USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Volume I > Part 35
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Mr. John Henry Miller has been very active all his life in religious matters. During a period of forty-three years he was a prominent and influential member of Zion's Lutheran Church, and for twen- ty-seven years of this time was treas- urer of the congregation. He was also superintendent of the Sunday school of that church for many years. At present he is a member of the Old Salem Luth- eran Church, having charge of the home department and visitors' class in the Sun- day school, and taking a keen interest in its welfare. Indeed, in all of the activi- ties of his long and useful life he has done with all his might whatsoever his hands found to do, and at the present day there is no citizen of the community more respected or esteemed.
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WEIDMAN, Grant,
Lawyer, Financier.
Among the many lawyers of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, none holds a higher posi- tion in the public esteem than does Mr. Grant Weidman, whose ancestors, as far back as the days of the Revolution, when Captain Jolin Weidman served gal- lantly as soldier in the army, and wisely as an associate judge upon the bench, have been both lawyers and patri- ots. Mr. Weidman follows along the same lines which his father, the late Grant Weidman Sr., adopted, continuing to a great extent in his policies. For over a century the individual members of this family have gone in and out be- fore the people of Lebanon county, the early members as well as those of later date having been men of probity, who lived upright lives in the midst of their fellow citizens and contributed to the general good of the Commonwealth.
The first member of the family to come to America was probably Christopher Weidman, a native of Switzerland, who settled in Warwick township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, during the middle of the eighteenth century. His son, Captain John Weidman, of previous men- tion, was born in Warwick township on June 4, 1756, and was brought up to commercial pursuits in Philadelphia, hav- ing received an excellent education for those days. At the outbreak of the Rev- olutionary War he was a staunch patriot and became an officer in one of the as- sociated battalions; he was commis- sioned as ensign on July 12, 1776, when Congress directed the organization of the German regiment. On May 14, 1777, he was promoted to the post of first lieuten- ant, and began a career of active service, during which lie was engaged in the bat- tles of Long Island, White Plains, Tren- ton, Princeton, Germantown, Monmouth and Newton. In 1779 he was adjutant of
the regiment under General Sullivan, when that celebrated Indian fighter made his famous campaign against the Indians in New York, and served gallantly on many occasions until his retirement from active service in 1781. He liad also been one of the noble band of patriots who passed through the terrible winter of 1778 at Valley Forge, sharing the hor- rors and privations of the War for In- dependence as well as its glory. He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati.
When the final victory was won and hostilities came to a close, Captain Weid- man resumed his commercial pursuits in Philadelphia for a while; and afterward returned to the neighborhood of his birthplace, where he continued in busi- ness and was employed as a surveyor, for which he was excellently fitted by education. In the year 1800, he came to Lebanon county, where he purchased the Union Forge Estate which he conducted successfully for many years. For a period of nine years, from 1821 to 1830, he served as an Associate Judge, bring- ing into play his many rare gifts and fine judgment. He died, after a long and honorable career, on June 6, 1830, at his home in Lebanon. His wife was Miss Catherine Mason, of Philadelphia, whom he married, May 1, 1786. She was born on February 16, 1763, and died October 8, 1794, in Lebanon, having been the mother of four children : Elizabeth, Jacob Barge, John and Maria.
The eldest son, Jacob Barge Weidman, was born in Philadelphia, May 12, 1789. He was reared in patriotic surroundings, at a time when the young country was enthusiastic with its new gift of freedom, and the memory of his father's deeds was fresh in mind. His education was an excellent one, his father sending him first to the Latin school of James Rose, in Harrisburg, and then to Dickinson Col- lege, from which institution he was grad-
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uated with honor. His attention was then turned to the law, which he studied under Samuel Laird, of Harrisburg, an eminent lawyer of that city, and in August, 1813, he was admitted to the Dauphin county bar. He at once settled in Lebanon, where the bar of the county had just been organized, with a mem- bership including such persons as James Hopkins, Thomas Elder, George Fisher, George H. Porter and James Buchanan, names which have since became world- renowned. Mr. Weidman immediately advanced to the front rank in this bril- liant company, and for forty years was regarded as one of the best lawyers in eastern Pennsylvania. He devoted his attention almost exclusively to his pro- fession, giving but little heed to politics, and upon one occasion only entering into active political life; this was when, in 1837, he became a delegate to the Pennsylvania State Constitutional Con- vention, contributing valuable services to that body. He died at the height of his usefulness, March 5, 1857, after having been thrice married. His first wife was Miss Mary Murray, by whom he had two children, John and Sarah. His second wife was Miss Mary Eliza Morris of Philadelphia ; and his third wife was Miss Elizabeth C. Murray, of Harrisburg.
