Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1, Part 12

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1 > Part 12
USA > Pennsylvania > Centre County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1 > Part 12
USA > Pennsylvania > Clarion County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1 > Part 12
USA > Pennsylvania > Clearfield County > Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1 > Part 12

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curred September 9, 1878. One of her sons, John S., was a very successful merchant, and one of the most influential men of Clinton county, an ardent Republican, and an elder of the Pres- byterian Church.

Judge Austin O. Furst, the subject proper of this sketch, is a native of the State, born on his father's farm in Lamar township, Clinton county, in the east end of Nittany Valley. In the schools of the neighborhood he acquired his early educa- tion, after which he went to the academy in Sa- lona, conducted by Prof. McGuire and Prof. Car- rier, respectively. Later he entered Dickinson Seminary, at Williamsport, from which he was graduated in 1853, with the honors of the class. In the fall of that year he entered the junior class of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Penn., but after a brief period sickness caused him to leave. Re- turning home, he in 1858 began the study of law in the office of his brother, Cline G. Furst, Esq., at Lock Haven, Penn., and he was admitted to the Bar of Clinton County at the September term, 1860. A short time afterward he located at Bellefonte, and at the January term of Court in 1861, he was on motion made by the late Hon. H. N. McAllister, admitted to the Bar of Centre County, and has ever since followed the profes- sion of law,

Prior to the session of the State Legislature of 1882-83, Centre county was a part of the Twenty-fifth Judicial District. At that session Centre and Huntingdon counties were united, and constituted the Forty-ninth Judicial District. Judge Mayer continued as president-judge of the Twenty-fifth District, composed of the counties of Clinton, Elk and Cameron, and Judge Orvis, who was the additional law judge of the old Twenty-fifth, became president-judge of the Forty-ninth. In the fall of 1883 he resigned. and Judge Hoy was appointed by Gov. Pattison. He continued as president-judge of the Forty- ninth District until the first Monday of January. 1885. At the general election of 1884 Austin O. Furst was elected president-judge, entered upon the duties of the office on the first Monday of January, 1885, and continued in service for a period of ten years, his term of office expiring on the first Monday of January, 1895, since which time he has engaged in the practice of his pro- fession. He has an office in Bellefonte, one in Huntingdon, and one in Philadelphia, the last being in connection with his son, William S. Furst, as senior counsel.

Prior to the Judge's elevation to the Bench, he was engaged in many important suits both in equity and law, as well as in the criminal courts, and was often pitted against the foremost lawyers

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of this section of the State, and has been con- stantly associated in cases with them. The dis- trict was a very large and important one, com- prising a population of 80,000 people, and during his judicial term a great many corporation cases were tried in court, besides an unusual number of homicide cases. The most interesting of the latter class was that of Alfred Andrews, a young Englishman, who was tried at Bellefonte, at the January session, 1890, which case lasted for six days, and which was closely listened to by a crowded court-room daily. It resulted in a ver- dict of murder in the first degree. The Judge's pathetic and touching address to the prisoner be- fore pronouncing sentence was highly commended and considered by the profession as an expression of high order of thought and language. Address- ing the prisoner, the Judge said:

