USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Volume I > Part 47
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Mr. Sowers has other business inter- ests in Lebanon, being a director of the
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Farmers' Trust Company, also of the Fidelity Building & Loan Association, and president of the Palmyra Gas & Fuel Company. He is a supporter of the Pro- hibition party ; a member of Camp 381, of the Patriotic Order of the Sons of America; of the Gretna Council Royal Arcanum, and is a director and the sec- ond vice-president of the Young Men's Christian Association. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, has held office in the Centenary Methodist church for a number of years, and is superintendent of the Sunday school.
Mr. Sowers married, July 23, 1885, at Creswell, Lancaster county, Pennsyl- vania, Martha Edith, daughter of Chris- tian Ohlwiler and Amelia (Stoner) Herr. They have two children: Claude Herr, born May 14, 1886; Edwin Uhler Jr., born August 16, 1903.
HART, Nathan Fleming,
Manufacturer, Man of Affairs.
As we of the present day turn our thoughts to the Pittsburgh of the past, the shadowy forms of the pioneers loom large before our mental vision. Master- ful and impressive figures they were, and none more so than Nathan Fleming Hart, of the old and well-known firm of Pen- nock, Hart & Company, and later identi- fied with Mackintosh, Hemphill & Com- pany. Mr. Hart was for a third of a cen- tury a power in the iron industry, and was also prominently associated with a number of the most vital interests of his home city.
Nathan Fleming Hart was born Janu- ary 8, 1814, in Uniontown, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and was a son of Joshua and Rachel (Fleming) Hart, whose other children were: Miranda; Martha, married Dr. W. S. Mackintosh ; William K., married Margaret L., daugh- ter of Dr. George McCook; and Eliza- beth B., wife of Henry Hays. In 1833
the family removed to Pittsburgh, Na- than Fleming being then a young man of nineteen.
In 1842 Nathan Fleming Hart became a member of the firm of Pennock, Mitchell & Company, and in 1847 formed a partnership with the late Josepli Pen- nock under the firm name of Pennock & Hart. Later, when Samuel L. Pennock was admitted, the style was changed to Pennock, Hart & Company, the site of their foundry being what is now the junc- tion of Twenty-fourth and Railroad streets. Early in his career Mr. Hart gave evidence of possessing the most marked characteristics of a successful business man-great industry, a practical turn of mind, a very clear sense of values, the power of organization, and good busi- ness judgment. In 1859 he became the silent partner in Mackintosh, Hemphill & Company, lending them his financial aid. In 1862 the firm of Pennock, Hart & Company was dissolved, and thenceforth he devoted his time and attention to the interests of the other concern, exercising that capable management, unfaltering en- terprise and spirit of justice which, from the beginning to the end of his career, were well balanced factors in his success. While the business was carefully syste- matized so that there was no needless expenditure of time, material or labor, never did he make the mistake of regard- ing his employees merely as parts of a great machine, but recognized their indi- viduality, making it a rule that faitliful and efficient service should be promptly rewarded with promotion as opportunity offered.
In all concerns relative to the city's welfare Mr. Hart's interest was deep and sincere, and wherever financial aid would further public progress it was freely given. In politics he was a Republican, and, as a vigilant and attentive observer of men and measures, his opinions were recognized as sound and his views broad,
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and his ideas therefore carried weight among those with whom he discussed public problems. Widely, but unostenta- tiously, charitable, the full number of his benefactions will never be known to the world, but all who knew him can testify that never did he neglect an opportunity to assist one less fortunate than himself. He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and at one time a teacher in its Sunday school. In combi- nation with great strength of character and tenacity of purpose, Mr. Hart pos- sessed a genial, kindly disposition which endeared him to all who came into close relations with him, while his sterling qualities of manhood commanded the re- spect and admiration of the entire com- munity. His countenance was an index to his character, which was that of a true Christian gentleman, large hearted in all his dealings, and not ready to believe evil of his fellow men.
Mr. Hart married, September 30, 1852, Sarah Walter Pennock, whose ancestral record is appended to this sketch, and they became the parents of one son, Pen- nock Ilart, now a prominent business man of Pittsburgh, treasurer of the old firm of Mackintosh, Hemphill & Com- pany. Mrs. Hart, a woman of lovable personality, was widely known for her benefactions, and throughout the thirty years of their married life was the true and sympathizing helpmate of the hus- band, who was sincerely devoted to her and whom she survived many years, passing away February 13, 1913. Mr. Hart was a man to whom the ties of home and friendship were sacred and his happiest hours were passed at his own fireside.
