USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Carlisle > Early history and growth of Carlisle > Part 5
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The following beautiful epitaph on his tomb- stone was written by Justice Jeremiah S. Black :
"In the various knowledge which forms the perfect scholar, he had no superior. Independent, upright and able, he had all the highest qualities of a great judge. In the difficult science of juris- prudence he mastered every department, discussed
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almost every question, and touched no subject which he did not adorn. He won in early man- hood, and retained to the close of a long life, the affection of his brethren on the bench, the respect of the bar, and the confidence of the people."
Judge Gibson's wit was inherited by his children, and they, with his charming and dignified wife, always social and hospitable, made of the Gibson home a gay rendezvous for the young people of the town and officers of the garrison. Mrs. Gibson was a daughter of Major Andrew Galbraith, and one of six sisters remarkable for their beauty, whose home was on the corner of North Hanover street, opposite the Presbyterian square. Its fine colonial doorway, similar to that of the adjacent Watts home, faced the square, the drawing-room occupying the entire front of the house. Evidence of the handsome woodwork on these premises may still be seen on the second floor, in the offices of the Bell Telephone Company.
Mrs. Gibson was one of those who, in the lan- guage of early Presbyterianism, was "read out of the church" for permitting worldly amusements in her home. Afterward attending the Episcopal Church, it was said that she carried along many
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of her Presbyterian notions, which proved to be very trying to her new pastor. This willingness to worship either as a Presbyterian or an Episcopalian is interesting, as indicative of the double ascend-
Old Piano in the Home of A. D. B. Smead, Esq.
ency of the two churches which were the controll- ing influence here in earlier years. It was not more uncommon then than now to find members of one household attending both places of worship.
That handsome colonial mansion, with great
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halls, solid mahogany doors and spacious rooms, lying northeast of Carlisle, that for these many years has been known as "the county home," was built by Mr. Edward Stiles as his country seat,
Sideboard in the Home of Mrs. Parker J. Moore
and was named "Claremont." Selling this home, Mr. Stiles bought the twin house on East High street, adjoining Judge Gibson's, the two families always being intimate friends. After some years, removing to Philadelphia, Mr. Stiles sold his Car-
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lisle home to Mr. Coleman Hall, whose family occupied it until they also sought the City of Brotherly Love, when Judge Frederick Watts pur- chased the property, using it as a residence until his children sold it to the Carlisle Club. Notwith- standing these changing occupants it continued to be one of the favorite social centers of Carlisle, an open-handed hospitality being ever dispensed within its walls. Its great side yard, which ex- tended to the present Penrose home, was divided from the street by a high brick wall and contained a number of splendid fruit trees in addition to the shrubbery and flowers that graced its walks. It was as the guest of Judge Watts that General Taylor, President of the United States, was entertained at this house. An evidence of the fact that the spirit of reverence for those in authority, so manifest in the Old World, had not become extinct in the breasts of those who dwelt in the New, was found in the eagerness of the people to see their Presi- dent. Not content alone with the sight of him, some asked for a memento, even if it were "only the water in which he had washed his hands." Upon the statement being made that the President was suffering from a slight indisposition, such gifts
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were sent to him as to cause the remark that he had now enough brandy to drown him.
Upon stepping into the home of Mrs. William M. Penrose, but a few paces distant, one is charmed with the number of rich and beautiful fur- nishings that have adorned it through - the lives of more than one genera- tion. An exquisite Italian mantel is among the gems of the house, having been imported, with two replicas, many years ago Mantel in the Home of Mrs. William M. Penrose from Florence, Italy. One of these is in a home on Washington Square, New York, and the other in a public museum.
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Just across the street there stood the Brisbane home built by Mrs. Brisbane, who afterward married Dr. Henry Duffield, and whose daughter, Miss Kate Brisbane, was a great belle in her day. The picture of the doorway leading into the beauti- ful hall beyond indicates at once both the wealth and the taste of the family who erected this man- sion. It has been familiar to the past generation as the home of Judge Hepburn, whose charming personal appearance is asso- 7 ciated particularly with the front steps --- where he was wont to sit. His family sold the property a few years ago to Mr. John W. Plank, who erected upon the lot his handsome modern dwelling.
