USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Centennial biography : Men of mark of Cumberland Valley, Pa., 1776-1876 > Part 35
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MEN OF MARK.
"The Study of History;" " A Plea for Presbyterianism ;" " Presbyte- rianism; Its Place in History;" "History of the First Presbyterian Church, New Brunswick, New Jersey ;" "The Evils of Disunion ;" " A Nation's Discipline; or, Trials not Judgments ;" "On the Death of President Lincoln ;" "History of the Presbyterian Church in Hunting- don, Long Island;" "Memoir of Governor Lewis Morris, of New Jersey ;" "Piety not Incompatible with the Military Life." To this list might be added Funeral Discourses, Sermons in the National Preacher, and numerous contributions to McClintock's Cyclopedia and divers periodicals ; besides his share in the preparation of the Hymnal.
Dr. Davidson's articles in the Princeton Review are the following :
1849. Review of Dr. Stone's Life of Dr. Milnor.
1850. Review of Seymour's Mornings with the Jesuits. Review of Layard's Nineveh, and Hawks' Egypt.
1851. Review of Trench on Miracles.
1853. Review of Arthur's Successful Merchant, and Van Doren's Mercantile Morals.
The Rev. J. A. Murray, D. D., author of the sketch of Dr. David- son's father, published in another part of this book, fitly describes the son as "a distinguished educator and learned divine, who still lives. advanced in years, but physically and mentally in a wonderful state of preservation, and continues instructive and popular as a preacher, and no less brilliant in social life."
BENJAMIN SHRODER SCHNECK, D. D.
HE father of Dr. Schneck was a native of the Dukedom of Nassau, Germany. He was descended from a most excellent family, and emigrated to this country near the close of the last century. He first located in Reading, Pa., where he was married to Miss Elizabeth Shroder, a native of that place. They were both pious, God fearing parents, who brought up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Their son, Benjamin, was born in Upper Bern Township, in the northern part of Berks county, Pa., March 14th, 1806. He received his early education from his father, and at the age of sixteen connected himself with the Reformed Church at Reading, then in charge of Rev. William Pauli. He pursued his studies in a private way, and having resolved to de ote his life to the work of the ministry, he was placed under the tuition of the Rev. Dr. Frederick L. Herman, of Falconer Swamp, Montgomery county, Pa. His licensure to preach was received from the "Free Synod," in east Pennsylvania, on September 6th, 1825. His first pastoral charge in Centre county, consisted of seven congre- gations. In September, 1828, he transferred his ecclesiastical relations from the " Free" to the regular Synod of his Church. In 1833, his health becoming somewhat impaired, he resigned his charge in Centre county, but continued to labour for a season among de tute con- gregations in the same region. After having regained his ealth to some extent, in 1834, he accepted a call to the Gettysburg charge, which, however, declining vigour compelled him to relinquish at the close of the first year.
In September, 1835, Dr. Schneck took charge of the "Weekly Messenger," which had just been started in Chambersburg, and continued in this relation until 18444, when he resigned. In 1847, he resumed it, and continued in it until 1852. From the carly part of 1840, the Rev. Dr. Samuel R. Fisher was associated with him in the editorship, who also became his successor. Dr. Schneck also edited at the same place until 1864, when it was removed to Philadelphia, the paper called Reformirte Kirchenseitung, which grew out of the union of two papers, Christliche Zeitschrift and Evangelische Kirchenseitung; the one previously published in Gettysburg, and the latter in east Pennsylvania.
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Dr. Schneck, whilst editor in Chambersburg, took charge (in 1855,) of St. John's Reformed Church at that place. Sometime afterward he was Professor of German Language and Literature in "Wilson Female College." He was frequently honoured by his church. He was President of the General Synod in 1839. In 1843, he was appointed with the Rev. Dr. Theodore Hoffeditz, to visit Germany, to transfer, if possible, the Rev. Dr. Frederick W. Krummacher, of Elberfeld, to the Theological Seminary then located at Mercersburg, Pa. He was for many years an efficient member of the Board of Visitors of the Theo- logical Seminary, and for a time also a member of the Board of Home Missions. A Professorship in the Theological Seminary at Tiffin, Ohio, was tendered him, which he was induced to decline. The honourary degree of D. D. was conferred on him by Marshall College, in 1845.
