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 74
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1882. IIe read law with George H. Ervin. Ile was admitted to the Dauphin county bar December 26, 1882, and to Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1885. He was married at Hagerstown, Md., February 10, 1892, to Clara J. Schindel, daughter of Louis and Susan Schindel. Two children have been born to them, namely, Dorothy S., born September 14, 1893, and Edwin S., born May 16, 1895. In political views Mr. Nissley is a Republican. The family attend the Lutheran church.
WOLFE, LEROY J., attorney-at-law, was born in Newberry township, York county, Pa., September 18, 1858, and is a son of Jacob B. and Anna E. (Landis) Wolfe, both natives of Pennsylvania; the former de- ceased, and the latter still surviving and re- siding in Middletown, Pa. This family consisted of four children, who lived to ma- turity. Silas, who graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1878, and is now a captain in the regular army of the United States, and Leroy J., are the only surviving members. Those deceased are : Addison L. and Catherine. Leroy J. was educated in the public schools of York county, the Academy, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1881. He read law with John A. Burtin, Esq., of Philadelphia, and was admitted to practice at Dauphin county bar in 1882, to practice in Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1885, and to Supreme Court of United States in 1891.
He was married in New Cumberland, Pa., December 27, 18Si, to Miss Tyrza B. Shoop, daughter of Samuel J. and Sarah Shoop, and to their union have been born tivo chil- dren, Isabella S. and LeRoy S. In politi- cal views Mr. Wolfe is a Republican, and both he and Mrs. Wolfe are members of the Presbyterian church.
BERGNER, CHARLES HENRY, attorney-at- law, was born in Harrisburg, October 20, 1853, son of George and Catherine (Uhler) Bergner. The father was born in Prussia and came to Reading, Pa., where he learned the trade of printing. IIe published a Ger- man paper in Harrisburg, and was later con- nected with the Telegraph, and was post- master of Harrisburg for fifteen years. He died August 5, 1874, and his wife died Jan- uary 29, 1865. They had four children, two of whom are living: Charles IL. and Fred-
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eriek, both residing in Harrisburg. Charles Henry received his education in public and private schools, Harrisburg Academy, Edge- hill Collegiate School and in Princeton Col- lege. Having read law with Col. A. J. Herr, at Harrisburg, he was admitted to the Dau- phin county bar March 3, 1883, and to practice in the Supreme Court the following June, since which date he has conducted a general practice in Harrisburg. He suc- ceeded his father in the management of the Harrisburg Telegraph in August, 1874, in which he continued until 1881. Mr. Berg- ner was married in New Bloomfield, Pa., April 26, 1877, to Annie V. Sponsler, daugh- ter of William A. and Elizabeth Sponsler, by whom he had four children: William S., Katherine, Elvina, and George. IIe is a Republican in politics. The family attend the Market Square Presbyterian church.
- FLEMING, GEORGE R., attorney-at-law, was born in Harrisburg, Pa., September 13, 1860. He is a son of David and Susan (Mowry) Fleming. His early education was afforded by the local schools, and he was prepared for college at the Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. Ile was graduated from Princeton College in the class of 1883. He read law with his father and with Hon. S. J. M. McCar- rell, and was admitted to the bar of Dau- phin county in 1885. At the death of his father he was made executor of the estate. Mr. Fleming is connected with important business interests of the city. He has served as a director of the Harrisburg Foundry and Machine Company, the Commonwealth Trust and Safe Deposit Company, the Brelsford Packing Company, the Steelton Electric Light Company, and the Susquehanna Mu- tual Fire Insurance Company ; vice-presi- dent of the Harrisburg City Passenger Rail- way Company, and treasurer of the Harris- burg Grocery and Produce Company. Mr. Fleming and his family are members of the Market Square Presbyterian church ; he was leader of the choir in that church for thir- teen years. He is a Republican. Mr. Flem- ing was married, October 10, 1890, to Miss Eliza McCormick, daughter of Rev. T. H. Robinson, D. D. They have two children : Anna Margaretta and Susan Mowry. Dr. Robinson, father of Mrs. Fleming, was the former able and honored pastor of the Mar- ket Square Presbyterian church, Harrisburg.
For many years he filled the chair of sacred rhetorie, church government and pastoral theology in the Western Theological Semi- nary at Pittsburgh, Pa.
