USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. III > Part 53
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The Board of Trade was largely instru- mental in the phenomenal prosperity of those years, and as secretary Mr. Graham bore a conspicuous part. Aside from his legal and real estate interests, he is con- nected with many financial and commercial enterprises as a large stockholder and attor- ney. He has also been actively interested in oil production and in all his undertakings has been uniformly successful. He is inter- ested in the Butler Savings and Trust Com- pany ; the Butler County National Bank; the Lyndora National Bank; the First Na- tional Bank of Bruin (Butler county) of which he is also attorney; the Allegheny Valley Foundry and Machine Company at Glassmere (Allegheny county) of which he is director, also attorney; and the Clay Products and Mineral Company of Free- port, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Graham has for many years been connected with the National Guard of Penn- sylvania. He enlisted first in 1888 in Com- pany E, Fifteenth Regiment and served with his regiment at the great Homestead strike of 1892, ranking as corporal. He again enlisted in 1898, during the Spanish- American War, in Company G, Twenty- first Regiment (which he was active in or- ganizing) and was elected second lieutenant. The company did not see actual warfare, although the regiment tendered their serv- ices to the government. He was mustered out after two years' service in June, 1900. In 1910 he was appointed adjutant of the Sixteenth Regiment, which position he held until his resignation in September, 1912. He was always fond of athletics, and from
1892 to 1896 was a member of the famous First Ward Running Team (which lowered the world's record from 250 yards run). He competed in many State contests, the Cotton States International Exposition at Atlanta and incidentally won $6,500 in cash prizes. He has just retired from the office of district deputy grand commander of the Knights of Malta ; he is a member of Blue Lodge, chapter and commandery of the Masonic order, also an Odd Fellow and a member of the Sons of Veterans. For several years he was active in the Young Men's Christian Association as a director and a worker. For one hundred and ten years, and for four generations, the Gra- hams have been pillars of strength in the First Presbyterian church, and John C. Graham has worthily followed the example set by his sires. He is a trustee of that church and for many years has been a teacher in the Sunday-school. In political faith he is a Republican and active in the party, but has never yielded to the induce- ments of his friends, that he accept public office. His club is the Butler Country. Mr. Graham's chief recreation is travel, and such time as he can secure from his business is spent in journeying to the historic, roman- tic, or scenic wonders of America and Eu- rope. He has visited all such places in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and in 1911 toured the British Isles and the Continent of Europe. He does not neglect the social side of life and is devoted to home and family.
This brief outline shows the wonderful activity of a man who has been the architect of his own fortunes, and of one who in the place of his birth has risen to a high place in the esteem of his townsmen. No phase of life in his city is without interest to him, no good cause is presented but receives his support ; no enterprise that will benefit But- ler but has his endorsement and no call for benevolent action passes unheeded.
Mr. Graham married (first) December 6, 1894, (the same year he was admitted to
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the bar) Lovey Ayres, daughter of Captain H. A. Ayres and Elizabeth (Kerr) Ayres, and a granddaughter of General William A. Ayres, a pioneer attorney of Butler. She died August 16, 1907. Children : Elizabeth, deceased; Walter, deceased; John C. Jr. and Margaret L. survive. Mr. Graham married (second) July 3, 1913, Elizabeth Wilson, second daughter of Hon. Theophi- lus Wilson (deceased), former President Judge of Clarion county, and sister of Judges Harry R. Wilson and Theodore Wilson. Mr. and Mrs. Graham were mar- ried in Clarion and left for a wedding tour of Europe. They reside in Butler, Penn- sylvania.
BARNETT, Col. James Elder, Lawyer, Soldier, State Official.
The Barnett family is allied with the Scotch house of Livingston, and in the six- teenth century a branch was transplanted from Scotland to county Derry, Ireland. The Barnetts were prominently associated with the political life of Belfast and Dub- lin and with their educational and benevo- lent institutions. One of them held the office of mayor of Dublin, and another served in defense of Londonderry. This family were the founders of the Presby- terian church in Ireland, and at the present day the branch resident in that country is conspicuously associated with affairs.
John Barnett, founder of the American branch of the family, was born in 1678, near Londonderry, and about 1700 emigrated to Pennsylvania, settling in Hanover township, Lancaster county, where he was one of the pioneers. He died in September, 1734. Another John Barnett, his grandson, and great-grandfather of James Elder Barnett, was an officer in the Continental army, served with distinction in the Canadian campaign, and accompanied Washington in the Trenton expedition.