John Weidman, son of Jacob B. and Mary (Murray) Weidman, was born August 25, 1815, at Lebanon. Like his father, he received an excellent educa- tion, beginning at Lebanon Academy. and afterward attending Dickinson and Princeton colleges. He then took a course in medicine, studying under Dr. John B. Mish, and subsequently gradu- ated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. He con- cluded, however, to turn his attention to the law, and, after studying under the direction of his father, was admitted to the Lebanon county bar in 1842, begin- ning the practice of his profession at more and more profound. His reputa-
Lebanon. In 1859 he was elected Dis- trict Attorney of Lebanon county, serv- ing one term, and before the Civil War was a brigadier-general of militia. At the outbreak of that war he became cap- tain of Company F, Fourth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and remained in the service, un- til his health became impaired and he was forced to resign. He returned home, but failed to recover, dying April 23, 1863. He was married in the year 1838 to Miss Emma Roberts Grant, of Melrose, New Jersey, and they had nine children as follows: Grant, John, Martha, Jacob Barge, Sarah Ann, Virginia, Emma R., James Buchanan, and Elizabeth Cook.
The eldest son of the family, Grant Weidman, the first of that name, was born September 8, 1839, at Melrose, near Trenton, New Jersey. His early life was spent at home in Trenton, and when quite young he was sent by his father to boarding school, first attending a pre- paratory institution at Lititz, Pennsyl- vania, and afterwards schools in Bristol and Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He then entered Princeton University, having at- tained a high degree of scholarship, and was graduated from that institution in 1859, after which he turned his attention to the law, as had his father and grand- father, like them manifesting an in- tense love of study and great powers of application, and he made rapid advance- ment under the guidance of his father, whose office he entered immediately upon graduating. On August 23, 1861, he was admitted to the bar of Lebanon county, and began practice at once, in the city of Lebanon. He was equally at home in all the county courts, but confined his attention as much as possible to civil cases, having a strong dislike of criminal practice; and soon established himself in the front ranks of the legal profession, reading industriously the while and mak- ing his knowledge of the profession
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tion among his fellow practitioners for integrity was no less grounded than for ability and eloquence in the statement of a case, and a wide and sweeping grasp of its details and general bearing.
Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Grant Weidman Sr., enlisted at once in the state militia, and became sec- ond lieutenant of Company A, Eleventh Regiment, in 1862, afterward serving as major of the One Hundred and Seventy- third Pennsylvania Volunteers. In his political sentiments he was a member of the Democratic party, and was a del- egate to the National Convention in 1880, that nominated Winfield S. Hancock for the presidency. He became District At- torney, and was also nominated for Con- gress, but as the district was an over- whelmingly Republican one, he was de- feated; he maintained, however, his ac- tivity in the service of his party and was able to accomplish much good work. He served as a member of the school board and in many directions manifested his zeal in the public welfare, being influ- ential in financial, commercial and in- dustrial enterprises, and a man of mark in the business world. At the time of his death, in 1895, he was president of the Lebanon National Bank, the largest in- stitution of the kind in the county; was a director in a number of manufacturing and industrial concerns, and was a man- ager of the Good Samaritan Hospital.
years, and holding a conspicuous place in the regard of the community. He was a man of rare and winning personality, kind and genial in disposition, eloquent and clever of speech, and having a won- derful command of language. He was generous and charitable to a fault, and found his chief delight in his home. His death occurred on November 11, 1895. He was married, at Harrisburg, Pennsyl- vania, on September 7, 1864, to Miss M. Elizabeth Henry, by whom he had the following children: John, deceased; Grant, the present lawyer; Mary Henry, who married Thomas T. Lineaweaver, of Lebanon; Ethel Roberts, married C. F. Schaefer, of Philadelphia ; Sarah Eliz- abeth, married Warren G. Light, Esq., of Lebanon, Pennsylvania; Edward Ing- leton, deceased; and Christian Henry, deceased.