Dr. Schneck was married June 30th, 1836, to Rebecca Riddle, daughter of the Hon. James Riddle, of Chambersburg, a lady of fine culture and fervent piety, who proved to him a most worthy and excellent companion. He died, April 19th, 1874, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.
He was an earnest, instructive, practical preacher. As a pastor he never failed to attach his people to him. He was a genial writer, equally at home in the German and English languages. He published in 1844, Die Deutsche Kansel, a selection of German sermons for each Sunday in the year; in 1846, he edited the Forest Minstrel, fc. Mrs. Lydia Jane Pierson; he also published The Burning of Chambersburg, and a volume on " Mercersburg Theology."
Dr. Schneck possessed attractive social qualities in an e. 'nent degree. As a citizen, he was highly esteemed by the community in the midst of which he spent the greater part of his life. He was honoured by those who knew him best with various public positions of prominence. He identified himself with the general interests of the place of his residence. His strong hold on the affections of the people was indicated by the unusually large attendance at his funeral, and the general closing of business during the funeral procession. He was lamented by all, as a faithful man, who had done life's work well.
ALEXANDER TAGGART M'GILL, D. D., LL. D.
HE subject of this sketch was born at Cannonsburg, Pa., Febru- ary 24th, 1807. He graduated at Jefferson College in 1826. After a short service in this college as tutor, he went to Georgia, studied law, and was admitted to the bar, receiving almost immediately afterward several important appointments from the Legis- lature of that state.
In 1831, Mr. McGill returned to Pennsylvania, relinquished the law for Theology, the study of which he pursued in the Theological Semi- nary of the Associate (now United Presbyterian) Church, then located at Cannonsburg. In 1834, he was licensed to preach, and in 1835, he was ordained and installed, at Carlisle, Pa., as pastor of three small churches, distributed through as many counties, Cumberland, Perry, and York. In. 1837, he married Eleanor Acheson, daughter of Gen. George McCulloch, of Lewistown, Pa., Senator of Pennsylvania, and afterwards member of Congress.
In 1838, Mr. McGill became discontented with the peculiarities of the church in which he was born and reared, and connected himself with the Old School Presbyterian Church. Soon after this he became pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, where he con- tinued about three years, until his election as a Professor in the Western Theological Seminary, at Allegheny. On that work he entered with the greatest alacrity and pleasure, and very soon had ample evidence that it was the right vocation for him. But it was a situation of great labour and trial, in view of the struggling con- dition of the institution, and at length the toils and anxieties of the position told on his health. At the very time his thoughts were turning to the southern climate, which he had found so genial and sanative in the days of his youth, he received, without the slightest anticipation, a call to the Seminary at Columbia, S. C. After much hesitation he accepted this call. He spent the winter of 1852-3, at Columbia. In 1853, the General Assembly elected him again to Allegheny, where his family had remained, and he returned to that position. In 1854, he was transferred to the Seminary at Princeton, leaving Allegheny in a prosperous condition.
Dr. McGill's chair at Princeton, is that of " Ecclesiastical, Homiletic, and Pastoral Theology." He was Moderator of the General Assembly
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of the Presbyterian Church, (Old School) in 1848, Permanent Clerk. from 1850 to 1862, and Stated Clerk from 1852 to 1870. He received the title of Doctor of Divinity in : 842, from Marshall College, Mercers- burg, Pa., and the title of Doctor of Laws from the College of New Jersey (Princeton,) in 1868. He has never had robust health, and the hard labours to which he has been called, and, still more, bereave- ments in his family, have stamped the appearance of old age upon him, without impairing at all his usefulness and the activity of his mind. His method of preaching always without a manuscript or brief before him, has been of great advantage to his popularity as a speaker, and still more to the vigour and freshness of his memory, especially in the use of Scripture. And owing to his zeal and efforts in training students to this method, it has gained largely of late years, both in metropolitan and country pulpits of the Presbyterian Church.
Dr. McGill is a finished scholar, and a superior preacher. With his pen, in the pulpit, and in the Professorships he has filled, he has ren- dered valuable service to the church of his adoption, and registered his name high on the record of her representative men, both for the present age and the generations to follow.
JAMES WALLACE WEIR,
AS born at Harrisburg, Pa., August 9th, 1805. His great- grandfathers Weir and Wallace fought together in the siege of Derry ; their grandchildren (Samuel Weir and Mary Wallace,) met on the bank of the Susquehanna a hundred years after, and were united in marriage.