-NISSLEY, JOHN C., lawyer, was born near Hummelstown, Pa., February S, 1856. His lineage is traced in the following history of one branch of the Nissley family now re- siding in Dauphin county :
Jacob Nissley was the pioneer of the Niss- ley family who came to Lancaster county in 1719, when Lancaster county was composed of Dauphin and Lebanon counties as one, and was naturalized in 1729. His offspring are as follows : Jacob, John (known as Hans) and Henry. John, or IIans, had the follow- ing children : Michael, Abraham, Rev. John, who was married to Miss Herzler, and was born in 1746 and died in 1825; Jacob, Rev. Samuel, Martin, Fannie. The Rev. John Nissley, who resided in Paxtang, Dauphin county, had the following children : Jacob, whose wife was a Miss Nissley ; John, whose wife was a Miss Ober; Martin, whose wife was a Miss Landis, and who was born in 1786 and died in 1868; Maria, her husbands being Frantz and Rudy. John, whose wife, as noted above, was a Miss Ober, had two children: Christian, who was married to Naney Funk, of Lebanon, and who lived and died in Derry township on the home- stead now occupied by Edward Stover, which is known as Stoverdale; Frances Nissley, who was married to Samuel Neidig, whom she survived with one child, Mary, who is now the widow of Samuel Bowman, of Lebanon county, and resides with her daughter, Mrs. William H. Ulrich, of IInmmelstown, Dau- phin county, Pa., her second husband being Abraham Landis, of Derry township, with whom she had four children : Mrs. John Carmany, Mrs. W. Etter and Mrs. Joseph Rudy, of Harrisburg, Dauphin county, and one son, Christian Landis, who was drowned in the Swatara creek, near Middletown, Dan- phin county, Pa. Christian Nissley, who married Nancy Funk, had the following children : Mary, widow of Isaac Mauma, of Highspire, Joseph, residing near Hummels- town, Dauphin county, John J., Christian, now deceased, Martin, Samuel, a doctor, re- siding in Elizabethtown, Lancaster county, Levi and Annie, both residing in the bor- ough of Middletown, and not married.
Joseph Nissley was married to Annie
John Collinsley
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Ober, of near Elizabethtown, Lancaster county. They have the following children : Agnes, wife of Joseph L. Brandt, Esq., cash- ier of the Exchange Bank of Marietta, Pa .; Isaac O. Nissley, editor of the Middletown Weekly Press, married io Emma Brunner, daughter of William E. Brunner, of Camp- bellstown, Lebanon county, Pa .; John C. Nissley, an attorney-at-law of the bar of Dauphin county ; Annie O., wife of Abraham L. Etter, editor and publisher of the daily Journal, of Middletown, Dauphin , county, Pa .; Christian G. Nissley, ex-editor of the Tyrone Weekly Times in Blair county, Pa., now of Harrisburg, Pa., who is married to Caroline Kunkel, daughter of George Z. and Isabella Kunkel, of Harrisburg, Pa.
John C. Nissley was engaged in such oc- cupations as usually fall to a boy's lot on the farm until he had attained the age of sixteen years. His primary education was such as he could get in the public schools, and prepared him to teach school. He taught in the schools of Dauphin county for four years. He then entered the State Normal School at Shippensburg, where he spent several terms, then entered Indiana State Normal School, Indiana county, Pa., where he prepared himself for college. In 1879 he entered Bucknell University, and was graduated in. 1883. He also received from this institution the honorary degree of Bachelor of Philosophy in 1891. In the law office of Mumma & Shoop, Harrisburg, Pa., where he was a student, he laid the founda- tion for the success which has marked his career at the bar. He was admitted to the bar in 1886, and began his practice of law with the late Elias Hollinger. During the first years of his practice Mr. Nissley found time to prepare a series of popular lectures. Of his lecture on " Great Men " Dr. Edward Brooks, of Philadelphia, has said : "It is a worthy effort, spicy, practical, interesting, and executed in a pleasing manner, with un- usual vigor. and earnestness." Thoroughly familiar with the intricacies of his profession Mr. Nissley is well qualified to give advice on matters of law. IIe is a clear thinker and a forcible and graceful speaker. As a criminal lawyer he has won many laurels. He was associated with Mr. Backenstoe as counsel for Undergus, the Powell's Valley criminal, who was tried for murder, but escaped the penalty of that erime, and was found guilty, instead, of assault and battery. He is widely known and deservedly popular.
With his father's political faith he bas in- herited also his father's independence.
