USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 17
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" Among the Republican gentlemen named as can- didates for the responsible office of State Treasurer, the Hon. Thomas Struthers, of Warren County, stands conspicuous. His sterling integrity, business capacity, and the efficient services he has rendered to the political cause upheld by the great Republican party, render him, in our opinion, by far the most suitable and available candidate. The West we think is now entitled to this office, more especially when one so capable and trustworthy is presented. During the sessions of 1857 and 1858 Mr. S. repre- sented in the State Legislature, first the counties of Warren, Venango and Mercer, and afterwards Warren and Crawford. Those who served with him during two sessions can testify to the important character of his services to the State and to his party. We agree with the Reading Journal when it says to the members of the present Legislature, let us for once have a State Treasurer upon whom we can look without suspicion or distrust; in whose past life and freedom from evil financial associations the people can have some guaranty of future hon- esty. There are such men before the people. Give us one of them, if only for this once. Give us a man of pure and spotless honesty, not one whose name has beeu dragged in the mire. Give us a man whom we can hold up before the people as a servant worthy of their confidence, as a servant of the kind in whom they will be well pleased."
Neither his business nor inclination permitted him to give the canvass the attention necessary to secure the Legislative caucus nomination. He was not a political aspirant. To aid in developing the resources of the country by public improvements was always his highest ambition and greatest pride. His interest in the place of his adoption is still un- ceasing, as has been proved by many acts of liber- ality on his part within the past few years. Among the many may be mentioned the liberal gift of a free public library named for him and erected in the year 1883 at a cost of ninety thousand dollars. The building is commanding in its architecture and stands on one of the most elegible sites in the town of Warren, and only a block from the residence of the donor. The building is of brick, seventy-thrce feet front on Third Street and one hundred and sixty fcet deep on Liberty Street. It is three stories high, besides the basement, and coutains a large and commodious library room seventy feet by sixty-four -
feet, with large, well-lighted offices attached. The Post Office and a large store-room occupy the first floor. The entire third story, which is elaborately
furnished, is occupied by the Masonic Fraternity. A grand hall, known as "Library Hall" extends from the library room proper to the north end of the building. It contains an auditorium seventy feet by sixty-four feet, and a stage, twenty-seven feet deep. It has a seating capacity for one thousand persons. The hall is well and comfortably furnished, and is one of the neatest of its kind in Northern Pennsyl- vania. Allrents and income accruing from the entire building are given to the trustees for the use and benefit of the library. Mr. Struthers purposed in making the gift, that the library, in order to be kept up to a high standard, should be free from embar- rassment. Hence this arrangement. The library is provided with all standard periodicals and news- papers and five thousand volumes of choice litera- ture. Its doors are open throughout the day to citizens and strangers, and the munificent gift stands as a mouument to the noble generosity of the donor. Another of the latest acts of his life was the erection of a monument to the memory of his grandfather, father and mother, two sisters and two brothers, in Poland Township, Trumbull County, Ohio. One of the brothers whose memory is so cherished, died in the service of his country during the War of 1812. Many other acts of his love for advancement and the spirit with which he cherishes the memory of loved ones might be mentioned. Mr. Struthers still re- sides in the old homestead at Warren, Pennsylvania, which has been sacred to him for so many years, and the stranger, as well as his friends, is ever wel- come. In conversation he is very interesting, relat- ing much of interest pertaning to years ago, calling up memories of men who were prominent in National as well as State affairs. He kceps well posted on the cur- rent events of the day, displaying an earnest interest in all events tending towards the advancement and pros- perity of his country. Mr. Struthers is a man of a large and comprehensive mind, that canvasses a subject in all its bearings, immediate and remote. His predomi- nent mental characteristic is concentrativeness. He would always become totally absorbed in the pro- ject or enterprise in hand, and pursue it with an avidity and pertinacity that admitted of no diver- sion or interruptiou. His mental resources, in extricating himself from embarrassment, and in combining agencies to accomplish his purposes, have always proven sufficient for all drafts upon them, and seem inexhaustible ; and his power for at- tracting both men and capital, and enlisting them in his adventures, is wonderful. His temperament is over-sanguine, producing too favorable estimates of future results, and would often have led him into serious difficulties, except for his indomitable will and perseverauce. He never surrendered, and,
"PROPERTY OF AUSTIN BOYER
فيوم
R. Brown
