USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. VII > Part 46
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Mr. Law thoroughly enjoys the social pleasures of life, and is a member of the Philadelphia Racquet Club, the German- town Cricket Club and the Huntington Valley Country Club.
BOUCHER, John N., Attorney, Author.
The name "Boucher" is purely a French name, although the first ancestor in Amer-
ica spoke the German language. It is likely that the family were Huguenots who were banished from France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Otherwise the original ancestor could scarcely have come to America with a French name and a German tongue as he did. But this is entirely speculative, and the family has long been recognized as distinctly Pennsylvania German. The Boucher family was a numerous one in Westmoreland county, three score or more years ago, particularly in Ligonier Val- ley, but they who bore that name then are all gone now, and their descendants, many of them bearing other names, are scattered throughout the Western States.
(I) Daniel Boucher, the founder of the family in America, came from the Ger- man States of France. The tradition is that he crossed the Atlantic ocean in a ship called the "President." In his Bible, which is yet preserved, he wrote that with his wife and children he landed in Phila- delphia on June 20, 1755. They settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania, in what is now known as Albany township, about twenty miles north of Reading, where he purchased lands and became a farmer. He was of the German Reformed faith in religion, and was mainly instrumental in erecting a church called "Bethel," near his home. It has been rebuilt three times, but still retains its original name and location. Little is known of him further than that he lost heavily in the Revolu- tion, that he died in the early years of last century, and that his remains were buried in the churchyard near the edifice which he built. He had sons Peter, William, Philip, Jacob and Henry.
(II) Henry Boucher, the youngest son of Daniel Boucher, was born March 10, 1759. He was married to Mary Shoe- maker, and removed to Hamburg, Penn- sylvania, where he became a farmer and a shoemaker. In 1801, in company with
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a man named Jacob Will, he started west on horseback for the purpose of purchas- ing lands and moving on them. They rode as far West as the Miami Valley in Ohio, but there the fever and ague pre- vailed to such an alarming extent that they returned, and upon reaching Som- erset county, Pennsylvania, purchased lands to which they moved with their families in the spring of 1802. This land is about three miles from the village of Glade. He spent the remainder of his days there and died on November 19, 1834. His wife, Mary Shoemaker, was born January 22, 1762, and survived him until May 12, 1840. They are both buried in the cemetery at Glade. Their children were : Jacob, Henry, Christian, David, Sol- omon, John, Elizabeth, Magdalene, Mary, Rebecca, Catharine, Sarah and Hannah. Most of these children lived to bring up large families in Somerset county. Han- nah married Jeremiah Strawn, who set- tled finally in Ottawa, Illinois, and was the ancestor of that branch of the Strawn family.
(III) David Boucher, son of Henry (2), was born in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, November 12, 1789, and when twelve years old came with his parents to Som- erset county. He was bred a farmer, and acquired land in Turkeyfoot township. On May 19, 1814, he was united in mar- riage with Mary Eve Friedline, who was born August 23, 1794. They were the parents of a large family. There were two daughters-Elizabeth, who died when quite young ; and Susan, oldest of the family, who was married to Abraham Brant, of Ligonier Valley, and with a large family survived her husband many years. The sons were : Daniel, who died in Illinois; Hiram, to whom we will refer hereafter ; Josiah, Isaac and David, who died in California, and Henry, John and Simon, who died in Kansas.
In 1833 David Boucher removed from Somerset county to Ligonier, purchas- ing lands near that place. His wife, Mary Eve, died at Ligonier, January II, 1842. David was a man of deep convictions, and manifested great earnestness in any cause which enlisted his attention. In politics he was a Whig and later a Republican. He was most noted, however, in church work, being a Methodist of the old style, and by no means lax in supporting his church and upholding its principles. On November 1I, 1844, he was married to Mrs. Sarah Stahl, to whom the following children were born: Charles Wesley ; Lucius Chapman; Emma, married to John Wood; and Anna, married to Mor- gan Beam. They and their descendants live in and near Pittsburgh. David Boucher died April 12, 1868, and his sec- ond wife survived him until March, 1887.
