USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Centennial biography : Men of mark of Cumberland Valley, Pa., 1776-1876 > Part 39
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Or Jove for his power to thunder.
Mr. McLanahan retired into private life, residing in New York city. where he had many warm personal friends. He resisted there all inducements to enter political office, preferring the quiet enjoyment of the family circle to the excitement of the arena of politics. He died December 16th, 1861, sustained by Christian hope. His wife, and only son, reside in the city just named. Though dying in the prime of his life, he had already earned the title of an able lawyer, an incorruptible public servant, and an honest man. Of such a character it is fit that the dignity should be vindicated and the value made known.
HON. GEORGE SANDERSON,
S a native of Cumberland county, and was born in Dickinson township, about seven miles southwest of Carlisle. His parents were in humble circumstances, and he lost his father when only twelve years of age. His widowed mother, who was a woman of remarkable energy, managed to give him a common English education, which he afterwards improved by his own exertions and application to study.
In his seventeenth year young Sanderson was apprenticed to the coopering business, but, on becoming free, the business being very dull, he was induced to commence teaching school, in which honorable employment he was remarkably successful, and continued to follow it in Shippensburg and vicinity until 1836, at which time he became editor and proprietor of the Carlisle Volunteer. the recognized organ of the Democracy of Cumberland county, and continued to publish it for a period of nine years.
From 1839 to 1842, Mr. Sanderson was Prothonotary of Cumberland county, having been first appointed by Governor Porter, and after- . wards elected by the people. From 1845 to 1849. he held the office of . Postmaster at Carlisle, having been appointed by President Polk. In 1849, at the earnest solicitation of James Buchanan, whose name was then beginning to loom up prominently for the Presidency, he removed to Lancaster and took charge of the Intelligencer, the long established and influential organ of the Democracy of that county, and continued to conduct the paper until 1864, a period of fifteen years.
In February, 1859, he was elected Mayor of the city of Lancaster, and so satisfactorily did he discharge the responsible duties of the position, that he was re-elected for nine consecutive terms, and retired from the office in October, 1869, having been at the head of the municipal government for nearly eleven years, a much longer period than any of his predecessors who were elected by the people. Since he retired from the Mayoralty he has been engaged in the book and stationary business, and still continues to reside in Lancaster. In addition to the offices above mentioned, Mr. Sanderson held several minor positions of trust and responsibility in Cumberland and Lancaster counties, such as School Director, Assessor, Notary Public, &c., and was twice nominated as a candidate for the Legislature, but, owing to his party
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being in a minority, he failed of an election. In all the offices he held, he conducted himself to the entire satisfaction of the public, and with a degree of popularity in each which few persons can command.
In politics, Mr. Sanderson has always been a firm and unwavering Democrat of the real Jackson stamp, neither turning to the right hand nor to the left, and has. a record politically as well as morally above reproach. He has now nearly completed his three-score years and ten, but still retains, in a great degree, his vigour of mind and body, and, as a political writer or speaker, would not be unwilling to break a lance with any of his opponents. In person, he is somewhat above the middle height, erect and well proportioned, and bids fair to live for several years to come.
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JAMES I. BROWNSON, D. D.,
HE subject of this sketch, was born at Mercersburg, Pa., March 14th, 1817. His honoured and pious parents jointly repre- sented an ancestry which had shared in the settlement of the beautiful and historic Cumberland valley. To their son and them- selves, the Rev. David Elliott, D. D., LL. D., who was for a number of years Pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Mercersburg, thus refers in a letter written to the First Presbyterian Church, Washing- ton, Pa .. on the occasion of their Quarter Century Celebration, December, 1873 : " With your present Pastor I have been acquainted from his carliest childhood, for I baptised him, when he was an infant. His excellent parents, Major John Brownson and his wife, were amongst my most intimate friends. The Major was a ruling elder in my first pastoral charge. He was a man of more than ordinary intelli- gence ; and from his having been in the army, and mingled largely with the world, he had acquired an experience. of human nature in its various forms of practical development, which qualified him to be a valuable assistant in the administration of the government of the . church."