- DETWEILER, MEADE D., was born in Mid- dletown, Dauphin county, Pa., October 15, 1863, and is descended from a Pennsylva- nia German family. His paternal ancestors are among the pioneers of Dauphin county, his grandfather having settled here some time in 1700. His father, Samuel Det- weiler, is a native of Dauphin county. Hle was a popular hotelkeeper at Middletown, and subsequently came to Harrisburg, where he was for many years in the same business, from which he retired in 1880, and since that date has had his residence in this city. He married Elizabeth Matter, a native of Lebanon county, by whom he had five chil- dren, Meade D. being the fourth in the order of their birth. Meade D. was scarcely ten years of age when he was brought by his parents to Harrisburg, where he has been living for the past twenty-two years. He attended the public schools of the city and advanced to the junior year of the high school, after which he entered Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg and was graduated with the first honors of his class in 1884. Having received his diploma, conferring upon him the degree of B. A., he returned to Harrisburg and began the study of law with Hall & Jordan, and within two years was admitted to practice. Immediately upon his admission to the bar in 1886, be began his professional work with ardor and in- dustry, and was soon busily occupied with the duties of an active and successful prac- tice in both the criminal and civil courts. He is a member of the bar of the Supreme Court and of the United States Court.
The phenomenal success of Mr. Detweiler as an attorney is due to the high order of in- tellectual powers with which he is endowed. the thorough and generous culture he has given to his native gifts, by liberal educa- tion and deep research, the candor and im- partiality of his disposition, his studious and business-like habits, his pleasing per- sonality, and his force and fluency and grace of speech. While busily engaged in per- sonal and professional work, he has found time to enter the broader fields of social and public activities, where his ability and devo- tion have been widely bestowed and warmly appreciated. In political views he found himself in sympathy with the Republican party, and has loyally given to this great
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organization his time and talents in un- stinted measure. The value of his service in this connection has been recognized and rewarded. The Republican State Committee have enjoyed his services in every campaign for several years, and have requested him to speak as often as possible. He was for five years chairman of the city committee, and is the youngest man ever placed in that re- sponsible position. The yonng Republicans bonored him in 1888 by adopting his name for the strong and influential organization still in existence. In 1892 he was elected district at- torney, defeating George Kunkel, and is one of the youngest men elected to this office for thirty years. His extensive criminal prac- tice prepared him for an able and success- ful administration of this office. During his first term of office he prosecuted six murder cases, and was successful in all of them. He also tried a very important case in York county, Pa .-- the Painton murder case-in which he made one of the most effective ad- dresses ever delivered in a court room. In recognition of his fidelity and ability he was re-elected to the office in 1895 by one of the largest majorities ever given in Dauphin county, having more majority than his op- ponent had votes. Mr. Detweiler is a large stockholder in the Chestnut Street Market Company and various other corporations. He has also large real estate interests in the city. In social circles his popularity is wide and his standing high. He is a member of the Harrisburg Club, " The Club," Social Club, and is secretary and treasurer of the Harrisburg Fishing Ciub. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Knights of the Golden Eagle, Knights of Malta, Red Men, Junior Or- der United American Mechanics,and has held the highest office in the Order of the Elks. He was elected at Cincinnati, July 10, 1896, Grand Exalted Ruler of the B. P. O. Elks. Mr. Detweiler was married in 1891 to Miss Bertha, daughter of John Hoffer, of Harris- burg. He and his wife are members of the Market Square Presbyterian church. Few men and attorneys of his age have won the success or enjoyed the honors attained by Mr. Detweiler. So bright a morning be- tokens a brilliant noontide.
- OLMSTED, MARLIN E .- Among the coll - spicuously prominent lawyers of the United States, who have won both wealth and fame at the bar, there is not one whose career is
more of an inspiration to the youth of to- day than that of Marlin E. Olmsted, of Har- risburg. There is no member of the legal profession in Pennsylvania whose opinion commands more respect in the several courts of the Commonwealth, nor any whose profound attainments are more universally acknowledged by his professional brethren. As a consummate master of corporation law in all its intricate details, as an expert on all questions of corporate taxation and as an erndite constitutional lawyer, Marlin E. Olmsted has no superior in this or any other State. He has raised and victoriously sus- tained in the highest court of the land more novel legal propositions than any other mem- ber of the Pennsylvania bar, and this high degree of success has come to him solely as a result of his own efforts, unaided by any fortuitous conditions or any other influence than his own pre-eminent ability. The story of his life is valuable not, only as illus- trating what can be accomplished under our American institutions, but as well for the stimulating effect it will have upon many yonng men struggling amid discouraging surroundings. It conclusively disproves the theory that luck plays an important part in shaping the destiny of man, and demon- strates beyond a question of doubt that in the race of life only those win who make the fullest use of the faculties with which they are endowed. Iligh purpose, lofty ambi- tion, unswerving integrity, unyielding per- severance and complete devotion to duty are the only elements that enter into the mould- ing of a notable career, and to these qualities alone can be attributed the striking profes- sional success of the subject of this sketch.