Grant Weidman, Jr., the eldest living son of the deceased distinguished lawyer Grant Weidman, Sr., was born in Le- banon, September 3, 1868. He graduated from Lebanon High School in 1885, hav- ing primarily attended the public schools of the city; and then received instruc- tion at Lawrenceville, New Jersey, dur- ing the following year, in preparation for his entrance at Princeton University, where he was graduated in 1890. Turn- ing naturally to the profession of the law he acquired the necessary knowledge and training, and became an attorney in Lebanon. It was not difficult to follow in his father's footsteps, nor to continue the activities in which he had been en- gaged, so that within a short while Mr. Weidman has become a man of promi- nence in his profession. Like his father, he is also a member of the Democratic party, and in business circles has won for himself a position that may well be envied. He is a director in the Lebanon National Bank, of which his father was
Mr. Weidman was greatly interested in Freemasonry, belonging to all the bodies of that order from the Blue Lodge upward; being a member of the Order of the Mystic Shrine and having held in 1874 the office of grand commander of the Knights Templar of Pennsylvania. He was also treasurer of the State So- ciety of the Cincinnati, of which he was a member; and belonged to the Loyal Legion. According to the traditions of his family he was a devout Lutheran, be- ing a trustee in the church for many president; and is solicitor for the Le-
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banon County Trust Company, in which he is also a member of the directorate.
Mr. Weidman has always manifested a strong interest in Freemasonry, and is a member of all the societies in Lebanon, in which he has become a past officer. He belongs also, by inheritance, to the Society of the Cincinnati, of Pennsyl- vania, of which he is secretary, and to the Loyal Legion; and is a member of the Steitz Club, a local organization, and of the Rittenhouse, Racquet and Princeton Clubs, of Philadelphia. He has not mar- ried.
GRIPP, John, Manufacturer, Public Official.
The man who possesses, in combina- tion with business ability, the qualifica- tions essential for the successful admin- istration of public office, is rarely met with in any community. In the late John Gripp, Pittsburgh was fortunate to count among hier citizens a man of this type. Mr. Gripp was the incumbent of many public positions which he filled with singular ability, and in his death his home city has sustained a well-nigh irrepar- able loss.
John Gripp was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1856, his parents being John C. Gripp, who was a native of Germany, and Louisa Gripp, who was born in France. John C. Gripp, the father, was a boiler-maker in his town in Europe, and came to this country and entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in its shops at Pitts- burgh, as foreman, in which capacity he continued for several years, and then be- came foreman of the boiler works of Thorn & Company, at Pittsburgh. He remained there until his death, March 29, 1874. lle was one of the best known artisans in that section of the country. He was actively connected with the Vigilant Volunteer Fire Company from
its origin until the city of Pittsburgh established a paid fire department sys- tem. The Vigilant Volunteer Company brought the first Amoskeag steam en- gine to the city of Pittsburgh after its exhibit at the Paris Exposition.