In his childhood, young Brownson was reduced by sickness to the borders of the grave, and for three months the question of his life was daily in doubt. At that time his father dedicated him upon his knees to God for the ministry, binding himself in a covenant which he ever afterwards held sacred. Its only two conditions were, the son's preser- vation and the Master's call. The parental heart which made that vow ceased to beat whilst the son was in the Senior class of college, but was unspeakably gladdened in death with the promise and process of its fulfilment. . Mr. Brownson's union with the church by a profession of faith had preceded this bereavement by a few years, during a powerful work of grace which had sealed the early ministry of his Pastor, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Creigh.
I laving completed his academical preparation at home, chiefly under the instruction of the Rev. Robert Kennedy, he was sent to the care of the friend of his parents already named, (Dr. Elliott,) then pastor of the Church at Washington, and in his sixteenth year entered the Freshman class of the college in that place, from which, in 1836, he was regularly graduated. After a year spent in the Bucks county Academy.
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at Newtown, Pa., as a teacher of the Ancient Languages and Mathe- matics, he entered the Western Theological Seminary, in which Dr. Elliott had now become a Professor, as a student for the ministry. Ilis licensure to preach, in 1840, by the Presbytery of Carlisle, was followed the next year by his installation as the Pastor of the United Congre- gations of Greensburg and Mount Pleasant, Pa., in the Presbytery of Redstone. In this charge he laboured with great acceptableness and success for eight years.
A call was made out on the first Monday of December, 1848, by the Presbyterian Church of Washington, Pennsylvania, for Dr. Brownson's services as its pastor. This very important position was accepted by him with great diffidence of his ability to meet its demands. With a college on the one hand, and a female seminary on the other, the field was justly felt to be one involving a large responsibility, requiring special fitness for its cultivation. But the pastorate thus assumed, at once, as it has ever since, proved itself to be one of Divine consti- tution.
One of the best evidences of Dr. Brownson's marked success in the charge which he has occupied for more than twenty-five years, was furnished at the celebration just mentioned. On that occasion, Thomas McKennan, M. D., in an address in behalf of the elders and deacons, said :-
" Many whom I see around me, and many who have gone before, could bear testimony to the deep solicitude of our pastor in our behalf, and to the carnestness of his public and private appeals that we would come to Christ. In this, indeed, he has been a true and faithful pastor. Need we speak of his clear and cogent arguments to convince our judgments in behalf of religion and a religious life : of his gentle and tender ministrations at the bedside of sickness, and his still more tender ministrations in the houses of mourning and. death; of his labours in behalf of every good enterprise ; of his deep concern in all proper and important projects (educational and otherwise) connected with the welfare of this community; of his true, yet judicious, patriotism? All these are known and acknowledged by every one."
Such testimony, in such circumstances, speaks for itself. And whilst it is eminently complimentary to Dr. Brownson, an important lesson which it teaches should not be overlooked, viz: That the pastors who make for themselves a large, and warm, and firm place in the hearts of their people, are those who preach simply and plainly the pure Gospel.
Dr. Brownson is above medium size, and of commanding personal appearance. He is of a genial disposition, and in his deportment
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happily unites suavity and dignity of manner. By constitutional temperament he is conservative in spirit, and cautious in movement. Ilis scholarly attainments are highly creditable. For a scason, while the Presidency of Washington College was vacant, he very satis- factorily discharged the duties of the position. As a writer he is clear, logical and cogent. As a preacher he is instructive, forcible and impressive, always preparing his discourses with great care, and de- livering them with pathos and power. By his brethren of the ministry, to whom he is known, he is justly held in high esteem for his upright- ness, ability and usefulness.
WILLIAM HENRY ALLEN, M. D., LL. D.
ILLIAM HENRY ALLEN, M. D., LL. I., President of Girard College, was born near the city of Angusta, Maine, March 27th, ISO8.
He is the son of Jotham and Thankful Allen, and his paternal grand- father was a descendant of the Braintree branch of the Allens of Massachusetts. His early life was spent at home on a farm until he. entered the Wesleyan Seminary, (Maine,) where he received his educa- tion preparatory to entering Bowdoin College, which he did at the age of twenty-one, graduating therefrom after a four year coursc. In- mediately after leaving college, he was called to take charge of the Greek and Latin classes at the Oneida .Conference Seminary at Cazenovia, New York, where he remained for two and a half years ; when his worth and ability being appreciated by his own townspeople, he was invited to return to Augusta, and preside over the High School in that city.