(IV) Hiram, son of David Boucher (3) and Mary Eve, was born in Somerset county, December 7, 1821, and came to Ligonier Valley with his parents in 1833. On January 26, 1843, he was married to Abigail Slater, of Ligonier township, by Rev. Stevens. He united with the Metho- dist church of Ligonier, and was one of its leading members throughout the re- mainder of his life. He was especially a potent factor in the Sunday school work of the church, and taught a class of both old and young men for more than a quar- ter of a century. Few men were more competent for this work than he, although like many others in the first half of the last century, he had received but a limited education in his youth, yet, being a life- long reader, he became well versed in the Bible and was familiar with many books relating to it, and in this line of thought he had but few equals in his community. He died of bilious fever, October 18, 1889. Abigail Slater, his wife, was born in Donegal township. January 13, 1822. She
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was a daughter of Samuel and Mary Show Slater. The first ancestor of the Slater family came from England and became a resident of Donegal township during the Revolution. His son Isaac was married to Abigail Ulery shortly after the Revolu- tion. She was born December 29, 1765, and was brought up near Ligonier. Isaac Slater died in 1836, and his wife survived him until October 29, 1855, when she died in her ninety-second year.
Their third son, Samuel, was born February 2, 1794, and married Mary Show, who was born in Maryland, March 14, 1800. In 1824 they removed from Donegal township and purchased from her people the Ulery farm two miles south of Ligonier. On this land, now known as the Slater farm, they resided the remainder of their days. Mary Show Slater died on July 27, 1876, and her husband, Samuel, survived her until Jan- uary 30, 1882. They are both buried in the Brant cemetery near their old home. Their children were : Abigail, Julia, Chris- tenia, Isaac, Catharine, Sarah and Mary. It was Abigail, the oldest of the family, who was married to Hiram Boucher. She died at Ligonier, February 19, 1907.
The children of Hiram Boucher and Abigail Slater were: Elizabeth, married to Dr. J. T. Ambrose, of Ligonier, died October 11, 1915; Mary Eve, married to William C. Knox, of Ligonier township, died April 15, 1892; Amanda, married to Hamilton Smith, of Ligonier (Mr. Smith died August 7, 1897) ; Caroline, married to Rev. A. O. Emerson, of the Pittsburgh Methodist Episcopal Conference; Sarah, married to Hugh M. Clifford of Derry, died January II, 1887 (Hugh M. Clifford died June 14, 1914) ; Kate, married to Dr. Edward M. Clifford, of Greensburg, died April 20, 1913; David Wilbert, who died in 1863, aged two years ; and John New- ton, of Greensburg.
(V) John Newton Boucher was born
October 12, 1855. He was a teacher for two years in the Westmoreland schools, and was graduated from Mount Union College at Alliance, Ohio, in 1876. He is a member of the Westmoreland bar, and has practiced most of the time since his admission in 1879. He is author of the Westmoreland part of "The Twentieth Century Bench and Bar of Pennsylvania," published by Cooper Brothers, of Chi- cago, in 1903; of "A History of West- moreland County" (one volume), pub- lished by the Lewis Publishing Company of New York, in 1906, and of "A Century and a Half of Pittsburgh and her People" (two volumes), published by the same company in 1908. He is also the author of "Old and New Westmoreland," two volumes, now being published by the American Historical Society of New York, and of numerous pamphlets, etc.
On April 29, 1909, he was united in marriage with May I. Hargnett, of Ligo- nier, who was the daughter of John and Euphemia B. Hargnett. The American progenitor, Jacob Hargnett (I) of the Hargnett family, was born in Germany, December 23, 1736, and, on his arrival in America settled near Hagerstown, Mary- land. Some years after that he took up and settled on land in Ligonier Valley, but was driven from it to the east and back to his home by hostile Indians. Later, however, when the Indians were banished from Western Pennsylvania, he returned to the land, which is situated two miles southwest of Ligonier and is yet in the possession of his descendants. There he lived and died at the age of ninety years, in 1826.
(II) Frederick Hargnett, son of Jacob Hargnett, was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1774. In 1803 he was mar- ried to Catharine Tosh. He died May 30, 1845, and his widow survived him until February 15, 1871.