It is seldom, and hitherto unknown in this county, that une so young as you has committed a crime so revolting in its details. Lying in wait for your victim, and with the frenzy of lust in your heart, without a moment's warning, you made your assault, and to cover your shame, you added to your attempt at rape the foul crime of murder. No won- der that this community stood aghast at your crime. It is not surprising that the officers of the law were vigilant in seeking you out and bringing you here to answer for that crime. It is sad, indeed, to think of the deed you have com- mitted. Without pity of mercy you made a criminal assault upon Clara Price, and failing in your brutal attempt, you took her life to suppress the evidence of your guilt. She- was a beautiful young lady, just ripening into womanhood- pure and virtuous-and happy in the bright prospects of life before her. Alone and unprotected in a lonely place, you made your assault upon her. She sacrificed her young life to save her virtue. Her noble efforts to protect her honor and purity ought to be written in granite above her grave. The law, in mercy, hitherto, has extended to you every means to prove your defense; it has thrown around you the presumption of innocence. It has given you a jury of your own selection; it has required the Commonwealth to prove you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You have had the benefit of able counsel and the process of the law to compel the attendance of your witnesses; the county has furnished means for your defense; you have had a patient, fair and im- partial trial before a jury of your peers-the jury has found you guilty of murder in the first degree; no other verdict conld have justly been rendered under the evidence. The truth of the verdict has been made manifest by your own confession since the language of the law has been changed. It now demands that satisfaction shall be done. You have forfeited your life to the law, and justice requires that forfeit shall be paid. While you cannot restore the innocent life you have taken, the law requires that society shall be pro- tected from the assassin and murderer, and that your igno- minious death upon the scaffold shall be a warning and a terror to the evildoer. You need not expect or hope for a change in the verdict, by an appeal to any earthly tribunal. No constituted authority in the land can read the record of your trial without pronouncing your guilt. There is no ap- peal left for you, but to your God. To Him and Him alone, may your appeal for mercy be made. That mercy, which vou denied your helpless victim, may yet through sincere repentance and faith in Christ be accorded to you. We earnestly commend yon to a merciful God, who, in his infin- ite love granted pardon to the thief. upon the cross, and who is able to save the penitent, however wicked he may have been. We have no desire to review the facts in connection with your crime, The confession you have made relieves the court from further delay in your case. It now remains only to pronounce the death sentence according to law. The

sentence of the law is that you, Alfred Andrews, the pris- oner at the bar, be taken hence to the jail of Centre county, whence you came, and from thence to the place of execu- tion, designed by law, and that you there be hanged by the neck until you are dead, and may God have mercy upon your soul.

The following quotations from the press, and from his fellow-townsmen, who have known Judge Furst for years, are evidence of his rank as a lawyer and judge, of his high Christian char- acter as a man, and faithful performance of his duty as a citizen, and of his scholarly attain- ments: "We congratulate the Republicans on their excellent nomination. Mr. Furst is a gen- tleman whose learning and legal ability, integ- rity and faultless Christian life have placed him above the reach of slander. Should he be elected to the high office to which he aspires, he will dis- charge his duty fearlessly and well, and as be- comes an upright judge and arbiter. He is a clear and forcible writer, using his brilliant rhetoric and his admirable gift of humor only when they are aids to the enforcement of his argument. He is entitled to be called, without any exaggeration, an accomplished orator". "Judge Furst is firm, honest, positive and inde- pendent".

Judge Furst is an ardent Republican. Of him the Democratic press says: ^: He has always been an uncompromising Republican, but always a fair fighter." He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church since the age of twenty-five years, and a ruling elder of the Church at Belle- fonte since 1863. He has been for years presi- dent of the Dickinson Alumni Association, which includes in its membership some of the brightest and cleverest lawyers, ministers, and professional men of the State. He possesses a keen mother wit, which serves him well in that capacity, and his well-put sallies provoke unlimited merriment at these famous gatherings. He is one of the incorporators of the Law School of Dickinson College at Carlisle. He was a member of the school board of Bellefonte nine years. He is a home man, and his beautiful residence is an ideal one. His taste for agriculture is pronounced, as is his liking for the sport of Izaak Walton.

The Judge has been twice married, first to Miss Frances M., daughter of William C. Sander- son, of Clinton county, a lady of rare beauty, both in character and in Christian virtue, and by this union there are two sons: William S., born June 12, 1868, and John S., born April 19, 1871. William S. graduated with honor in his class at Princeton in 1890; then spent the summer abroad, and in the fall entered the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, and in three years was graduated and admitted

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

to the Bar in Philadelphia; at once he began practice in that city, and has since been located there. John S. also went to Princeton, but pre- ferring a business life he entered the Williamsport National Bank, of which he is now assistant cashier. The Judge's second wife was Miss Caroline W., daughter of Moses and Jane (Wat- son) Chamberlain, of Milton, and they have three children: Jane W. Watson, born October 9, 1879; James C., born December 1, 1882, and Walter B., born May 2, 1887.

J ACKSON LEVI SPANGLER, of Bellefonte, Centre county. Achievements more than words, things done rather than things said, have constituted the contribution of the German element of our population to the great political and industrial fabric which has been reared upon the foundations laid by William Penn for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania more than two hundred years ago.

