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. 2 > Part 100
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- BLANNING, WILLIAM, merchant, Williams- town, Pa., was born February 29, 1856, in Wales, and is a son of Francis and An (Durbin) Blanning. The father was a native of Somersetshire, England, and went to Wales at the age of twenty and engaged in mining, which occupation he followed dur- ing his life. He died in Williamstown. March, 1889, and his wife died February 11, 1877. Their children were : Hannah, Sarah Ann, William, James, Harriet, deceased, Emily, Alice, John F., Josephine, Priscilla. Joseph, Mary Edith, and Samuel. The grandfather, John Blanning, was a farmer by occupation, and died November 29, 1858 His wife was a Miss Clotheer.
William came to America with his par- ents, landing at New York in November, 1863. From there he came direct to Lykens, and for a short time attended school. Four year- later he moved to Morris Run, Tioga county Pa., and after remaining there a few years came to Williamstown, where he has since remained. Through the kindness of W. B Meetch, a teacher, he was enabled to aequ.". an education, and at the age of twenty-foot applied for and secured a school in Wi. .
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iamstown, which he taught very successfully for two years. He then attended the Kutz- town Normal School, and then taught six years in Williamstown again and one year in Lykens. He was appointed justice of the peace in November, 1895. He was married, October 15, 1877, to Miss Bella Yeager, of Millersburg. Their children are: George F., deceased, Etta Ann, James Roy, William Herbert, Wendall Yeager, and Charles Frank- lin. Mr. Banning is an active politician and a member of the Republican party. He has served as auditor for six years, and has been class leader in the Methodist church for eight years.
MISCELLANEOUS.
DAVIS, CHARLES C., was born August 15, 1830, in Harrisburg, Pa. He was the son of John Davis and his wife, Sarah Yeager. His grandfather was Henry Davis, of a promi- nent Welsh family and an early settler in Pennsylvania. He served in the Revolu- tion. His grandfather on the maternal side was George Yeager, who also was a soldier in the Revolutionary war; was at Valley Forge and at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. John Davis, born at Pottstown, Pa., in 1795, was by occupation a fuller and dyer. He came to Harrisburg prior to 1820, in which year he married Sarah Yeager ; he died in 1856. His wife, who was born in Harrisburg in 1804, died in 1886. Their children were three girls and six boys. The son Charles C. was educated in the public schools of Harrisburg. In 1843 he became a marker of the Harrisburg rifles, com- manded by Capt. Christian Seiler, and was with that company in the Native Amer- ican riots in Philadelphia, ordered there by Governor Porter to quell the disturbances. Subsequently he was lieutenant in Capt. Jacob Eyster's cadets, serving with them until 1846, when he began his trade as a blacksmith. In 1850 he went. to St. Louis, Mo., and in that city and other localities in the Southwest he worked at his trade until 1859, when he returned to Harrisburg.
On April 16, 1861, upon the call of Presi- dent Lincoln, Mr. Davis was enrolled with his five brothers in company I, of the Sce- ond regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers, of which he was subsequently promoted second lieutenant, and on June 15, 1861, first lieu- tenant of his company, serving through the
three months' service. Upon being mus- tered out he began to raise companies for the Seventh Pennsylvania cavalry for three years or during the war. He was commis- sioned, September 1, 1861, captain of com- pany I, of that regiment. His command was sent to the Army of the Cumberland, and arrived at Louisville, Ky., on Christmas day, 1861; being mounted they left Louisville in January, 1862, for Nashville, Tenn., going by way of Bardstown and the Mammoth Cave. The Seventh regiment participated in all the principal battles and skirmishes which took place in the Army of the Cum- berland. In April, 1863, Captain Davis was commissioned major in his regiment. June 27, 1863, his regiment engaged the command of Gen. Joseph Wheeler, at Shelbyville, Tenn. But we will let Brig. Gen. D. S. Stanley tell the story of the bravery of Major Davis: " The right wing of General Rose- crans' army had driven the left of the Con- federate army, which was here a division of cavalry, commanded by Gen. Joseph Wheeler, into the town of Shelbyville, Tenn., when Wheeler's force of three thousand men formed line just at the northern outskirts of the town to defend their stores. A battery of four guns, pointing north, commanded the principal turnpike. This battery was well supported by dismounted cay- alry, right and left. It was decided to at- tack the center of this line and ride over the battery. The Seventh Pennsylvania cavalry was selected for this purpose, supported by the Fourth United States cavalry. The pike being narrow, the charge was made in col- umns of four. Major Davis' position would have placed him on the right of the second squadron, but he volunteered to lead the charge and put himself in front of the lead- ing set of fours. At the signal of two can- non shots from our guns, the column dashed from the pike, receiving only one round from the hostile battery, rode over the guns, routed the supports, and put the entire sup- port opposed to precipitate and disastrous fright. The boldness of the attack assured its success. Only one shell struck the col- umn, killing two men and three horses in the charge. Our captures were three hun- dred prisoners, the battery complete, and large amount of stores. A more gallant charge was never made, and Major Davis rode well in front of the leading sabres, the beau ideal of a most magnificent trooper."