On April 7, 1883, this able, high- minded business man and loyal, upright citizen, closed his honorable career of nearly half a century. Forceful, saga- cious and resourceful, he had long been recognized as one in the inmost circle of
those who were closest to the commercial concerns and financial interests which most largely conserved the growth and progress of the city, notwithstanding the fact that in 1878 he had withdrawn from active participation in business affairs. His was, indeed, a life singularly com- plete-solid, simple, strong and true. Nathan Fleming Hart was one of the men who constitute the corner-stones of their communities. Able, patient and watch- ful, enterprising but cautious, aggressive and yet conservative, their influence and energy vitalize every essential interest and worthy movement and their work survives to bless and prosper the genera- tions that come after them.
(The Pennock Line).
Christopher Pennock, founder of the American branch of the family, was a na- tive of Ireland, and in 1685 emigrated to the province of Pennsylvania, settling in Chester county, near Philadelphia, and built a home, calling it Primative Hall, which is still in the Pennock family. He was an officer in the service of King William the Third, Prince of Orange, and in 1690 was present at the Battle of the Boyne. Christopher Pennock married Mary, daughter of George Collett, of Ire- land, and died in 1701, in Philadelphia. His son Joseph, born in 1677, in Ireland, was brought to this country by his par- ents at the age of eight years, subse- quently moved to Chester county, mar- ried Mary Lewis, and became the pro- genitor of the Pennocks of that part of Pennsylvania.
Samuel Pennock, grandfather of Mrs. Sarah Walter (Pennock) Hart, was born April 4, 1763, and married Elizabeth Un- derhill Johnston, born February 2, 1763.
Joel, son of Samuel and Elizabeth Un- derhill (Johnston) Pennock, was born January 1, 1801, and was descended from ancestors who were members of the So- ciety of Friends. For many years he was
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associated with the Laurel Iron Works, near Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and also with the Chester Furnace, Huntingdon county, in the same state. He married, October 15, 1828, in the old London Grove Meeting House, Chester county, Phoebe Walter, born August 8, 1807, and they were the parents of two children : Sarah Walter, mentioned below; and Samuel, born June 19, 1834, married An- nie, daughter of Judge Moses Hampton. Joel Pennock died in 1875.
Sarah Walter, daughter of Joel and Phoebe (Walter) Pennock, was born July 19, 1829, and became the wife of Na- than Fleming Hart, as mentioned above.
JENKINS, Robert,
Man of Affairs, Inventor.
Pittsburgh-that city which is more than a city, ranking as it does industrially with the nations of the earth-owes its greatness to men of many races, and to none is it more deeply indebted than to the stalwart and ever-progressive Scotch- Irish, whose energy kindled many of those fires which today blaze like a part of the earth's central conflagration. As we look into the past, illumined for us by the light of these perpetually leaping flames, no form among those of these valiant pioneers looms more command- ingly than does that of Robert Jenkins who, born in Ireland and nurtured in Scotland, came to the New World to be. for half a century one of the upbuilders and maintainers of the prosperity of the Iron City.
Frank Jenkins, father of Robert Jen- kins, was a descendant of ancestors who by reason of their adherence to the Pro- testant faith were forced to fly from Scot- land to the North of Ireland, where in after years their posterity were in turn objects of religious persecution. When Frank Jenkins was a child two years old, the Roman Catholic element in Ireland
was in a state of revolt, showing marked animosity to those of the Protest- ant faith. On one occasion, in order to escape from the irate Papists, his mother took him in her arms and sought refuge in a cornfield, thus saving his life and her own. One of his brothers had not long before been killed in a riot, and the fam- ily were spared, by the mother's presence of mind, the affliction of furnishing two more victims to religious fanaticism. Frank Jenkins was a staunch believer in the teachings of John Wesley, and be- came one of the pioneers of the Metho- dist Episcopal church in Ireland. He married Elizabeth Williams, and their son Robert is mentioned below.