Johannes Spangler, who came to the port of Philadelphia August 17, 1731, from the Palati- nate, in the ship "Samuel," Hugh Piercy master, was no exception to the rule. He and his de- scendants have had their full share of the solid, every-day work in making the Commonwealth what it is.

Col. Jackson Levi Spangler, the sixth genera- tion from Johannes, the elder, is the eldest son of John Spangler and Annie Berger, and was born in Adamsburg, Snyder Co., Penn., Septem- ber 27, 1849. . His early life was without special incident. He attended the common schools of Snyder county until 1860, when his father re- moved to Centre county, and has resided at Cen- tre Hall, in one of the most beautiful valleys of Pennsylvania, from that time until this, except during his official term as sheriff of Centre county, to which office he was elected in the year 1877. Col. Spangler attended the common schools in Centre county, and was there fitted for Dickinson Seminary at Williamsport, from which institution he graduated with honors in June, 1871. His relations with the seminary have been very cordial ever since. He delights in attending its commencements, and at the last commence- ment was the alumni orator, and entertained a large audience by his graphic and vivid descrip- tion of the development of this portion of Penn- sylvania. He entered the office of Orvis & Alex- ander in the latter part of 1871, pursued the study of the law diligently and with success, and was admitted to the Bar of Centre County in Jan- uary, 1874. He at once took his rank in the legal profession, and his abilities were so quickly recog-

nized that in the summer of the same year he was nominated for the office of District Attorney of Centre county, and was elected by a large majority in the fall of the year. He filled the office ably and acceptably to the people for the full term of three years, and would have undoubtedly been renomi- nated and re-elected in 1877 but for the fact that he declined a renomination, apparently for the rea- son that his father was a candidate for sheriff in that year. Col. Spangler continued the practice of his profession, after his official term ceased, for a number of years alone, and, subsequently, as the senior member of the firm of Spangler & Hewes. He had high standing at the Bar, and was an especially persuasive advocate, his genial disposition and temper making him an especial favorite with the jury. During his professional life he was also interested in local politics, in reference to which he was always an influential adviser in his party. - He was the chairman of the Democratic County Committee during the celebrated campaign of 1880, when Gen. Han- cock received a majority of 996-an unusual one in Centre county, and larger than that of any other Presidential nominee since. In. 1890 he was the cordial choice of his county for the nomi- nation of Congress in the Twenty-eighth District, and would have undoubtedly been nominated at the conference of the representatives of the sev- eral counties, but the fact that his nice sense of honor forbade his making an arrangement which he thought was not in accordance with an implied promise he had made. His mental equipment and education would have fitted him admirably as a successful candidate of his party, and, if nominated, he would undoubtedly have been elected, and those who knew him best are satis- fied that the district would have been worthily represented, in case of his election.

Col. Spangler's services in the National Guard of Pennsylvania have been valuable and almost unique. In 1877. at the time of the great railroad riots which convulsed the country. he accompanied Gen. Beaver, then commanding the 5th Division of the National Guard, as a volun- teer aide. when the Division was called into ac- tion. The headquarters were established at Altoona, where there was great unrest and much dissatisfaction on the part of the employees of the Pennsylvania railroad. A careful investigation of the situation revealed the fact that the ferment was largely maintained by the demagogical appeals of a man who had lately come into the commun- ity, and was little known, but who had exerted a great influence by his street-corner addresses to the crowds which assembled to hear him. The civil powers seemed to be paralyzed, and

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

neither mayor nor sheriff would undertake to ar- rest the disturber of the peace. At the request of Gen. Beaver, Col. Spangler (then without military rank) and Major M'Farlane were sworn in by the mayor as deputy policemen. The second day after their arrival at Altoona, they located this man in a saloon, had a carriage driven to the door, arrested him, hurried him to the carriage and drove to Hollidaysburg, the county seat of Blair county, before the fact of his arrest became known. From that day the spirit of unrest at Altoona decreased, and it was not long before complete order was restored. In recognition of his services, Gen. Beaver recommended him for aide upon his staff, with the rank of major, which was promptly confirmed by Gen. Hartranft, then Governor of the Commonwealth.

