USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Commemorative biographical encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania : containing sketches of prominent and representative citizens and many of the early Scotch-Irish and German settlers. Pt. 1 > Part 36
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-- BELL, WILLIAM, was born at Jaysburg, Pa., in 1790. His education was limited, and was in carly life, owing to the accidental death of his father by drowning, apprenticed to the trade of a carpenter .- He came to Harrisburg during the erection of the capitol, and was employed by Mr. Hills until its com- pletion. He carried ou the business until 1829, when he established a grocery, which he conducted until his death. He served frequently as a member of the borough council, and took a deep interest in the prosperity of his adopted home. He died at Harrisburg, on the 20th of May, 1847, aged
fifty-seven years. Mr. Bell married, in 1819, Elizabeth Hutman, daughter of Matthias and Catharine Hutman ; born in 1792; died Feb- ruary 28,1868, at Harrisburg. Their children were Catharine, George, William, Maria, married Edward Curzon, Ann, and Elizabeth.
AWL, JACOB MICHAEL, son of Jacob Awl and Sarah Stroh, was born February 24, 1792, in Paxtang. He was a grandson of the preceding carly settler. His father dying in his infancy, he was raised on the farm of his maternal grandfather, Michael Stroh. In early life he settled in Harrisburg, where he spent the remainder of his days, dying there on the 5th of September 1849; was long a leading member of the Methodist church ; at the time of his death the Demo- cratic Union said he was "a gentleman of the purest piety and strictest integrity in all liis intercourse with his fellow men;" while the Keystone stated that "no man enjoyed in a higher degree the confidence and respect of the community "-that " his life had been a continual exemplification of what the walk and conversation of a Christian should be." Mr. Awl served as a solder in the war of 1812-14. He married, April 27, 1824, Fanny Horning, born February 17, 1803; died July 12, 1869, at Harrisburg.
-STEWART, DAVID, born October 30, 1792, in Hanover township, Dauphin county, and died May 29, 1869, at Coleraine Forges, Hunt- ingdon county, Pa .; buried in the Spruce Creek cemetery at Graysville. He was twenty- one years of age at the time of the exodus of the family from Hanover to Centre county in 1813. He became the general manager at Pennsylvania Furnace, and subsequently entered the firm under the title of Shorb, Stewart & Co., which was synonymous with that of Lyon, Shorb & Co., Pittsburgh, manu- facturers of the famed Juniata iron. Mr. Stewart was, undoubtedly, the most promi- nent and wealthy member of this large family ; resided at Coleraine Forges, Huntingdon county, from 1831 until his death. His house was noted for its elegant and liberal hospitality. In person he was large and im- posing, showing traits of his Scotch ancestry, and was the last of his father's family, a long lived race, and it may be noted that from the birth of his eldest brother, Robert, to the date of his own death, embraced a period of nearly one hundred years. He married, May 22, 1822, Sarah Walker, daughter of John Walker
PotrSnodgrass.
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and Ann, his wife, of Alexandria, Hunting- don county, Pa., originally from county Stra- bane in the north of Ireland. She was born September 23, 1799, and died at Coleraine Forges, April 24, 1874, having survived her husband, by whose side she now lies buried.
- BUCHER, JOHN CONRAD, was born Decem- ber 28, 1792; died October 26, 1851. In early life was engaged in merchandising ; in 1830 elected to represent Dauphin and Lebanon counties in the Twenty-second Congress of the United States ; appointed by Governor Porter, in 1839, an associate judge of the courts of Dauphin county, which office he held for twelve years. He was a man of enlarged views and of public spirit, unsullied reputation and un- impeachable integrity, engaged in all the public enterprises of his day, and held various positions of honor and responsi- bility. Many years a school director and president of the board of education of his native city, Harrisburg. A member and an officer of the German Reformed congregation at home, he was one of the leading laymen in the ecclesiastical councils of the church ; treasurer of one of its boards and of its theo- logical seminary. Judge Bucher married, January 17, 1820, Ellen Isett, daughter of Jacob Isett, of Huntingdon county, Pa .; born September 10, 1797; died March 6, 1881; both buried in Harrisburg cemetery, of which he was one of the founders.