Robert, son of Frank and Elizabeth (Williams) Jenkins, was born August 14, 1827, in county Tyrone, Ireland, and was but a lad when death deprived him of his father, whom his mother did not long survive. Robert was then sent to Scotland and placed in the care of his uncle, by whom he was reared and edu- cated. In 1848, accompanied by his young wife, he emigrated to the United States. In Scotland he had worked in the mines, and he had with him £200 which he had saved from his carnings. It was his original intention to go to the far west, but, soon after landing, one of the friends with whom he had made the voy- age, borrowed two hundred dollars and died before he could repay it. With his funds thus depleted, Mr. Jenkins was forced to abandon his intention of going further, and therefore secured employ- ment in the coal mines near Pittsburgh.
But an obscure position, albeit compul- sory, was not the destiny of Robert Jen- kins. His spirit of enterprise impelled him to seek a wider field for the exercise of those abilities of which he was even then conscious, and in 1852 he removed to the Youghiogheny Valley, where he engaged in the coal business on his own account. His industry and energy, his
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Robert
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courage and fidelity to principle soon ad- vanced him to a place among the repre- sentative men of the community, and he was recognized as one of those "captains of industry" capable of controlling ex- tensive and varied interests-one whose efforts almost invariably culminated in success. He was one of the early mem- bers of the Youghiogheny Coal Com- pany, and it was largely owing to his sa- gacity and foresight that their operations attained the wide scope and the impor- tance for which eventually they became noted. Mr. Jenkins was also the owner of the first towboat used on the Youghio- gheny river, and was for a number of years actively identified with this branch of the business. He also became associ- ated with other capitalistic and industrial interests of an important nature. His celebrity as a business man was not con- fined to the limits of the city of Pitts- burgh, but extended throughout Western Pennsylvania. He was a prominent fac- tor in the industrial and commercial in- terests of that region, being the owner of a large plant which included a sawmill and other appurtenances. In addition to his qualifications as a business man, Mr. Jenkins possessed a large measure of mechanical genius, and his invention of a chute for loading coal is now in use in all coal mines. In 1900 he retired from the cares and responsibilities of an active business life.
As a man of affairs, Mr. Jenkins was in many respects a model. The goal of his ambition was success, but he scorned all success which had not for its basis the foundation stones of truth and honor. Duplicity was unknown to him, and he would not palliate false representations, either in those in his service or in his cus- tomers or correspondents. Honorable in purpose and fearless in conduct, no amount of gain could lure him from the undeviating line of rectitude. He was a
true friend, and his friends were many. At the age of twenty he was initiated in St. John's Lodge, No. 110, F. and A. M., at Holytown, county of Lanark, Scot- land, being then employed in the coal mines.
Mr. Jenkins married, April 2, 1847, in the town of Airdrie, Scotland, Jane, daughter of Thomas Morton, a collateral descendant of Sir William Wallace, the hero and patriot who died a martyr to his devotion to the liberties of Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins were the parents of four sons and six daughters, of whom four daughters are now living: Eliza- beth, wife of Rev. H. L. McMurray, of Ligonier, Pennsylvania; Mary, wife of W. H. Hugus, of Connellsville, Pennsyl- vania; Jennie Morton; and Marion G. Robert, one of Pittsburgh's leading busi- ness men, and the successor of his father, died April, 1908. Another of the de- ceased sons was Thomas M., a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work.
The death of Mr. Jenkins, which oc- curred May 11, 1907, at his home in Pittsburgh, removed from our city one who had stood for many years as one of the most eminent and valued of her citizens, one whose watchwords were ever those of duty and honor, who never in the slightest degree betrayed any trust reposed in him and who never sacrificed a public interest to the furtherance of his own.
When Mr. Jenkins passed away, there disappeared from Pittsburgh one more of the fast-lessening company of pioneers, and we were forced to witness the sever- ance of another of the links which con- nected us with the city of "sixty years since." His presence among us recalled the genesis of our industries and was a perpetual reminder of the struggles and triumphs of those heroes of the past who laid the foundations of the Pittsburgh of today.
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DOSTER, Gen. William Emile,
Soldier, Lawyer.
