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 57
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MEYERS, HON. BENJAMIN F., lawyer and journalist, was born July 6, 1833, in Somerset county, Pa. He was educated at the Somerset Academy and Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa. In 1853 he was made principal of a select school at Somerset. In 1854 he was married to Miss Susan C. Koontz, of Somerset, and soon after removed to Bloomington, Ill., where he engaged in journalism, one of his first ex- periences there being the reporting of a speech delivered at Bloomington by Stephen A. Douglas, on the Kansas-Nebraska bill. The climate did not agree with him, and in one year he returned to his native county, where he read law and was admitted to the bar. He at once began the practice of his profession, which he diligently pursued for a number of years.
When the presidential canvass of 1856 opened Mr. Meyers determined to oppose General Fremont and espoused the cause of James Buchanan, taking the stump for that candidate and casting his first vote for the Democratic clectors.
In 1857 he was unanimously elected chair- man of the Anti-Know-Nothing committe
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of Somerset county and did effective work. In August of the same year Mr. Meyers be- came one of the proprietors of the Bedford, Pa., Gazette and later removed with his family to the town of Bedford. Here he remained as editor of that journal for a number of years. In June, 1868, he purchased an in- terest in the Harrisburg Patriot and was made its editor-in-chief.
In 1863 Mr. Meyers was elected to the lower honse of the Legislature as a representative of Bedford county. While a member of that body he made a reputation as a debater and speaker and his services were so satisfactory to his constituents that while absent from home he was unanimously renominated.
In 1870 he was the Democratie candidate for Congress in the distriet composed of the counties of Adams, Bedford, Fulton, Frank- lin and Somerset, and was elected by a ma- jority of fifteen votes, overcoming a Republi- can majority of several hundred.
Mr. Meyers has always been a consistent tariff reformer, and while in Congress voted for the repeal of duties on coal and salt. He was district delegate to the Democratic Na- tional conventions of 1864 and 1880, and was elected delegate-at-large to the conven- tion which nominated Grover Cleveland in 1884. In 1875 he was elected president of the Pennsylvania Editorial Association and was re-elected in 1876. During the Cleve- land-Harrison campaign of 1888 he was designated by his party to represent it in several joint discussions, and always emerged from such contests with the respeet. of his adversaries and the plaudits of his auditors.
Mr. Meyers was appointed postmaster at Harrisburg March 9, 1SS7, and served one term with mueh credit to himself and satis- faetion to all concerned.
In religion Mr. Meyers is an Episcopalian and has been for years a vestryman of St. Stephen's church, Harrisburg. He has five children living : Mrs. Ellis L. Mumma, Ed- win K., Harry S., Mrs. B. F. Africa, and W. K. Mr. Meyers is now the editor and pro- prietor of the Harrisburg Star-Independent.
-HELLER, JOHN E., was born in 1834, in Rush township, Dauphin county, Pa. His early education was more or less limited, for at the age of thirteen we find him an ap- prentice to the art of printing in the office of the American, at Sunbury, Pa., where he re- mained until he was twenty years of age. Afterwards, for several years, he was foreman
in the office of the Miners' Journal, Potts- ville. He then began the study of law, and was admitted to the Dauphin county bar August 30, 1865, and began the practice of his profession at Harrisburg. His life of labor was comparatively brief, however, for he died rather suddenly at the residence of his father, in Rush township, January 30, 1866, aged thirty-two years. His remains were interred in the Rush church graveyard. "Mr. Heller," wrote the editor of the Sunbury American, who knew him well, "was a young man of exemplary conduct and good character, and with industry and good business habits he had a bright future before him."
SHUNK, JAMES FINDLAY, the youngest son of Gov. Francis R. Shunk, was born April 18, 1836. He was educated at Harrisburg Academy, and at the University of Virginia, at which latter institution he attended a course of lectures on the science of law. Per- chance the best education he received, and that which fitted him peculiarly for the pro- fession of journalism, which he adopted, was the literary training he received by extensive reading and elose study of the best English authors, and by a careful and rigid observ- ance of language and style. He wrote the raeiest English that flowed from the pen of any writer for the press in Pennsylvania. His power of sareasm was immense, though he lacked that of invective. Many of his articles which appeared in print were at- tributed to some of the most eminent men of the country, and others often obtained the eredit which of right belonged to him, so modest, unobtrusive, and even sensitive was he in regard to any publicity of his name as that of the author of the articles alluded to. He died quite young, being hot yet thirty-eight years of age, as brilliant a journalist as ever held a pen, with intellect fully ripened and a wide field before him for the exercise of his peculiar talents. He died at Harrisburg, January 20, 1874. Mr. Shunk married a daughter of Judge Jeremiah S. Black, of York.