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consequently, was always victorious, or made a draw-game of it. He has always shown himself to be emphatically what Carlyle said of Cromwell, "an earnest man." Whatever his hand has found to do he has done with his might. Bold, apparently to rashness, and hopeful to enthusiasm, whatever he has undertaken he has carried through with an ear- nestness and energy that surmounted all obstacles. These elements in his composition induced him sometimes to venture too much, perhaps, and take risks which the timid prudence of less resolute men would have avoided. He would buy, on time, far beyond his income from other sources to pay, trust- ing to sell at an advance before the liability matured. Yet no protests came. He would spread more can- vass, and run farther out to sea than larger crafts dare venture, yet his frail bark, through calm or storm, always made the voyage bravely, and re- turned to port safely. His industry has ever been as indefatigable as his will indomitable. Had he not enjoyed perfect health and great powers of en- durance, he would often have overtaxcd his ener- gies and broken down. Although his travels and associations with the business world have been such as to subject him to frequent and strong tempta- tions, his habits have ever been temperate and free from dissipation of any kind. He, indeed, attri- butes much of the vigor, both physical and intellec- tual, which he enjoys at his present advanced age, to the fact that such years ago he abjured the use of spirituous liquors altogether. He says its use defiles the stomach, vitiates the appetite, destroys the sensitive organs, and results in intellectual stupidity, physical grossness and deformity, and total unfitness for business or society. The medi- cated wines generally in use he considers equally obnoxious, and to be avoided. But paramount among his virtues, it may be affirmed that he is an honest man. In his immense and complicated busi- ness transactions, no one was ever found to charge him successfully with a dishonest or dishonorable act. Naturally a little credulous, although usually cautious, he has sometimes been overreached and involved in litigation. But he has lived through sixty years of trials without a tarnish upon the escutcheon of his manhood, or a stain on his integ- rity as a citizen. During all that time he has been the recognized leader, and often the originator, of measures calculated to benefit the county and bor_ ough in which he has lived, and still enjoys the confidence and esteem of the present, as of the past, generation. Now, in the evening of a laborious and most active life, he can look back without regret upon a past that has been prolific in results alike progressive and beneficent.
RASSELAS BROWN.
HON. RASSELAS BROWN, a prominent lawyer of Warren, and, from 1860 to 1870, President-Judge of the Sixth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, was born at Brownville, Jefferson County, New York, September 10, 1812. His father, George Brown, was a native of Pennsylvania, and served in the American army during the War of 1812-'15. The mother, whose maiden name was Temperance, was a daughter of James and Anna Temperance, of Connecticut, and a native of that State. Having completed the usual course of instruction in the district schools of Brownville, the subject of this sketch attended the academy in Belleville, Jef- ferson County, and afterwards the excellent one at Watertown. Having duly prepared himself, he en- tered Union College in 1834, taking standing in the junior class, and graduating with it in 1836. Ac- cepting the position of Priucipal of the Academy at Warren, Pennsylvania, he removed thither, after closing his collegiate course, and entered upon his duties. During the three years that he remained at the head of the Warren Academy, he employed his leisure time in studying law, his preceptor being the late Hon. Lansing Wetmore, then one of the leading members of the Pennsylvania bar. He also studied in the office of Messrs. Struthers and Johnson, a legal firm with a large practice. In June, 1839, he was admitted to the bar at Warren, and at once en- gaged in active practice, opening an office in the place named and beginning professional work with the best wishes of a large circle of friends. The result proved that he was fortunate in the choice of a life vocation. To his superior education he added a natural taste for legal work and a marked apti- tude in meeting its requirements. He also possessed that prime necessity for success at the bar, integrity. Laboring industriously, he rapidly built up a prac- tice which continued to increase in volume and im- portance for a period of twenty years, and finally extended to all parts of the State. Five years after he began to practice law, he was so well entrenched in the esteem of his fellow citizens that he was chosen by them to represent Warren County in the Legislature of the State, where he served one term, acquitting himself of his duties with zeal and ability. But law was more to his taste than politics and he never afterwards sought a purely political office. In 1852 he was appointed a member of the Board of Revenue Commissioners from his District. In 1860 he was appointed to the office of President-Judge of the Sixth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. This exalted position he filled with rare ability for a period of one year, at the expiration of which he was
