Genealogical and biographical annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, Part 48

Author: Floyd, J.L., & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, J. L. Floyd & Co.
Number of Pages: 1090

USA > Pennsylvania > Northumberland County > Genealogical and biographical annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 > Part 48

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Dr. Allison is a thirty-second-degree Mason, be- longing to Elvsburg Lodge, No. 414, F. & A. M. (of which he is a past master ), and to Blooms- burg Consistory (thirty-second degree). He also holds membership in the I. O. O. F., and in pro- fessional connection is a member of the Northum- berland County Medical Society, etc. He is a Re- publican in political sentiment. His ancestors have been Lutherans and Presbyterians as far back as they have been traced.

On Sept. 5, 1907, Dr. Allison married Amy E. Gilbert, daughter of the late Dr. Samuel F. Gilbert.

JOHN G. YOUNGMAN. The Youngmans have been identified with Sunbury for almost a century, and throughout that period have been noted for intellectual activity. Their leadership in such matters was acknowledged during their long connection with the newspaper circles of this section, with which they were prominently asso- ciated continuously for over seventy years. They are descendants of a Moravian family that emi- grated from Lnsatia, Prussia, in 1:40, settling at Bethlehem, Pa. John G. Youngman, the first of the Youngman name in Sunbury, was born Jan. 6. 1786, near Hummelstown, Dauphin Co., Pa., son of Jacob Youngman, a blacksmith and farmer, and son of Rev. John George Youngman. a Mora- vian missionary to the Indians, who died at Beth- lehem in 1808, at the age of eighty-eight.

When he was eight years old John G. Youngman was adopted by his uncle, Gottlieb Youngman. a . veteran of the Revolutionary war, who established the first German newspaper in Berks county. this State. It was called The Impartial Reading News- paper, and was first issued Feb. 18, 1789, being published until 1816. Gottlieb Youngman died June 10, 1833, at Lonisville, Ky., when seventy- six. years old. His nephew had acquired a thor- ough knowledge of the printing business under his The Sunbury Gazette and Miners' Register, and tuition, so that he was versed in the mechanical the issue of Jan. 2, 1843, when it still bore that

a Mr. Ogle. Four years later he took a position was connected with the Times, one of the first daily papers of Baltimore. Thence he went to Hagerstown, Md., where he found work with John Gruber, the well known almanac publisher. Re- turning to Reading in 1812, he obtained the neces- sary equipment from his uncle and came to Sun- bury to establish Der. Northumberland Repub- likaner, a German paper, which was the third pa- per published at Sunbury. The first number ap- peared Aug. 12, 1812, and as shown by the files in existence, from Aug. 11, 1815, to January, 1818. was a three-column folio, fourteen inches long and nine inches wide, creditable in typogra- phy and composition. In 1818 the name was changed to Nordwestliche Post, which supported Findlay in the gubernatorial contest of 1820 and thus lost its large number of German subscribers, who were almost unanimously in favor of Hiester. It was really as a result of this disaffection that Mr. Youngman suspended the paper, though he . continued it until after July, 1827. For several years thereafter he gave his attention to the print- ing of books and pamphlets.

It was not long, however, until Mr. Youngman resumed newspaper work as publisher of the Canal- boot, which was established with the idea of promoting local enterprises of a public nature, at the height of the popular agitation in favor of in- ternal improvements then in progress. The issue of March 5, 1831, shows it to have been a folio fifteen and a half inches long and eleven inches wide, a canalboat on the headline of the first page. The paper was issued under this name until 1833. Its immediate successor was The Workingmen's Adrocate, a four-column folio eleven by sixteen inches in dimensions, the first English newspaper published by Mr. Youngman. The first issne ap- peared April 29, 1833, and in it the editor an- nounced that it would be Democratic in politics. reserving to himself, however, the right of differ- ing from party conventions as to what platforms or candidates were really Democratie. should oc- casion require. It was a snecessful publication throughout its existence ( which ended in 1838). a fact which is notable, as several rival papers at Sunbury and Northumberland suspended during that period. In 1838 Mr. Youngman established the Sunbury Gazette, under the imposing title of

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Jnol , Jungman

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nante, was a five-column folio twenty-one and a & John Youngman and continued for a few years, half by thirteen inches.

Mr. Youngman was not only actively connected with the press in Sunbury for over fifty years, but Northumberland county, holding several respon- sible offices. In 1814 he served as county treas- urer, in 1818-21 as county commissioner; and on Feb. 5, 1839, he received his commission as reg- ister and recorder, being elected to succeed him- self in the fall of that year; he was thus the last person elected and the first one appointed to that office in Northumberland county. He died Sept. 13, 1871, at the age of eighty-five years.