Rev. John Morrison Barnett, D. D., grandson of the Revolutionary hero, mar-
ried Martha Robinson Elder, whose ances- tors belonged to the Stewart and Cameron clans, many of them being interred at Pais- ley Abbey. Ellerslie, a town of Scotland, was named in honor of the Elder family. The American branch was founded about 1700, when members of the family settled at Paxtang, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, where Rev. John Elder built the Paxtang church, which is still standing. July II, 1763, he received from the governor of the province a commission as colonel, with com- mand over all blockhouses and stockades from Easton to the Susquehanna river. Prior to this he commanded the "Paxtang Boys." Thomas Elder, another member of the family, was attorney-general of Penn- sylvania and held a commission as lien- tenant-colonel in the militia of the Keystone State.
James Elder, son of John Morrison and Martha Robinson (Elder) Barnett, was born August 1, 1856, at Elder's Ridge, Indiana county, Pennsylvania. He received his preparatory education in public and pri- vate schools, attended the Elder's Ridge Academy, and in 1882 graduated from Washington and Jefferson College. He then entered the Law School of Columbia Uni- versity, being admitted to the bar of Wash- ington county in 1890, and in 1899 to that of Allegheny county.
Early in his career, Colonel Barnett en- rolled himself as a member of the Repub- lican party, and has always taken a lively interest in politics. In 1893 he was chosen in behalf of Washington county to meet representatives from Beaver county in order to consult in regard to the adjustment of the respective claims of those counties to priority in the ensuing Republican nomi- nation of a candidate for the State Senator- ship from the Senatorial District composed of those counties. He served as deputy prothonotary of Washington county under John W. Seaman, and for some years as clerk to the county commissioners. He was appointed, July 1, 1895, by Governor Frank
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Reeder, as Deputy Secretary of the Com- monwealth, an office which he held until October 19, 1897, when he resigned and re- turned to his practice. August 24, 1899, he was nominated for the office of State Treasurer, and the following November was elected by a majority of 110,000. He served the full term of two years, and retired with a record alike creditable to himself and satisfactory to his constituents. He once more resumed practice, becoming a member of the firm of Scandrett & Bar- nett.
In 1884 Colonel Barnett enlisted in Com- pany H, Tenth Regiment National Guard of Pennsylvania, as a private, and passed through the various grades of service, being elected first lieutenant in 1887, captain in 1890, major in 1893, lieutenant-colonel in 1897. In 1898 he volunteered with his regi- ment, the famous "Fighting Tenth," for the Spanish-American War. Realizing that the Philippines were to be the centre of the most decisive interest and action, he obtained per- mission from Colonel Hawkins to apply for an assignment to that point, and through the assistance of Senators Quay and Pen- rose, Deputy Attorney John P. Elkins, State Treasurer P. J. Haywood, Harry C. Fry, of Beaver county, and Second Assistant Postmaster-General of the United States W. S. Shallenberger, the Tenth Regiment was ordered to San Francisco to embark for the Philippines, sailing thence June 15, 1898. Lieutenant-Colonel Barnett was, however, ordered back to Pennsylvania by Colonel Hawkins to recruit more men for the regiment. He established "Camp Haw- kins" at Washington, Pennsylvania, and on July 10 reported with two hundred and fifty-six men to Brigadier-General Charles King, in San Francisco. He immediately had assigned to him the recruits for the First California, Second Oregon, First Colorado and First Nebraska regiments, in all about one thousand men, and under com- mand of General King sailed, about August
I, 1898, for Honolulu, with the Pennsyl- vania, First Nebraska and First Colorado recruits. At Honolulu the expedition was sidetracked, but by order of President Mc- Kinley to the Secretary of War, Lieutenant- Colonel Barnett was directed to proceed to his regiment at Manila, being in command of the transport "Arizona" (now "Han- cock") from Honolulu to Manila. He reached there September 28, 1898, and served with his regiment in the Philippine insurrection, taking part in the attack on Manila and in the engagements of Chinese Hospital Laloma, Caloocan, San Francisco del Monte, Tuliahan River, Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, Guiguinto and Malolos.