The father of Mr. Weir was elected one of three elders of the Presbyterian Church, at Harrisburg, in 1794, at its organization. His death, in' 1820, threw his son into the world to secure a living and an education as he best could. At the age of sixteen he had an offer of a clerkship, with some strong inducements to accept it, in the then great hotel of Matthew Wilson, but at that early age he was too much opposed to such a trade to embark in it even indirectly. The leisure hours of the business in which he engaged were devoted to mental improvement, so that when only sixteen and a half years old he found himself calculating the eclipse of February 21st, 1822.
In 1824, Mr. Weir undertook to edit a small religious paper, and with this view learned type-setting, proposing to make the editorial chair the ultimate point of his ambition. At this time he learned two or three modern languages, and read extensively in political economy. politics generally, and the various branches of literature. Whilst thus engaged, he received an appointment in a bank at Harrisburg, which he accepted. For five years he vas clerk in the Branch Bank of Pennsylvania, located there; for even years he was teller in the Harrisburg bank, and now for th ity-one years he has been cashier of the same institution, known at this time as the Harrisburg National Bank. Under his cashiership, the value of the stock of this bank has been trebled, and the clear earnings have been on the average of the last ten years twenty per cent .; this, too, without ever shaving or buying a note, or paying interest on deposits. During all this time his name has never appeared on the books of the bank as a drawer or endorser.
Allibone's Dictionary of Authors refers to Mr. Weir as a writer of force and varied ability, and as the author of several poems of much merit. The principal productions of his pen, are "The Closet Com- panion," a "Treatise on Sabbath-school Instruction," " Duties of Lay- men," and " Social Prayer," all of which were received with marked
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favour, and recommended by gentlemen of high literary standing. Of the many admirable hymns and poems which he has written, we take the liberty of introducing here his reflections on his seventieth birthday. written August 9th, 1875 :
" THREESCORE AND TEN " -- the by-gone years, How rise their memories to my thought : The joys and griefs, the hopes and fears, That fill the measure of my lot.
Vel these are but the wayside sheaves, We glean upon the field of years : Oblivion, in its reaping, leaves But here and there some scattered ears.
Perhaps 'tis well we can but glean- For could we harvest all the past, Joys too intense, and griefs too keen, Were o'er our present being cast.
Life's current duties must be met ; And 'tis but glances we can give The darkening past -- the game is set, And we must for the mastery strive.
Gird up thyself. my spirit then, In Him who gives all needful grace ; Thou canst not now afford to spend Thy closing years in idleness.
The past thou canst not now regain- The shortening future is thine own : To Faith and Hope and Love attain- These spoils from Time may still be won.
The volumes just referred to were written by Mr. Weir in early life. As he became absorbed in the affairs of the institution over which he presided, he forsook the paths of literature into which his youthful aspirations and bent had led him, to devote himself entirely to the arduous duties of his high financial position. And yet he could not entirely relinquish his literary tastes, and was occasionally drawn from his business to preside at seminary commencements and other literary and educational occasions, on which the evidence of his genius and taste was among the most gratifying displays. Had his talent been permitted to follow its bent there is little doubt that he would have ranked with the poet banker Rogers, but he chose a more secluded life and contented himself with doing good in other directions.
Mr. Weir joined the Presbyterian Church at Harrisburg in 1830. In 1834, he was elected an elder, and has ever since filled this office.
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JAMES WALLACE WEIR.
He has been connected with the Sunday-school about fifty years, and has been Superintendent of the school of that church for over forty years. He was one of the first, firmest and most influential friends of the anti-slavery and temperance causes. In 1859, he was elected a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and long continued to promote its interests in every way in his power.