On Aug. 1, 1813, Mr. Youngman married Cath- erine Bright, daughter of George Bright, of Sun- bury, and step-daughter of Hon. Andrew Albright, and they were the parents of George B., William, Louisa Hester, Andrew A., Jacob, Susan E. and John.

GEORGE B. YOUNGMAN learned the printing business with his father and it was principally through his efforts that the Gazette was founded, he having been the junior member of the firm of John G. Youngman & Son from 1838 until 1855. Upon his retirement from the paper he devoted himself to fruit and grape culture on a farm several miles east of Sunbury, continuing this business successfully until his death, April 9, 1880, at the age of sixty-six years. He served as treasurer of Northumberland county in 1850- 51.

the last issue appearing March 16, 1883. This

When Mr. Youngman established the Repub- number gave a review of the political policy of the paper, in which it is stated that the Gazette was

likaner, in 1812, he did business in a small frame building on the north side of Market street, at one of the four Democratic organs in Pennsyl- what was later the site of Rippel's photograph gal- vania that came "out boldly in favor of the nation- al administration as against the Rebel cause" in 1861, vet although it was constrained "to protest against certain tendencies and methods in the management of the Republican party" on several occasions, it could not be said "that the Gazette ever went back on the principles of that great po- litical organization." lery. When he purchased the property at Third and Arch streets lie removed the printing office to a frame structure adjoining his residence and fac- ing on Areh street. It was next located in a wood- en building on what was subsequently the site of the Dewart block, at Market and Third streets, be- ing there from 1847 to 1850, when it was moved to the north side of Market street, nearly opposite the "City Hotel." There the Gazette was published at the time of its suspension, in 1883, though it had occupied several different places in the meantime, the principal one being the second story of the of eighty-four. He was a man of more than or- Geyer block, at the northeast corner of Market square, to which it was removed in 1868.

he also took a leading part in public affairs in appreciated only by those who came into intimate

ANDREW A. YOUNGMAN, after closing his news- paper career, continued to reside in the old home at Third and Arch streets, Sunbury, until his death, which occurred on Dec. 2, 1905, at the age dinary intelligence, having been of a studious dis- position, making himself well versed in various branches of knowledge ; but being of a retiring na- ture the extent of his information was known and intercourse with him. During the years after his retirement from the printing business he was a constant reader, giving his attention largely to scientific subjects, of which meteorology was his favorite. The result of his reflections and obser- vations on that subject is contained in a large manuscript volume which would furnish material for a printed book of ample dimensions.

JOHN YOUNGMAN, the youngest child of John G. Youngman, and the last editor of the Gazette, received most of his education in his father's print- ing office, where he learned to "set type" and made his first efforts in writing. With the object of changing his business he read law with Hon. John B. Packer and was admitted to the North- unberland county bar at the August term in 1851, but soon discovering that he was better adapted for newspaper work than law practice he dropped the latter and took charge of the Gazette as its editor in 1855. In this capacity he continued until the publication of that paper ceased in 1883, when he left Sunbury to engage in journalism in other localities. He did editorial work on the Harrisburg Patriot for two years, was engaged for five years as editorial writer for P. Gray Meek's Bellefonte Watchman, and then going to Philadelphia found employment on the Times and Record and was editor of the Evening Herald for four years. Having been in Philadelphia journal- ism for fourteen years he returned to Sunbury in 1904 at the age of seventy-four, and again did some newspaper work in his native town.

After George B. Youngman's retirement from the Gazette he- was succeeded by his brother, A. A. Youngman, upon whom much of the responsibility in connection with the paper devolved. The style of the firm then became A. A. & John Youngman, the latter being another son of the founder, and WILLIAMDE YOUNGMAN. the second son of John G. Youngman, learned the cabinetmaking business carried this on for some years in Sunbury, but at they carried on the Gazette until it was consolidat- ed with the American, on April 11, 1879, as the and was noted for his skill in that handicraft. He Gazette-American. A year later, however, the pub- lication of the Gazette, alone, was resumed by . A. the close of his life he was employed in the Sun-

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bury shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co., ally contributing to its support. Her first mar- doing the finer woodwork needed in that estab- lishment. He was well skilled in musie and in his younger years was at the head of musical move- ments in huis neighborhood, he having been the

riage was with Francis Bright, of Reading, Pa., who engaged largely and successfully in the hard- ware and foundry business in Tamaqua and Hazle- ton. He died at the latter place Aug. 28, 1865, organizer and leader of the first instrumental band and his remains are interred in Pomfret Manor in Sunbury, and he was for a long while the leader of Sunbury's Episcopal Church choir. He was married to Henrietta, and after her demise to Susan, who were daughters of Dr. Jolm B. Price, of Sunbury, a noted physician of that period who, besides having a thorough medical education, was a graduate of Princeton University. By his . two marriages William Youngman had a numer- ous progeny.