It was for this distinguished action of
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Major Davis the medal of honor was awarded to him by the Secretary of War of the United States on the 14th of June, 1894, and in granting the medal that officer stated that Major Davis "led what was probably one of the most desperate, and at the same time successful, cavalry charges of the war." On the 28th of November, 1863, Major Davis re-enlisted the regiment and, returning East, in one month's time re- cruited the regiment to eighteen hundred men, which the Government allowed to be done. In March, 1864, he was appointed inspector of fortifications, entrenchments, and blockhouses, on General Starkweather's staff. After many severe engagements with Forest's cavalry he resigned on account of disability, receiving an honorable discharge by order of Gen. George H. Thomas, Octo- ber 14, 1864, after three and a half years of hard and active service. For the past eight years Major Davis has held an important position in the Harrisburg postoffice, and is one of the chief examiners on the board of the civil service commission, postoffice de- partment, at Harrisburg. Major Davis married, in 1855, Eliza Davis, of Knoxville, Tenn.
- ARMOR, WILLIAM CRAWFORD, was born September 19, 1842, at Laughlinstown, West- moreland county, Pa., his father, John G. Armor, being a life-long merchant and far- mer of that place. He was the second of a family of seven sons, four of whom were vol- unteer soldiers in the war of the Rebellion. His great-grandfather, James Armor, was a lieutenant in the Fourth Pennsylvania Line in the Revolution under Gen. Anthony Wayne, and was complimented by that officer in a letter to the supreme executive council. His great-grandmother, Margaret Armor, was the daughter of John Whitehill, of Lancaster county, of whom it is said : " He was an ardent patriot, and came into promi- nence at the commencement of the Revolu- tion ; appointed one of the justices of the common pleas count; member of Assembly, resigning his commission as judge; chosen one of the council of censors ; member of the supreme executive council; under the Con- stitution of 1790 appointed an associate judge of the county of Lancaster; a trustee and elder of the Presbyterian church at Pe- quea for many years. The Revolutionary war brought him to the front, and he proved to be like his compeers, a person of indomit-
able courage and vigor of intellect, and was ever tenacious of Republican principles."
The great-great-grandfather, Robert Ar- mor, of Scotch descent, emigrated from the north of Ireland to this country prior to 1810. In 1734 he took up a tract of two hun. dred acres of land at the head of Pequea creek, Lancaster county, and was a farmer during his life.
The subject of this sketch received a com- mon school education. While in his sixteenth year he taught a large school in his native town, being several years the junior of many of his scholars. He entered a preparatory school in Cumberland county, with a college course in view, but untoward circumstances changed the tenor of his life, and a good but practical father, consigned him to learn the iron moulding trade, at which he was duti- fully engaged when the war of the rebellion broke out. Enlisting in company B, Twenty- eighth Pennsylvania volunteers, he rose to the command of his company, was wounded at Antietam and Chancellorsville, appointed aide-de-camp to Maj. Gen. John W. Geary, Second or White Star division of the Twelfth and Twentieth corps, brevetted major for " gallant and meritorious conduct in the campaign of the Carolinas." At the siege of Savannah he was specially assigned by Gen- eral Geary to command the "flying bridge detail," which was to bridge, with bundles of sugar cane, the dikes, or canals, in front of the rebel works, for the storming party to pass over in the grand charge outlined by General Sherman. This "forlorn hope" was saved " to fight another day" by the very obliging retreat of the enemy the night before. During the progress of the war he was twice appointed to West Point, but de- clined the honor, preferring to keep his con- tract as he had "enlisted for the war." Af- ter serving four years and one month, with never a day in the hospital except when wounded, he retired to civil life, declining the urgent solicitations of prominent gen- erals to enter the regular army.