About April 14, 1899, the regiment was ordered from Malolos to Cavite, Colonel Hawkins being made commander of that independent military district, and placing Lieutenant-Colonel Barnett in command of the regiment. Colonel Hawkins soon after fell ill and requested that Lieutenant-Colo- nel Barnett be made commander of the dis- trict-a request which was granted by Gen- eral Otis, with the proviso that he should also retain command of the regiment, thus entailing upon him double duty. Under his command were the peninsula and town of Cavite, the island of Correggidor, two bat- teries of the First California Heavy Artil- lery, one battery of Wyoming Light Artil- lery, four guns; one troop of Nevada Cavalry, and the Tenth Pennsylvania. Lieu- tenant-Colonel Barnett retained command of this district until July 1, 1899, when the regiment embarked for the United States. Out of deference to the memory of Colonel Hawkins, Lieutenant-Colonel Barnett re- fused promotion to the rank of colonel of the Tenth Regiment in the United States service. During the Boxer Rebellion he volunteered to raise a regiment for service in China. In 1900 Lieutenant-Colonel Bar- nett was unanimously chosen colonel of the reorganized Tenth Regiment, and in 1905 unanimously reëlected, resigning in 1907.
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Under his command the regiment main- tained its efficiency, and in 1902 took part in the anthracite strike, being stationed at Shamokin. After the earthquake and fire in San Francisco he inaugurated the move- ment by which the members of the Tenth Regiment, through the generosity of their friends in their respective company towns, were enabled to send $10,000 to the people of the stricken city.
CORL, Henry L., Merchant, Financier.
Joseph Corl was born in 1820, the son of Daniel Corl. He was a blacksmith in Leb- anon county, Pennsylvania. To him and his wife Catharine were born three children -Emma L. Corl, Henry L. Corl, the sub- ject of this sketch, and Catharine Corl.
Henry L. Corl was born in Lebanon county, March 1, 1845. He received a pub- lic school education at Myerstown, in the same county, and began his business career as a blacksmith. After this he was for five years with the mercantile firm of Dongeo & Weirich, at Myerstown. But in 1879 he went into business as a member of the firm of Corl & Manderbach, and under the man- agement of the partners this has become a prosperous retail mercantile business. Mr. Corl is also a director in the Farmers' Na- tional Bank, at Myerstown. He is a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, and of the Patriotic Order of Sons of America, Camp No. 64. Politically he is a Republican. In April of 1912 he was elected one of the seven members of the town council of Myerstown, and was chosen president of the council. As a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, he has greatly interested himself in its Sunday school work, and has been treasurer of the Sunday school for thirty years.
Mr. Corl married, at Myerstown, May 9, 1889, Celia, daughter of Daniel and Eliza- beth (Sunday) Kline. No children have been born to this union.
OLMSTED, Marlin E.,
Lawyer, Veteran Congressman.
Hon. Marlin Edgar Olmsted, LL. D., son of Henry Jason and Evalena Theresa Cush- ing Olmsted, was born at Olmsted's Corners, near Ulysses, Potter county, Pennsylvania, May 21, 1847. When he was about one year of age his parents moved to the county seat, Coudersport, where he attended the common, or district school, and the Cou- dersport Academy.
His father served as prothonotary and clerk of the courts of Potter county for more than twenty-four years, and Marlin E. frequently acted as his deputy. It was planned by his father and uncle that he should read law with his uncle, Arthur G. Olmsted, one of the leading lawyers of Northern Pennsylvania, who had served as speaker of the House of Representatives, was at the time State Senator, and later became President Judge of the Bucks and Montgomery district, and still later of the Forty-eighth Judicial District, but the young man did not at that time incline to the law.
In 1869 he was, through the influence of Senator Olmsted, tendered a position in the State Treasury, but the then State Treas- urer, Robert W. Mackey, learning of his youth and inexperience, traded him off, as it were, to Auditor-General Hartranft, in whose department he became assistant cor- poration clerk in the place of Captain W. B. Hart, who was transferred to the Treas- ury, and who subsequently became cashier and then State Treasurer. The young man devoted himself to the duties of assistant corporation clerk with such energy and suc- cess that one year later, although the young- est in years and in service of the many clerks in the department, he was, upon the resignation of J. Montgomery Forster to accept the position of Insurance Commis- sioner, promoted to the responsible position of Corporation Clerk in charge of the col- lection of millions of dollars of revenue
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under Pennsylvania's peculiar system of taxing corporations. He rendered the State an additional service in the preparation of several entirely new general revenue laws, which were passed by the legislature in the precise form in which he prepared them, and, being sustained by the courts at every point, yielded to the Commonwealth vast sums of revenue. This position he held for six years, under Auditors-General Hart- ranft and Allen. Upon the accession of a Democratic administration, the leading newspapers of the State declared that in the interest of the Commonwealth Mr. Olm- sted, although a Republican, should be re- tained in office, but the incoming Auditor- General elected to appoint his own son-in- law.