LOUISA HESTER YOUNGMAN, the first daughter of Jolin G. Youngman, was noted for her beauty as a young woman and for her excellent traits of womanly character, among which her charitable disposition, and the assistance she gave to the needy and suffering, were conspicuous. Her voice was such that if it had received more cultivation it would have made her a star singer. It was the de- the Government employ at Washington, D. C., light of those who heard her in the choir at St. subsequently coming to Sunbury. He died March 18, 1890, at liis Sunbury residence, and rests in the family vault in St. Paul's cemetery,

Matthew's Episcopal Church of Sunbury, in which she was the leading soprano for a number of years ; she was a lifelong member of the Episcopal Baltimore. Church. She died unmarried in 1892.

JACOB YOUNGMAN, the fourth son of John G. dren married, they being William, Susan and John, Youngman, learned typesetting in his father's and but one of them, William, produced a progeny printing office, where he became proficient in the as future representatives of Sunbury's first print- various branches of the printer's art. After "grad- er. The children of William and his first wife, uating" in that school he did journal work in Pottsville, Washington and Philadelphia, eventu- ally returning to Sunbury, where he continued to work at printing and also engaged in other busi- ness. Application to one pursuit was all that was necessary to have made him a decided success, as he was an expert printer and a ready writer,. par- ticularly in a humorous vein, some of his produc- tions in that line having been much admired, and he was noted as a comic versifier. He branched off froni printing to engage in the foundry busi- ness, an enterprise that was entirely out of his line, and consequently was not successful; and he devised a number of ingenious inventions, some of which were patented but never puslied to profit- able results. His last years were spent in working in the different Sunbury printing offices. He died in 1892, at the age of sixty-eight years.

SUSAN ELIZABETHI YOUNGMAN, the second daughter of John G. Youngman, was born Jan. 20, 1828, in the old homestead at the southwest corner of Third and Arch streets, Sunbury. where slie and her brother John reside, together with their niece, Miss Carrie V. Youngman. Though in her eighty-fourth year she is well preserved, as active intellectually as ever, takes great enjoy- ment in reading, and has been a lifelong and much interested member of the Episcopal Church, liber-

cemetery. Her second marriage, which took place in 1881, was to Bruce Small, who was a native of Baltimore, Md., and a son of Hon. Jacob Small, a man of public note and prominence, who served at one time as mayor of Baltimore. The Smalls have long occupied a prominent position in public and social circles. The family of this name in York county, Pa., is of the same' stock. Bruce Small was born in 1834, and received his literary training in various educational institutions. Dur- ing the Civil war he served in the United States navy on the frigate "Potomac" and was very ac- tive. While in the service he was a comrade of . Winfield Scott Schley (now rear admiral), with whom he was long on terms of personal friendship. After the war Mr. Small was for many years in

Only three of John G. Youngman's seven chil-

Henrietta Price, were: John P., William Edgar, Christianna Guild and Henrietta Rose. besides sev- eral who died in infancy. His children by his second marriage, to Mrs. Susan ( Price) Sutton. were: Mary Isabella and Caroline Vandergrift. John, the eldest son. now deceased, became a res- ident of Hazleton, married Ann Bird, of that town, and was the father of two sons, one of whom died at an early age, the survivor being Jolin Price Bird Youngman, a prominent civil and mining engineer of that region. who is the father of an in- teresting family. Christianna Guild, the eldest daughter of William, is the wife of Rufus Reber, ~ who is prominent in the clerical department of the Reading Railroad Compauy in Philadelphia, and she is the mother of Mrs. Andrew Chidsey, wife of a leading Easton banker, and of Frank Reber of Philadelphia and Guy Reber of Savan- malı, Ga. William Edgar, the second son of Wil- liam, who also became a resident of Hazleton. married Julia Shapley, of that place, and was the father of Barton Edgar Youngman, who is city engineer and conspicuous in the municipal affairs of Hazleton; he also has a fine family. Henriet- ta Rose. the youngest daughter of William by his first wife, married Clarence Hawthorne, and is the mother of an interesting- daughter, Frances, this family being residents of Sunbury, where Mr.

