USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. III > Part 17
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tendent of the Sunday school. He then be- came a member of the Presbyterian church of Mechanicsburg, and at the present time is superintendent of the Sunday school. While still living in Harrisburg, he was a director of the Harrisburg Young Men's Christian Association, and he has served as a representative to the General Presby- terian Synod and the General Assembly. He was a member of the Harrisburg School Board nine years, and served as secretary of this honorable body one year. His fra- ternal affiliations are as follows: A life member of Robert Burns Lodge, No. 464, Free and Accepted Masons, having joined this body in 1877; member of Post No. 58, Grand Army of the Republic, of Harris- burg ; of the State Pharmaceutical Associa- tion, and National Proprietary Association.
Dr. Clark has always been of an intensely patriotic nature, and when in 1861 the call came from President Lincoln for men to serve three months, he was one of the first to respond, and his example was a source of inspiration to many others. At that time he was assigned to the Seventh Pennsyl- vania Reserves. Subsequently he enlisted for three years, but served four, one of which was spent in southern prisons. He was an active participant in a number of the most important and fiercest battles of the Civil War, and was taken prisoner, the first time at Gaines Mills, and sent to Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, languishing there two months. Two years later he was captured with his entire regiment at the battle of the Wilderness, confined in Ander- sonville Prison from May until September, and in the prison at Florence, South Caro- lina, from September until December 22, 1864. He was mustered out of service at Philadelphia, February 22, 1865, and after a short sojourn at his own home accepted a position in the War Department at Wash- ington, D. C., where he remained until 1868. He is a staunch Republican.
Dr. Clark married, at Mechanicsburg, February 28, 1871, Kate F., a daughter of
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Solomon P. and Elizabeth Gorgas, and has had children: William, a former druggist of Philadelphia, now with his father at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, wholesale drug- gist; Mary E .; Joseph Nelson Jr .; Ray- mond Perry; Edgar George.
CUNNINGHAM, Dominick O., Leading Manufacturer, Progressive Citizen.
Glass manufacturing is one of the indus- tries claimed as Pittsburgh's own. The slight effort made to dislodge her from her position of glass supremacy has been ren- dered futile by the great natural gas belt of her district, and to-day the show windows of the world are viewed through plate glass made in Pittsburgh, and the various glass specialties which, for the most part, origi- nate here, are sold in a market whose only confines are the four quarters of the globe. Conspicuous among the men instrumental in giving to our city this proud domination was the late Dominick O. Cunningham, for many years president of the D. O. Cunning- ham Glass Company, one of the long estab- lished representative glass concerns of Pittsburgh. Mr. Cunningham was also .associated with the lumber business and was prominently identified with every movement tending to develop the best inter- ests of his home city.
Dominick O. Cunningham was born No- vember 23, 1834, in Allegheny county, and was a son of Wilson and Mary Ann (O'Connor) Cunningham. At a very early age he became associated with the glass business, receiving the most thorough train- ing and acquiring perfect familiarity with every department of the industry. This was in the natural course of events as he might be said to inherit an interest in glass manufacture.
The successful and widely known glass manufacturing business so long associated with the name of Cunningham was estab- lished in 1849 by Wilson Cunningham, father of Dominick O. Cunningham. Asso-
ciated with Mr. Cunningham were his two brothers and George Duncan. The con- cern was known as the Pittsburgh City Glass Works, and from the outset was at- tended by prosperity. In 1865 the firm be- came Cunninghams & Ihmsen, and in 1878 the interest of Dominick Ihmsen was pur- chased and the style changed to Cunning- hams & Company, the firm being composed of Wilson, Robert and Dominick O. Cun- ningham-the last-named becoming two years later sole owner of the business, which was then incorporated as the D. O. Cun- ningham Glass Company.
At this period the business embraced two extensive plants for the manufacture of window glass, bottles and fruit jars, one being situated at Twenty-second street and the other at Twenty-sixth, on Jane street, South Side. The equipment was of the most complete description, and the plants were recognized as among the representative works of Pittsburgh. This flourishing con- dition was mainly due to the keen vision, quick and sound judgment and organizing abilities of Mr. Cunningham. Another im- portant factor in his success was his insight into character which enabled him to put the right man in the right place, while the un- varying justice and kindliness which marked his conduct toward his employes elicited their warm attachment and secured their most loyal service.
