USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 20
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can citizenship, dignified without pride, just with- out severity, and generous without ostentation. His home is a center of comfort and refinement, from which radiates into many a remote quarter kindly as well as inspiring influences. In 1832 Mr. Robinson married Miss Azubah Bowen, the daugh- ter of Hezekiah Bowen, of Hartwick, New York. By this estimable lady, who died in June, 1888, aged seventy-eight years, he is the father of two children, (the survivors of a family of seven) viz : a son, Mr. Jesse M. Robinson, born May, 1853, and now Cashier of the First National Bank of Wells- boro, and a daughter, Mrs. Azubah Smith, the widow of the late George D. Smith, of the Forty- fifth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, who was killed in defence of the Union at the memorable battle of South Mountain, Maryland.
THOMAS LYON.
THOMAS LYON, M.D., a leading physician and surgeon of Williamsport, in which place he has practiced his profession for more than fifty years, was born at Pennsville, Pennsylvania, October 13, 1812. His parents were Edward Grundy Lyon and Sarah Huckle Lyon, both natives of England, the former born April 25, 1783, and the latter in 1777. The subject of this sketch was the third of the six sons who constituted his father's family. His parents fully appreciated the advantages of a sound education, and after Thomas had acquired the or- dinary branches in the district schools of Pennsville, Hughesville and Muncy, he was placed under the tutelage of the Rev. Dr. Kirkpatrick, a noted in- structor of that day, and the only one in the locality competent to teach the languages. A number of the fellow-students of young Lyon at Dr. Kirkpatrick's have since risen to eminence in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Dr. Lyon began his medical studies with Dr. James S. Dougal, at Milton, Northumber- land County. In 1838 he graduated at Jefferson Medical College with the degree of Doctor of Medi- cine, and in April of that year established himself at Williamsport, where he has practiced without in- termission up to the present day. At the time lie entered the place its total population did not exceed one thousand persons, and he found but onc profes- sional rival among the inhabitants. A young man of thorough education, well grounded in his profes- sion, and possessing the charm of refined manners and pleasant conversational powers, Dr. Lyon rapidly grew in favor, and in the course of a few years acquired a practice which extended over a
large territory. In those early days the country roads, as a rule, were rough and at times almost impassable for any kind of vehicle, and the only re- liable mode of travel was on horseback. Occasion- ally, when the roads were in good condition, short journeys might be made in a " sulky," -- a light vehi- cle, stray specimens of which may still be encoun- tered doing good service under similar circum- stances. Dr. Lyon's rides and drives extended twenty-five miles up Loyalsock and Lycoming creeks, and he frequently made both trips on horse- back. His night rides were always made on horse- back. He often made a trip, on professional service, to Trout Run and back after supper, a distance of fifteen miles each way, and that after a hard day's ride. Nevertheless, he was always ready for his professional work early in the morning. Dr. Lyon possesses an interesting fund of anecdote, illustrative of thic prevalence of a superstition among the people during his early practice ; and his faculty of calling up certain cases and the peculiari- ties of the patients and of the conditions surround- ing them is truly remarkable. Owing to the primi- tive modes of travel during the early part of his professional carcer, professional visits were not infrequently made at considerable hazard. There were no bridges across the river or creeks in his neighborhood, and on one winter day while attempt- ing to cross the Susquehanna on the ice he met with an accident which nearly cost him his life. The circumstances are as follows : Having a number of patients at Montoursville and its vicinity, to save time he attempted to cross at the end of a lane, and opposite what is now known as Canfield's Mill. Fearing accident lie frequently dismounted and led his horsc. As he was nearing the further shore, leading the animal by the bridle, he found the water was running over the ice. While he was in the act of mounting the ice gave way and his horse went down. Fortunately he had a firm hold of the reins and thus managed to keep the animal's head from slipping beneath the ice. As good luck would have it a friend chanced to be standing on the river-bank, and, witnessing the doctor's plight, hastened to his rescue. By the aid of several neighbors and a rope the horse as well as its intrepid rider was saved. This was but one escape in many from imminent dan- ger in fording streams and crossing on the ice to visit patients. A singular experience of the doctor's during the winter of 1861 is worth relating. About this time he began to be annoyed by frequent orders found written upon his slate, sending him to far away places on urgent calls. After several futile trips heawoke to the fact that he was being victim- ized. His tormenter, finding that this trick was dis-