SWALLOW, S. C., was born March 5, 1839, near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in the historic and elassie valley of Wyoming. Ile was of English-Irish ancestry. Receiving his pre- liminary education in the common schools in the vicinity of his home, he afterwards attended Wyoming Seminary, and com-
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pleted his education at Susquehanna Uni- versity. After his graduation, he at first entered upon the business of teaching, in which he continued engaged for five years, of which one year was passed at the seminary above named.
Having decided on adopting the law as a profession, Mr. Swallow entered as a student theoffice of that matchless counselor, Volney L. Maxwell. Under such skilled direction he would doubtless have obtained an exact and extended acquaintance with legal dore and practice, and been fitted to shine in this profession, had not circumstances and native inclination led him to give up the law and adopt the ministry as his future calling. Having passed through the essential course of instruction in divinity, he entered the pulpit of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and thus at length began what has since continued the active and useful work of his life. In recognition of his high standing in the ministry, Taylor University, of Fort Wayne, Ind., conferred on him in 1888 the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
Dr. Swallow long continued active in the pulpit, filling a number of important posts in Central and Southern Pennsylvania. His high standing in the church subsequently brought him an elevation to the position of presiding elder, and for four years he acted in this capacity in the district of Altoona, Pa., a field of labor that embraces five or six counties. Hc has been twice elected a delegate to the General Conference of his church, the last time being during the meet- ing of this body for the year 1896.
Within recent years Dr. Swallow has ex- changed the active labors of the pulpit and the supervising duties of presiding elder for literary labor in conncetion with the interests of the church. Four years ago he accepted the editorship of the Pennsylvania Methodist, an important organ of the denomination published at Harrisburg, which he edits with a judgment and literary skill that give its columns much weight in the counsels of the church. He also occupies the important post of superintendent of the Methodist pub- lishing interests for Central Pennsylvania.
Aside from the more immediate duties of the ministry and the editor's sanctum, Dr. Swallow has taken a vital interest in the great reform movements of recent times. In his younger days, when human slavery was the leading evil in this country, he ardently entered the ranks of the Abolitionists, speak-
ing his sentiments with no uncertain voice. Later, when slavery had plunged the country into war, he ranked as an earnest patriot, and a fearless supporter of the Government against the rebellion. He subsequently be- came cqually active and earnest in another labor of abolition, that of the legalized liquor traffic, of which he has long been and con- tinues an uncompromising advocate. Re- cognizing that intemperance is the most active and dangerous vice in this land, and the one that leads to an endless array of crimes, discases, and family and local evils. Dr. Swallow is an outspoken champion of the cause of prohibition of the sale of ardent spirits. His standing in this direction is so pronounced, and his services have been so nscful, that a few years ago the Prohibition party tendered him the nomination for gov- crnor of the State.
Dr. Swallow is an able and fluent orator, and wields the editorial pen with a trenchant power which has given him a widespread influence, not only in Harrisburg, where he has resided during the past ten years, but throughout the State. He is indeed favor- ably known throughout the Nation as a leading divine in this church, and an active advocate of the various reforms which now agitate the public mind.
ORR, D. A., editor and the principal owner of the Patriot, daily and weekly, at Harris- burg, Pa., was born at Orrstown, Franklin county, a town founded by his father and brothers, whose name it bears, and was edu- cated at the schools of that borough. Ile attended a higher school at Upper Stras- burg, and later underwent private instruc- tion. Having an early taste for newspaper writing, before he was eighteen years old he became the associate editor of the Sentinel, a Democratic newspaper then published at Shippensburg, and subsequently removed to Carlisle. From Shippensburg he went, after a somewhat protracted trip through the western States and Territories, to Pittsburgh, where he resided and was engaged in active business until January, 1879; at that time he purchased the Democratic Chronicle at Shippensburg, which paper he sold six months later, and, in October of the same year, together with his brother, John G., pur- chased and took charge of the daily and weekly Valley Spirit at Chambersburg. He continues as president of the Valley Spirit Publishing Company, in which he is the
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principal shareholder. Although he has al- ways taken an active interest in poli- tics, Mr. Orr has never been a candidate for any public office of profit, and says he " never will be." He is engaged in a num- ber of private enterprises. In 1884 he was appointed by Governor Pattison one of the trustees of the Pennsylvania State Lunatic Asylum at Harrisburg, which position he resigned before his term expired. He was a delegate from the Eighteenth Congressional district to the National Convention in 1884, which nominated Grover Cleveland for the presidency the first time, and was again a delegate to the National Democratic Conven- tion in 1888 which renominated Mr. Cleve- land. In 1891 he formed a company, of which he was made president, and purchased the Harrisburg Patriot, and has since been connected with that influential journal, of which he is editor and also the president of the Patriot Company. Mr. Orr was mar- ried in 1885 to Miss Lillian J. Black, of Pittsburglı.
