USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Centennial biography : Men of mark of Cumberland Valley, Pa., 1776-1876 > Part 17
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During the time Mr. Chambers was a member of the Supreme Court, he prepared and delivered quite a number of opinions, written in a perspicuous and agreeable style, and exhibiting his usual exhaust- ive research and extensive legal knowledge. Some of these opinions are interesting to the professional reader, and can be found in the fourth volume of Harris's State Reports. The most notable among them are the cases of Baxby c. Linah, in which the effect of a judgment of a sister State in the tribunals of this State is elaborately discussed ; Louden v. Blythe, involving the question of the conclusiveness of a magistrate's certificate of the acknowledgment by femes covert of deeds and mortgages ; and Wilt against Snyder, in which the doctrine of negotiable paper is learnedly examined.
Mr. Chambers never occupied any other public official stations ; but in private life he held many places of trust and responsibility, giving to the faithful discharge of the duties they imposed upon him his best services, and to all enterprises for the advancement of the public good. and the promotion of education and morality, liberally of his sub- stance.
In 1814 he was elected a Manager of the Chambersburg Turnpike Road Company, and afterwards its President, which positions he filled for half a century.
In the same year he was actively employed in organizing and estab- lishing the Franklin County Bible Society, was elected me of its officers, and served as such for many years.
He was always a steadfast and consistent friend of the cause of
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temperance. By precept, by example, and by strong and eloquent advocacy of its principles, he strove to correct public sentiment on this subject, and to arouse it to a proper appreciation of the horrors of intemperance. He assisted in the organization of a number of societies throughout the country, to which he gave freely such pecuniary aid as they required, and before which he was a frequent speaker. The seed which he thus so diligently planted ripened into a rich harvest of blessed results, the influence of which remains until this day.
In 1815 Mr. Chambers was elected a Trustee of the Chambersburg Academy, and afterwards President of the Board, resigning the trust after a tenure of forty-five years, because of the increasing infirmities of age.
In the same year he was chosen one of the Trustees of the Presby- terian Church of Chambersburg, and in due time became President of the Board, from which he retired in July, 1864.
He was also for many years a Director of the Bank of Chambers- burg, in 1836 was chosen its President, and annually re-elected until pressing business engagements compelled him to decline re-election.
The mention of these unostentatious but useful and responsible employments is not improper here, for it serves to illustrate how Mr. Chambers was esteemed in the community where he passed his entire life.
At the time of his death he was the largest land owner in Franklin county. He had a passion for agriculture, studied it as a science, and gave much of his leisure to the direction of its practical operations. His knowledge of soils, and of the fertilizers best adapted to them, was extensive and accurate. His familiarity with the boundaries of his farms, and the varieties of timber trees growing upon them, and exactly upon what part of the land they could be found, was so remarkable as to astonish his tenants frequently, and to put them at fault. He was not churlish in imparting all his knowledge about agricultural affairs to his neighbours, and he was ever ready at his own expense to lead the van in every experiment or enterprise which gave a reasonable promise of increasing the knowledge or lightening the labours of the farmer. For the purpose of exciting a generous emulation among the farmers, and facilitating their opportunity for gaining increased knowledge of their business, although at quite an advanced age. he expended much time and labour in organizing and putting into successful operation the first Agricultural Society of Franklin county, which he served as president for one year.
Mr. Chambers was proud of his native state, and a devout wor-
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shipper of the race whose blood flowed in his veins. These sentiments were deepened and strengthened by a diligent study of provincial history and an extensive personal acquaintance with the illustrious men whose lives adorned the first years of the Commonwealth. The knowledge which he thus acquired brought to him the sting of dis- appointment; for his sense of justice was wounded by the almost contemptuous historical treatment of the claims and deeds of that race which, more than all others, had helped to lay the broad foundation of state prosperity, to build churches and school houses, and to advance everywhere the sacred standard of religious liberty, which had loved freedom and hated the king, and had carried with it into every quarter the blessings of civilization, and the hallowed influences of the Gospel.