Upon retiring from the Auditor-General's office Mr. Olmsted was offered a position in the Insurance Department, a position in the Treasury Department, and a position in the office of the Secretary of State, as well as one or two desirable business positions, in- cluding the cashiership of a large national bank. But, declining them all, he chose to read law with the late John W. Simonton, at Harrisburg, who afterwards became President Judge of the Twelfth Judicial District. He was admitted to the bar of Dauphin county, November 25, 1878, to the bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, May 16, 1881, and to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, November 12, 1884. From the very beginning, important clients came to him in great numbers from different and distant parts of the State and from other States, and he soon had an ex- tensive and lucrative practice in the State and Federal courts, chiefly in cases involv- ing questions of constitutional and corpora- tion law.
When scarcely of age he was elected bor- ough auditor of Coudersport, but never served, having taken up his residence in Harrisburg, where he was elected and served for a brief period as a member of Select Council. In 1891 the people of the various
districts of Pennsylvania were called upon to elect delegates to a proposed Constitu- tional Convention, and also to vote whether such convention should be held. Mr. Olm- sted was elected a delegate from his dis- trict, but in the State at large the majority voted against the holding of the convention.
In 1896, he was, by an overwhelming majority, elected to Congress from the Fourteenthi District, comprising the coun- ties of Dauphin, Lebanon and Perry. Although from the beginning of the gov- ernment no congressman had represented the State capital district for more than two terms, Mr. Olmsted was elected eight times -twice more from the Fourteenth, and then five times from the Eighteenth Dis- trict, which was the same as the former, except that Cumberland county was sub- stituted for Perry. At each of the eight elections he ran far ahead of the candidates on the State and local tickets.
He took an active and prominent part in the important legislation of Congress from the time he became a member of that body. His speeches on the tariff, in particular, have been extensively quoted from in cam- paign text-books in Congressional and Pres- idential years. As chairman, for a number of terms, of the Committee on Elections, he helped to rescue the determination of con- tests for seats in the House from a mere political controversy, and to convert the committee into a judicial tribunal wherein contests were decided upon their merits without reference to political considerations. He acquired an enviable reputation for fair- ness in that committee, and also in his rulings in the chair, where he was fre- quently called to preside over the House of Representatives. As a member of the Committee on Revision of Laws he assisted in the preparation and passage of a law for the government of Alaska. As a member and later, as chairman of the Committee on Insular Affairs, he was prominent in pro- moting and passing laws for the govern- ment of the Philippines and Porto Rico,
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and particularly the "Olmsted Bill," which, withstanding attacks in the court, settled a deadlock between the two legislative branches in Porto Rico which threatened to block the wheels of government. He was also a member of the Committee on Appro- priations, perhaps the most important of all the committees of the House. He was one of the managers on the part of the House who presented and argued before the United States Senate the impeachment proceedings against Judge Swayne of Florida.
Discovering early that the member most skilled in the complicated parliamentary law and usages of the House had a great advan- tage in legislation, he devoted himself to the mastery of the subject, and on many im- portant occasions was called-perhaps more frequently than any other member-to pre- side over the House of Representatives, either as Speaker pro tempore or as chair- man of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. More important rulings made by him are recorded in Hinds' "Parliamentary Precedents" than by any other congressman who ever served in that body without having been Speaker. His well-known parliamentary skill led to his selection as Parliamentarian of the Republi- can National Convention of 1912. Mr. Olmsted received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Lebanon Valley Col- lege in 1903, and from Dickinson College in 1905. He was for a number of years one of the trustees of Pennsylvania State Col- lege.
He married, October 26, 1899, Gertrude, daughter of the late Major Conway R. Howard, of Richmond, Virginia.