M. E. Olmsted was born in Ulysses town- ship, Potter county, Pa. He is the descen- dant of a long line of distinguished ances- tors, from whom he has inherited many of the traits of character which have contrib- uted to his success in life. Daniel Olmsted, his grandfather, married Lucy Schofield, daughter of Lewis Schofield, whose wife was the daugliter of Deacon Young, and sister of Colonel Young, of Saratoga, who filled many important positions in his native State-senator, judge, canal commissioner, secretary of State and lieutenant governor. Ilenry J. Olmsted, father of Marlin E., is one of the most prominent and respected citizens of Potter county, who has served for twenty-two years as prothonctary and clerk of the courts of that county, having
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been once appointed by the governor, and seven times elected by the people. In 1876 he was nominated for State senator, but de- clined to avoid complications arising out of the fact that his friend, Hon. Sobieski Ross, of the same county, was desirous of a re- eleetion to Congress. He married Evalena Theresa Cushing, daughter of Lueas Cush- ing, a deseendant in direet line from Matthew Cushing, of Hingham, England, who came to America in 1638.
Both father and mother of Marlin E. Olmsted were born in New York State, the former at Masonville, and the latter at Ithaca. Their parents moved to Potter county, Pa., where they formed the acquaintance that resulted in their marriage.
Arthur G. Olmsted, president judge of the Forty-eighth judicial district of Pennsyl- vania, is an uncle of Marlin E. He served with honor in both branches of the Legisla- ture, was speaker of the House in 1865, and was nominated by the Republican State Convention for lieutenant governor in 1874.
The subject of this sketch attended the publie schools and the academy at Couders port, Potter county. This was the extent of his early educational advantages. When Mr. Olmsted was a boy his unele, Authur G. Olmsted, was a leading lawyer in his seetion of the State. The parents of the young man desired that he should go to the bar and ar- ranged with his unele for his instruetion. But the boy did not take kindly to the propo- . sition and began to look in other direetions for his life work. Through the influence of his unele, as well as in recognition of his fitness, he was appointed to a clerkship in the treasury department of Pennsylvania by Robert W. Mackey, then State treasurer. At the same time the late Capt. William B. Hart, afterwards State treasurer, was ap- pointed to a elerkship in the auditor gen- eral's office by the late Governor John F. Hartranft, then auditor general. Before the two young men entered upon their duties an arrangement was made whereby they ex- changed positions and Mr. Olmsted was made assistant corporation elerk in the auditor general's office, J. Montgomery Forster being the head of the bureau. At the expiration of one year the office of insurance eommis- sioner was ereated and Mr. Forster appointed to fill it. Olmsted was then promoted to the rank of corporation elerk in the auditor general's office, with the entire charge of the assessment and collection of the millions of
dollars of tax raised annually by direct tax- ation of corporations, though at the time he was the youngest employee in years and ser- viee in the department. When Gen. Ilar- rison Allen was elected to suceeed General Hartranft, Mr. Olinsted was reappointed and continued to serve until May, 1875, when the succession of Justus F. Temple, a Demo- erat, resulted in the removal of all the Re- publican subordinates and the appointment of Demoerats in their places. Mr. Olmsted's eonduet of the office was at once an evidence of the character of his early training and a promise of what his after life would be. State Treasurer Mackey, who from his long public serviee was very familiar with the duties of the corporation clerk, and who was very anxious that Mr. Olmsted should be retained by General Temple in the interest of the pub- lie serviee, said on one occasion that he eon- sidered him, young as he was, an expert in all matters of State taxation, whose retention would have been worth hundreds of thou- sands of dollars a year in taxes to the Com- monwealth, and that the State eould better afford to pay him fifteen thousand dollars per year than to lose his services. The news- papers of the State spoke of his removal as a positive detriment to the public service and to the business interests of the State, but the clamor of the politieians prevailed and Mr. Olmsted gave way to a Democrat.