Doorway of Judge Hepburn's Home
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Further up town, on the northern side of High street, between Pitt and West streets, stands a home that is one of the architectural treasures of Carlisle. Its entrance door is flanked by curving steps on either side, and from the moment the interior is reached, the beautiful woodwork of the hall and charming proportions of the spacious apart- ments are mani- fest. This delight- ful old mansion was completed by Isaac B. Parker, Esq., in 1820, the general features having been planned by his wife, who was a southerner. Mr. Entrance Itall of Judge Hepburn's Home Parker was a wealthy man, his taxes being proportionately large. Taking exception to a certain assessment for school taxes, and failing in his effort to obtain an adjustment he asked from the board of directors,
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he decided to change his residence, and in 1842 removed his family to Burlington, New Jersey, evi- dently having determined to go to a state where the obnoxious school taxes were not then imposed. His son, John Brown Parker, Esq., - whose first wife was Miss Marga- ret Brisbane, es- tablished his resi- dence in the Car- lisle home which is still owned by his family.
The story of Carlisle is pecu- liarly interwoven with that of the judiciary. In its Residence of Mr. John W. Plank Old Graveyard lie the remains of three former mem- bers of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania who were citizens of the borough, and with the excep- tion of three years during the term of Hon. Benja-
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Residence of the Late John Brown Parker, Esq.
min F. Junkin, Carlisle has continuously numbered a president judge among its citizens since that office was created in 1791.
Somewhat more than a hundred years have passed since James Hamilton, an aristocratic cit- izen, a learned and dignified lawyer, was appointed to the office of president judge of this district. Always observant of the ceremonials of life, he
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required the sheriff and tipstaves of the court, car- rying a mace, to precede him as he walked in wig and gown on official business, between the court house and his home on West High street.
From this home came the splendid Hamilton clock, now the property of Captain William E. Miller, who purchased it at the executors' sale of the effects of James Hamilton, Esq., the donor to Carlisle of the Hamilton Library Fund. J. Herwick, the local maker of this ancient timepiece, was one of the most successful and well-known clock-makers in the colonies. The builder of the clock has gone where time is not measured ; the eminent family whose hours it marked has no living representative in Carlisle to- day, but the clock itself
"Through days of sorrow and of mirth, Through days of death and days of birth, Through every swift vicissitude Of changeful time, unchanged has stood."
A brilliant bar practiced under Judge Hamilton, two of its acknowl- edged leaders having been Thomas
The Hamilton Clock
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Duncan and David Watts, Esqs., those two of whom the following is a favorite local anecdote. It seems that Mr. Duncan was of very small stature, while Mr. Watts was a large man. On one occasion, during a heated legal argument in court. Mr. Watts made a personal allusion to Mr. Dun- can's size, saying contemptuously that he could put him in his pocket. "If you do," replied Mr. Duncan, "you will have more law in your pocket than you have in your head."
One also recalls to mind the name of another conspicuous resident of early days who wore the ermine, the Hon. Hugh Henry Brackenridge, who was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court in 1799, and shortly thereafter removed to Carlisle from Pittsburg. He lived in a house on High street immediately west of "White Hall," which was then the home and place of business of Archibald Loudon, the prominent book publisher, and is now the location of W. F. Horn's drug- store. He was an eccentric man of much learning and, having an almost total disregard for appear- ances, furnished a strange contrast to his con- temporary of the lower court, Judge Hamilton. It is said to have been no unusual thing for him to
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preside at circuit trials in his shirt-sleeves, with his shoeless feet cocked up on the judge's desk. His matrimonial venture is suggestive of a certain well-known poem, wherein a young girl "raked the meadow sweet with hay." It is said that in the genial summer time
"The Judge rode slowly down the lane, Smoothing his horse's chestnut mane.
He drew his bridle in the shade Of the apple trees, to greet the maid.
But the lawyers smiled that afternoon, When he hummed in court an old love tune ;
And the young girl mused beside the well Till the rain on the unraked clover fell."