(III) Their son, John Hargnett, was
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born April 13, 1811. In 1830 he became a clerk in a store in Ligonier, and two years later established himself in the mer- cantile business there, which he con- ducted personally until old age compelled him to retire from active duties. It was his custom to make two trips each year to Philadelphia or Baltimore, one in the spring and the other in the fall, to replen- ish his stock of goods for the coming sea- son. These journeys were made on horse- back or in a stagecoach. In either case he was obliged to carry with him the money to be paid for the goods purchased and this was no light weight, since it was useless with the paper money of that day to attempt to pay in anything but gold or silver. He made these trips regularly in this manner for twenty years until the completion of the Pennsylvania railroad rendered such long turnpike journeys un- necessary. In politics he was a Demo- crat, casting his first presidential vote for Andrew Jackson in 1832. In 1834 he was appointed postmaster of Ligonier under President Jackson, and held the office, though not consecutively, for a period of twenty-seven years. In 1863 he was elected by his party as a member of the State Legislature. He united with the Methodist church in 1830, and was one of its most active members until his death. In 1836 he was married to Susan Armor, who died in 1848. They had two chil- dren : Pamelia, born in 1837; and a son, born in 1843, who lived but fourteen months. Pamelia was educated at Blairs- ville Seminary, and was an honor mem- ber of its first graduating class. She was married, June 28, 1858, to Dr. L. T. Beam, and died July 31, 1859. Dr. Beam WHITE, J. William, M. D., Practitioner, Instructor, Author. afterward removed to Johnstown and per- ished in the great flood in 1889. In 1854 Mr. Hargnett was united in marriage to There was that quality in the make- up of Dr. J. William White, famous sur- Euphemia B., daughter of James and Catharine Carnahan McDonald. John geon, author of surgical works, and pro-
McDonald, the first American ancestor of the McDonald family, came from Scot- land, settling first in Baltimore. When the Revolutionary War broke out he en- listed in Captain Casper Weitsell's com- pany, First Battalion Rifle Regiment, from Pennsylvania. He rose to the rank of captain of the Flying Camp. He was married to Jane Wilson and, at the close of the war, settled in York county, where he resided until his death, more than twenty years afterward. They had nine children, one of whom, James, born in 1779, married Catharine Carnahan, as above stated, and settled in Indiana coun- ty. He was a farmer by occupation, and a Presbyterian in religion, although late in life he united with the Methodist church, of which his family were already members. He died April 20, 1852. Their daughter, Euphemia Bernetta, was mar- ried to John Hargnett in 1854, as above indicated, and resided in Ligonier until her death. To them were born two daugh- ters: Wilhemina Platt, and May Idona, both of whom were sent to the Pittsburgh Female College, the latter being gradu- ated from one of its latter classes before it was destroyed by fire and merged with Beaver College. In August, 1880, Wil- hemina Platt, was married to Dr. John S. Garman, of Berlin, Pennsylvania, who died October 2, 1912. For some years be- fore his death, Mr. Hargnett was not en- gaged in active business. In April, 1896, he sustained a fracture of his hip joint, the effects of which caused his death on June 13, following. His wife survived him until January 19, 1908.
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fessor of surgery, which forbade com- promise and ever urged him on to extreme action. He knew no middle ground, and if he could not wholly endorse a theory, proposition or tenet, he utterly rejected it. He gloried in con- troversy, and he who entered the lists with him could be assured that there would be a conflict in which no quarter would be given or asked. Strong as he was in opposition to that which he could not accept, he was even a stronger advo- cate of the cause he espoused, and his long career was one continued record of useful- ness, and he was one of the best loved men connected with the university where for so long he was Barton Professor of Surgery, and at the time of his death professor emeritus. While he was simple in his life, unaffected and democratic in the extreme, it was no uncommon sight to see groups of students raise their hats to him in token of the deep esteem and admiration in which he was held. In the profession he was known as the advanced surgeon, foremost in the actual practice of everything new in surgery which met his approval and as the author of stand- ard works on surgery.