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covered, resorted to an even more distressing form of annoyance, viz: that of firing his buildings. Onee the doctor found a fire kindled on his office table, the next night in his medicine drawers, at another time iu an out-kitchen, and very early onc morning in the garret. After weeks of the most ex- asperating annoyance and suspense, and entire failure despite every effort to locate the culprit, it was discovered that the perpetrator of these out- rages was a nurse-girl, twelve years of age, in his employ. In hopes of effecting a reformation in her character, the child-culprit, after being brought be- fore a magistrate, was sentenced to the House of Refuge, but the Governor taking into consideration her age, consented to let her go to an uncle in Mis- souri. She afterwards married and is living in Bellefonte. Dr. Lyon has performed many impor- taut surgical operations, some of them under cir- cumstances so hazardous and trying that one less skilled in meeting and providing for serious emer- gencies would have declined to act. Not only this, but in days when instruments and appliances as compared with the present were few, cumbrous, and nearly always unreliable, he was very successful in improvising aids which ofteu proved all that was required. Although long past three score and ten Dr. Lyon is still noted for his vigorous health and great activity, both of which would put to shame many much younger men. A large number of his patients will not hear of his retiring from active practice, and at present there does not seem to be any necessity for his doing so. The doctor is an honored member of the Lycoming Medical Society, of the Pennsylvania Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association. He is a Republican in political faith but has never held any public office except the purely professional one of Examining Surgeon, to which he was appointed by Governor Curtin in the early part of the Civil War. The dutics of this position consisted in the examination of ap- plicants for positions as surgeons in the army. In May, 1842, Dr. Lyon married Miss Elizabeth Priestley, daughter of Joseph R. Priestley, cashier of the Northumberland County Bank, and great-grand- daughter of the eminent chemist, Dr. Joseph Priestley. Of the six children, the fruit of this mar- riage, four are now living, viz: oue son and three daughters. The first, Dr. Edward Lyou-a graduate of Pennsylvania University at Philadelphia in 1868, who married in 1872, Miss Mary J. Lescure-is now a practicing physician at Williamsport. The eldest daughter is the wife of Mr. Thomas Hayes, of Philadelphia; the second is married to Mr. Augus- tus Stearns, of Williamsport; and the third to Dr. E. B. Campbell, of the same city.
C. N. PEIRCE.
PROFESSOR C. N. PEIRCE, D.D.S., Dcan of the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, was born in Byberry township, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, March 5, 1829. Ilis father, Cyrus Peirce, was a native of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and was engaged in the oc- cupation of farming most of his life in Chester and Philadelphia Counties. Dr. Peirce's mother, Miss Ruth S. Peirce, was a native of New England. Young Peirce's early education was obtained in the schools of Philadelphia County. In the meantime he assisted his father on the farm, and was early taught habits of industry and application ; the only legacy he ever received. No one ever had a better example to follow than that furnished by the lives of his parents, who belonged to the Society of Friends, and were an upright, industrious and gen- erous hearted couple. Having resolved to study dentistry, he gladly embraced the opportunity of- fered him by Dr. F. M. Dixon of Philadelphia, and entered his office in October, 1851. In 1852 the Philadelphia College of Dental Surgery (now the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery) was or- ganized, and he was among the first to matriculate at that institution. He graduated in March, 1854, and immediately began practice in Philadelphia. He has practiced dentistry continuously in Phila- delphia from that time to the present, covering a period of thirty-five years. In 1858, four years after his graduation, Dr. Peirce was elected to the chair of Dental Physiology, Histology and Opera- tive Dentistry in the Pennsylvania College of Den- tal Surgery, on the death of Professor Elisha Town- send. He was elected to the office of Dean in 1861, and held that position until he retired from the school in 1866 on account of ill health. On being re-elected to the Faculty in 1878, he was again cho- sen by his colleagues as Dean, and has held that position to the present time. He has been longer identified with the faculty of that institution than any other man now living. Prof. Pierce's long con- nection with the college as a teacher and officer has made his influence an important factor in the suc- cess which it has attained. His extraordinary ca -. pacity for work is doubtless attributable to inheri- tance, Quaker education and early training on a farm. Dr. Peirce has for over twenty years deliv- ered each year before the classes of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, ten lectures on Dental Physiology and Dental Pathology. This college was the first, and for many years the only medical school in this country to appreciate the im- portance of such instruction for its students. The
hing T. Hancock