He was so impressed with her beauty and sim- plicity, that a different fate from that of Maud Muller was hers, since he sent her to school to be educated to the standard of her future position, then made her Mrs. Brackenridge. So many fair young women dwelt in the same block into which he brought his handsome wife that it became cur- rently known as "Cupid's Row," where, if tradition may be credited, no security could be guaranteed for even the most adamantine of hearts. Judge
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Brackenridge died in 1816 and was buried in the Old Graveyard, leaving a book called "Modern Chivalry," the first novel written west of the Alle- gheny mountains, as well as many miscellaneous writings and judicial opinions, to perpetuate his name.
On West High street there stood yet another judicial residence, a unique and beautiful home,
The Reed Home; Later the Residence of R. C. Woodward
surrounded by large grounds, built by Judge John Reed. It was on the corner now occupied by the Methodist church, by the home of the president of the college, and by the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house. The architectural effect of the Reed home
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was very charming, the house being large and low, with basement floor. The drawing - room floor was approached by long, curving flights of steps on either side of the house, which were a delight to the artistic eye. The property was later bought by Mr. R. C. Woodward, whose family occupied the home during a long period of years, finally selling it to Dickinson College to be used as a home for the President, Dr. George Edward Reed, for whom it was enlarged and materially changed in appearance.
Opposite the Hamilton home was that of Mrs. William M. Biddle, the widowed daughter of a prominent Presbyterian divine, Elihu Spencer. Coming to Carlisle from Philadelphia in 1827, she erected the spacious house on West High street which until recently has always been occupied by some of her descendants. She was a woman of rare charm of manner, and possessed of much culture and wit; with the result that her house became a center for the exclusive life of the times, attain- ing then a social distinction which it never lost until it was turned into a commercial building in 1904. Her children, Mrs. Samuel Baird, Mrs. Charles B. Penrose, William M. Biddle, Esq.,
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Colonial Bedroom in the Home of Hon. Edward W. Biddle
Mrs. George Blaney and General Edward M. Biddle, and their descendants, form a truly remark- able group of talented men and women. Many of them have passed their lives in other and larger places, but not one has failed to evince a close attachment for the town in which the old home- stead was built eighty years ago.
Dr. George Duffield, pastor of the First Presby- terian Church, once cautioned Mrs. Biddle against a continuance of dancing and card-playing in her
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house, at the same time threatening dismissal from the church. The lady informed the pastor that her views differed from his on these points, and that she could be entirely satisfied to worship in the Episcopal Church across the way. Later, when a division of his congregation occurred and the Second Presbyterian Church was dedicated, it was said that no one walked up its aisles with a firmer tread than that of Mrs. William M. Biddle.
Carlisle is indebted to one of her granddaugh- ters, Mrs. Henry J. Bid- dle, of Philadelphia, for the gifts of the J. Wil- liams Biddle Memorial Mission Chapel and the Lydia Baird Home for Aged Women.
One of her grandsons Professor Spencer Fullerton Baird was Professor Spencer Fullerton Baird, whom Carlisle loves to place upon its loftiest record of distinguished sons. He was born in Reading, but early in life was brought here by his widowed
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mother, who bought the home on West High street recently made vacant by the death of Miss Rebecca P. Baird, the last member of her family. Having been graduated from Dickinson College in 1840, and in 1845 made professor of natural history of that institution, he really did not enter upon his life-work until five years later, when he was made assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, at Washington. Here he was put in charge of the department of explorations, which under him led to the formation of the National Museum. In 1878, upon the death of Professor Joseph Henry, Mr. Baird was chosen secretary, and to his remarkable administration of the affairs of his office is due the expansion of the institution. As a prolific writer and editor of scientific publications, his name is known throughout the world; his distinguished ability and services have been recognized by numerous leading governments in the bestowal upon him of medals and orders of distinction, as well as honorary membership in scientific societies.