Despite the strenuous and engrossing nature of his duties as head of this vast concern the tremendous vitality of Mr. Cun- ningham and his extraordinary speed in the dispatch of business made it possible for him to assume other responsibilities. He was senior member of the large lumber firm of Schuette & Company, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. The political affiliations of Mr. Cunningham were with the protection wing of the Democratic party, and while he steadily refused to ac- cept office, he gave the loyal support of a good citizen to all measures which, in his judgment, tended to further the welfare of
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Pittsburgh, and as a vigilant and attentive observer of men and events his ideas car- ried weight among those with whom he dis- cussed public problems. With the financial interests of the city he was intimately asso- ciated as one of the incorporators and a director of the Manufacturers' Bank of the South Side. A liberal giver to charity, so quietly were his benefactions bestowed that their full number will, in all probability, never be known to the world. He was a member of Sts. Peter and Paul Church.
The leading characteristics of Mr. Cun- ningham-indomitable perseverance, bold- ness of operation, unusual capacity for judging the motives and merits of men, and integrity and loyalty to friends-were deeply imprinted on his countenance. Of fine personal appearance, strong and stal- wart, his clear-cut, resolute features ac- centuated by a moustache, snow-white, as was his hair, in his latter years, and with the bearing of one unfailingly self-reliant, but ever most considerate of others, he looked the man he was. The eyes, with all their keenness, held in their depths the glint of humor and the firm lines of the face were softened by an expression of the great- est kindliness. No man ever recognized with more electrical quickness a business opportunity or availed himself of it with greater wisdom. He was loved and vener- ated for his sterling qualities of manhood and for the genial nature which recognized and appreciated the good in others. Until a few months before his death Mr. Cun- ningham was actively engaged in business, and on March 26, 1911, he passed away, leaving the record of a man of purpose, one who lived up to the letter and spirit of his word and was generous in his feelings and conduct toward all. Mr. Cunningham was a man whose value, albeit appreciated while he was with us, could not be fully and truly estimated until after he had been taken from us. Strong, cheerful and courageous, leading the way in enterprises that made for the prosperity of others no less than
for his own, an upright citizen, a kind neighbor, a loyal friend-we do not realize how much we have depended on him until the strong presence is withdrawn and the kind hand is no longer held out to greet us. Dominick O. Cunningham was loved in his lifetime, and to-day his memory is cher- ished in many hearts.
OTT, Frederick M.,
Soldier, Lawyer.
Major Frederick M. Ott, a well known attorney-at-law of Harrisburg, Pennsyl- vania, whose professional activity extends over a period of more than forty years, is a man of commanding ability and has risen to a place of distinction in his chosen pro- fession. In other walks of life he has also distinguished himself, notably in military affairs, and has amply proven his bravery and patriotism.
The paternal founder of his family in this country was Johan Nicholas Ott, who is said to have emigrated from the Pala- tinate in 1735, and settled near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Nicholas, son of Johan Nicholas Ott, served bravely in the Conti- nental army during the Revolution, removed to Harrisburg in 1781, and operated the Harris ferry. He bought land adjoining the ferry, on Paxton street, in 1797, and there built a tavern which he conducted until his death in January, 1800. Children : Nicholas; Mary, who married Henry Peters.
Nicholas, son of Nicholas Ott, was born February 22, 1781, died November 5, 1832. He married Margaret Kissecker, and had seven children, among them being Leander Nicholas Ott, born February 11, 1814, died February 8, 1897. His career was a varied one. For a time he was an attorney-at-law, then engaged in the lumber business at Harrisburg, later in the same business in Camden, New Jersey, and finally resumed it in Harrisburg. He removed to Susque- hanna township in 1861. For a number of
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years he was occupied as a civil engineer, and made State surveys. During the first three years of the Civil War he was active in organizing troops at Camp Curtin, and also organized emergency companies in 1862-63. He married Caroline M. Heisely, and they had six children, of whom the two surviving ones-Frederick M. and Mary Heisely-are living on the homestead "Kit- tatinny Farm." In the maternal line of Mr Ott, many members have been distinguished in military affairs, as statesmen, and in various professional lines.