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re-nominated for the same office. A sincere Demo- crat from conviction, his political views were not in accord with those entertained by the majority of his fellow citizens; and owing to party feeling running high he was defeated, not merely on this occasion but at several subsequent elections, when his name was again brought forward for judicial office. His great talents as a lawyer, however, were conceded by men of all parties, and in 1872 he was the choice of his District as a member of the State Constitu- tional Convention, and was an able and respected member of that distinguished and representative body. For many years Judge Brown has had a most extensive practice among the leading corpora- tions of the State. He is at present special attorney for the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, in which he is also a Director. He has been a Direc- tor in and President of the Jamestown and Franklin Railroad since 1882, and a Director in the Dunkirk, Allegheny and Pittsburgh Railroad since it was or- ganized. He is also a Director aud large stock- holder in the Dunkirk and Warren, and Warren and Venango Railroads. He was one of the founders of the First National Bank of Warren, of which he is a Director and counsel, and of the Warren Savings Bank. For some years he was counsel for the Bor- ough of Warren. In early life Judge Brown took a hearty interest in the militia of the State, and in 1858 was commissioned a General of Brigade, in which capacity he served efficiently for several years. In the discharge of all the varied duties, both public and private, which have fallen to him, he has distin- guished himself by marked integrity, unswerving patriotism, and the high-mindedness characteristic of the cultivated gentleman. To unusual mental ability he unites those practical qualifications whichi are essential to the successful carrying out of all projects. He lias been an active participant in af- fairs for a period longer than the lives of many men, and his record is stainless. In January, 1841, he married Miss Elizabetlı Sill, daugliter of Nathaniel Sill, of Warren.
ALBERT G. EGBERT.
HON. ALBERT G. EGBERT, M.D., a prominent citizen of Franklin, and Representative of the Twen- ty-seventh District of Pennsylvania in the Forty- fourth Congress of the United States, was born in Sandy Lake Township, Mercer County, Pennsyl- vania, April 13, 1828. His father, Louis Egbert, a native of Mercer County, Pennsylvania, was a far- mer in comfortable circumstances, who spent most
of his life in Mercer County, where he died in 1872. Mr. Egbert's mother, whose maiden name was Ase- neth Nixon, was the daughter of John Nixon, a pros- perous Ohio farmer. She was born in Ohio in 1796, and dicd at Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania, in 1880. The subject of this sketch spent his entire boyhood and youth in the place of his birth. He received a good education in the English branches in the district schools of Mercer County, which he attended with regularity during the winter months, spending the rest of the year at farm work. At the age of twen- ty-two, having prudently saved a small sum of money from his earnings, he resolved to improve his education with a view to adopting one of the learned professions; and with this object entered the Austinburg Academy, in Ashtabula County, Ohio, where he studied diligently during two terms. In the fall of 1854 he began to study medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. Fulton, of Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania. In the following year he attended the regular course of lectures at the medical college at Cleveland, Ohio. He then became a student un- der Prof. H. A. Ackley, of Cleveland, under whose able instruction he remained until March, 1856, when he successfully passed all the required ex- aminations and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Cleveland Medical College. In the summer of 1856 he began the practice of medi- cine at Clintonville, Venango County, Pennsylvania, in partnership with Dr. W. L. Whann, with whom he remained associated one year. He then removed to Cherry Tree, Venango County, and during the ensuing four years was actively engaged there in the practice of his profession. When petroleum was discovered in Pennsylvania, Dr. Egbert was quick to perceive that the source of a most valuable natural product had been found and he immediately began prospecting in his locality. In March, 1859, he commenced the second well in Venango County. His success led to other ventures, and by the spring of 1861 he had become so largely interested in this product that he was obliged to relinquish the practice of medicine in order to devote his whole time and attention to his extensive and rapidly in- creasing business in oil. In May, 1861, he removed from Cherry Tree to Mercer, Pennsylvania. In 1864 he took a leading part in the organization of the First National Bank of that place, and was elected its President. In 1870 he resigned the Presidency of this institution and removed to Frank- lin, where he lias continued to reside since that time. Naturally public-spirited, he took a deep in- terest in the welfare of the place from the day he become a resident of it. Well educated, skilled in business affairs, and successful in his undertakings,
Vanilanon