Were the debt the United States owes to its citizens of foreign birth to be com- puted in figures, the obligation would be found to be a heavy one. Not the least among the items would be the posterity they gave the nation that sheltered them, who have added so materially to the ac- count due the emigrants. A case in point is the Doster family, where a worthy sire bequeathed a son who has fully sustained the reputation made by his father and in ways to the former unknown, has shown his entire fitness for that proudest of titles, -- American. The Dosters trace through church records to Martin Doster, who emigrated from Saxony to Wurtem- berg, Germany, about the middle of the seventeenth century, settling at Nieder- hofen near Heilbronn, which was the family seat until the departure for the United States in 1817.
John Valentine Doster, son of Martin Doster, was born at Niederhofen in 1687; he married Susanna Stoll. Their son, John Philip Doster, born 1729, served for many years as mayor of Niederhofen. He married Rosina Maisenhaelder, and left a seventh son, Dr. Daniel Doster, born 1763, who became the founder of the family in the United States, landing at Philadelphia, January 1I, 1817. He married Marguerite Keppler, and died at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1830. His son Lewis (or Louis) Doster was born at Niederhofen, Wurtemberg, Germany, July 26, 1796, and came with his father in 1817 to Philadelphia, settling in 1826 at Bethlehem. He had been a soldier of the German army, and was one of the contingent who under General Cusitrine marched against Napoleon at Waterloo, and in Bethlehem he maintained a con- nection with the Morgan Rifle Batallion, 1831 to 1838. He married, in Bethlehem, in 1826, Pauline Louise, daughter of
Matthew Eggert and his wife, Maria Eg- gert, the former a leading Moravian in charge of the society's woolen mill. In 1837 Mr. Doster leased from the Mora- vian church their co-operative woolen mill, operating it with such success that five years later he became its owner by purchase, also in the same year erecting the extensive Moravian woolen mills, which in 1862 were totally destroyed by fire. He also dealt largely in lumber, and became one of the most successful, substantial business men of his day. He died May 30, 1860, aged sixty-four years.
William Emile Doster, seventh son of Lewis (or Louis) and Pauline Louise (Eggert) Doster, was born in Bethle- hem, Pennsylvania, January 8, 1837, and now resides in the house in which he was born. He obtained his primary and preparatory education in the Moravian church schools in Bethlehem, finishing under the direction of Professor B. Van- kirk, and entered Yale in the sophomore year. In his junior year he won the Latin prize for prose composition, and in his senior year the valedictory. He was graduated A. B., class of 1857. He then began the study of the law at Yale, con- tinuing under Governor A. H. Reeder, of Easton, Pennsylvania, and entered Har- vard Law School, whence he was grad- uated LL.B., class of 1859. He then con- tinued legal study at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, during 1859 and 1860, making a specialty of civil law. In the latter part of 1860 he attended law lectures on the Code of Napoleon at Paris.
Returning to the United States, he con- tinued his legal studies at Philadelphia until 1861, when he enlisted and was mustered into the United States service August 15, as captain of Company A, Fourth Regiment Pennsylvania Volun- teer Cavalry. On October 18 of the same year he was commissioned major of the same regiment, and in December follow-
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ing was assigned to an independent cav- alry command attached to Keyes' divis- ion of the Army of the Potomac. In February, 1862, he was placed in com- mand of the mounted provost guard of Washington City, and after the departure of the army under General Mcclellan, was appointed provost marshal of the city and military district of Washington, his jurisdiction extending from the capi- tal city to the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. His power was almost unlimited, his force including a brigade of men and a flotilla on the bay. After a year of ardu- ous, thankless and really unpleasant duty in this position, he requested and re- ceived permission to rejoin his regiment, not, however, without receiving assur- ances of the good-will of the citizens of Washington and of the satisfaction of Secretary Stanton, to whom he was di- rectly responsible, for the moderate and judicious use of the authority with which he was invested. In October, 1862, he was commissioned lieuten- ant-colonel, and in March, 1863, as- sumed command of the Fourth Cav- alry, then attached to the local brigade, Second Division, Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He followed the varying fortunes of that grandest of armies, serving successively under Gen- erals Averell, Stoneman, Pleasanton, Kilpatrick and Gregg; engaging in Stone- man's raid, during which he commanded the second brigade and fought in the cav- alry actions at Kelly's Ford, Beverly Ford, Bealton, Rapidan, Rappahannock Station, Brandy Station, Chancellorsville, Aldie, Middleburg, Snicker's Gap, Shep- herdstown, Gettysburg, and many other engagements. At Chancellorsville he commanded the Second Brigade, Third Division of the Cavalry Corps; at Mid- dleburg he was taken and for a short time held a prisoner, but succeeded in escaping and rejoining his regiment. Prior to Gettysburg his regiment was in
action daily for a full week. During that historic battle he was under the com- mand of General Pleasanton, posted on Cemetery Ridge, during the artillery fire of the afternoon of the second day. In the evening he was ordered to picket duty on the left flank, and established a line in front of the infantry at eleven o'clock at night, and he was also en- gaged in the cavalry action on their right on Basiter's Farm, between the Confed- erate cavalry under General Stuart and General Gregg on the Union side. On the 5th he was ordered to advance through Gettysburg in pursuit of the enemy. After tearing down the barri- cades that obstructed his way, he pushed on as far as Stevens' Furnace, where he engaged the rearguard of the flying army; by the evening of the 6th he reached Merion, and there engaged Fitz Hugh Lee's cavalry.