Major Frederick M. Ott was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, April 4, 1850. The public schools of his native city fur- nished him with his early education, and from them he went to the Harrisburg Acad- emy, at which he was a student from 1862 until 1866. In the last mentioned year he matriculated at Pennsylvania College, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and was gradu- ated from this institution in the class of 1870. Taking up the study of law under the preceptorship of his father, he was ad- mitted to the bar of Dauphin county, Penn- sylvania, as an attorney, May 13, 1873, and with the exception of the time spent in mili- tary service has been in uninterrupted prac- tice of his profession. The principles of the Republican party have always been upheld by him, and he served as county solicitor of Dauphin county at the time when this office was still an elective one. He has served as a school director for almost a quarter of a century, and has been secretary of the board in Susquehanna township.
His military record is an exceedingly creditable one. Becoming a member of the National Guard of Pennsylvania in 1888, he was elected second lieutenant of the Gov- ernor's Troop, upon the organization of that body, was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in 1890, and to that of captain in 1891. In this last rank he was reëlected and commissioned for a number of succes- sive terms. At the outbreak of the Spanish- American War his company entered the
United States service, being known as the Governor's Troop, Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry. They were mustered in, May 13, 1898, and mustered out, November 21, 1898, having participated in the Porto Rican ex- pedition. Captain Ott was in command of this troop during its entire period of service. In 1910 the Pennsylvania Cavalry was formed in two squadrons of four companies each, and Captain Ott was made major of the Second Squadron. Major Ott is a mem- ber of the Spanish-American War Veterans of Dauphin county ; of the Dauphin County Bar Association; and of Zion Lutheran Church, Harrisburg. Commendation is superfluous appended to the history of a man like Major Ott; his record speaks for itself.
McCONNELL, Alexander Daniel, Lawyer, Jurist.
The name of Judge Alexander Daniel McConnell, of Greensburg, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, is known as that of a lawyer and judge of marked ability and distinction. He is a man of most pro- nounced views on political matters, and an independent thinker along many lines. His profound and wide attainments, the clarity and keenness of his mind, combined with a character of the most uncompromising in- tegrity, have won him the undeviating re- spect and confidence of the Bar and of the citizens over whom he has presided as judge.
The founder of his family in the United States was Daniel McConnell, a native of Dumfriesshire, Scotland, who was born in 1710. While yet a young man he came to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he married Peggy Kirkpatrick, a young woman of Scotch-Irish parentage. They had four sons and several daughters. Of the sons- Samuel, David, Hugh and Daniel-the first three were married to three daughters of Thomas Whiteside, an English gentleman who came to Lancaster county, Pennsyl-
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vania, in the eighteenth century and there married Margaret Porter. They had five daughters and three sons. The three daugh- ters who married the McConnell brothers were Rebecca, Martha and Violet. Samuel, the eldest of the McConnell sons, married Violet, the youngest of the Whiteside daughters; Hugh, the youngest McConnell son, married Rebecca, the eldest of the Whiteside daughters; while David, of fur- ther mention, the second son, married Mar- tha, who was the third of the five daughters of Thomas and Margaret ( Porter) White- side. In respect to church connection the McConnells were Seceders of the old type, while the Whitesides were Presbyterians. In those days this difference was regarded as a very substantial matter, and the par- ents of the respective contracting parties, in each case, objected to the marriage on that account, but in each case the marriage took place in spite of objection.
David, second son of Daniel McConnell, was born in Lancaster county, in 1764, and removed to Westmoreland county, Penn- sylvania, in 1800. Of his twelve chil- dren, one died in infancy, the others all married, had families, and for the most part located in Western Pennsylvania. Of his direct descendants, many engaged in professional work, among these being: Judge McConnell, of this sketch; Rev. Samuel D. McConnell, D. D., LL. D .; Rev. David McConnell Steel, of New York City.
Daniel, eldest son of David and Martha (Whiteside) McConnell, was born in Lan- caster county, April 19, 1794, and died in Salem township, Westmoreland county, March 8, 1865. He married Hannah Mc- Bride, who died April 14, 1884, whose father and grandfather, both named James McBride, were active participants in the War of the Revolution. They had three sons and seven daughters.