The spirit of his ancestry called him to the vindication of their race, and he determined-although the sand of his time-glass was running low-to round off, and crown the industry of a long life by a labour of love.
During the brief periods of leisure, which the almost constant demands of his business only occasionally afforded him, he prepared and had published, in 1856, a volume, which, with characteristic modesty, he entitled, " A Tribute to the Principles, Virtues, Habits and Public Usefulness of the Irish and Scotch Early Settlers of Pennsylvania ; by a Descendant."
This production discloses such a thorough knowledge of the subject, and withal breathes so great a filial reverence for those whose merits it commemorates, that it will doubtless long be read with increasing interest by their descendants.
Mr. Chambers was an ardent friend of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and impressed with the importance of the noble work, for the sake of truth, which it is now performing. The value of his efforts for the elucidation of the early history of the province and state, and his moral worth, were generously recognized by the Society in his selection to be one of its vice-presidents, which honourable office he held at the time of his decease.
By the request of the Society, Mr. Chambers undertook the prepara- tion of an extended history of a considerable portion of the State of Pennsylvania, including the Cumberland Valley. It was also intended to embrace a compilation and analysis of the various laws and usages governing the acquisition of titles to land in the state, to be supple- mented by an annotation of the changes caused therein by statutory law, and the decisions of the courts from time to time.
The manuscript of this work, which had cost much research and
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labour, was finished and ready for the press on the 30th of July, 1864, when the Rebels, under General McCausland, made their cruel foray into Chambersburg, to give the doomed town over to its baptism of fire.
It perished in the conflagation of that fearful day-which still haunts, and ever will, the memory of those who witnessed it, like the hideous spectre of a dream. Along with that manuscript perished also a biographical sketch, which was almost ready for publication, of Dr. John McDowell, a native of Franklin county, distinguished for his learning, usefulness, and devoted piety.
Mr. Chambers lost heavily in property by the burning of Chambers- burg. The large stone dwelling-house built by his father in 1787, the house which he had himself erected in 1812, and in which he had lived with his family since 1813, together with four other houses, were totally destroyed.
But this pecuniary loss caused him, comparatively, but little regret. His private papers, an extensive correspondence, valuable manuscripts, hallowed relics of the loved and lost ones, many cherished mementoes of friendship, his books so familiar and so prized from constant study and use, the old-fashioned stately furniture, and the precious heirlooms that had come down to him from his ancestry, all shared the same common ruin. Such things are incapable of monetary valuation, and their loss was irreparable. In one half hour the red hand of fire had ruthlessly severed all the links that bound him to his former life, and thenceforth he walked to the verge of his time isolated and disasso- ciated from the past. This calamity he keenly felt, although he nerved himself against its depressing influences with his characteristic cheer- fulness and fortitude.
To this cause, also, must be atrributed the great lack of present materials for a proper biographical sketch of Mr. Chambers, and the difficulties and discouragements which the writer of this tribute has encountered in its preparation.
Mr. Chambers was deeply moved by the news of the bombardment of Fort Sumter. When he heard the startling intelligence, although in firm health, it seemed to stir a fever in his blood. He urged the calling of the citizens of Chambersburg together immediately, to take proper measures for assisting in the defence of the Government. He presided at the meeting, and made a touching and eloquent speech, which was responded to on the spot by the enlistment of a full company for the three months' service. A few years before he had presented a flag to a military company called in his honour The Chambers Infantry.
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This organization formed the nucleus of the company now enlisted for the stern duties of war, and was among the first in the state to report for service at the headquarters at Harrisburg. From that hour, until the last Confederate soldier laid down his arms, Mr. Chambers stood steadfastly by the Union. The darkest hours of the war found him always the same unflinching supporter of the Government, the same staunch patriot, the same irreconcilable opponent of all compromise with treason, and the same defiant and implacable foe of traitors.