A prized possession in the offices of countless physicians and surgeons is a reproduction of a famous painting by Thomas Eakins, showing the interior of a clinical operating room, with a surgeon in the midst of an operation, another assisting him, nurses and aides at hand, and medical students in the tiers of seats about the amphitheatre making notes and closely observing the work. Most sur- geons but comparatively few laymen know that the operating surgeon in that picture is the late Dr. Agnew, with whom Dr. White was associated for so long, and that the chief assistant is Dr. White him- self, the painting being an excellent like- ness.
Always foremost in the actual practice
of everything which met his approval and devoted utterly to his friends, Dr. White early adopted the surgical methods of his friend, Lord Lister, discoverer of anti- septis, and was the first man in Philadel- phia to discard the often dirty velveteen jacket which heretofore had been a kind of uniform of the surgeon in the operating room, and to adopt the immaculate white now used exclusively.
To the Philadelphia public he was known not alone as the skilled surgeon, but as the man whose spirited protest and continued opposition was chiefly respon- sible for the refusal of the Park Com- missioners, on account of risk to life, to longer allow the park automobile race to be run within the limits of Fairmount Park, after it had been an event annually held for three years. Another fact con- nected with his life is not so generally known. He was the last man in Philadel- phia to fight a duel according to "the code." Always possessed of a definite opinion on any subject of interest and forceful in his exposition of that opin- ion, it was not unnatural that he should have had many spirited controversies. One of these arose in the middle '80s, while he was surgeon of the First City Troop, with Congressman "Bertie" Adams, over the kind of uniform which a troop surgeon should wear. The lie was passed, and Dr. White, with the late Dr. Thomas Biddle as his second, called upon the congressman and slapped his face. Adams challenged him, and they met on a lonely field where Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland meet. Although Dr. White had the choice of weapons and could easily have 'bested Adams in a contest requiring physical strength or skill, he refused to use this advantage, and pistols were used. It was said Dr. White fired in the air, and Congressman Adams missed, so that no blood was shed. This was the last known time when the
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ancient "code duello" was invoked for a formal "meeting" by men of Philadelphia. Another more recent episode brought him public attention and proved his love of controversy did not wane with his years.
Following a presentation in the Acad- emy of Music by a distinguished cast of the trial of John Jasper from Dicken's unfinished novel, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," a discussion arose as to the probable intentions of the novelist had he completed the tale, and in this Dr. White took a foremost part, carrying on the argument by spoken and written word for weeks. The jury at the acad- emy trial stood eleven to one for acquit- tal. Dr. White was the one who voted for conviction.
But his last public appearance was in a role in perfect keeping with his entire life, and gave him new State, national and international interest. He was one of the most outspoken opponents in this country of German methods in the war, and repeatedly urged that this country should enter the war on the side of the Entente Allies. He put his sympathies into practical effect when he went to Paris as head of a company of surgeons and nurses representing the University of Pennsylvania, and spent three months in service at the American Ambulance Hospital. The disease which ended in his death developed shortly after his return, and is believed to have been largely due to his arduous work and hardships in Europe.
For many years connected with the University of Pennsylvania, his special hobby was athletics. He was the first Professor of Physical Education at the university, and he was also a member of the Varsity Committee on Athletics. He inaugurated the Department of Physical Education in 1884, and served without salary until it was established.
When the fact of his death became known, trustees, faculty, student body and alumni were profoundly moved. The base ball game between the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia, scheduled for the following afternoon, was post- poned, and in evidence of the deep feeling of respect and love entertained for the professor, the following circular letter was issued by the president of the Univer- sity Athletic Association to the alumni, undergraduates and members of the asso- ciation.
The Athletic Association of the University of Pennsylvania has lost in the death of Dr. J. Wil- liam White its most ardent, devoted and splen- didly efficient member and friend. Even those who were most closely associated and familiar with his work have not known and cannot de- scribe the deep devotion and incessant service he gave to its development, its success almost his greatest joy, its reverses his real grief.
It is impossible to imagine a cause receiving more heartfelt service than Dr. White gave to any athletic need of his alma mater. In time, means and effort he gave his very best, and that best, as all who knew him can witness, was more than usual. It is no exaggeration to say that the prominence now held by Pennsylvania in ath- letics, is mainly due to his work.