David Kirkpatrick, eldest son of Daniel and Hannah (McBride) McConnell, was born November 18, 1819, and died Decem- ber 5, 1900. He married, October 31, 1844,
Harriet, daughter of John Steel and Jane (Christy) Sloan, both the Christy and Sloan families being identified with the history of Westmoreland county for more than a century. They had five sons and four daughters.
Judge Alexander Daniel McConnell, third son and child of David Kirkpatrick and Harriet (Sloan) McConnell, was born in Loyalhanna township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1850. Ac- quiring his elementary education in the public schools of Loyalhanna and Salem townships, he then attended Delmont Acad- emy, and finally became a student at the Washington and Jefferson College. For some years he acted in the capacity of as- sistant to H. M. Jones, superintendent of the public schools of Westmoreland county, then located in Greensburg in September, 1873, and became a teacher in the public schools there. Not long afterward he was elected to the principalship of these schools, a position he filled with ability until June 1, 1876. In the meantime he had also de- voted himself to the study of law, and in 1877, upon the motion of Senator Edgar Cowan, he was admitted to the bar of West- moreland county. Since that time he has been identified with legal affairs in various capacities. He read law in the office of the late Judge James A. Hunter, and has always given his political allegiance to the Republican party. He rendered excellent service as chairman of the Republican County Committee in 1878, and in 1879, when he was nominated by his party for the Legislature, he succeeded in reducing the Democratic majority greatly, which was to be considered a success in so far, as the county had always been overwhelmingly Democratic hitherto. His party nominated him for Congress in 1882, but the rule of rotation gave the nomination to Fayette county that year. In 1889 he was the Re- publican candidate for judge of the Court of Common Pleas, but the party was de- feated in that and several succeeding years.
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In 1895 a law was enacted allowing two judges to the Tenth Judicial District, and Governor Hastings, on practically the unanimous endorsement of the Westmore- land county bar, appointed Judge McCon- nell to this office, June 17, 1895. He re- ceived the Republican nomination, and in November of the same year was elected for a full term of ten years by a majority of about 3,000. April 15, 1905, he was with- out opposition nominated by the Republican party to succeed himself, and on July 3, following, he was endorsed by the Demo- cratic County Committee and his name directed to be placed on the Democratic ticket as the candidate of that party. Many important questions have been settled by Judge McConnell, and his decisions have been upheld by the Superior and Supreme Courts of the State. June 18, 1902, West- minster College conferred on Judge Mc- Connell the degree of Doctor of Laws, an honor which during the last century has been conferred on only four other members of the Westmoreland county bar.
Judge McConnell married, March 24, 1876, Ella J., eldest daughter of Adam J. and Emma (Eyster) Turney, of Greens- burg; granddaughter of Rev. Michael Eyster, a Lutheran minister, who died in Greensburg; and great-granddaughter of Rev. John William Weber, a pioneer Re- formed minister, who established numerous churches in Western Pennsylvania. They have had children: Richard Kirk, was graduated from Washington and Jefferson College, now a practicing attorney in the Greensburg courts: A. Turney, was a clerk in the bank of the Barclay Trust Company, of Greensburg; Alexander, who studied law at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and is now in practice in Greensburg; Emma E., and Robert Sloan.