On the 6th day of March, 1810, Mr. Chambers married Alice A. Lyon, of Carlisle, daughter of William Lyon, Esq., Prothonotary and Clerk of the Courts of Cumberland county -- a lady whose virtues and accomplishments cheered and solaced thirty-eight years of his life. Two sons and one danghter, the fruits of this marriage, still survive, and are residents of Chambersburg.
Mr. Chambers was of medium stature, of slender frame and delicate constitution. He was indebted for the physical strength which enabled him to sustain for so many years the burden of excessive professional labour, sol ly to bis abstemious life, regular habits, and almost daily exercise upon horseback.
His classical training was excellent, and his knowledge of the Roman authors quite extensive. He was a well-read man, and familiar with the best literature of his own and past times-an acquaintance which he sedulously cultivated until a late period of his life. His library was large and well selected, and open at all times to the deserving, however humble might be their station.
Mr. Chambers cared for none of the arts of popularity. He was not one "to split the cars of the groundlings." He had no ambition at all for this. Ilis bearing was dignified and his manners reserved. With the world he doubtless was accredited a cold and proud man ; but to those who were admitted to the privileges of an intimate acquaintance, he was a sociable, kind, courteous and affable gentleman, and a genial and captivating companion. Having acquired a varied fund of knowledge from books, as well as from a close and intelligent observation of men, his conversation was exceedingly entertaining and instructive. His memory, going back into the last century, had garnered up many interesting reminiscences of the events of that age, and personal recollections of its illustrious men ; and when in the unrestrained freedom of social intercourse he opened its treasures, they furnished, indeed, a rare intellectual entertainment to his charmed auditors. But so great was the elevation of his character and the purity of his nature, so intense his self respect, that I venture to assert
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that never at any time, under the temptations of the most unreserved conversation, did he utter a word or sentiment that might not with perfect propriety have been repeated in the most refined society.
He was a sincere and steadfast friend, a kind neighbour, and a good and useful citizen. His advice to all who sought it-and they were many, in every walk of life -- proved him to be a willing, judicious and sympathizing counsellor.
In the management of his private affairs he was scrupulously honest and punctual. He required all that was his own, and paid to the uttermost farthing that which was another's. He scorned alike the pusillanimity which would defraud one's self, and the meanness which would rob another. But withal he was a generous man. His house was the abode of a most liberal hospitality. His benevolence was large and catholic, manifesting itself in frequent and liberal contri- butions for the advancement of education and religion. He was kind to the poor and deserving, and more than one child of poverty received a good education at his expense. But he did not publish his charities on the streets, nor give his alms before men. He reverently obeyed in this respect the scriptural injunction, "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth."
It would be improper for us, by dwelling longer on his domestic virtues, to invade the sanctity of his home, where they grew into such eminent development. We know that he was a good husband, a devoted father, and an exemplar to his household worthy of the closest imitation.
Mr. Chambers was a devout man from his youth, and a sincere and unfaltering believer in the cardinal doctrines of the Christian religion. From childhood he was carefully trained in the tenets of the West- minister Confession and the Shorter Catechism. He drank in a reverence for the Sabbath day with his mother's milk, which so engrafted itself into his being that no earthly inducement could tempt him to profane it. In 1842, he made a public profession of his faith, and was received into the communion of the Presbyterian Church at Chambersburg. Thenceforth religion grew from a mere sentiment, or a cold intellectual belief. into the guiding principle of his life. It influenced his conduct towards others and governed his own heart. It kept him untainted from the world in prosperity, and solaced him in adversity. And when the twilight of his last days began to descend upon him, his pathway was illumined by the light of the Gospel, and he walked down to the dark river with a firm step, unclouded by doubts
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or fears, and with the eye of faith steadily fixed upon the Star of Bethlehem. He died on the 25th of March, 1866, in his eighty-first year, bequeathing to his children the heritage of an unspotted name, to posterity an enduring reputation, earned by a life full of good and virtuous deeds, and to the aspiring and ambitious youth an example worthy of the highest emulation.