Immediately after the unprecedented disaster caused by the flood at Johnstown in the latter part of May, 1889, Col. Spangler, who was in that part of Cambria county, hurriedly repaired to Johnstown in company with Gen. Hastings, and was so overwhelmed with the necessity for prompt action on the part of all who could render service to the afflicted people there, that he remained upon the ground and volunteered to render such service as he might, in the distribu- tion of provisions to those who were in need. He organized the Commissary Department, and was so efficient in the discharge of his duties con- nected therewith that, in recognition of his serv- ices, he was appointed by Gen. Beaver, then Governor of the State, assistant commissary-gen- eral, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Most men discharge their duties in National Guard serv- ice because of rank previously bestowed; in Col. Spangler's case, however, the services were rendered, and the rank followed in recognition of them. So much impressed were the officers and men who were on duty in connection with the Commissary Department at Johnstown, that at the conclusion of their term of service they presented Col. Spangler with a handsome sword as a recognition of their appreciation of the abil- ity with which he had met all the requirements of the position.

In the fall of 1887, Col. Spangler became ac- quainted (through several gentlemen who had the control of a number of options upon coal lands in the northwestern corner of Cambria county) with the marvelous mineral wealth of this region. He visited this locality, and was impressed with its extent and value. As a result of it, he en- listed the interests of others in such a way as to induce an effort to secure control of a large body of coal in this neighborhood. As a result, the Blubaker Coal Co. was fornied, of which he may

be said to be the original founder. Others united with him, and the business was followed so intel- ligently and persistently that the company be- came the owner of some 12,000 acres of the best coal land in this region. Col. Spangler has con- tinued as a director of the Blubaker Coal Co. since its organization, and is one of the prominent stockholders. As a result of this business con- nection, he became interested in the Sterling Coal Co., and, when the business interests of the latter company increased in the region to such an extent as to demand active and energetic supervision,. Col. Spangler was appointed general manager, and has resided in Hastings, acting in that capacity for several years. He had considerable experience at Bellefonte in the development of real estate, and became interested in this region in the Hastings Improvement Co., and was one of the original and energetic movers in the devel- opment of the Spangler Improvement Co. In recognition of the services rendered by him as treasurer and trustee of the latter company, the village on the West branch of the Susquehanna, which is destined to be the center of a larger number of coal operations than any locality out- side of Houtzdale basin, was named " Spangler."

On March 24, 1890, Col. Spangler was mar- ried to Mrs. Eliza Wagner Holliday, and enjoys the domestic comfort to which he is entitled in his elegant and hospitable home at Bellefonte. Although so largely interested in this locality, and spending most of his time either at Hastings or Spangler, he maintains his residence in Belle- fonte. We are persuaded that to no one man does northern Cambria county owe more of its recent development than to the subject of this sketch.

E ADWARD T. TUTEN. The influence of a journalist, though silent, is all-pervasive. and in the United States, where the newspaper is the universal medium of information, not only on the events of the time but upon the principles and policies which move our vast social or- ganism, it has more than once proved itself a mighty power. In this work the subject of this sketch, as editor and proprietor of the Bellefonte Republican, has borne a worthy part, and the following brief biography will interest a wide circle with whom his name is a household word.

The Tuten family originated in France, but migrated to Holland, whence in the times of King William our subject's ancestors moved to Ire- land, settling at Belfast. The first to come to America was John Tuten, our subject's grand- father, who followed the sea, and was mate of a

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

vessel. He was married in Boston to Miss Sarah Partridge, a lady of English descent, and a sister of Sir Robert Partridge, of Boston. John Tuten established his home in Boston about 1800, but while on one of his voyages he was drowned at Archangel, Russia, at the age of thirty years. He left one son, Robert P. Tuten, and two daughters, one of whom married Henry C. Smith, and lived and died at Nashua, N. H., while the other married David Wilson Putney, and passed her last years at East Cambridge, Mass. The widowed mother subsequently wed- ded James Luke, of Cambridge, Mass., and her remaining years were spent at that place. There was a large family of children by this union.