After a year spent in the oil region his old commander, who had been elected governor. proffered him a confidential position near him as executive clerk. During his stay of six years in the executive department he wrote the " Lives of the Governors of Penn. sylvania, with the Incidental History of the State." He was also registered and studied law with Attorney Generals Benjamin Harri- Brewster and F. Carroll Brewster; passed the
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full list of examinations set by his precep- tors, but never applied for admission to the bar, having selected a mercantile life. After spending six years in Pittsburgh, in the wholesale glass business, he was compelled by failing health to change his occupation and lead an outdoor life. He became engaged in the production of oil in MeKean county, and for four years was co-editor and proprietor of The Petroleum Agc, a magazine of oil, whose statistics and varied reports were the standard of trade reference. After an eight years' sojourn in oildom he again removed to Harrisburg and served two years as an assistant in the State library; was for one year librarian of the Harrisburg Public Li- brary, and is now a life member of the same. Is a charter member of Post 58, G. A. R., also of the Dauphin County Historical So- Society and now its secretary; is secretary and treasurer of the Harrisburg Under- writers' Association; a member of the Scotch- Irish Society of America, and has compiled for it "The Scotch-Irish Bibliography of Pennsylvania." All his life a lover of books he is in his element as the proprietor of a large antiquarian book store, and in connec- tion with it has a varied collection of an- tiquities devoted to the pleasure of his visitors and friends.
FISHER, GEORGE, the son of George Fisher and his wife Hannah, daughter of Jonas Chamberlain, was born in what is now Mid- dletown, in 1765. His father laid out the town, naming the same. The original an- cestor came from England with William Penn in 1682. George Fisher, the subject of this sketch, received a good education and graduated from the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania. He studied law with John Wilkes Kittera at Lancaster and was admitted to the Dauphin county bar at the November term, 1787. He soon rose into prominence in the carly days at the Dauphin court, which has always been conspicuous for the brilliancy of its legal profession. Mr. Harris, in his " Reminis- cences of the Bar," speaks thus of Mr. Fisher : " He was possessed of mild, gentlemanly manners, and was kind in his intercourse with the young members of the bar. He had a ruddy complexion, a fine face, and a handsome head. He was a large man; in his youth was probably quite strong, and was quite fleshy toward the end of his pro- fessional career. IIe was remarkable for the
musical character of his voice, and the dis- tinctness of his utterance. . . . He was ex- tensively engaged in litigation in ejectment cases depending on original title, which were then a fertile subject of dispute in our courts and in those of the neighboring counties." Without doubt he was one of the most suc- cessful practitioners at the Dauphin county bar during his lifetime. When General La- fayette visited Harrisburg he was selected as the man to welcome that distinguished Revolutionary officer to the city of Harris- burg, and in our youthful days we heard his address upon that occasion enthusiastically spoken of.
Mr. Fisher died at his residence near Mid- dletown, Thursday, February 2, 1853, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. He left two sons who became quite distinguished in the law, John Adam Fisher, of Harrisburg, and Robert J. Fisher, who was judge of the York district for several terms. George Fisher was a popular lawyer, and occupied a high position not only at home, but at the bars of Carlisle, Sunbury, Lebanon, Lancas- ter and York; and few causes of magnitude or importance were tried during a long period in which he was not one of the lead- ing counsel. He managed these matters with great tact and judgment, and his influ- ence with the jury seemed almost magical. He was a Federalist in politics, firm, sub- stantial, and honest in his creed. A man of great vigor of intellect ; eloquent and forci- ble as an advocate, and as a gentleman of the old school dignified, yet kind and polite