December 22, 1911, there apparently being no opposition .to his continued service, he publicly announced that in the ensuing year he would not be a candidate for reelection to Congress, preferring to see more of his family and give more attention to his pro- fessional practice and his business interests. He was senior member of the firm of Olm- sted & Stamm, which probably has as large
a practice as any law firm in Pennsylvania ; and at the expiration of his last term in Congress, March 4, 1913, it was his purpose to devote his attention entirely to his pro- fession and to the affairs of railroad and other enterprises with which he was con- nected. However, he died suddenly in New York, July 19, 1913, following a surgical operation. Mrs. Olmsted and five children survive him.
PAINTER, Burton Charles, Physician.
Dr. Burton Charles Painter, a well estab- lished physician and surgeon of New Brighton, Pennsylvania, was born in West Sunbury, Pennsylvania, March 16, 1878. He comes from an old Pennsylvania family, and is a son of Simon Peter and Lois (Sut- ton) Painter.
Simon Peter Painter, born in 1836, in Butler county, Pennsylvania, was a farmer, and coal and oil operator. He was a man of ability and standing, and served as school director, tax collector and justice of the peace. He married, in 1856, Lois Sutton, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, daughter of John and Nancy (McCall) Sutton; she was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, in 1840. Children of Simon Peter Painter: John Sutton, born 1858; Jacob Monroe, 1860; Malinda Jane, 1862; William Harvey, 1864; Nancy Elizabeth, 1867; Howard Isaiah, 1870; Perrie Alvin, 1872; Allen Baker, 1874; Louise S., 1876; Burton Charles, 1878; Lillian May, 1880; Stella Sara, 1883; Lester LeRoy, 1886.
Burton Charles Painter, son of Simon Peter Painter, began his education in the public schools, and pursued advanced studies in the West Sunbury Academy. He prepared for his profession in the medical department of the University of Pittsburgh, from which he was graduated in 1905 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. While a medical student he interspersed his studies with service as a public school teacher, in
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which he acquitted himself most creditably during a period of three years. Imme- diately after his graduation in medicine, lie began practice in his native town, and in which he has continued to the present time successfully and with a constantly increas- ing patronage. He is a member of the Beaver County Medical Society, the Penn- sylvania State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. In politics he is a Republican, and in religion a Pres- byterian. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Maccabees, and the Knights of the Golden Eagle; and is a member of the Brighton Club.
Dr. Painter married, at Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania, June 20, 1906, Dulce Thompson, born in Butler county, October 6, 1879, daughter of James Milton and Emma Viola (Christley) Thompson ; her father is a suc- cessful oil operator. Children of Dr. and Mrs. Painter : John Milton, born May 20, 1907; Margaret Dulce, October 6, 1909; Burton Charles Painter Jr., July 4, 1911.
McCLELLAND, John Black, Physician, Humanitarian.
One of Pittsburgh's titles to greatness has always been the prestige in learning. skill and weight of character, of the members of her medical profession. Her physicians of the present have worthily upheld the high standards so nobly maintained by those of the past, and prominent among those whose records recently became part of her history was Dr. John Black McClelland, for a third of a century one of the most noted practi- tioners of the metropolis and numbered among her leading citizens.
John Black McClelland was born June 4, 1843, in Pittsburgh, and was a son of James H. and Elizabeth Thomson (Black) Mc- Clelland. A biography and portrait of Mr. McClelland, who in his day was one of the most prominent architects of the State and built many of the finest structures in Pitts-
burgh, appear elsewhere in this work. John Black McClelland was given the name of his maternal grandfather, the Rev. John Black, D. D., a prominent divine of old Pittsburgh, whose son, Colonel Samuel Black, won distinction in the Civil War. The grandson was educated in public and private schools of his native city, and at the out- break of the Civil War enlisted in Hampton Battery. He saw hard service, acquitting himself most creditably, and at the close of his term received an honorable discharge. Deciding to devote himself to the profes- sion of medicine, Mr. McClelland entered Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, graduating in 1879. He immediately began active practice in Pittsburgh and in the course of time, by close study, unwearied research and ceaseless devotion to duty, built up a large and lucrative clientele, advancing to that high position in the ranks of his professional brethren which he occu- pied for so many years. For thirty-two years he was connected with the Homœo- pathic Hospital. As long as Dr. McClel- land lived no physician in Pittsburgh stood higher than he.
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