HON. WILLIAM FINDLAY.
ILLIAM FINDLAY, the fourth Governor of Pennsylvania under the Constitution of 1790, from December 16, 1817, to December 19, 1820, was born at Mercersburg, Franklin county, on the 20th of June, 1768.
The progenitor beyond whom he never traced his lineage was Adjutant Brown, as he was called, who took part in the defence of Derry, Ireland, during its famous siege in 1566, and afterwards emi- grated to this country with his daughter Elizabeth. The daughter married Samuel Findlay, of Philadelphia. A son by this marriage, Samuel, settled, some years before the opening of the Revolutionary War, at Mercersburg, a place which was then of more trade and importance relatively than now. It was an entrepot, where goods to be sent west of the mountains were brought in wagons and transferred to pack-horses. It is situated at the base of the Blue Ridge, in that great valley -- the Shenandoah in Virginia and Cumberland in Penn- sylvania -- which stretches from the borders of Tennessee to the Hud- son. In the year 1765, he was married to Jane Smith, a daughter of William Smith. She died in the thirty-fifth year of her age, the mother of eight boys, six of whom survived her. These lived to be men, and all of them attained respectable, and some of them dis- tinguished positions in the communities where they lived. Had that young mother been spared to look on them in their manhood, she might have regarded them with the complacency of Cornelia herself. Her fine understanding, her piety, her maternal tenderness and affec- tion, were themes on which those of her children who were old enough when she died to know and appreciate her virtues, fondly loved to dwell.
William, the subject of this sketch, was the second of this family of sons. The Scotch-Irish, the name by which emigrants from the north of Ireland were known, at an early day settled in great numbers in the Cumberland valley, and at Mercersburg they formed almost the exclu- sive population. Like the Scotch, from whom they were descended, they appreciated the importance of a good education. A knowledge of the common English branches they deemed indispensable for all their children, while one son in a family, at least, if it could be accomplished by any reasonable sacrifice, received a classical education. William,
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in his boyhood, displayed that activity of mind and thirst for know- ledge which were the characteristics of his manhood. His leisure hours were devoted to reading such books as were accessible. They were few, but they contained solid and useful information, very differ- ent from many of those which a prolific and unscrupulous press sup- plies the youth of the present day. They were read with care, and their contents made the subject of reflection. It was the intention of his parents to have given him a collegiate education, in preparation for one of the learned professions, which, had he been allowed his choice, would have been that of the law. A fire, which consumed his father's store and dwelling, caused so severe a pecuniary loss that this cherished purpose had to be abandoned. His instruction was there- fore only such as could be obtained in the schools of the neighbour- hood. The meagre advantages afforded him were studiously im- proved, and the natural activity of his mind and his ambition to excel enabled him to make substantial aquirements. He wrote with cor- rectness and perspicuity, had a general knowledge of American and English history and literature, and although not a technical lawyer, he acquired that "competent knowledge of the laws" of his country which Blackstone pronounces to be "the proper accomplishment of every gentleman."
On the 7th of December, 1791, he was married to Nancy Irwin, daughter of Archibald Irwin, of Franklin county, and commenced life as a farmer on a portion of his father's estate, which at the death of his father, in 1799, he inherited.
He was a political disciple and a great admirer of Mr. Jefferson, and at an early age took an active part in politics. The first office which he ever held was a military one, that of Brigade Inspector of Militia, requiring more of business capacity than knowledge of tactics. Mili- tary promotion led to political preferment. The election of a Colonel or Major was as fiercely contested as that of a Governor, and the can- didates were often if not generally of opposite parties.
In the autumn of 1797, Mr. Findlay was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the State Legislature, which then sat in Philadelphia. He was then in the thirtieth year of his age, and found himself, if not the youngest, among the most youthful in a body where it was the custom to send men more advanced in years than at present. He was again elected to the House in 1803. He proved himself a leading member; and one of the most useful in the House, being placed in the most responsible positions.