He remained in this latter locality, however, but six months, as he had been tendered the Professorship of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which he accepted. . This chair he occupied for ten years, and was then trans- ferred to that of English Literature in the same institution, which he filled for three years. During much of the time he resided in Carlisle, he was a regular contributor to the Methodist Quarterly Review. He also wrote and delivered numerous addresses and lectures on educa- tional and general subjects. He has delivered lectures in several cities of the Union, among them Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and Indian- apolis. In January, 1853, at the request of the municipal authorities of Philadelphia, he pronounced a Eulogy on America's greatest statesman, Daniel Webster. This eloquent and able discourse was highly esteemed by the public. It was published, and took rank with others delivered by prominent men throughout the country.
In January, 1850, he was appointed President of Girard College. succeeding Judge Jones, who had held the position from the opening of the institution two years previously. The Board of Directors found in him a gentleman whose education and superior administrative abilities admirably fitted him to become the executive of an institution of this peculiar character. His duties there were entirely different
Min . H. Allen
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from those required in the same positions in other colleges. Here he was called on not only to organize and harmonize a staff of professors for the educational department of the college, but there devolved on him also the organization of what may be termed a "household staff" of officers-ladies and gentlemen-whose duties were the care of pupils when not engaged in school. It was also his duty to officiate in all the religious and devotional exercises of the institution, as the will of Stephen Girard, the founder of the college, prohibited the admission of clergymen within its pale. No sectarian teachings were to be intro- duced, and the minds of the pupils were to be kept free from denominational bias, so that when they should leave the institution by reason of their advanced age and education, they could better choose the creed which they would adopt for the future. Thus it will be seen, that there devolved on him the supervision of the school, the home, and the moral training of about five hundred boys. It was a great task, when it is considered that they embraced. those ranging from the tender age of eight years to the active and impulsive youth of seven- teen. How well and admirably he performed his manifold duties, how complete the satisfaction of the Directors, his long continuance in office testifies, and how well he has succeeded in gaining and keeping the re: pect and esteem of the numerous professors and officers of the institution is also proved by their many years of service under his administration. Last, but not least, the love and regard in which he 'is held by hundreds of the graduates of the institution, adds another link to the testimony, all going to show that in him the college has found a man equaled by very few and surpassed by none in his peculiar fitness for the position.
In December, 1862, he resigned the position which he had filled so acceptably for thirteen years, and retired to the walks of private life, taking up his abode on a farm on the banks of the Delaware, not far from the city. Here he remained for two years, when he received a call from the Pennsylvania Agricultural College to become its Presi- dent; he accepted it, and continued in the position two years. In 1867, he was recalled to Girard College, thus receiving the most em- phatic endorsement of the efficiency of his former administration. In religious belief he is a Methodist, and has been for many years a member of that church. He was honoured, in March, 1872, by being . elected President of the American Bible Society, which position he continues to hold. In 1850, the year he was first inaugurated as President of Girard College, the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by Union College, Schenectady, New York,
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and also by Emory and Henry College of Virginia. He has been married four times. First, in 1836, to Martha, daughter of Bishop Richardson, of Toronto, Canada ; his second wife was Ellen Honora Curtin, of Bellefonte, a sister of Governor Curtin ; his third, Mary Quincy, of Boston ; and his fourth and present wife was, at the time of her marriage, Mrs. Anna Maria Gemmill, the widow of one of Philadelphia's most successful and highly esteemed merchants.
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JOSEPH CRAIN AUDENRIED,
JON of the Hon. William Audenried, and his wife, Jane M. Wills. was born at Pottsville, Penn., November 6th, 1839. His father was a member of the State Legislature from 1822 to 1824, and of the Senate of Pennsylvania from 1824 to 1828, during which period he originated the idea of a specific fund for the support of the common schools of the state, which only failed in being brought to a successful issue, from the fact that, to quote from the press of that day, "those associated with him had not the moral courage to adopt his suggestions or carry out his proposed reforms."
His grandfather, Lewis Audenried, came to America from the Republic of Switzerland, in 1789. On his' maternal side he is descended from Robert Wallace, who came to America from the county of Londonderry, Ireland, before 1738, and settled on Swatara creek, then Lancaster, now Dauphin county, in 1738. This Robert Wallace, together with the Rev. William Bertram, Hugh Wilson, and others, received from the proprietors, Thomas and John Penn, a patent for one hundred acres of land, upon which they erected the church of Derry, the first Presbyterian Church in that part of the country. This patent is recorded at Harrisburg, and is dated July 18th, 1741.