- HOLMAN, SAMUEL, son of Conrad Holman, Jr., and Rachel Guss, was born in Chester county, Pa., January 11, 1793. Conrad Hol- man, Sr., the grandfather, was born in New Castle county, Del., in 1738, and died at the residence of his son in Perry county, Pa., in 1822. Conrad, Jr., born in Chester county in 176S, died in Perry county in 1841 ; he mar- ried Rachel, daughter of Charles Guss and Mary Shunk. Samuel learned the trade of house carpenter, and came to Harrisburg after his majority, where he successfully pur- sued his business and was widely known as a builder and architect. Among the public works constructed under his supervision and according to plans were bridges over the Sus- quehanna at Clark's Ferry and Harrisburg, and over the Schuylkill river at Schuylkill Falls. He was the architect for the court houses at Lewistown and Harrisburg. For several years he was supervisor of the public works between Columbia and Millerstown.
He was a man of much energy of char- acter in whatever business he engaged. Dur- ing the war of 1812-14 he went as fifer in Captain Walker's company, which marched to the defense of Baltimore, and in his old age served as a volunteer for the defense of Harrisburg when, in 1863, it was threatened by General Lee. He frequently was a mem- ber of the borough council, and took a deep interest in the prosperity of his adopted town. He died at Harrisburg September 28, 1863. Mr. Holman married, in 1822, Sarah, daughter of Daniel Hertz and Elizabeth Kis- ner; born at Harrisburg, December 5, 1800, and there died October 22, 1863. They had five children living at the time of their death : Ann Elizabeth, married Samuel Alleman, Rev. Samuel Augustus, William Simon, Mary Ellen, married Dr. A. L. Alstead, and Sarah Frances, married George A. Klugh.
- CAMERON, JOHN, son of Charles Cameron and Martha Pfoutz, was born February 8, 1797, in the village of Maytown, Lancaster county, Pa. He received the ordinary edu- cation of the public schools of the town, and at an early age apprenticed to the trade of a tailor. He came to Harrisburg in 1816, where he started in business. Governor Shulze appointed him register and recorder of the county of Dauphin, January 17, 182. He was frequently chosen member of the borough council of Harrisburg. He subse- quently engaged in merchandizing, dealt largely in cattle, and became interested in the through stage lines. In 1837 he re- moved to Lancaster, retired from business, and died there May 7, 1841; buried at Har- risburg. Mr. Cameron was twice married -- first, to Catharine Hutman, daughter of Matthias Hutman, of Harrisburg, born Sep- tember 1, 1796, died November 1, 1821 ; sec- ondly, to Mary Shulze, of Myerstown, Leb- anon county, a sister of Gov. John Andrew Shulze. He left a son and a daughter ; the former died carly, the latter became the wife of Dr. Muhlenberg, of Lancaster. Mr. Cam- eron was quiet and unobtrusive, an intelli- gent and enterprising business man.