- JORDAN, THOMAS JEFFERSON, son of Ben- jamin Jordan, and his wife, Mary Crouch, was born at Walnut Hill, Dauphin county, Pa., December 3, 1821. Through his mother he was descended from two Revolutionary heroes, Capt. James Crouch and Gen. James Potter, while his grandfather Maj. Thomas Jordan was an officer in the militia in the struggle for independence. Thomas Jordan received a good classical education, studied law with George W. Harris, at Harrisburg, and was admitted to the Dauphin county bar February 6, 1843. He remained in the active practice of his profession until the breaking out of the Civil war. On the day after the firing on Fort Sumter, he was mus- tered into service as an aide, with the rank of major, on the staff of Gen. William II. Keim, and the first action in which he participated was the battle of Falling Waters, where Gen-
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cral Keim defeated a brigade under General, then Colonel, "Stonewall" Jackson. Upon the expiration of the three months' service Major Jordan assisted in recruiting a regi- ment of cavalry, subsequently known as the Ninth Pennsylvania, of which he was com- missioned major October 22, 1861. In No- vember, following, he proceeded with the regiment to Louisville, Ky., where he re- ported to General Buell. In the year 1862 Major Jordan was engaged in the actions at Lebanon, and Spring Creek, Tenn., Moore's Hill, Tomkinsville, Glasgow, and Lexington, Ky. He was captured July 9, 1862, at Tomkinsville, Ky., by John Morgan, who with a force of over two thousand men at- tacked Major Jordan, then in command of the post with only two hundred and thirty men ; but so brave was the defense that while the battalion lost ten killed, fourteen wounded and nineteen prisoners, Morgan lost fifty- seven killed and one hundred and forty wounded. He was a prisoner in Castle Thunder, Richmond, Va., until December 9, 1862, when he was exchanged. He returned to duty at once. After numerous engage- ments Major Jordan was promoted on Jan- uary 13, 1863, to colonel of his regiment. At Thompson's Station, Tenn., March 5, 1863, Colonel Jordan, with his regiment, fought his way back to Franklin, Tenn., bringing off two hundred and twenty prisoners, together with the entire artillery and baggage trains, and all the wounded that the ambulances could carry, while Colonel Coburn, with thirty-eight hundred infantry was captured. For this heroic part borne by Colonel Jor- dan's regiment in this action, it was men- tioned honorably in special orders by Gen- eral Rosecrans. On September 5, 1863, Colonel Jordan with his regiment attacked and routed an entire brigade of Wheeler's cavalry, under command of General Debrill, capturing two hundred and ninety-four pris- oners, a large portion of whom had been wounded by the sabre. For this gallant ac- tion he was placed in command of all the cavalry in Tennessee and cleared the State of the invaders. Complimentary orders were issued by General Van Cleve, at Mur- freesboro, General Milroy, at Tullahoma, and General Stedman, at Chattanooga. On the " march to the sea," Colonel Jordan's bravery was displayed on numerous occasions, and from Savannah to the close of the war he commanded the First brigade, First cavalry division, Army of the Mississippi. On Feb- ruary 3, 1865, his regiment crossed the Sa-
vannah river for the campaign in South Carolina, at Averysboro, N. C .; his brigade encountered the garrison of Charleston, strongly entrenched. In this engagement his regiment lost heavily in killed and wounded, particularly among the officers. At the battle of Johnston's Station, S. C., Colonel Jordan's regiment by heroic fighting saved General Kilpatrick from probable de- feat, and in February, 1865, "for gallant and meritorious service," he was brevetted brig- adier general of volunteers. In March, 1865, he received the surrender of the city of Raleigh, and was at the front when Gen. Joseph Johnston surrendered to General Sherman. After being mustered out of ser- vice July 18, 1865, General Jordan returned to Harrisburg, and for a time resumed the practice of his profession. He subsequently engaged in the lumber business in Williams- port. Later on he removed to Philadelphia, and for awhile held a position in the post- office, while subsequently he occupied a position in the United States Mint. He died in Philadelphia, on the 2d day of April, 1895, leaving a wife and two children, a son, David Wilson Jordan, the artist, and a daughter, who is the wife of Rev. Leonard Woolsey Bacon, of Connecticut.