Judge McConnell has always been greatly interested in the cause of higher education, and is one of the trustees of the Morrison
Underwood fund, which its donor devoted to certain educational purposes. He is an attendant of the First Presbyterian Church of Greensburg; a director of the West- moreland Hospital, Greensburg; and a member of the Scotch-Irish Society of Phil- adelphia, and of Philanthropy Lodge, No. 518, Free and Accepted Masons. His serv- ices are in great demand as an orator, and he is especially noted for his talent in mak- ing addresses, of whatever nature they may be. A recent example of his art in this direction was on the occasion of the un- veiling exercises at the old St. Clair Ceme- tery, August 15, 1913, when the new monu- ment erected by the Masonic fraternity of this district over the grave and to the memory of Major-General Arthur St. Clair, was unveiled and dedicated. As an ex- ample of the style of Judge McConnell, we give an extract from this dedicatory ad- dress :
General St. Clair gave wholly and without re- serve a brave, noble, deedful life, to the service of his adopted country, in the days of its dire need-and that country, when it had become rich, and he had become poor through the assumption of debts that were in fact the debts of his coun- try, allowed him in his old age to feel the pangs of poverty and to die under circumstances as pathetic as the circumstances that attended the tragic life and death of Lear. * St. Clair *
was of distinguished lineage. Scott, in his "Lay of the Last Minstrel," speaks of the "lordly line of high St. Clair." Had he chosen to do so, he could have lived a life of comfort and ease in his native land-enjoying the inherited honors of his titled ancestors. But that, young St. Clair could not do-for he had in him something better than noble blood; he had a noble soul, which forbade his resting at ease and enjoying un- earned honors. He followed the drumbeat of war to a new world, where a man's worth is measured by what he himself is, and not by what his ancestors have been.
ROEDEL, Henry Heisler, Physician, Financier.
To reach the age of eighty years is not an unusual achievement among men, but to
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reach that age and retain the vigor of mid- dle age, marks Dr. Roedel as a wonderful man mentally and physically. The begin- ning of his life was as remarkable as his latter career, for at the age of three years he began attending what might be called a kindergarten school. Thus his active life covers a period of seventy-seven years, and its fruition is not yet reached.
Dr. Henry Heisler Roedel, born at Leb- anon, Pennsylvania, June 14, 1832, is a son of P. Jacob and Justina (Diller ) Roedel, the former a shoe manufacturer. During the Mexican war he contracted with the United States government to furnish the army with shoes, a contract that was honorably fulfilled by Mr. Roedel. As stated, Dr. Roedel began attending school at the age of three, spent about one year in the public school, and then studied under private tutelage until fifteen; after an in- terim of three years he returned to the Lebanon Academy, preparatory to going to Gettysburg. He developed tubercular symptoms, and under medical advice, for the time abandoned the college course con- templated, and was sent into the western part of the State, where at Coleraine Forges and Tyrone, in two years' time, all tuber- cular symptoms subsided. He returned to Lebanon, entered the office of Dr. Cyrus D. Gloninger, and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1857.
His father, desirous of retaining him at home, purchased half an interest in George Waltz's large bookstore, which was con- ducted by Waltz & Roedel for upwards of six years. A very promising offer from Shorb, Stewart & Company, his former em- ployers when living among the mountains, induced him to consider the matter seri- ously. His father furnished these firms with many goods during the year (Mrs. Shorb was his grandmother's sister); in fact, the offer was so liberal that his father even thought it should be accepted, so with his consent Dr. Roedel moved to Tyrone, Blair county, Pennsylvania. The firm more
than redeemed their promise. He spent nearly six years in this community and while they were very laborious, they were very satisfactory, being both pecuniarily and professionally success ful. During this period a fellow practitioner lay sick for quite a while; during it he attended to his practice; later another died, causing more work to fall into his hands. No one could be found to settle the estate. Out of sym- pathy for the widow, who was a daughter of a physician of Pittsburgh, he undertook to settle the estate, though obliged to give $20,000 security, and after considerable time it was done very satisfactorily to the family. The added labor began to tell. The tax was too great. He left the field very reluctantly, having made many warm friends; he had organized the first Lutheran congregation here, which built a church and purchased a parsonage; and introduced a method by which the parsonage would be paid for in five years, and the church was free of debt when dedicated.
His father again came to the rescue, tell- ing him to come to Lebanon, take charge of the store, and half of the income should be his, without investing a penny. Remaining in this capacity nearly three years, one day his father remarked he thought he had better "put up his shingle" again, as he was out of the store more than in. Quite a number of physicians had died during his absence, and there seemed to be a want which he undertook to fill. Dr. Reidnaur had always been his father's family phy- sician, and they were close neighbors. He was married to Dr. Roedel's mother-in- law's sister, and had three sons, the oldest on his way from Gettysburg being drowned at Harrisburg. The second lost his life from an infected wound obtained in the dissecting room ; the youngest, after graduation and a trip to medical schools in Europe, upon his return obtained a large practice. An acute attack of pneumonia carried him off; and his mother had preceded them in death.
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