During his long life Mr. Weir has always resided in the city of his birth, with the exception of but six months, and that was while moving among the printing offices of Philadelphia. His steadfast residence in his native place has only tended to increase his influence and to endear him more and more to his neighbours. On August 9th, of this year, (1875,) there was a celebration of his seventieth birthday. To this event a correspondent of a Philadelphia daily thus refers :
" Yesterday the personal friends of this distinguished financier united in an ovation of respect such as is not often paid to men who lead a purely private career. It was as genuine a surprise as a magnificent success. Before the bank opened the different er ployees of the insti- tution waited on the cashier in a body and tendered him their con- gratulations in an address full of affection and respect, the address being accompanied by a photographic group of their portraits in a large frame. When the bank opened, at nine o'clock, a stream of visitors began to pour into the cashier's room, until it was found necessary to occupy other parts of the house, where the nieces of Mr. Weir had prepared a collation for the entertainment of his friends. The callers continued to appear until three o'clock in the afternoon, during which time over eight hundred people paid their respects. On behalf of the directors of the bank. Mr. Weir was presented with a solid silver tea set. Messrs. Dougherty, Brothers & Co., sent a swinging silver ice pitcher, and a large number of bouquets were received. One hundred and fifty congratulatory letters were laid on the cashier's table, and the day wound up with a dinner, at which nine- teen of the old friends of the cashier were present, whose average age was seventy-five years."
Such a demonstration is in the highest degree complimentary to Mr. Weir, and is but the expression of a feeling of esteem which is univer- sal. No man better deserves it than James Wallace Weir. No banker in the State has a more unsullied reputation, and no man in any community, reaching the age of seventy years, has a purer per- sonal reputation. Uprightness, benevolence, energy, geniality, courage in duty, fidelity in carth's various relations, all sanctified and adorned by religion, eminently mark his symmetrical character.
SAMUEL R. FISHER, D. D.
HE REV. SAMUEL R. FISHER was born in Norristown, Mont- gomery county, Pa., June 2d, ISIo, the sixth son of a family of seven boys, the three youngest and the ekdlest of whom are still living. His ancestors, both paternal and maternal, emigrated from the Palatinate in Germany, early in the eighteenth century. They fled from persecution and were among the first Germans from that section of Germany who settled in Pennsylvania, and aided in organizing the first Reformed Churches in this state. They settled on the wild lands, in what was then Philadelphia, but now Montgomery county, the former near Sumneytown, and the latter near Hatfield station, on the North Pennsylvania Railroad.
His paternal and maternal grandparents were all born in this country, his father being the youngest of a family of thirteen, and his mother, next to the youngest of a family of twelve children. His paternal grandfather, George Fisher, was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary army, and as such passed through many trying scenes. His maternal grandfather, Jacob Reed, was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Pennsylvania militia, and was in the battles of Trenton, Germantown, Brandywine, &c.
Young Fisher commenced going to school very early, his parents availing themselves of such facilities for educating their children, as were afforded by the schools then in existence. From his earliest years he was piously inclined, and had a desire to make the Christian ministry his vocation in life. His father's pecuniary circumstances, however, having become straitened, he had partially abandoned the idea, because of his supposed inability to acquire the necessary educa- tion. His aspirations were revived in this direction, by a proposition from his relative and god-father, the Rev. George Wack, to take him into his family, and give him such instruction as his leisure from other duties that were required of him, would enable him to receive. With this object in view, he entered his family in the spring of 1824, and continued there nearly five years.
In the spring of 1826, he attended a course of catechetical lectures with a view to confirmation. On the 27th of May of that year, he was confirmed in Boehm's Church, of which the Rev. George Wack was pastor, then lacking five days of being sixteen years of age, and
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admitted for the first time to the Holy Communion of the Lord's Supper, a privilege which he enjoyed with much deep, pious feeling. For his early religions impressions he is greatly indebted to the influ- ence of his truly pious mother.
As he advanced in years, he became more deeply sensible of the responsible nature of the ministerial office, and of the great importance of a thorough Classical and Theological education to the successful discharge of its duties. Hence he contrived various methods to secure that which was so much the object of his heart's desire. He entered the Preparatory Department of Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Pa., in the fall of 1829, in the twentieth year of his age.
After spending a year in the Preparatory Department, Mr. Fisher entered college, and graduated in September, 1834, in a class of thirty- four members, among whom were more than the usual number of excellent scholars. During his college vacations, he made frequent journeys on foot. The fall vacation of six weeks, in 1832, was in this way appropriated to a journey of eight hundred miles, in which was included the distance from Philadelphia and return. During the greater portion of his college course, he also traveled every Sunday sixteen miles on foot, superintending two Sunday Schools, and listening to two sermons in the summer, and one in the winter.
The fall after graduating, he entered the Theological Seminary at York, Pa., then presided over by the Rev. Dr. Lewis Mayer, with whom was associated the Rev. Dr. F. A. Rauch, and passed through the prescribed course in the institution, which, at that time, covered a period of two years.