ORR, JOHN G., was born at Willow Grove Mills, Southampton township, Franklin county, Pa. The year in which he was born his parents made their home in Orrstown, a town founded by his father, William Orr, and and by his brother, John Orr, where he re- sided until 1865. He received his education in the public schools of that place, and his business habits and training from his father on the farm where his earlier years were passed. He was a general clerk in one of the stores of the village, and in that occupa- tion he continued until he removed to Car- lisle, Cumberland county, to accept a posi- tion in the First National Bank of that place. In 1874 he returned to his early home, and in April of the following year he engaged in merchandising until 1879, when, under the firm name of John G. & D. A. Orr, he be- came one of the editors and proprietors of the Valley Spirit and removed to Chambersburg. He is one of the founders of the Children's Aid Society of Franklin county, and by his active and earnest support has added greatly to its success. For a number of years he was the secretary, and is now the president of the society. The founding of a hospital by the society in Chambersburg, which is doing good work for the suffering, is the result of his efforts to that end. For several years Mr. Orr was a ruling elder in the Presbyte- rian church at Middle Springs, and has twice
represented the Presbytery of Carlisie in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. In September, 1885, he was chosen a ruling elder in the Falling Spring Presby- terian church, of Chambersburg. In 1891 he became interested in The Patriot, of Har- risburg, and gives his personal attention to the business of that influential paper. Mr. Orr was married, in 1871, to Miss Martha M. Hays, of Middle Spring, Franklin county, Pa.
MCALARNEY, MATHIAS WILSON, son of John (1802-1876) and Catharine Wilson (1812-1892) MeAlarney, was born June 7, 1840, in Mifflinburg, Union county, Pa. He was educated at Bucknell University. He learned the art of printing in the Chronicle office at Lewisburg, and for a period of six years pub- lished the Potter Journal, a weekly news- paper at Coudersport. During the war he was provost marshal of the Eighteenth Pennsylvania district. He studied law with Hon. Isaac Benson, of Potter county, and was admitted to the bar February 27, 1867. In May of the same year he removed to Har- risburg and entered upon the practice of the law. From 1874 until the close of 1882 he was more or less actively engaged in edi- torial work on the Harrisburg Telegraph, and in the fall of 1883 he purchased a majority of the stock of the Harrisburg Publishing Company, publishers of the Daily and Semi- Weekly Telegraph, and has continued from that date as editor of the Telegraph and man- ager of the publishing company. In 1868 he was appointed clerk to the commission to settle the damages done by the border raids during the Rebellion, and in 1871, by appointment of Governor Geary, he was the attorney for the Commonwealth in connec- tion with the same work in the county of Cumberland. In the fall of 1874 he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for district attorney, with every prospect of success, when on the 23d of September he was appointed postmaster at Harrisburg, and continued in office under subsequent reap pointments until April, 1887. He purchased for the Government the land upon which the United States post-office was erected. He was appointed disbursing agent during the construction of the building, and upon its completion in 1882 was appointed custodian of the building. He married, in 1867, Ada, daughter of Jacob D. Hoffman, and they have two children, Martha Worden and John Hart. Three children died in infancy.
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LIESMANN, FREDERICK W., editor of the Pennsylvanische Staats Zeitung und Dauphin County Journal, of Harrisburg, was born in the city of Coeln (Cologne) on the Rhine, Germany, October 28, 1845. Hc received an education in the State schools, and attended college in his native city. Having a desire to see America, he left his native land in 1864, and has since made his home in this country. After a few years of hard labor he was chosen by the German people of this city to succeed his brother, Rev. Herman Liesmann, as teacher of the German school then hield in the basement of St. Michael's German Lutheran church. After instruct- ing the German children for a number of years, he was elected by the board of control to take charge of a German and English branch school. He accepted that position and was teacher of that school for fourteen years.