As a Carlisle boy he was a familiar figure to neighboring farmers, finding his greatest pleasure in tramping through the country with his gun on
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his shoulder. His return home in the evening was something to be dreaded by the family, as there was no telling what kind of living, crawling crea- tures would emerge from his pockets. The birds he shot in these tramps through Cumberland County he prepared and mounted with his own hands, and later in life presented them to the Smithsonian Institution, where they continue to form its finest local collection of birds. One of his theories was that there exists no natural antipathy to snakes in human nature, that such feeling is merely the result of foolish teaching. In support of this conviction, he allowed his own small daughter to have a blacksnake as a plaything. He died in Washington in 1887.
It is a remarkable fact that while Professor Baird was at the head of the Smithsonian Institu- tion, another Carlisle man, Judge Frederick Watts, was filling an equally important federal office as Commissioner of Agriculture. Does one wonder at the proverbial pride of Carlisle in her own, at the self-satisfaction that has always been one of her characteristics? An amusing illustration of this attitude seems to have been of long standing, if one may credit the story that Noah offered to take
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a couple of Carlislers into the ark and received the reply, "No thank you, we have one of our own."
No pen-picture of life in Carlisle a generation back would be complete without mention of him who figured as the "court physician," Dr. David N. Mahon. He wel- comed the advent of the coming, and when his skill no longer availed to succor, he soothed the closing hours of the departing. Not only in the capacity of physician was Doctor Mahon sought, but being a man of unusual in- Major John McGinnis tellectual attain- Who, according to tradition, was Treasurer of the United States for the period of one day, under Presi- dent William Henry Harrison. ments and social graces, a brilliant conversationalist, a delightful vocalist and a man of never-failing wit, he was a welcome guest at every social function in Carlisle, and at many abroad. Upon one occasion, while dining in Washington,
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Doctor Mahon's wit and culture so impressed the Secretary of State then present, that rising from the table, he passed to the back of Doctor Mahon's chair and placing his hand on the doctor's head, said, "I must feel the development of the head from which scintillates such remarkable brilliancy." Doctor Mahon at once removed his wig, saying in his courtliest tone, "Allow me to facilitate the carrying out of your flattering desire."
A brother of Doctor Mahon, and a man quite as brilliant, was John D. Mahon, a member of the Cumberland County Bar for seventeen years. In 1833 he removed to Pittsburg, spending the remainder of his life as one of the most prominent lawyers of the smoky city.
Doctor R. L. Sibbet, in writing of the medical profession in Cumberland County, says, "In view of the number and character of the military per- sonages furnished by Carlisle in the olden times, it has been justly called the 'nursery of brave offi- cers,' and among these we place Doctor George Stevenson." The son of an intellectual and patri- otic father, whose full name he bore and whose talents and principles he inherited, Doctor Steven- son rendered distinguished service in the rôle of
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both private citizen and soldier. As one of the early trustees of Dickinson College, as a skilful physician of Carlisle for many years, and as a Rev- olutionary officer who won the commendation and personal friendship of Washington, his name is placed on that roll of honor that The Prefident prefents his Compli- ments to DTMenemen is one of Carlisle's priceless posses- sions. The quaint and requests the favor of Iii, Company at Dinner, on Yolunday next, at 3 o'clock. old invitation card received from Washington, bid- ding Doctor Ste- An Invitation from President Washington venson to dinner at the president's home, is one of many historic relics of a bygone age in the possession of the Ste- venson family, which is still represented in Carlisle.
While the men were thus helping with the world's work, the women were not idling through hours of leisure. The interesting picture of a spin- ning outfit recently presented to the Hamilton Library Association by the family of the late Levi Zeigler, whose property it had been through sev- eral generations, calls to mind that age of gentle
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industry when quilt-making, embroidery, exquisite needle-work, spinning and weaving were among the feminine occupations of quiet days that were
A Spinning Outfit
lived in strange contrast to those of the present time. Life was not strenuous when intercourse with the outside world was only made possible through the use of heavy carriages, two- wheeled chaises, or horse-back riding over bad roads; nor yet after 1837 when one train steamed each morning out of Carlisle
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on the Cumberland Valley Railroad, leaving Har- risburg on its return trip in the evening "when- ever the train from Philadelphia happened to arrive there." When the mail was brought into town but once a week by postal messenger-the newspapers published weekly in Philadelphia some- times arriving here a fortnight after their issue- when books were not plentiful, then women with skilful fingers wrought such beautiful things in their leisure hours as to be the wonder and admi- ration of their less accomplished successors of today.