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ment. The subject of this sketch was educated at Hassell's Institute, and at its completion, was ap- prenticed, as is the custom in his place of nativity, to one of the leading business houses. The house of Messrs. Schaeffer & Liepprand, of Frankfort-on- the-Main, was the one selected for him, and the apprenticeship commenced in 1865, ending in 1868. It had always been the desire of his father that his sons should commence their business career in America, he believing so firmly in the advantages offered to young men of push, energy and business capacity in that land. Hence, in 1868 the subject of this sketch came to America, going to Baltimore, Maryland, and entered the establishment of his grand-uncle, Charles Simon, who was engaged at the time in an extensive dry goods business under the firm name of Charles Simon & Sons. He re- mained with his grand-uncle one year, and his taste led him to engage with a firm doing a more exten- sive silk trade, as it had always been his intention to manufacture at some future day. He entered the wholesale silk department of A. T. Stewart & Co., of New York City, and remained one year, theu returned to Europe and traveled extensively, visit- ing all the large silk manufactories, examining every detail as far as possible, which would enable him to commence his career as a silk manufacturer in this country. In 1874 he and his brother Robert embarked in the business of silk manufacturing, erecting their first mill at Union Hill, New Jersey. Here they labored until 1883, their business increas- ing to such proportions they were compelled to build other mills, oue of which they located at Easton, Pennsylvania, and the other at Paterson, New Jer- sey. These two are run in connection with the one at Union Hill. In 1878 Herman Simon again vis- ited Germany and France and entered the weaving school at Mulheim on the Rhine. His object in so doing was to become thoroughly familiar with the practical as well as the theoretical part of that branch of silk manufacturing. During that year he went to Italy and familiarized himself with the art of silk spinning. When this tour of Europe was completed he came back to this country, armed and equipped for any emergency in his business, knowing the details of silk manufacturing thor- oughly. The dye works of the firm are located at Paterson, New Jersey. In the establishment at Union Hill there are four hundred and fifty looms, employing between six and seven hundred hands. In the mill at Easton, Pennsylvania, there are sixteen thousand spindles, employing two hundred hands. In establishing this mill he opened up a new section of the city, and convenient thereto are comfortable homes in which the employees reside.
Mr. Simon is very thorough and systematic in his business. Every portion of the mill, from the en- trance to the office to the engine room, gives the impression of being presided over by one who is a thorough master of his establishment. "Neatness and order" is the motto iu every department. Mr. Simon married in 1886. He has a beautiful home ou a high elevation, surrounded with all necessary comforts, and supplied with a choice library, and paintings by some of the best artists. As a citizen, he is well up to what constitutes a thoroughly live city, and he is ever ready to substantially help in any enterprise of merit. At his home he enter- tains admirably aud his friends are ever welcome to his hospitality.
WINFIELD S. HANCOCK.
WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK, Major-General, U. S. A., commanding at the time of his death the Department of the Atlantic, with headquarters at Governor's Island, New York Harbor, was born February 14, (St. Valentine's Day), 1824, at Mont- gomery Square, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His father, Benjamin F. Hancock, was a lawyer of standing in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and through both father and mother he descended from Revolu- tionary soldiers, while his maternal great-grand- father also fought in the old French and Indian War. Winfield was the twin brother of Hilary B. Hancock; and one other brother, John, completed the family. Rcared among a farming people, young Winfield received his early education at the local academy and at the public high-school. He was not uoted for a studious nature, but rather for physical strength and an adventurous disposition, displaying carly a fondness for military exercises, and figuring as a leader among his school companions. In 1840, when sixteen years old, the boy was appointed to a cadetship at West Point, through the influence of a prominent citizen of Montgomery County, who was one of his father's intimate friends. He passed the examination at the Military Academy with credit, entering July 1, 1840. During the first two years of his cadetship he found time to read Kent's Commen- taries and Blackstone, besides attending to his regu- lar studies, and thus laid the foundation for that knowledge of the principles of organic law which was, at a later and very grave period of his life, to prove of such value to himself and such importance to his country. He graduated on June 30, 1844, and on July 1st was brevetted Second Lieutenant of the Sixth Infantry. To the veteran General Winfield