He was married, May 24, 1868, to Miss Annie Mary Ripper, eldest daughter of the late J. G. Ripper, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. They have seven children : George W., Anna C., Ella M., wife of Edward Shissler, Jennie McVeagh, Will- iam F. C., Mary H., and Clara W. T.
Besides publishing the leading German newspaper of Pennsylvania, Mr. Licsmann is president of the Washington and the Teu- tonia Building and Saving Associations. Hc is secretary of the Germania and the Will- iam Penn Building and Saving Associations. He is also president of the German-American Union. He has been a notary public for twenty-one years. His political views are Democratic. He attends St. Michael's Ger- man Lutheran church.
George W. Liesmann, eldest son of Fred- erick W. Liesmann, fire insurance agent and county auditor, was born in Harrisburg De- cember S, 1868. He was educated in the Harrisburg public schools, graduating from the high school in 1SSS. Since that time he has been connected with his father's busi- ness. He is serving his third year as county auditor, two years of that time as secretary and one year as president. He is the young- est auditor ever elceted.
-- FARNUM, HENRY, was born in the city of Philadelphia in the year 18-15. He is the son of Henry and Caroline Farnum, formerly of Providence, R. I. His father was a prominent wholesale dry goods merchant in that city. Mr. Farnum received his education in this
country and abroad. IIe passed several years of his life on a farm in New York State and also in Lancaster county, Pa. He was a bookkeeper at Mount Hope furnace, Lancaster county, for five years, and then went to Philadelphia as clerk in the Phila- delphia Bank. Later he was employed as assistant to the manager of the Philadelphia Bank Clearing House. In 1869 he drifted to Kansas for his health and remained there seven years. He was employed in the rail- road business, during which time he was castern passenger agent of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railway in New York City. Hc was also connected with the Mis- souri Pacific railway and latterly with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railway, with headquarters in Philadelphia. Three years ago he took charge of the office of the Harrisburg Real Estate Title Company while they were completing their work in this city. Last fall he formed a partnership with W. J. George in purchasing The News and has since been actively engaged in the management of that paper with his partner. Mr. Farnum's excellent business qualities have added largely to place The News where it is to-day. Mr. Farnum is a cordial and genial gentleman and well known all over the United States, particularly in railroad circles. In Masonic circles he is a veteran. He is a member of Union Lodge, No. 121, of Philadelphia, and of Wcidle Chapter, of Lebanon, Pa.
GEORGE, WILLIAM J., of the firm of George & Farnum, sole proprietors and publishers of The News, was born in Albany, N. Y., August 6, 1847. IIc was educated in the public schools and private academies of that city.' At the age of sixteen years he entered the Union army and served until the close of the Civil war, being finally mustered ont in July, 1865.
During the war Captain George was cor- respondent in the field for several news- papers, among them being the well-known Albany Journal. IIe took an active part in the campaign of the Army of the Potomac, although not a voter, in the memorable Lin- coln-McClelland presidential contest in 1864. He distributed thousands of pamphlets and circulars on which were printed the plat- forms of the parties. These circulars had as much as any one other agency to do with the large Lincoln vote, owing to the stand taken by the Republicans on the war, and
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the neglect of the Democrats to uphold the Union, and their declaration that "the war was a failure."
At the elose of hostilities the Captain set- tled in the South and for many years was located in Virginia, where he took an active part in politics, being chairman of the Re- publican city committee of Richmond when he left there in 1877 for Harrisburg. In Richmond he was connected with various newspapers, and also acted as special corres- pondent for a number of northern papers during the reconstruction days. His letters at that period were very interesting, owing to the great efforts made to make the South solid for Democracy -- no matter what the means used.
Since Captain George resided in this city- up to July 1 of this year-he was connected with the Brainerd & Armstrong Company, the celebrated silk manufacturers of New London, Conn. His son, Thomas G. George, took his place with the above company on that date in order to allow Captain George to give his undivided time and attention to The News.
The Captain served the city as council- man in both branches and is one of its most aetive and progressive eitizens. He has been and is connected with a number of leading enterprises and is an up-to-date business man. He is a member of a number of organizations and a leader in the Republican politics of the State capital.
He was married at Albany, N. Y., Janu- ary 20, 1867, to Miss Annie Henley, daugli- ter of Robert and Jennie Henley, of Albany, where Mrs. George was born. To their union have been born two children, Thomas G. and Jennie B., both residing in Harrisburg. He also has two grandchildren residing with him, Annie M. and Gertrude Goodwin. The father of Mr. George is deceased; his mother still survives and resides in Binghampton.