On this pursuit the Fourth Cavalry captured five hundred prisoners, and was itself reduced from six hundred to twen- ty-seven mounted men. On the return of the army of the Rappahannock, Colonel Doster was prostrated with ma- larial fever, and while in the hospital re- ceived orders transferring him to the Fifth Pennsylvania Cavalry, but his health continuing critical, he requested leave of absence, and in December, 1863, resigned from the service. In March, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general of United States Volunteers "for gallant and meritorious services in the field."
After regaining his health he was ad- mitted to the bar at Easton in 1864; he first began practice in the city of Wash- ington, and in May, 1865, was appointed by the government as counsel for Payne and Atzerodt, two of the suspected con- spirators in the plot to murder President Lincoln and members of his cabinet. He is the last survivor of those connected with the "great conspiracy" trial.
In September, 1865, he located in Eas-
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ton, Pennsylvania, and there began the practice of his profession, at the same time associating himself with D. J. God- shalk and founding the Bethlehem "Chronicle," continuing as one of the edi- tors until 1867, the "Chronicle" being later merged with the "Daily Times." He continued in practice at Easton until 1873, when he moved to Bethlehem, where he has successfully practiced un- til the present, although his active years are over. His career in the law has been marked with important cases, entrusted to his care ; positions of trust and dignity filled with honor and the highest regard of his brethren of the bar, with whom he has been so long associated. From 1867 to 1879 he held the position of Register in Bankruptcy for the Eleventh Congres- sional District. For over a quarter of a century he has been counsel for the Bethlehem Iron Company ; its successor, the Bethlehem Steel Company; the Le- high Coal and Navigation Company, and lias served in the same capacity for many of the large corporations of his section. A feature of his professional life has been the management of many large estates left to his care, the large number of im- portant cases in which he has been en- gaged, and the great number of success- ful decisions he has won from juries and judges. The term "successful" may well apply to his professional career and were titles awarded "for gallant and meritori- ous conduct" in the legal arena, he would be entitled to one higher even than that awarded by a grateful government. He is prominently interested in large Bethle- hem enterprises; is president of the Le- high Valley National Bank, also presi- dent of the New Street Bridge Company, which he organized in 1869, in associa- tion with his brother Herman, who is still secretary and treasurer. A favorite form of investment has been improved farm properties, hie being the owner of twelve farms in the neighborhood.
General Doster maintains his residence on Lehigh avenue, Bethlehem, which he built on the ground occupied by his fa- ther. The General is a great traveler, has visited Europe thirty-six times, and has thoroughly toured his own land. His deep knowledge of the world, its lan- guages, history and progress, is not alone the result of study and reading, but of observation and personal investigation. He belongs to numerous professional and scientific societies; and is an orator of pleasing powers, but hard to secure for popular occasions, one notable excep- tion being the sesqui-centennial celebra- tion at Bethlehem, when he delivered the oration of the day. An appreciation of General Doster's legal attainments and the estimation in which he was held, was the request from the faculty of Lehigh University, made in 1879, which resulted in his delivering before the students a series of lectures on "Practice in the County Courts of Pennsylvania."
These are but leading incidents in the life of a busy man. His life has been a full one, teeming with honors fairly won, and today, having passed man's allotted period of sojourn, he is one of the strong characters of the Pennsylvania bar and held in the highest honor and esteem by all.
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