-HERR, COL. DANIEL, was born on the 14th of December, 1795, at Hagerstown, Md. Iis ancestors were among the first settlers in Lancaster county, Pa., from whence the family name has become wide-spread. Daniel learned the trade of a house carpenter,
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an occupation he pursued several years. During the last war with Great Britain he was lieutenant colonel of a volunteer regi- ment in active service. In later life he fol- lowed hotelkeeping. He kept the Tremont House at Philadelphia, the Mansion House at Reading, and that famous hostelry, Herr's Hotel, now the Lochiel, at Harrisburg. He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, and during the Anti-Masonic crusade never swerved from his allegiance to the fraternity, being master of his lodge from 1835 to 1838, inclusive. He was a man pure in purpose, amiable, kind, and generous hearted, yet firm and decided as to opinions and duty. He died at Harrisburg, sincerely regretted, on the 11th of July, 1857, in his sixty-second year. Colonel Herr married, February 15, 1820, in Gettysburg, Pa., Saralı Gilbert, daughter of Boise Gilbert and Susanna Fox, born February 14, 1801, and died April 13, 1880, at Harrisburg. Their children were George Isaiah, d. s. p. ; John Davenport, married Jane Nancy Sutton ; Margaret Ann, married, first, Peter Nagle Coleman, second, George Leonard; Amelia Matilda, married John Peter Hassler ; An- drew Jackson ; Jacob Gilbert, married Mary Taylor; Susanna, married Dr. Jacob G. Wiestling; Sarah Isabella, married George Z. Kunkel ; Daniel B .; William Henry Har- rison, d. s. p .; Mary Elizabeth, married Charles Lipps ; Louisa Irene, married Charles A. Bannvart.
.- BURKE, MICHAEL, was born on the 29th of September, 1797, in Templetrathen, county Tipperary, Ireland. Having received a lib- eral education, he left his native land in his eighteenth year for Newfoundland, where an uncle was extensively engaged in the fish- eries off that coast. There he remained only a brief period, being eager to reach the United States. His first destination was Lock- port, N. Y., where he secured a position as bookkeeper for a prominent contractor. IIe here gained liis first idea of a business which he subsequently successfully followed. In 1824 he secured a contract on the Erie canal, and upon its completion went to Akron, O., to construct a section of the canal at that place. From thence he came to Pennsylva- nia, that State being largely engaged in per- fecting her system of internal improvements, and a wide field for Mr. Burke's business energies was open before him. Securing the
contract for that portion of the Juniata di- vision of the Pennsylvania canal between Mexico and Lewistown in 1829, he fixed his permanent home at Harrisburg. Identify- ing himself with the business and welfare of the town of his adoption, he was chosen to the borough council, and in the establish- ment of the first system of water works took an active and warm interest. During a por- tion of this period he was president of the legislative body of the town, and on several occasions became personally responsible for the payment of loans secured for the con- struction of the water works. Upon the completion of the through transportation to Pittsburgh by the Pennsylvania canal, Mr. Burke, with several others, commenced a packet line from Philadelphia to the former place, he having his office at Harrisburg. He also became interested in the Portable line, in which enterprise, however, he sus- tained a loss of thirty-five thousand dollars ; but not discouraged, he continued in other business ventures. The first or pioneer blast furnace erected at Harrisburg was by Mr. Burke and Governor Porter. It was erected along the line of the Pennsylvania canal above State street. While in successful operation several years, Mr. Burke withdrew from the firm, owing to his connection with some contracts on the various railroads then building in the State. He constructed por. tions of the Pennsylvania road between Har- risburg and Pittsburgh, and on the Northern Central, between Harrisburg and York. He had heavy contracts in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and was also engaged in the construction of reservoirs, building one at Baltimore, Md., in 1860, and was engaged in the erection of one in the city of Wash- ington at the time of his death. He died at Harrisburg on the 15th of August, 1864, in his sixty-seventh year. Few men have ex- bibited more public spirit than Mr. Burke, and during his entire residence at Harris- burg he was held in the highest esteem by his fellow citizens, who admired his energy and remarkable business capacity. To those who knew him best he was kind, obliging, genial, and noble-hearted. Mr. Burke mar- ried, on April 6, 1824, Mary A. Finley, of Lockport, N. Y. Their children among others have been : William (deceased), John Michael (deceased), George Washington, Jose- phine, married James Brady, and Martina, married Edward P. Kearns.