He has left many monuments to testify to his ability in University work, but the greatest of all is the example his life should be to Pennsylvania men, of the spirit that if possessed and emulated by all of her sons, would accomplish for her advancement. And now when so many desire to pay tribute to his memory let us realize that to him the most grateful evidence of our feelings would be an effort to emulate his example to the best of our ability.
It is often said that no cause ever sustains an irreparable loss, and that others step in to fill the vacancy, but those who have been closely asso- ciated with Dr. White, and knew him intimately, I am sure feel that a personality so unique, an interest so devoted and ability so unusual is not likely to be again found. We have suffered as an organization and as individuals an irreparable loss.
J. William White was born in Philadel- phia, November 2, 1850, and died in his
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native city April 24, 1916, son of Dr. James W. White, who was for many years president of the Board of Charities and Correction, founder of the Maternity Hospital in Philadelphia, and first presi- dent of the S. S. White Dental Manu- facturing Company. After completing courses of study in the public schools and Friends' School, he decided to follow the profession adorned by the life and ser- vices of his honored father, and after study in the latter's office he entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, whence he was graduated Doctor of Medicine, class of 1871, receiv- ing from the university the degree of Doctor of Philosophy the same year. Shortly after graduation he became a member of the staff gathered by Profes- sor Louis Agassiz for the Hassler expe- dition to the West Indies, the Straits of Magellan, both coasts of South America. After his return to Philadelphia he began practice, became eminent as a surgeon, and during his entire after life was a teacher and writer in surgery. His con- nection with the university as professor emeritus ended only with his decease.
In addition to his professional duties as surgeon and professor, he contributed extensively to the literature of his profes- sion by numerous articles published in the medical journals, and is the author of the "Human Anatomy" (1875); "Amer- ican Text Book of Surgery" (1896) ; "Genito-Urinary Surgery" (1897); and he was one of the editors of "Annals of Surgery." To his fame as a surgeon, educator and author, Dr. White added public service of value. His knowledge of the science of penology was recognized by Governor Pattison by appointment to the State Board of Penitentiary Inspec- tors, his service on the board being appre- ciated by Governor Beaver, who reap- pointed him. In October, 1909, he was appointed by the Philadelphia Board of
Judges a member of the Fairmount Park Commission to succeed Samuel Gastine Thompson, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. While a member of the Park Commission, per- mission to use Fairmount Park as an automobile race course was refused the promoters of the park automobile race ; and the rule then adopted, largely through Dr. White's attitude, has since governed other applications for permis- sion to hold that event within the limits of Fairmount Park.
Dr. White not only promoted athletic- ism in college life, but was himself a vigorous and intensely active athlete. Among his feats recalled in this connec- tion, aside from his wide reputation as a mountain-climber, is his swimming from Newport to the Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, in September, 1880, making the ten miles in five hours and forty minutes in a cold rough sea. He was fond of referring to this swim as "nearly five times the distance Leander swam when he crossed the Hellespont." It was largely because of Dr. White that the annual foot ball games between the Army and Navy were resumed, and as a result of his efforts the yearly struggle between Annapolis and West Point was played at Franklin Field, the university athletic field for many years. At the time of his death he was a trustee of the university.
Dr. White was an extensive traveler, and in the fall of 1913 made a tour of Europe in his automobile. During that tour he visited the University of Aber- deen, Scotland, and while there the university honored him with the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was in Rome and in St. Peter's when a bomb was exploded which wrecked one of the altars in that cathedral. He pressed forward to the scene of the explosion and rendered efficient aid in treating the wounds of the injured. In 1913-14, with his wife, he
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made an eight-months' tour of the world, burg, where he died December 1, 1776. visiting Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, India, China, Japan and Hawaii.
Dr. White was a member of the Amer- ican Surgical Association, the American Genito-Urinary Association, a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadel- phia, a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, the Rittenhouse, the Cor- inthian Yacht, Philadelphia Country and the Franklin Inn clubs of Philadelphia. He was also a member of the Reform, the Royal Automobile and the Kinsman clubs, all of London, and of the Swiss and American Alpine Club.
He married, in Milford, Connecticut, June 22, 1888, Miss Letitia Brown, who survives him, daughter of Benjamin H. Brown, of Philadelphia.
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