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he proved a most welcome addition to the citizen- ship of Franklin, and in a very bricf period took rank among its principal men. In 1874 he was lion- ored by receiving the nomination of the Democratic party for the office of Representative from the Twenty-seventh District to the Forty-fourth Congress of the United States. Known to possess a thorough knowledge of the needs of the district and to be eminently capable of representing it in the National Legislature, and to be, moreover, a man of strict probity and unswerving devotion to duty, lie re- ceived the open support at the polls of men of all shades of political belief, and was elected, defeating his opponent, Col. C. B. Curtis, of Erie, Pennsyl- vania, the nominee of the Republicans. This was, in every sense of the word, a remarkable victory, since the district had been rated as solidly Republi- can by at least four thousand majority. No better attest could be given of the esteem in which Mr. Egbert is held than this magnificent endorsement for a high public office. During his term in Con- gress Mr. Egbert was active in promoting the in- terests of his constituents by all honorable means, and was instrumental in advancing several impor- tant measures having a bearing upon his State. He made an excellent impression upon his Congressional colleagues and developed many warm friendships among them. At the expiration of his term Dr. Egbert was re-nominated for a second term, but not having any taste for a political career, and having, moreover, accomplished the great objects for which he had consented to act as the standard bearer of his party, he declined to accept the re-nomination. Although he has served in no other public capacity save the one named, Mr. Egbert has not been neglect- ful of the duties devolving upon him, for in his own peculiarly quiet and unobtrusive way he has been assiduous and liberal in fostering the business and industries of Franklin, and in promoting the public welfare. His private business interests are large and important and are concerned with valuable oil property in Venango County and extensive coal lands in Mercer County, the management of which occupies his time and attention. The poor and struggling have always found in him a sympathetic and considerate friend and adviser. He is ever ready to give deserving persons employment and to encourage and aid them in the battle of life, but he instinctively shrinks from any appearance of bestow- ing charity, and by the kindliness and wisdom of his methods is often successful in rousing a latent or disappointed ambition and self-helpfulness which mere charity without interest could never stimulate. Many persons who have evinced an honest deter- · mination to exert themselves in their own behalf
have been liberally aided by him, and in the larger number of cases with most gratifying results. Pos- sessed of solid intellectual acquirements, modest and refined manners and a kindly and helpful dis- position, he holds a place in the regard of his friends, neighbors and the public generally which no mere business achievements or wealth alone could enable him to reach, and may be said to repre- sent one of the best types of the successful Ameri- can business man-that in which natural refinement and a cultivated mind go hand in hand with energy and unvarying honesty, and a broad and patriotic sense of the duties of citizenship in a free country. Dr. Egbert married, in 1860, Miss Eliza Phipps, daughter of Ex-Sheriff Phipps of Venango County, Pennsylvania. They have seven children living-four boys and three girls.
GEORGE SANDERSON.
HON. GEORGE SANDERSON, of Scranton, was born of good old Puritan stock in Boston. His father, Jacob Sanderson, was one of Boston's most respected merchants and was for a long time en- gaged in the West Indies trade. His mother Jeru- sha was of the Gardner family-thc Weymouth branch-a Massachusetts family which prides itself on its descent from "the forefathers." Their son, the subject of this sketch, was carefully brought up by them and educated at the Boston Latin School. Among his schoolmates were some of those whose names have become bright in the history of Massa- chusetts and the country. Early taught that honest toil was not to be shunned he started out at nineteen years of age to make his place in the world. He first moved to Geneva, New York. While there he married Marion W., daughter of Col. Joseph Kings- bury, a large landed proprietor of Sheshequin, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and shortly after moved to Towanda, Pennsylvania, where he edited a paper and practiced law. He became District At- torney of Bradford County and represented the County in the State Senate. Having become inter- estcd in the then small town of Scranton, he estab- lished the banking house of George Sanderson & Co., and in 1856 moved with his family to that place, where he at once became one of its foremost and most energetic citizens. He accumulated a consid- erable fortune and his judgment in matters pertain- ing to real estate was considered particularly sound. Many of Scranton's finest residences are built on land, then a wilderness, developed by him. The banking house which he established never closed its
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doors through all the financial vicissitudes of his | time. Merged in The Lackawanna Valley Bank, and two years ago into The Lackawanna Trust and Safe Deposit Company, it is recognized as one of the most conservative and strongest financial institu- tions of Northeastern Pennslyvania. In 1863 Mr. Sanderson moved to Germantown, Pennsylvania, with the intention of resting the remainder of his years, but, like many, the habit of business was fixed, and rest to him was hard work. Therefore after acting in Philadelphia for a short time, as President of the Tremont Coal Company, lie moved back to his old home in 1867, and commenced to de- velop a tract of land in the suburbs of the city, to which he gave the name of Green Ridge. This is now justly considered the most beautiful part of Scranton, and is thickly covered with handsome residences. During his long life Mr. Sanderson was conspicuously identified with the progress and welfare of Scranton. Public spirited always, his efforts were toward making the city prominent among the young cities of our country. Mr. Sander- son died on April 1, 1886, and his wife survived him barely two months. They left four children : James Gardner Sanderson, George Sanderson, Jr., Anna K. Sanderson and Marion Sanderson, now Mrs. E. B. Sturges.