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- RETIRER, THOMAS JEFFERSON, only son of Godfried Rehrer and Eva Leiss, was born November 8, 1797, near Rehrersburg, Berks county, Pa. His grandfather, Godfried Rehrer or Roher, settled there at an carly day. Dur- ing the French and Indian war his residence was on the direct road to the frontier settle- ments. He married Magdalena Etchberger, and their son, Godfried Rehrer, born 1769, represented Berks county in the Legislature in 1817, 1820 and 1823. Thomas J. received a good education, was brought up to a mer- cantile life, but subsequently retired to his farm. While engaged in farming he was elected a member of the Legislature, in which he served two terms. At the close of the last session be removed to Harrisburg, hav- ing accepted a clerkship in the Land Office of the Commonwealth. He remained in that department, with the exception of two inter- vals of three years each, until 1866, filling the position of deputy or chief clerk under the several organizations of the office. His long service there made him unusually familiar with the business, and its bearing on the land interests of the State, together with his faithful attention to the duties, was appreciated and recognized by all who had business to transact in the surveyor general's office. He dicd February 28, 1872, at Phila- delphia. Mr. Rehrer married Salome Weiser, daughter of John Weiser and Elizabeth An- spach, born January 3, 1799, on the Conrad Weiser farm, about twelve miles west of Reading. She died October 30, 1842, at Har- risburg, and is there buried. The children were: Clementine M., Clara S., married Dr. George Dock, of Harrisburg, Miranda E., married Lewis G. Osbourn, of Philadelphia, and Erasmus Godfrey.
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- KENDIG, MARTIN, son of John Kendig, was born December 31, 1797, in Sunbury, Northumberland county, Pa., died August 28, 1850, near Middletown, Pa. After receiv- ing a fair education, he learned the trade of saddle and harness making at Harrisburg, and, upon attaining his majority, established the business at Middletown, carrying on, with his brother Daniel, the lumber trade. Subsequently, in company with the latter and Judge Murray, erected a large saw mill at the mouth of the Swatara, and established an extensive business. IIe served as one of the auditors of the county from 1826 to 1828, and represented Dauphin county in the Legislature from 1837 to 1839. Mr. Kendig
was an enterprising citizen, and a gentleman of probity and worth, highly estecmed in the community, and influential in public af- fairs. He was thrice married; married, first, June 15, 1820, Rebecca McFarland, of Lower Paxtang township, Dauphin county, Pa .; b. June 28, 1800; died April 1, 1831.
- HARRIS, GEORGE WASHINGTON, was born June 23, 1798, in the old ferry house, now the location of Harris Park school house. He was a son of Robert Harris, who was a son of John Harris, the founder of the city of Harrisburg, and grandson of John Harris, the first settler. His mother was Elizabeth Ewing, daughter of the celebrated Rev. John Ewing, D. D., provost of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Harris' early education was received at the old Harrisburg Academy and the select schools of the day. Subse- quently he went to Dickinson, Jefferson and the University of Pennsylvania, graduating at the latter institution. He studied law, and was admitted to the Dauphin county bar in 1820. He remained at Harrisburg several years, during a portion of which period he served as deputy attorney general for the county of Dauphin. Hc afterwards removed to Philadelphia and entered into law partnership with Calvin Blythe. He returned to Harrisburg and resumed his place at the Dauphin county bar, and was appointed reporter of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, publishing a series of volumes of report. For a number of years he filled the position of secretary to the library com- mittee of the United States Scnate. Mr. Harris recently edited the journal of Mr. Maclay, one of the first United States sen- ators from Pennsylvania. He died at Har- risburg Sunday morning, August 13, 1882. Mr. Harris married Elizabeth Mary, daughter of Dr. Henry Hall and Hester Maclay, daugh- ter of Senator Maclay ; his wife surviving him at near fourscore.