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Scott, after whom young Hancock was named, he owed his first assignment. General Scott chanced to be at the Academy when his namesake graduated, and as he felt a natural interest in him-which, in- deed, he displayed as long as he lived-he asked the young Lieutenant to what regiment he would prefer to be assigned. " To one that is stationed farthest west," said Hancock. He was accordingly assigned to a regiment stationed at Fort Wishita, in the Indian country, west of Arkansas. He received his commis- sion as Second Lieutenant on June 18, 1846; but though the war with Mexico broke out the same year, it was not until the summer of 1847 that young Han- cock achieved his ardent desire for active service. It was, in fact, after the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Buena Vista had been fought, Monte- rey captured, and northern Mexico held by the American army of occupation, that he was ordered to Vera Cruz. Thence he marched on foot with his regiment, of which he was Adjutant, in General Pierce's command, to reinforce General Scott at Puebla. He saw his first fighting at the National Bridge, distinguished himself at Contreras and Chu- rubusco, and after the latter hard-fought battle was brevetted First Lieutenant and placed in command of a company. The storming of Chapultepec presaged the capture of the city of Mexico and the end of the war. At its close Lieutenant Hancock was ordered to Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, where he filled the position of Quartermaster and where he was stationed until the spring of 1849, when he received a five months' leave of absence, and proceeded to visit his home in Pennsylvania after an absence of five years. Even thus early his services to his country were appreciated, for, during this visit, the Legis- lature of his native State named him in a special series of resolutions complimenting the bravery of the sons of Pennsylvania during the war. Return- ing to his regiment in the autumn of 1849, Hancock was appointed Aide-de-Camp to Brigadier-General N. S. Clark, whose headquarters were in St. Louis. Here, on January 24, 1850, Lieutenant Hancock was married to Almira, daughter of Samuel Russell, a merchant of St. Louis. Of this marriage two chil- dren were born-a son, Russell, who died in 1884, and a daughter, Ada Elizabeth, whose death occurred in 1875. On November 5, 1855, Hancock was ap- pointed Quartermaster, with the rank of Captain, and ordered to Florida with a detachment to protect the white inhabitants from an outbreak of the Seminoles. This trouble lasted but a short time, and Captain Hancock rejoined his regiment, the Sixth Infantry, and after some stay in Utah was ordered to Benicia, California, and later to Los Angeles, where he had charge of the Quartermaster's depot. This brought
the time to 1860. The struggle preceding the War of the Rebellion was exciting the whole country, and Captain Hancock's judicious firmness is acknowl- cdged to have exercised great influence in saving Southern California to the Union. Having accom- plished this, he sent an urgent request to the War Department for active service, and this having been at once granted, he left his post at Los Angeles, and on September 4, 1861, reported in Washington for orders. Nineteen days later he was commissioned Brigadier-General and assigned to the Army of the Potomac, his brigade-the first of Smith's division- comprising four thousand men : the Fifth Wiscon- sin, Sixth Maine, Forty-ninth Pennsylvania, and Fourth New York regiments. General Hancock was now thirty-eight years of age, in the prime of life, and with sixteen years of experience as a sol- dier behind him. To relate in detail his connection with the War of the Rebellion would require a volume. Only a brief outline of its history is prac- ticable within the space allotted to this sketch. The brigade first went into action at Lee's Mills, War- wick Creek, Virginia, April 16, 1862. Skirmishing in front of Yorktown followed, and on May 4, at Williamsburg, General Hancoek, who had been as- signed to the command of another brigade than his own, with barely two thousand men met and de- feated a force more than double the number in his command, and gave the first insight into the mas- terly generalship which afterwards characterized him throughout the contest. With "Williams- burg " emblazoned on the colors of his brigade, and each regiment in it personally thanked by General McClellan for the service performed, the victorious soldiers marched up the Chickahominy. The cele- brated " Change of Base" was made in the latter part of June, and then began the terrible fight of the "Seven Days." Hancock, whose brigade was now a part of the Sixth Corps, commanded the advance of the rear-guard. Under fire night and day, the worn out soldiers reached Harrison's Landing, sadly thinned out, and after a brief stay in the intrench- ments near Centreville fought the battle of South Mountain, and so reached the now celebrated field of Antietam. Here Hancock's command fought and drove to the woods Stonewall Jackson's veteran division, the last serious contest of the battle. While still on the field General Hancock was raised to the command of the First Division of the Second Army Corps. In November the army moved on Frede- ricksburg from Harper's Ferry, General Mcclellan being superseded in the command by General Burn- side. In the terrible fight at Fredericksburg Gen- eral Hancock's division distinguished itself by the assault on Marye's Heights-one of the most bril-
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Geoff Leutz
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practical information conveyed in these lectures, not embraced in the medical text books, is of great value to the graduates of the school. Dr. Peirce is a member and has served as President of the Amer- ican Dental Association and of the Pennsylvania State Dental Society. He has made many and val- auble contributions to dental literature, and ranks high in his profession as teacher and practitioner. He is a life member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and a member of the American Philosoph- ical Society.