ALFRED B. McCALMONT.
GENERAL ALFRED BRUNSON McCALMONT, the third son of Alexander and Eliza H. McCal- mont, was born at Franklin, Venango County, Penn- sylvania, on April 28, 1825, and died at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 7, 1874. IIis father, Alexander McCalmont, the son of John and Elizabeth McCal- mont, was born in Cistacoquillos Valley, now in Mif- flin County, Pennsylvania, in 1785. When he was two years old the family removed to Nittany Val- ley, Centre County (1787) and thence to Venango County, Pennsylvania, in 1803. John McCalmont, the father of Alexander and grandfather of Alfred Brunson, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1750. When sixteen years old (1766) he came to Philadelphia with his elder half brother Thomas. Near Philadelphia they remained for some years ; cach married and had children, and both families moved towards the west, Thomas with his, remain- ing in Penris Valley, Centre County, and John with his, locating in Venango County. Both Thomas and John were Presbyterians in faith, and the names of most of their children, who generally at- tained a good old age, can be found in the records
of that church in Centre and Venango Counties. The earliest McCalmont, whose history has been hunted up was a Scotchman, a Covenanter preachier, who migrated from Scotland to the North of Ire- land in the time of King Charles the First. From this McCalmont many families of that name in Ire- land, England and America have descended. It is supposed that the name Calmont or Almont is of French origin, and that the patronymic McCalmont was made by the prefix of Mac, common at one time in Scotland to designate the sons of a particu- lar clan. It is not easy, in the space allotted to a bricf sketch, to do justice to the life of Alfred Brun- son McCalmont. As, in many other cases, the dan- ger is, that by condensing and avoiding details, important facts will be omitted, and unimportant reflections will take their place. It will perhaps be admitted by all who were well acquainted with him in his lifetime, that, from his earliest boyhood up to the day of his decease, lie occupied a conspicuous place among his fellows, and was esteemed for his honesty, sincerity, truthfulness and constancy in friendship, as well as for his wit, learning, elocu- tion, courage and honor. From childhood he evinced a disposition to learn, and was active and industrious in the pursuit of knowledge. And this may be regarded as somewhat peculiar in his case, for he was very social in his disposition, and had a more than common sense of the humorous and the ludicrous. In his early years his instruction and deportment were very carefully attended to; and at the age of eleven or twelve he went to the Latin school kept by Rev. N. R. Snowden. This was about the time that Mr. Snowden, who instructed many Franklin boys in the rudiments of Latin, and exercises of declamation, ceased to teach, and gave way to Mr. Gamble, a fine Latin scholar who, for awhile, succeeded him. At Mr. Snowden's school, among other companions of McCalmont, his most in- timate one perhaps, was a scholar equally as bright, Jesse Lee Reno-who afterwards graduated at West Point, became distinguished in Mexico, as a Lieu- tenant of Ordnance, was in the Government survey of the Pacific Railroad ; and at last, with the rank of Major-General, laid down his life for his country at South Mountain. In 1839 Mr. McCalmont entered Allegheny College. He remained there only a few sessions; and in the autumn of 1840 he entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he at once took rank in the foremost of his class, dividing the honors with another classmate at grad- uation in 1844. Mr. McCalmont then commenced the study of law in the office of his brother-in-law, Edwin C. Wilson, at Franklin, Pennsylvania, under the supervision of his father, Alexander McCal-
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