CAMERON, GEN. SIMON, son of Charles Cameron and Martha Pfoutz, was born March S, 1799, at Maytown, Lancaster county, Pa. On the paternal side he is de- scended from the clan Cameron, of Scotland, who shared their fortunes with the unfortu- nate Charles Edward, whose star of hope sunk on the field of Culloden. Donald Cam- eron, his great-grandfather, was a partici- pant in that memorable battle, and having escaped the carnage made his way to Amer-
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iea, arriving about 1745-46. He afterwards fought under the gallant Wolfe upon the Heights of Abraham, and during the war with Franee was in continuous serviee. His grandfather, Simon Cameron, was an early associator in the Revolution, and took the oath of allegianee June 1, 1778; a brother Jolin signed the same day. Of the latter General Bingham, of Philadelphia, is a grandson. On the maternal side he is de- scended from Conrad Pfoutz, an emigrant from the Palatinate, Germany. He settled in Laneaster county, and Pfoutz's Valley; in now Perry county, perpetuates the name of a hero of the border warfare of Pennsylvania in the days when the treacherous Delawares and perfidious Shawanese sought to desolate the homes of the early pioneers of our State -John Pfoutz. Charles Cameron and Mar- tha Pfoutz had a large family, yet a remark- able one, and the history of our country gives but few instances of the sueeessful career of an entire family, among whom the subjeet of this sketch is the most prominent.
When young Cameron was about the age of nine years his parents removed to North- umberland county, where his father shortly afterwards dying, he was early east upon his own exertions. There were then few ad- vantages afforded by publie sehools, and his educational facilities were exceedingly limited. Having an unquenehable fondness for books, young Cameron was able to per- eeive no other means so likely to satiate his appetite as a printing offiee, it seeming to him the chief center of thought in the com- munity in which destiny had fixed his lot. He therefore entered, in 1816, as an appren- tiee to the printing business with Andrew Kennedy, editor of the Northumberland County Gazette, at Northumberland, where he continued one year, when his employer, owing to financial reverses, was obliged to elose his establishment. Being thus thrown out of employment, he made his way by river boat and on foot to Harrisburg, where he seeured a situation in the printing offiee of James Peaeoek, editor of the Republican, with whom he remained until he had at- tained his majority.
In January, 1821, he went to Doylestown, l'a., at the solieitation of Samuel D. Ingham, where he published the Bucks County Mes- senger. As editor of this paper he evineed a ' breadth of information which, in view of his limited advantages, scemed astonishing. In March of the same year he entered into part-
nership with the publisher of the Doylestown Democrat, and the firm merged their papers into the Bucks County Democrat, which pub- lieation was continued until the elose of the year 1821, when the establishment passed into the hands by purchase of Gen. W. T. Rodgers. The sueeeeding winter Mr. Cam- eron spent in the office of Messrs. Gales & Seaton, publishers of the National Intelli- gencer, at Washington, as a journeyman printer. He returned to Harrisburg in 1822, and entered into partnership with Charles Mowry in the management of the Pennsyl- vania Intelligencer, then the organ of the Democratic party at the State eapital, and enjoyed the official patronage of the State administration, and was elected one of the printers to the State, a position he held seven years. Having been the early friend and supporter of Governor Shulze, upon his ceas- ing to be State printer, he was honored by that executive with the appointment of ad- jutant general of Pennsylvania, the duties of which office he discharged with ability and to the satisfaction of the publie.