At the death of Robert Wallace, in 1783, his plantation, as it was called, passed to his son James, who had married Sarah, a daughter of the Rev. John Elder, of Paxton and Derry Church. This James Wallace served in the Revolutionary army, was appointed, in 1807. one of the first Brigadier Generals under the new Militia law ; was a mem- ber of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, from 1806 to 1810, and of the Congress of the United States from 1815 to 1821.
When the Manor of Lowther, now in Cumberland county, was surveyed and divided into lots, in 1767, lot No. 4 was taken up by Moses Wallace, the eldest son of Robert Wallace, for which he paid to the proprietors, Thomas and John Penn, three hundred and eighty- one pounds, ten shillings. The warrant for this was granted in 1771. and the patent in 1774.
Moses Wallace married Jean Fulton, daughter of Richard Fulton. of the township of Paxton, in the county of Lancaster. Moses Wallace was born in 1741, and died in 1803. Jean Fulton was born
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in 1748, and died in 1786. They are both buried in the Paxton grave- yard. Robert Wallace, born 1712, died 1783; and Mary, his wife, born 1721, died 1784, being buried in Derry Church graveyard. Out of several children born to Moses and Jean Wallace only one survived them, and this was Isabel, born 1776, who married Alexander Wills, the son of James and Mary Wills. In 1809, Alexander Wills was commissioned by Governor Snyder, as Justice of the Peace for Allen township, Cumberland county, and this office he held for nearly forty ycars.
They had three daughters, the eldest, Jane M., born June Sth, 1808, married the Hon. William Audenried, of Schuylkill county, Pa., the second, Rebecca Y., born January 23d. 1811, married Dr. Joseph Crain, son of Richard M. Crain, Esq., (a Captain in the War of 1812,) and grandson of Captain Ambrose Crain of the Revolutionary army. The third daughter, Caroline, born April 12th, 1817, married Dr. Matthew Semple, afterwards Professor of Chemistry in the Homeopathic College of Philadelphia."
From the marriage between Jane M. Wills and the Hon. William Audenried comes the subject of this sketch, who, in. 1857, was appointed to the United States Military School at West Point, from the Congressional District of Pennsylvania embracing the counties of Cumberland, Perry and York. After a course of study of four years, he graduated at that institution June 24th, 1861, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the then Fourth, now First Cavalry, but afterwards he was commissioned as First Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Sixth Cavalry, the commission dating from June 24th, 1861. The following, taken from General Cullom's biographical history of the officers and graduates of West Point, Vol. II, will give his military record: "Served in the rebellion of the seceding States, IS61-1866; in drilling volunteers at Washington, D. C., June and July, 1861 ; in the Manasses campaign, of July, 1861 ; as Aide-de- Camp to Brig. Genl. Daniel Tyler (second in command) ; being en- gaged in the action at Blackburn's Ford, July 18th, 1861 ; and battle of Bull Run, July 21st, 1861 ; in the defences of Washington, D. C., July, 1861, to March, 1862, being attached to the Second Artillery until December. 1861; as Adjutant of the Sixth United States Cavalry, December ist, 1861, to July 21st, 1862, during which time he was detached in the Virginia Peninsular campaign (Army of the Potomac), as acting Assistant Adjutant General of the First Cavalry Brigade, from March, 1862, to July, 1862, being engaged in the siege of Yorktown, April 5th to May 4th, 1862; battle of Williamsburg, May 5th, 1862;
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action of Hanover Court House, May 27th, 1862. On July 10th, 1862. he was appointed Aide-de-Camp to Major General E. V. Sumner, and promoted to the rank of Captain and additional Aide-de-Camp, August 20th, 1862. Served with General Sumner in the Maryland campaign (Army of the Potomac), September, 1862, being engaged in the battle of Antietam, September 17th, 1862, (when he was wounded, being shot through the left leg, and brevetted Captain in the regular army for gallant and meritorious services :) in the Rappahanock campaign (Army of the Potomac), December, 1862, to April, 1863; being engaged as Aide-de-Camp to General Sumner in the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13th, 1862. Major General Sumner dying in March, 1863, he was ordered to Major General John E. Wool, commanding Depart- ment of the East, New York city, and remained on his staff during the month of April, 1863, when he was ordered to report to Major General Ulysses S. Grant, then at Vicksburg, Mississippi, as Aide-de- Camp. Served with Major General Grant from June 20th, 1863, to October Ist, 1863, being engaged in the siege of Vicksburg, June zoth, 1863, to July 4th, 1863, and present at the surrender of the Confederate General Pemberton's army, at Vicksburg, July 4th, 1863.