John Gripp's early education was re- ceived at a German Lutheran school, where he imbibed the doctrines of his parents, at the same time being fitted for an educational course in the secular schools. He entered the Grant Public School of the Third Ward, Pittsburgh, where he remained until he had received a complete common school education. He then entered the Pittsburgh High School, and while attending the junior class in the academic department, in 1874. he decided to leave school and enter busi- ness life. He began work in the office of Peter Kreuter, who was then alder- man of the Third Ward, Pittsburgh, and ex-officio justice of the peace of Alle- gheny county. He continued with him until his term expired, and then filled a similar position with John Burke, the alderman who followed, continuing there until 1882, when he resigned to accept a position as clerk in the registry depart- ment of the Pittsburgh postoffice, being afterwards made superintendent of the department. He remained there over a year, when he resigned to accept a posi- tion in the mayor's office, in 1884, as clerk to the mayor. He remained there for more than a year, until elected alder- man of the Third Ward, city of Pitts- burgh, which position he filled to the en- tire satisfaction of his constituents, be- ing twice re-elected. Ile held the office from the first Monday in May, 1885, un- til the ist of January, 1897, when he re- signed to accept the office of Register of Wills and Clerk of the Orphans' Court of Allegheny county. Mr. Gripp's pub- lic service embraced not only the depart- mental work herein mentioned, but also the duties of deputy mayor during two
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terms, and of police magistrate during several terms. He was also a member of the Select Council of Pittsburgh from 1883 to 1885. This, of itself, would be a fine record, but he had other connections which demanded public attention just as strongly. He was a director of the Citi- zens' Traction Company and the Times Publishing Company, of Pittsburgh, and also of the Keystone Pottery Company, of Rochester, Pennsylvania. In 1881 Mr. Gripp was elected secretary of the Re- publican County Committee of Allegheny county, and occupied the chairmanship for several years. He remained an officer of the committee in one capacity or an- other until his death, having been chair- man and secretary for a number of years of the Republican City Executive Com- mittee. He attended many of the State conventions, and played an important part in the affairs of the party by his counsel and advice at times of stress. He attended the Minneapolis National Convention which nominated Benjamin Harrison for president, and he also was a delegate to several State and National Republican League conventions. 1
Unostentatious as he ever was, Mr. Gripp never failed, either in private or public life, to watch over the interests of the poor and to accord to the laborer his hire. Personally, he was a man who drew men to him, and his social popular- ity was very great. In addition to his other business connections, Mr. Gripp found time to identify himself with sev- eral large industrial enterprises. One of these was the West Virginia Clay Manu- facturing Company, and in its affairs, as those of the Pittsburgh concerns, he was quite an aid towards establishing perma- nent prosperity. In every field of labor he covered he showed the same deter- mination to succeed, backed by abilities which unfailingly advanced him to the goal of his ambition. It was generally said in Western Pennsylvania that his
political career was one of the brightest in the history of the State.
Mr. Gripp married, May 1, 1884, Em- ma C., daughter of Christian and Cather- ine (Strohecker) Wack. The grandfather Strohecker came from Germany when he was about ten years of age, and lived in Beaver county ; he was a member of the famous religious colony at a point on the Ohio river in Beaver county, Penn- sylvania. This society was founded by Father George Rapp in 1805, and was known as Harmony Society, and some- times called Economy. It was estab- lished by Germans as a colony. Here a goodly village was built, and various manufactures carried on extensively, in- cluding the manufacture of silk (the first made west of the Allegheny mountains), also cotton and woolen goods, wines, whisky and lumber. The tract of land owned by this colony comprised some four thousand acres. In 1831, "Count Maximilian De Leon" and his colony from Frankfort-on-the-Main united with this colony, but later withdrew and sought to establish a separate one, which failed in a year or so. These colonies were near the present town of Philips- burg, or Monaca, in Beaver county. Christian Wack married Catherine Stro- hecker, and they were the parents of four children, including Mrs. John Gripp. Mr. and Mrs. Gripp were the parents of two children: Corenna C. and Raymond Wack. Mr. Gripp was a man devoted to the ties of friendship and of family, and no one who had ever enjoyed the priv- ilege of his hospitality could fail to pro- nounce him the incomparable host. His death, which occurred December 16, 1898, deprived Pittsburgh of one who was a splendid type of the broadminded Ameri- can citizen, and of a business man who was in many respects a model, respected by his associates and beloved by his em- ployees. In his strict probity, his cour- age and fidelity to principle, he set an
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example worthy of emulation by every man who desires to achieve true and hon- orable success.
When a man of John Gripp's excep- tional abilities and sterling worth of char- acter is removed in early middle life from the scene of his activities, we say, "How full of promise was the career thus ab- ruptly terminated!" Rather should we exclaim, "How rich in accomplishment was this comparatively brief life!" Had John Gripp been spared another quarter of a century, it is impossible to estimate what might have been his achievements, but in the contemplation of what he brought to pass in the comparatively few years allotted to him, we see that he left a record equalled by few who attained greater length of days, and surpassed by none of his own years. Such men are the especial glory of the American re- public.
BROWN, Alexander P.,
Manufacturer, Man of Affairs.