KNIPE, JOSEPH FARMER, was born March 30, 1823, in Mt. Joy, Lancaster county, Pa. His parents were Henry Knipe and his wife, Elizabeth Farmer. His ancestors on the paternal side came from Manheim, Ger- many, prior to the Revolution, a brother lo- cating in what is now Montgomery county, Pa., another brother in what is now Lebanon county, near Schaefferstown. The son was educated in private and public schools in Manheim and Lebanon, subsequently learn- ing the trade of boot and shoe business in Philadelphia. In 1842 he enlisted in the United States army, and participated in the Dorr war in Rhode Island. In 1845 he went with his command to Texas, serving under General Taylor. He participated in the Mexican campaign until the 1st of August, 1848, and was the last man to leave The Mole at Vera Cruz with the American flag. In October following he came to Harrisburg and resided there as an employee of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Being mail agent at the breaking out of the war he secured leave of absence to enter the vol- unteer service, and on the 17th day of April, 1861, he named the place of organization of the Pennsylvania troops, Camp Curtin. In
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the three months' service he was brigade in- spector of Brigadier General William's staff. On the expiration of this service he organ- ized a regiment which became the Forty- sixth Pennsylvania volunteers, in which he was commissioned colonel, August 1, 1861. This was under the call of the President for three hundred thousand men. The first flag presented to the Pennsylvania regiments by the Governor of the Commonwealth wasgiven to the Forty-sixth Pennsylvania. Colonel Knipe served with the regiment as its com- mander until the eve of the battle of South Mountain. IIe had been previously wounded at Cedar Mountain on the 9th of July, 1862, but on General Lee's crossing the Potomac for the invasion of the North, he hastened to the front, being assigned to the First division of the Twelfth army corps. His brigade par- ticipated in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, and greatly distinguished itself at Chancellorsville. Still suffering from his wound Colonel Knipe was sent by Gen- era! Slocum to Acquia Creek, and afterwards to his home. Just previous to the second invasion of the North by General Lec's army, he was ordered by General Halleck to the Department of the Susquehanna, to report to General Couch for light duty. He was as- signed by that officer to the command of the militia, and ordered to the front. His com- mand advanced as far as Smokytown, when meeting the advance of Lee's army, grad- ually retarding the movements of Lee, whose advancing columns reached to within three and one-half miles of Harrisburg, when as- certaining that there was a large force at Fort Washington, the enemy fell back towards Gettysburg. Subsequently General Knipe, in company with Gen. Baldy Smith, was sent up the Valley, joining the main army under General Meade. Relieved by General Couch, General Knipe rejoined his old command, then the First brigade, First division of the Twelfth army corps. He served under General Mcade until the Eleventh and Twelfth army corps were withdrawn and sent westward, where they reported to General Rosecrans. After the battle of Chickamaugua General Grant was sent to relieve the former. Upon the reor- ganization of the army subsequent to the battles of Wauhatchie, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge, the Eleventh and Twelfth corps became the Twentieth, with General Hooker in command. General Knipe participated in all the battles from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Upon the fall of
the latter, General MePherson having been killed, General Howard was placed in com- mand of the Army of the Tennessee and General Knipe assigned as chief of cavalry. He was subsequently sent to Memphis to or- ganize the cavalry on the left bank of the Mississippi, belonging to the Army of the Tennessee. That duty performed, the Gen- eral returned to headquarters at Nashville and found all communication cut off. He then reported to General Thomas for active service and was assigned to the Seventh division of cavalry, and participated in the fight at Nashville. After this battle his position placed him in advance, and he pur- sued Hood's rear guard, which consisted of the brigades of Newsen and Hunter. He cap- tured some six thousand men and cight col- ors, more prisoners than his own command consisted of. After the Nashville campaign he was ordered to proceed to the headquar- ters of the Department of the Gulf and re- port to General Canby. His command co- operated until the capture of Mobile, when he was ordered to New Orleans to organize the cavalry to send to Texas against Kirby Smith, who was still holding out, General Sheridan commanding the department. At General Knipe's request he was relieved from duty and reported to General Thomas at Nashville, where he was mustered out of service on the 16th of September, 1865. For meritorious and gallant conduct General Knipe was commissioned a brigadier general, May 29, 1862. He was recommended for promotion by no less than three of his com- manding officers. After his retirement he was offered a colonelcy in the United States army, which he declined. On the 9th of April, 1866, President Johnson appointed General Knipe postmaster at Harrisburg, which was confirmed by the Senate the fol- lowing month. He remained in office until after the election of General Grant. For several years he was in active business in Harrisburg and afterwards postmaster of the House of Representatives at Washington. In 1880 he was appointed by General Meigs to a position in the quartermaster's depart- ment at Fort Leavenworth, where he re- mained until 1889, that office then being abolished. The General returned to Peun- sylvania and subsequently to Harrisburg, where he resides and now holds a position in the State Department at Harrisburg. Gen- eral Knipe married, March 7, 1851, Eliza Hagan, who died in 1876. They had a family of eight children.
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