- SPAYD, J. W., born December 10, 1847, be- longs to one of the oldest and best known families in Dauphin county, and is the only son of Jonathan Spayd, a well-known busi- ness man and retired farmer. He attended an academy at Berrysburg and a college at Selins Grove, Pa. After devoting more than twenty years of his life to the teacher's pro- fession, he entered the publishing business with E. L. Kellogg & Co., New York and Chicago, as manager of the firm's extensive business in Pennsylvania. This firm pub-
lishes the Teacher's Institute, New York School Journal, and Primary Education, as well as a large list of teacher's educational works. He is also connected with the S. M. Hess & Bro. Fertilizer Company of Reading and Philadelphia. He has two sons, Clarence E., editor of the Harrisburg Star-Independent, and Charles H., a student at Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, Pa. He lives at No. 45 North Thirteenth street, Harrisburg. Before removing to the Capital city he was for many years postmaster at Carsonville, Dauphin county. His father succeeded him as postmaster when he left that locality. Mr. Spayd has always been a Republican, as has also been his father, who for forty years or more figured prominently in the county politics. Father and son are Lutherans, the latter being a member of Memorial Lutheran church, Fifteenth and Shoop streets, Harris- burg. Jonathan Spayd was born July 25, 1825, and spent fifty-seven years of his life in this county, all but a few years having been a resident on his fine farm in Powell's Valley, near Carsonville. Recently he and wife removed to Harrisburg, making their home with their son John W., his health having begun to fail. For more than forty years he was an officer of the Lutheran church near his home, and both gentlemen are highly respected citizens.
- JONES, THOMAS MACDOWELL, associate edi- tor of the Harrisburg Daily Telegraph, was born in Hollidaysburg, Blair county, August 31, 1850. His father was Uriah James Jones, the historian, author and journalist, who in 1860 removed to Harrisburg. Mr. Jones was edueated in the public schools of Har. risburg, and in 1867 started to learn the trade of printer. After finishing his trade he sceured a situation in the composing room of the Telegraph under the late George Berg- ner in 1872, and at various times from 1875 to 1877 aeted as city editor. In July, 1877, he succeeded John G. Ingram as the city editor, and has been on the staff of the paper ever sinee. Mr. Jones is a correspondent for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago and New York newspapers, and during the ses- sion of the Legislature he is engaged as re- porter in that body. His acquaintance with public men is very large. When twelve years old Mr. Jones enlisted in the army, joining the unattached company of Capt. De Witt C. James, of Warren, which was eamped in Harrisburg at the time, serving
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eighteen months. Unfortunately, while he was enlisted he was not mustered, and as a consequence his name does not appear on the rolls. He married, in June, 1890, Miss Mabel Cronise, of Toledo, Ohio, and has one daughter, Dorothea.
-MUMMA, ELLIS LEWIS, is the youngest child of the late Hon. David Mumma and was born in Harrisburg in 1854. During his early boyhood he attended the Harris- burg Academy, then, as now, conducted, by Prof. Jacob Seiler. At sixteen he was sent to Bryant and Stratton's Business College, in Philadelphia ; completing the course he re- turned to Harrisburg, where, at the age of seventeen, he was given a clerkship in the State Bank. One year later he entered the Real Estate Savings Bank. So thoroughly conversant did the young man become with the business that at the death of the cashier, Mr. Landis, he was, at the early age of twenty-two years, made cashier of the bank. There was thrilling experience ahead for the young man on account of the financial panic of 1877, which was then impending. As it was impossible, with banks failing all around, to make money, the directors concluded to close out the concern, the young cashier running affairs so smoothly that each de- positor was paid to the last cent, in spite of the stringency of the times. Until May, 1883, Mr. Mamma was manager of the Har- burg Daily Patriot, when he was appointed draughtsman in the department of Internal Affairs, by Secretary J. Simpson Africa. At the expiration of Mr. Africa's term Mr. Mumma was again connected with the Po .- triot, at the same time dealing in the real estate business. During October, 1893, he became publisher of the Morning Call, which built up a wide circulation through the pub- lisher's philanthropic spirit. During the business depression of 1893 and 1894 Mr. Mumma appealed through the columns of his journal to the public-spirited and chari- tably inclined, and through these means fed hundreds of starving people through that disastrous time. Mr. Mumma is married to a daughter of Hon. B. F. Meyers and has two interesting children, Winifred and Ben- jamin Meyers Mumma.
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