At the time of his retirement from office Mr. Olmsted was offered three different polit- ical positions and the eashiership of one of the largest national banks in the interior of the State, the First National Bank of Honesdale, of which the late Samuel E. Dimmiek, then attorney general, was presi-
dent. Subsequently his uncle and father proposed to start a private bank at Couders- port and tendered him the management of it. But he had changed his ideas regarding the law and determining to enter that pro- fession began the study in the office of Ilon. John W. Simonton, of Harrisburg, now president judge of the Twelfth judicial distriet. He was admitted to the bar No- vember 25, 1878.
His six years experience in the auditor general's office had made him thoroughly familiar with the complicated system of cor- poration taxation whereby the State of Pen- sylvania raises nearly all its revenues and it was perfeetly natural that he should drift into that line of practice. During his in- cumbeney of the office of corporation clerk
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he was brought into personal contact with the officers of nearly all the corporations doing business in the State and was recog- nized by them as being more familiar with the various tax laws than any other man in or out of the legal profession. Accordingly, as soon as he was released from the office, he was regularly retained by them to adjust their tax accounts with the Commonwealth and at once upon his admission to the bar found himself in the enjoyment of a large and lucrative practice. He became and has since remained the resident attorney at the State Capital for many of the leading cor- porations of the country. He was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Penn- sylvania in May, 1881, and in the Supreme Court of the United States November 12, 1884.
The first case which he argued in the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin county was that of the Corning, Cowanesque and Antrim Railway Company, a case of very considerable difficulty, in which he won a complete victory. The result was so grati- fying to Gen. George J. Magee, president of the company, that he caused Mr. Olmsted to be regularly retained, and he has ever since been the legal representative at Har- risburg of all the numerous corporations with which General Magee is connected.
His first case in the State Supreme Court was that of the Commonwealth vs. National Mutual Aid Association, reported in 94 Pa., . 481, in which the claim of the State was en- tirely defeated. His participation in the argument of this case before the Supreme Court was only through the courtesy of the court, as he had not at that time been a member of the bar for two years as was re- quired by the rules of admission to the bar of the Supreme Court.
One of the most important among his earlier cases was that of the Commonwealth vs. Texas and Pacific Railroad Company, reported in 9S .Pa., 90. In this case the State endeavored to collect from the com- pany a license tax of twelve thousand five hundred dollars a year for having an office in Pennsylvania, upon the ground that it was a foreign and not a domestic corpora- tion. Mr. Olmsted raised the novel defense that a corporation created by Congress could not be regarded as a foreign corporation but must be treated as a domestic corporation in each State. This position was sustained by the Dauphin county court and affirmed by
the Supreme Court. The case was widely reported and is cited in all text books as a leading one on the subject.
Another of his carly and important cases was that of the Commonwealth vs. Standard Oil Company, reported in 101 Pa., 119, in which the Commonwealth sought to collect from the company over three million dol- lars. The case was bitterly contested ou both sides, and the Dauphin county court, sustaining nearly all of Mr. Olmsted's posi- tions, gave a judgment against the company for only thirty-three thousand dollars, from which both sides appealed to the Supreme Court. The company succeeded in defeating the Commonwealth's appeal, and on the company's appeal, which was taken by Mr. Olmsted on his own motion and argued by him alone, the Supreme Court struck off the penalty and the interest on the ground that the several laws under which the tax was claimed having been repealed, with the reservation only of the right to collect ac- crued taxes, the penalties fell with the re- peal of the laws, so that the Commonwealth finally recovered only twenty-two thousand dollars. This was considered the most im- portant tax case ever tried in the State, in- volving a larger amount than any other, and is a leading case upon a number of points.
A still more important case, however, was that of Commonwealth vs. Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, reported in 104 Pa., 89, which involved the right of the State to hold corporations liable for a tax imposed upon their bondholders by the revenue acts of 1879 and 1881. The litigation began in 1879 and lasted until 1883, resulting in a complete victory for the company, the Su- preme Court declaring both acts inoperative and void, so far as they attempted to hold corporations responsible for the collection of the tax; it being the first time in the history of the Commonwealth in which the Supreme Court had rendered a decision nullifying a general tax law. The amount involved to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company in that case was ninety-eight thousand dollars per annum, and the amount involved for the various clients for which Mr. Olmsted was concerned and which the decision af- fected was about one million dollars per year.
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