On the 13th of January, 1807, Mr. Findlay was elected State
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Treasurer, whereupon he resigned his seat in the House. From that date until the ed of December, :817, when he resigned to assume the duties of chief magistrate, a period of nearly eleven years, he was annually re-elected by the Legislature to that office, in several instances unanimously, and always by a strong majority, not uncommonly being supported by members politically opposed to him.
In 1817, Mr. Findlay was nominated by the Republicans as their candidate for Governor. General Joseph Hiester was selected by a dissaffected branch of the Republican party, styled Old School Men, to oppose him, who was supported also by the Federalists. The result was a triumph for Findlay, who was elected by a majority of over seven thousand votes.
In 1820, Governor Findlay again received the unanimous nomina- tion of the Republicans for re-election, and Joseph Heister was nomi- nated as before by the Republicans of the Old School, and was sup- ported by the Federalists en masse. Under the Constitution of 1790, the patronage of the Executive was immense. To him was given the power of appointing, with few exceptions, every state and county officer. This power, considered so dangerous that, by the Constitu- tion of 1838 and subsequent amendments, the Executive has been stripped of it almost entirely, was, in fact, dangerous only to the Gov- ernor himself. For while he might attach one person to him by making an appointment, the score or two who were disappointed became, if not active political opponents, at least lukewarm friends. Many trained and skilful politicians had been alienated from the sup- port of Governor Findlay by their inability to share or control patron- age. The result was the election of his opponent.
At the general elections of 1821, the Republicans regained ascen- dency in the Legislature. At the session of 1821-22, while Governor Findlay was quietly spending the winter with a friend and relative in Franklin county, he received notice that he had been elected to the Senate of the United States for the full term of six years from the pre- ceding 4th of March. He immediately set out for the capital, where he took his seat and served the entire term with distinguished ability. While he was in the Senate, two of his brothers, Colonel John Findlay, of Chambersburg, and General James Findlay, of Cincinnati, Ohio, were members of the National House of Representatives. We are reminded by the following paragraph from the Harrisburg Intelligencer, of 1824, that travel to and from the capital then, even from con- tiguous states, was by no means so rapid and convenient as now:
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" Mr. Findlay, of the United States Senate, also, left this place for Washington yesterday, by way of Baltimore, in a gig."
After the expiration of his senatorial term he was appointed by Presi- dent Jackson Treasurer of the United States Mint at Philadelphia. This office he held until the accession of General Harrison to the Presidency, when, unwilling at his advanced age to be longer burdened with its cares and responsibilities, he resigned. The remainder of his life was spent in retirement with the family of his son-in-law, Governor Shunk, at whose residence, in Harrisburg, he died on the 12th of November, 1846, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.
In person, Governor Findlay was tall, with fair complexion and dark brown hair. He had a vigorous constitution and a cheerful disposition. He was affable and courteous in his address, fond of conversation, but did not monopolize it. He understood and practised the habits of a good listener. He exhibited great tact in drawing out the reserved and taciturn, and enabling them to figure well in conversation by giving rein to their hobbies. He possessed a remarkably tenacious memory of names and faces. After a long separation he could recognize and call by name a person with whom he had had but a short and casual interview. His acquaintance was probably more extensive, and his personal friends more numerous, than those of almost any other public man of his day.
In his domestic relations he was most exemplary, an affectionate husband and the best of fathers. He was pre-eminently an unselfish man. He was charitable in the largest sense. Thinking no evil him- self, his unsuspecting benevolence was often imposed upon. He was a Christian in faith and practice. Baptised and brought up in the Presbyterian Church,' he accepted its standards, and respected and hospitably entertained its ministers. In his inaugural address as Gov- ernor, in enumerating the duties which should be required of public servants, he included that of cherishing " by their example, the purity and beauty of the religion of the Redeemer."
HON. JOSEPH RITNER.
OSEPH RITNER, the eighth and last Governor under the Constitution of 1790, from December 15th, 1835, to January 15th, 1839, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the 25th of March, 1780.
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