General Cameron at an early period took a deep interest in the development of inter- nal improvements, and took extensive eon- traets upon the Pennsylvania canal, then in process of construction. In 1826 he began building the seetion between Harrisburg and Sunbury, and after this was well under way he took one or two seetions on the western division ofthe eanal. When Louisiana granted a charter to the State Bank of that Common- wealth, it provided that the bank should build a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to New Or- leans. General Cameron took the contract for that great work, which was then regarded by engineers as the greatest undertaking of the time. In 1831 he started for New Or- leans. He employed twelve hundred men in Philadelphia, and sent them by sea to that eity. He, with his engineers and tools, went down the Mississippi river, embarking at Pittsburgh. He spent nearly half a year upon the work, and demonstrated beyond a doubt its entire feasibility. He was recalled from his work on the Lake Pontehartrain canal by a summons from Major Eaton, Sec- retary of War under General Jaekson, who requested him to return to Pennsylvania and organize a delegation to the National Con- vention, which had been called to meet in Baltimore. This was in the interest of Mar- tin Van Buren for the Vice-Presidency. Cal- houn had served eight years, had quarreled
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with General Jackson during his second term, and had otherwise put himself in antagonism to the prevailing popularity of Jackson. Gen- eral Cameron respected the summons, camc home and organized a delegation that went to Baltimore in the interest of Mr. Van Buren for the Vice-Presidency. This was the first National Convention ever held in the United States. Mr. Cameron was requested to accept the permanent chairmanship of that conven- tion, but declined, and a gentleman from North Carolina was selected.
After the National Convention in Balti more he was appointed a visitor to West Point . by General Jackson, and upon per- forming his duties on the Hudson he made his first trip to New England. Hewent with a brother of Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania, and thoroughly inspected the paper mills and other manufactures of that section.
In the winter of 1832 the Legislature char- tered the bank at Middletown, and he be- came its cashier. From the first the bank was successful, but the duties of cashier were so limited that General Cameron sought other fields of labor and usefulness, although he remained there twenty-five years. He projected and created the railroads from Mid- dletown to Lancaster, from Harrisburg to Sunbury, from Harrisburg to Lebanon, and at the same time gave large encouragement to the Cumberland Valley railroad. And in this connection it may be stated that the Northern Central railroad from Harrisburg to Baltimore was captured by him from Bal- timore interests and made a Pennsylvania institution; and he was at one time president of not less than four corporations, all operat- ing lines within a few miles of the spot where he was born.
In 1838 President Van Buren tendered to General Cameron the appointment of a com- missioner with James Murray, one of the most respected citizens of Maryland, under a treaty with the Winnebago Indians to settle and adjust the claims made against the In- dians by the traders. These claims were for goods furnished the Indians during a long period of years, and the sum appropriated by the treaty was three hundred thousand dollars. In many cases the commissioners found the claims of the traders unjust, and every account allowed by them met with the approbation of the commissioner appointed by the Indians. In the settlement of some of the claims, the aggregate amount having been reduced from over a million to about
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the traders refused to accept the award and went to Washington with charges against the com- missioners. It had been the usual custom to give the entire appropriation to the claim- ants, but this course did not allow of any di- vision. The charges were met by a demand from the commissioners for re-examination, which resulted in the appointment of a new commission the next year, under whose di- rection the Indians were assembled in coun- cil, who approved by a united vote of their council the entire acts of Messrs. Cameron and Murray, and the account thus adjudged was paid by the Government.
In 1845, when James K. Polk tendered the State Department to James Buchanan, and that gentleman resigned his seat in the Sen- ate of the United States, an election to sup- ply the vacancy became necessary. General Cameron was at this time in recognized sym- pathy with the Democratic party, and selected as the representative of the wing of the party which favored the policy of a protective tariff. The regular caucus nominee of the Democracy, however, was George W. Wood- ward, which was regarded as a free trade tri- umph, rendering it possible for some other Democrat known to be honestly devoted to the ever-cherished policy of the State to be elected by a union of the Whigs, Americans, and those Democrats in favor of the protec- tive policy. The result was the election of Simon Cameron to the United States Senate. From March, 1845, to March 4, 1849, he served his State faithfully in that body, and proved himself true to the greatest interests committed to his charge, and he never wearied in the support of the principles on which he was elected. It may be here stated that Pres- ident Polk at the first seemed inclined to ig- nore Mr. Cameron, declaring his election to the Senate as having been outside the party organization, but this treatment he found to his cost was not conducive to his own peace of mind, sent for General Cameron, made a truce with him, and there was never any more trouble.
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