General Henry Miller, although a York County man, was living in Carlisle at the time of his death and was buried with military honors in the Old Graveyard in 1824. His active and gallant Revolu- tionary War services have placed his name high among the patriots of that period. The pictures of General and Mrs. Miller, with a copy of invitations received by them attached, one being in Wash- ington's own handwriting, form a group that is delightfully quaint and interesting. A daughter of General Miller married David Watts, Esq., and a number of their descendants are living now in Carlisle and its vicinity.
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The Berident presents his complimenti to For mile.
THE PRESIDENT'S BIRTH NIGHT.
The time of 10 Milero
Parapluania and requests
Derren. Thursday reach 4'000
Saturday 29 Zup.
Guys Withany.
General and Mrs. Henry Miller and Invitations from President Washington
Perhaps the most royal hospitality of all, dis- pensed at any residence in the county, was that of the Peter Ege family, who lived at Pine Grove. Connected by ties of blood and friendship with Carlisle and its people, Mr. Ege and his wife- a Miss Arthur, of Virginia-have left many tradi- tions of their princely manner of entertaining. In later years, the spirit of hospitality was fully sus- tained by William M. Watts, Esq., who succeeded Mr. Ege in the ownership of this place of delight-
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ful memories, so picturesquely located on the sloping sides of the South Mountain, and so inter- woven with the social life of the town as to have been practically a part of it.
The first brick house erected in Philadelphia, and consequently the oldest of its kind in the state of Pennsylvania, was built in preparation for the coming of the proprietary of the province, William Penn. The furnish- ings were not so modest as the little home itself, if one may judge from the charming and elegant chair that once stood in company with others of its kind in that abode where were often held the provincial councils. One rejoices to think that this chair is more than two hundred and twenty-five years old, and that it has been preserved in all its dignity and beauty, while through many years it has been one of the cher- ished possessions of a Carlisle home.
The William Penn Chair In the Home of the late Mr. Jacob Sener
Of the fate of the fort planted by Columbus on
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the coast of San Domingo there is no assurance. Its very site had been forgotten when in 1906 chance led to its re-discovery. In clearing ground for the erection of a sugar-mill, a San Domingan planter unexpectedly struck upon old foundations and found embedded in the soil, wedged between logs where it had lain concealed for centuries, this Toledo blade. The sword was pre- sented by the owner of the planta-
Toledo Blade-in the Home of Commander Colwell
tion on which it was found to Commander John C. Colwell, of the United States Navy, and was brought by him to his home in Carlisle. There it hangs upon the walls, a picturesque souvenir of that memorable date, 1492, when it found its way across the sea on board one of the three little caravels that sailed into the west on the most momentous voyage of discovery ever made.
"Old Sword ! Whose fingers clasped thee Around thy carved hilt ? And with that hand which grasped thee What heroes' blood was spilt ?"
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Old James Powell, familiarly known as "Pom- pey Jim," was a local character unique in the annals of his day and generation, being the boot- black and pavement sweeper for a certain number of gentlemen of the town, and extremely partic- ular about the social stand- ing of his patrons. With his half-witted son John as assistant, he made reg- ular matutinal calls at the houses of his customers to black the boots of the male members of the house- holds. His little bent form and grizzled beard are remembered by many now living. But it was on funeral occasions that Jim Pompey Jim appeared resplendent in carefully brushed clothes and high hat, always walking immediately behind the hearse, some- times with his hands folded behind his back and carrying his cherished hat. He was as particular about the funerals he attended as about the boots he blacked, honoring no family with either his
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Yard at the Residence of A. D. B. Smead, Esq.
services or attention that could not meet Jim's own particular ideas of "quality." A wit of the time laughingly said to her son one day, "Do give an occasional quarter to Jim. I am so afraid that he will not come to my funeral, and I don't wish my family's social standing to suffer."
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