In September, 1836, Mr. Fisher was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States, and having accepted a call to the Emmittsburg charge, Frederick county, Maryland, he was ordained to the work of the ministry and installed pastor of the charge, by a committee of Synod, on the 19th of October. 1836. In this charge he laboured with varied success until the close of the year 1839. During the first year he preached to six congrega- tions. Subsequent to that time, the number was reduced to four. In performing his duties, he traveled over a large extent of country, and engaged in a great variety of active operations. The result of his labours was a large accession to the congregations under his care.
On the first of January, 1840, he became connected with the Publica- tion Office of the Reformed Church, which had just been established in Chambersburg. On the first of April, he removed with his family to Chambersburg, and became associated with Rev. Dr. B. S. Schneck, in
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the editorship of the "Reformed Church Messenger." At about this point in his history, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Marshall College. From that time to the present day. Dr. Fisher has been connected with the publication interests of the church, having had the special management of them since 1845, and also editing the " Messenger," at intervals in connection with another, but during the greater portion of the time alone. In 1840, he became the Stated Clerk of the Reformed Church in the United States, and has continued in this relation until the present time.
Besides several sermons preached on special occasions, Dr. Fisher has prepared and published, the following works: "The Rum Plague," a temperance story, translated from the German of Zschokhe; "I leidel- berg Catechism Simplified;" "Exercises on the Heidelberg Catechism:" and " The Family Assistant." The latter three of these works indicate marked ability in their authorship. They have had, and still have an extensive circulation.
Dr. Fisher has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Ellen C. May, eldest daughter of Daniel May, Esq., of York, Pa., to whom he was married on the fifth of April, 1837. The fruit of this marriage was one son and one daughter, the former of whom is engaged in the work of the ministry. The first Mrs. Fisher died in Chambersburg, on the 26th of January, 1842, in the twenty-sixth year of her age. On the 5th of' December, 1843, he was married to his present wife, Mrs. Naomi Kerns, widow of Abraham Kerns, of Bedford, Pa. The second marriage has been without issue.
Dr. Fisher now resides in Philadelphia, the Publication Office with which he is connected having been removed to that city, after the burning of Chambersburg during the War of the Rebellion. Though his life has been one of carnest labour, he still retains remarkable vigour, and, in his diligence and persistence in the work to which he is called, is an example of fidelity and efficiency. He continues to wield great influence in the church which he loves, and by which he has ever been highly esteemed. His ripe scholarship, characteristic sincerity and honesty, long experience, genial spirit, and singleness of purpose. have won him a position of prominence and power, which, no one can doubt, he occupies with a solemn sense of his corresponding responsi- bility. Catholic in spirit, he is also popular with other denominations than his own, and leaves the impression wherever he is known, that all his varied talents are consecrated to the full and final triumph of Christianity.
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JOHN HOLMES AGNEW, D. D.
HE REV. JOHN HOLMES AGNEW was born in Gettys- burg, Pa., May 9th, 1804. Of his father, who subsequently removed to Harrisburg, and whose fame as a physician reached far beyond the range of his practice, a sketch is given elsewhere in this volume. Young Holmes's teacher at Harrisburg, writes, " He was a good boy, of good abilities, and learned well and rapidly." He graduated at Dickinson College, under the presidency of the dis- tinguished Dr. John Mason, and taught the grammar school in Carlisle for some time after leaving the college.
Mr. Agnew pursued his theological studies in the seminary at Princeton, and was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Carlisle, April 11th, 1827. Having received and accepted a call to the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in Uniontown, Pa, he was dismissed to the Presbytery of Redstone, October 29th, 1827. He was married to Miss Sarah Emeline Taylor, of Newark, N. J., April 18th, 1829. On account of a nervous affection which always seized him severely after preaching, and from which he never could get relief during his life, he had to abandon in a great measure the duties of the pulpit, and consequently resigned his pastoral relation to the church at Uniontown, after discharging its duties for a short time as efficiently and acceptably as his failing health would permit. A. W. Boyd, Esq .. of that place, in a letter, says, "I find those who were members of the church during Mr. Agnew's pastorate, remember him with a great deal of pleasure. All say he was greatly beloved by the people, was an excellent pastor, and a very instructive and interesting preacher, a man of deep piety, and it was felt to be a great calamity to the church when he left."
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