Major General William T. Sherman being ordered from Vicksburg to the relief of the army under Major General Rosecranz, at Chatta- nooga, Captain Audenried was ordered to report to him for duty as Aide-de-Camp ; served as Aide-de-Camp from October 3d, 1863, being engaged . in the march from Memphis, Tennessee, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, October ist to November 20th, 1863, participating in the action at Colliersville, Mississippi, October 11th, 1863; battle of Missionary Ridge, November 24th and 25th, 1863; march to the relief of Knoxville, November 28th to December 2d, 1863, and return to Chattanooga, and thence to Vicksburg, Mississippi, December, 1863, to January, 186.1. Expedition to Meridian, Mississippi, February Ist to February 25th, 1864 ; Atlanta campaign, May to September ist, 1864, participating in the battle of Resaca, May 1.jth and 15th: New Hope Church, May 25th, 28th : Kenesaw Mountain, June 20th to July 2d ; Atlanta, July 22d ; Atlanta, again, July 28th ; Jonesboro, Septem- ber Ist; and siege and capture of Atlanta, July 22d to September Ist, 1864, for which he was brevetted, September ist, 1864, Major in the regular army for gallant and meritorious services during the Atlanta campaign.
March from Atlanta to the sea, November 14th, 1864, terminating with the capture of Savannah, December 21st, 1864. Invasion of the Carolinas, January 15th to April 26th, 1865, participating in the
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battles of Averysboro, March 16th, and Bentonville, March 20th and 21st, 1865. Capture of Raleigh, April 13th, and surrender of General Joseph F. Johnson's Rebel army, at Durham station, April 26th, 1865. . being brevetted, March 13th, 1865, Lieutenant Colonel in the regular army for gallant and meritorious services during the Rebellion. March to Richmond and Washington, D. C., April 28th to May 24th, 1865. Stationed at Head Quarters, Military Division of the Missouri, June 27th, 1865, to March, 1869.
In 1866, Major General Sherman having been appointed Lieutenant General, Captain Audenried was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and Aide-de-Camp on the Staff.
July Ist, 1866, he was promoted in the regular army to the rank of Captain, Sixth United States Cavalry.
Lieutenant General Sherman, having been made General of the Army, March 4th, 1869. by General U. S. Grant being elected Presi- dent of the United States, Lieutenant Colonel Audenried was pro- moted to the rank of Colonel and Aide-de-Camp to General W. T. Sherman, and with him changed his station to Washington, D. C .. March 4th, 1869, where he remained until October, 1874, when Gen- eral Sherman having at his own request removed the Head Quarters of the Army to St: Louis, Mo., Colonel Audenried is now stationed there.
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JOHN STEWART, ESQ.
OHN STEWART was born February ist, 1807, in Adams county, Pa. In 1830, he removed to Loudon, Franklin county, Pa., where, in 1832, he was married to Mary C. Scott, daughter of Thomas Scott, of that place.
Leaving Loudon, he located himself in Waynesburg, in the same county, and engaged in merchandising and contracting. Here he connected himself with the Presbyterian Church in 1844. In 1845, he received from his fellow-citizens the compliment of an election to the Legislature. The duties of this office he discharged with fidelity, and to the satisfaction of his constituents, but declined a re-election in 1846.
In 1849, Mr. Stewart removed to Weaverton, Virginia, where he was ordained an elder in the Presbyterian Church of Harper's Ferry. At this place he acted in the capacity of a contractor on the railroad, and an event that occurred indicated the strong attachment felt to him by the men in his employment. On a certain occasion a mob of wild Irish laborers turned out upon the line. Some contractors had to flee for their lives, others were beaten and wounded. When the mob reached the works of Mr. Stewart, and threatened to attack his person, one hundred of his own men rallied for his defence, alleging that every one of them must be beaten before any violence should be done to him.
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