GEORGE W. LENTZ.
GEORGE WINTER LENTZ, a distinguished citizen of Williamsport, was born at East Hanover, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, November 5, 1818. He traces his ancestry on both sides to a period antecedent to the Revolution, in which struggle his paternal grandfather, Jacob Lentz, bore an honora- ble part, fighting in the ranks of the patriots for American independence. After the declaration of peace, Jacob Lentz settled in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, where, in the township of London- derry, his son, George Lentz, the father of the sub- ject of this sketch, was born. George Lentz married Mary Winter, a native of East Hanover, Lebanon County, two of whose brothers served in the American Army during the War of 1812, one of them, a lad of sixteen, being a fifer. The subject of this sketch was the youngest of a family of four children-two of whom died in infancy-and was a posthumous child, his father dying of typhoid fever previous to his birth. On the mother's side he was descended from John Harper, whose father, about one hundred and fifty years ago, built and carried on a celebrated old-fashioned Inn at the confluence of the Swatara and Indiantown creeks, and which still flourishes and is known as Harper's Hotel. He was brought up in the home of his maternal grandparents, and with them spent the first sixteen years of his life, giving them a son's service on the farm, and receiving from them true paternal af- / fection and such opportunities for education as the district schools of the town afforded. Pushing out into the world after completing his sixteenth year, he found employment at East Hanover in various capacities, for a twelvemonth or so, and then sought his fortune in the West. Reaching Peoria, Illinois, by packet-it was before the days of rail- roads-he settled there for a short time to look around him, but soon afterwards went to Logans- port, Indiana, three hundred miles distant, making the entire journey, which lay through an almost
unsettled country, on foot. When he reached the latter place-which then lay within or adjacent to the reservations of the Miamis and Pottawotomies, -his whole earthly possessions, besides his good health and indomitable pluck, consisted of three Spanish quarter dollars. Obtaining employment in a saw-mill at Logansport, he remained there about two years. While there he heard that he had friends residing at South Bend, Indiana, sixty miles distant, and without so much as a thought of dan- ger or fatigue surprised them by a visit, coura- geously making the journey, both ways, on foot. On this journey or on the still longer predecessor he met with no mishap; notwithstanding that the route was little traversed and presented many dangers. In 1838 he returned to his old home on the farm at East Hanover, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, journeying the entire distance in a spring wagon, and spending three months to accomplish the trip. At East Hanover he took a course in civil engineer- ing. When this was finished he went to live with his aunt, who had removed to Newberry, Lycoming County, and there he taught school for a few months. He then became a pupil of the Annville Academy in Lebanon County, remaining two terms. Upon coming of age he inherited a small property from his father's estate. This he applied to still further improving his education, returning to New- berry, where he spent some time at a select school, under the tutelage of a skillful mathematician, who advanced him to high perfection in that science. After another brief period of school teaching at Newberry, he removed to Williamsport to take a clerical position in the office of his friend, Mr. Joseph W. Smith, then recently elected Register and Recorder of Lycoming County. Three years later he was placed in nomination on the Whig ticket for the office of Treasurer of the County, and was elected, although the County was strongly Democratic. Having become interested in wild lands, of the location and value of which he made a close study, he retired from office at the expiration of his term of two years, and in association with Mr. Oliver Watson, made large purchases of these lands. Subsequently he became interested with the late Peter Herdic, in timber lands,-both being ex- perts in estimating timber. After a while the late Henry White was admitted to the firm, and then the purchase and development of the Armstrong and Campbell farms were undertaken. Soon after the acquisition of the Armstrong farm, John White joined with them and the successful and well- known lumber firm of Herdic, Lentz & Whites was established. Mr. Lentz conceived the idea of mak- ing what is known as a log basin on the south side
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