed to support a first class institution of learning. Dr. Nisbet hesitated long to leave his native country, the cultivated society of which he was an ornament. the church and con- gregation of which he was the beloved pastor, and at the age of fifty
İ
-
109
REV. CHIARLES NISBET, D. D.
years to engage in untried duties, on a new arena, among people whose habits and modes of thought were different from his own.
He finally yielded to the urgent solicitations of the trustees, and arrived in Philadelphia with his family in June, 1785. For three weeks he was the guest of Dr. Benjamin Rush, who entertained him with elegant hospitality, and introduced to his acquaintance the prominent citizens of Philadelphia. His first letter to his friends in Scotland proved that his impressions of America and Americans were very favourable ; but subsequent letters indicate that the roseate hues of metropolitan society no longer gladdened his vision when he came to encounter the realities of his new office.
He arrived in Carlisle on the 4th of July, and was received with enthusiasm. He entered that ancient borough in charge of a committee of citizens, with an escort of cavalry, in time to observe the celebration of the anniversary of independence by noisy republicans.
He was installed in office the next day, and commenced the organiza- tion of an institution which he had been led to believe was to be the foremost college in America. During nineteen years he laboured as few men could have laboured, performing an amount of work that was truly prodigious, in the midst of discouragements under which most men would have succumbed. His efforts to obtain a high grade of scholarship were thwarted, his advice too frequently unheeded, and his recommendations unnoticed or rejected by the Board. His cherished hopes of success were not realized, and this profound scholar and Christian gentleman went down to his grave under a sense of dis- appointment, but with the serene consciousness that he had done his best for sound scholarship in Dickinson college, and in the firm belief that the seed which he had planted would spring up and bear fruit under more genial suns and skies.
During the whole time of his presidency Dr. Nisbet strove to elevate the grade of scholarship required for graduation, but a majority of the trustees dissented from his educational views, believing them impracti- cable in the existing condition of the country, and the minority acquiesced in the views of those who hoped to increase the revenue of the college by attracting that class of students who desire to obtain academic honours with the least possible outlay of time and labour.
Other causes, which it is not necessary here and now to enumerate, contributed to depress the college during the first two decades. "It had been," says Dr. W. H. Allen," "organized before the country
*Historicad Sketch of Dickinson college, read before the Philadelphia Conference of the M. E. Church.
IIO
MEN OF MARK.
needed it." The College of New Jersey at Princeton, and the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, were adequate to supply all the demand for col- legiate education in this section of the country at that time.
But local interests or private jealousies prevailed then, as they have many times since, over the dictates of prudence and foresight. It is an American weakness to build half a dozen moribund colleges with no endowment but debt, with only the patronage necessary for one, and with half a dozen poorly paid Faculties to do the work of one, and to do it very imperfectly. It strongly resembles our sectarian weakness, which induces us to waste the Lord's money in building four or five churches in every little town which has no more population and wealth than are sufficient for the support of one, and placing in the pulpits as many starving preachers, who supply the half filled pews with spiritual food of about the same quality as the physical food which their sparse and sleepy congregations dole out to them.
Dickinson college was a premature birth, and with the most careful nurture its vital force in early life was necessarily feeble. The proverb says "money is the sinews of war," and it is equally true that money is the brains of a college, for without money brains will not come, or if they come, will not stay. Dickinson college had not a sufficient endowment to make it independent of tuition fees. This fact had then, as it always will have, a demoralizing effect on discipline. When students know that the Faculty depend on them for daily bread, and that their withdrawal or expulsion will close the doors of the institu- tion, they have a firm conviction that they are masters of the situation. Dickinson College was in this precarious condition for nearly half a century. When it sought subscriptions from individuals, it was met with the charge of sectarianism ; when it solicited donations from the state it was accused of political heresies and exposed to investigating committees ; and when the number of students diminished and the Board could neither beg nor borrow, they reduced the salaries of the Faculty and lowered the requirements for graduation. This policy caused Dr. Nisbet to say that the people of this country seemed to know no difference between a college and a primary school for children.
In 1803 the college was consumed by fire, and a larger and more commodious edifice was erected in 1804, but Dr. Nisbet did not live to occupy it. This building is now called West College.
As already stated, Dr. Nisbet was a gentleman of vast and varied learning. Many of the most distinguished men of the country were trained under his careful and able supervision, and they always referred to him with profound respect for his character, and glowing admiration .
1-
REV. CHARLES NISBET, D. D.
of his erudition and aptness to teach. Such a man could not die. His influence survives him in the vigorous impulse which he gave to education in its highest forms, and which has been, as it will be, trans- mitted from generation to generation.
Tradition still reports many striking and sparkling instances of the genuine wit which seems to have been a largely developed element of his constitution. This was a power which he could wield with tremendous effect, and which he did not hesitate often to bring into exercise. On one occasion whilst a member of the General Assembly, as he was replying to a speaker who had made an unfortunate address, he dealt out his caustic remarks with the introductory formula, oft repeated, "If I had said so and so, I should feel so and so." The Moderator was obliged to ask for an abatement of severity in the address. To his interposition the Doctor replied, with his peculiar tone and gesture: " And hasn't a man, Mr. Moderator, a right to say what he pleases about himself?" thus bringing down the house in irresistible laughter, and thus, perhaps, doing more to establish his cause than could have been done by an extended speech.
i
1
ROBERT DAVIDSON, D. D.
OBERT DAVIDSON, D. D., was the second President of Dickinson college. He was born at Elkton, Maryland, in 1750, and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1771. When twenty-two years old he was licensed to preach by the Pres- bytery of Newcastle, and not long afterwards he was ordained by the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia. When twenty-three years old he was appointed an instructor in the University of Pennsylvania, and shortly afterwards chosen Professor of History, and assistant to Dr. Ewing, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Philadelphia. In 1775 he composed a dialogue in verse, with two odes set to music, which were performed as an exercise at commencement, in the pre- sence of the Continental Congress. In July of the same year he delivered a patriotic sermon on the war before the military in Phila- delphia, and soon afterwards repeated it before the troops at Burling- ton. In 1784 he published an Epitome of Geography in verse, for the use of schools, which was highly valued at the time. When Dickinson college was founded he was invited to become one of the Professors. " His name will be of use to us," wrote Dr. Rush to Dr. Nisbet, " for he is a man of learning, and of an excellent private character." When leaving the University the Trustees of it testified their appreciation of his merits and services, by conferring on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
Dr. Davidson was thirty-four years old when, in the autumn of 178.4. he became Vice-President of the college and Professor of History and Belles-Lettres, and also pastor of the Presbyterian church of Carlisle. This last relation he sustained with honour and success for twenty-eight years, greatly beloved by his flock. He was faithful and diligent in the discharge of his duties both as professor and pastor. In 1785 he composed a dialogue in blank verse, in honour of the patrons of the college, which was spoken in public and printed. Ile was noted for his systematic habits, and his achievements were correspondingly numerous and great. With eight languages he made himself acquainted ; in theology he was well versed ; and with the whole circle of science he was familiar, especially in astronomy, on which subject he published several papers, and invented an ingenious appa- ratus called a " Cosmosphere." He was often called upon to deliver
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.