A notable figure in the business life of Philadelphia for many years was Alex- ander P. Brown. He was not only a leading spirit in the boot and shoe trade, but he was one of those public-spirited citizens who was not only always ready to lend himself to every cause to advance the interests of the community but whose services are constantly in demand because of his known ability to carry through to successful completion any project with which he was identified.
Mr. Brown sprang from the sturdy stock of the Scotch-Irish, which for so many generations has been the backbone of American civilization. The paternal ancestor was John Brown, who lived at the time of the religious persecution in Scotland, and because of his opposition to the Papist tendencies of the house of Stuart was put to death at the hands of Claverhouse, May 1, 1685, in the parish
of Muirkirk. William Brown, father of Alexander P. Brown, married Jane Pat- terson, a lineal descendant of Alexander Patterson, who during the reign of George III. became proprietor of the mills in the Manor of Acton, county Ar- magh, Ireland, and in the early part of the nineteenth century emigrated to the United States. The estates passed into the hands of Colonel Close, of Drum- banagher, whose eldest son, Charles Max- well Close, was high sheriff of the coun- ty and sat in the House of Commons as one of the leaders of the Conservative party from Ulster province. William Brown settled in Philadelphia, where he died in 1887. His wife died in 1871.
Alexander P. Brown, eldest son of Wil- liam Brown, was born in Philadelphia, June 3, 1839. Prior to the age of ten years he was a pupil of Miss Laughlin's private school. After this he went through the regular routine of schooling until he graduated from the Central High School at the age of eighteen. In 1860 he entered the employ of Hugh Barrett, a boot and shoe manufacturer, with whom he remained three years, thoroughly mas- tering every detail of the business, as well as the office methods employed. The knowledge thus acquired was sup- plemented in a most valuable way by the extensive business acquaintance formed throughout the West and South. In 1870, with his brother, Clement M. Brown, he began the manufacture of boots and shoes in Philadelphia. Suc- cess attended their efforts from the start. They built up a strong demand for their goods, and after thirteen years of suc- cessful business as a manufacturer, Mr. Brown retired from the firm.
Although Mr. Brown's business life was crowded with activity, he always found time to share the burdens of civic responsibility. At the time of the Chi- cago fire he took an active part in raising funds and hurrying supplies to the
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stricken city. At the Centennial of 1876 it was Mr. Brown who formulated the plan for the boot and shoe men of the country to erect their own building, with the result that the fund was raised and the exhibit was the most unique and in- teresting ever before seen in the country. Moreover, it was the means of increasing the leather export trade from about $1,- 000,000 to $11,000,000 annually. After the close of the Centennial, Mr. Brown was chosen a director of the Permanent Exhibition Company.
There was one notable occasion that is quite worthy of mention over which Mr. Brown presided. It marked the for- miation of the National Association of the Boot and Shoe Manufacturers of the United States. It was a memorable time indeed. A banquet was given which was attended by many of the most celebrated men of that day, and it might be men- tioned here that the letters of acceptance and regrets of these notables, all ad- dressed to Mr. Brown, were carefully preserved by him and are now contained in a beautifully bound volume in the pos- session of the Historical Society of Penn- sylvania.
The very successful manner in which Mr. Brown conducted the whole af- fair is evident from the following ex- tract from the letter of a friend written after the day of the banquet: "More- over, at the risk of offending your char- acteristic modesty, I must tell you that the tact and discretion with which you presided over that imposing assemblage contributed materially to the success of the festival. You bore yourself like an old hand. I must congratulate you and your neighbors in the craft on the credit- able manner in which they have played the part of host to the shoe manufactur- ers of the United States, and the happy and auspicious circumstances under which the National Association has been born into the world"; and also a few words
from a letter written by that noted states- man, the late Thomas F. Bayard, as fol- lows: "Reflection has not diminished my high opinion of the occasion, embel- lished as it was by luxury and good taste."
Space will not permit a record of the many achievements of Mr. Brown, whose services in the interest of many public functions were always in demand, but one more might be mentioned. It was the International Regatta held in 1876, the necessary funds for which were raised by Mr. Brown. Rowing crews from many countries came to Philadelphia for the event, and it was perhaps the most wonderful meet of its kind that was ever held. Over 300,000 people attended, and records were made at that time which have never been lowered down to the present day.
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