Robert P. Tuten, our subject's father, was born February 6, 1806, and grew to manhood in Massachusetts. He learned the glass-cutter's trade, and at his death September 7, 1851, he was foreman of the cutting shop in the works of the New England Glass Co. In politics he was an Old-line Whig, and he was a member of the Universalist Church. His third wife, Nancy S. Smith, our subject's mother, was born at Deer- ing, N. H., in 1819, and died in 1883. She had seven children, one of whom died in childhood, and of the others. Edward T. is the eldest; Nancy M. married Alonzo S. Bruce, and resides at Mount Vernon, N. H .; Susan R. is a resident of Ayer, Mass .; Robert P. lives at Iron Mount- ain, Mich., and is editor of the Iron Mountain Range; Sarah T. is treasurer of the Ayer Sav- ings Bank, at Ayer, Mass .; Esther P. resides in New York City.

Mr. Tuten (our subject) was born September 1, 1842, at Cambridge, Mass., and his youth was spent at that place and in Mount Vernon, N. H. He attended an excellent school, and was fitted for college; but at this point his student life closed. For some time he worked in the same glass works in which his father had been em- ployed, and then he engaged in agriculture at Bedford, Mass .; but in 1873 he moved to Belle- fonte and purchased the Republican, which he has ever since edited with marked ability. Its columns have always reflected his own sturdy Republican principles, and for years it was the only paper of that political faith in the locality. Although Mr. Tuten is very quiet in manner, he is firm and decisive in business dealings, and as a citizen and a journalist he is ever responsive to to the best interests of the place which he has chosen for a home.

In February, 1870, Mr. Tuten was married at Brookline, Mass., to Mrs. Maria P. Gray, née Fifield, who was born in 1834. She passed to her eternal rest in May, 1894, leaving one son,

Earle C., born December 4, 1870, now editor and publisher of the Bellefonte Daily News. He is not married, and resides with our subject. Mr. Tuten is a member of the Unitarian Church, and is affiliated with the I. O. O. F., Centre Lodge No. 156, holding the rank of Past Grand.

C LOL. DANIEL SCHNECK KELLER, late of Bellefonte, Centre county, closed an hon- ored career as citizen, soldier and lawyer. on August 12, 1894.

The Kellers have lived in Centre county for nearly a hundred years. Jacob Keller (1), the great-grandfather of Col. Keller, who was born in 1753, came to Potter township, Centre coun- ty, in 1806, hailing from Dauphin county, of this State. He purchased what was known as the Red Mill property. He was a patriot of the Revolution. having served in Capt. Daniel Old- enbruch's company of militia in 1777. He was an elder in the Reformed Church, and did much to advance the work of that Church in Centre county. One of the sons of Jacob Keller (I) was also named Jacob, and, of his seven children, Henry Keller, later of Boalsburg, was the father of our subject. He was for a time engaged in the foundry and mercantile business, and later in farming. His wife was Margaret Schneck, whose brother, Rev. Benjamin S. Schneck, D. D., was a distinguished divine in the Reformed Church.

The late Col. Keller was born at Oak Hall, in Harris township, September 5, 1844; he at- tended the public schools of his native township. and Boalsburg Academy, where he prepared for the Freshman class of Franklin and Marshall College, and was expecting to enter in Septem- ber, 1862; but before this time the long-sup- pressed antagonism between the North and the South broke out into open warfare, and being too patriotic to remain a mere spectator he joined in the contest, enlisting, in 1862. in Company G, 148th Regiment, P. V. I. He was made a corporal; in the battle of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863, he was shot in the shoulder, and the wound proving serious, a tedious period in hospital followed. On February 15. 1864, he was trans- ferred to the 112th Company, 2d Battalion, Veteran Reserve Corps, and remained in the service until peace was established, being dis- charged by general order August 19, 1865. Dur- ing his term of service he was detailed for spe- cial duty in the office of the Quartermaster-gen- eral of the army at Washington, D. C., and later developed such facility and accuracy in his work that he was retained in that office, and

للمضحياء

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

subsequently in the Census Bureau, where he was chief of a division until 1873. In the mean- time he. was pursuing a course in the Columbia Law School, and by night study prepared him- self for the practice of his profession; having completed a full course in that institution, he was admitted to practice in the District of Columbia. In 1873 he resigned his position in the Bureau, and returning to his native county settled in the charming little city of Bellefonte.

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Commemorative biographical record of central Pennsylvania : including the counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion, Pt. 1, Part 12

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1358

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1358