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Hawthorne is connected with the Pennsylvania timepieces for the pleasure the work affords. For Railroad Company. Of William Youngman's two twelve years he conducted the "St. Charles Hotel" in Sunbury, being succeeded in the ownership of that establishment by his sons Herbert C. and Nathan W. Chester, who now conduct it. Though now retired, Mr. Chester still retains some business interests, having large real estate holdings in Sun- bury, and investments in certain patented automo- bile tires. ' He is a substantial citizen, and has lived to enjoy the rewards of his more active years. children by his second marriage, Mary Isabella is the wife of William Coleman, a progressive and prosperous Kansas granger, and is the mother of an accomplished daughter and a stalwart son; and Caroline Vandergrift, familiarly known in Sunbury as Miss Carrie Youngman, resides with her aunt, Mrs. Small, in the old Youngnian home- stead, and takes a leading part in the literary and church work of Sunbury.

Great changes have taken place in Sunbury sinee John G. Youngman, at the beginning of the last century, began journalism in the town. There has been a great increase in its population, its business and its importance. Other newspapers have taken the place of those established by the elder Young- man, and of his descendants but few are residents of the town, but the progeny of Sunbury's veteran printer may be found in many parts of this na- tion's broad domain.

THEODORE CHESTER, now a retired resident of Sunbury, is a well known man in that borough, where he was engaged in the hotel business for a number of years, having formerly conducted the "St. Charles Hotel," which his sons now own. He was born Sept. 27, 1844, in Barry township, Schuylkill Co., Pa., only son of John Chester, who lived at Danville, Pa., where he was the first maker of cast iron plows. His plows were used exten- sively all over Pennsylvania. He went West about , 1851. Jolin Chester married Matilda Varuall, who came from Schuylkill county, Pa., and was During the Civil war Mr. Chester enlisted, in 1862, in Company C, 136th Regiment. Pennsyl- a member of a Quaker family which was carlier settled in Maiden-creek township, Berks county. vania Volunteers, for nine months. and took part Mrs. Chester is interred in a private burial ground in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellors- on the homestead. Her father, Elijah Yarnall, ville. lived in Schuylkill county.

Theodore Chester was brought up by his ma- ternal grandfather, Elijah Yarnall, attended the public schools of the home neighborhood in Schuyl- kill county, and later went to school at Rushtown and in Lower Augusta township, Northumberland county, in the neighborhood now known as Plum Creek. In his eighteenth year he began clerking in a general store in what is now Rockefeller town- sluip, and drove a produce wagon to market in Schuylkill county, during the "reign of terror" were in the butter and egg business for three years at Lewisburg, Pa. He also learned the trade of watchmaker, which he followed for fifteen years at Northumberland, this county, also traveling con- siderably in the rural distriets all over Union county and in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, re- pairing grandfather clocks, in which line he was quite expert. He was a natural-born mechanic. and has always had a liking as well as talent for such work, even to this day occasionally repairing

On June 4, 1864, Mr. Chester married Louise Wolf, daughter of Abraham Wolf, and to them have been born nine children : Herbert C., Emma A. (deceased), Wilson, Nathan Wellington, Sam- uel (dceeased ). Asburry, Bessie ( Mrs. Herbert A. Welker), Jennie ( Mrs. Jacob Bright) and Annie (unmarried) .. There are sixteen grandchildren. The family have occupied their pleasant home at the corner of Tenth and Market streets, Sunbury. since 1902. They are members of the Lutheran Church.

Mr. Chester is a Republican in political matters, but he has never taken any part in public affairs and has always refused to hold publie position. He is a popular member of the Masonie fraternity, belonging to Lodge No. 22, F. & A. M .; North- wunberland Chapter, No. 164, R. A. M .; Mount Hermon Commandery, No. 85, K. T .- all of Sun- bury; and Irem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S .. of Wilkes-Barre. He is treasurer of the blue lodge and chapter, a past eminent commander and past high priest, and has been active in the fraternity for many years.

The Yarnall ( Yarnell) family, to which Mr. Chester is related on the maternal side, is of old English Quaker stock, Franeis and Peter Yarnall having come from their native land with the Hugheses. Boones, Penroses. Kirbys and Light- foots, and settled in Oley township, Berks Co .. Pa. They were of the fifty or more families who had been left out when the township was erected. The people to the "south part of Oley" therefore petitioned the court of Philadelphia, in 1241, to of the Molly Maguires. He and Nathan Baker erect that part into a township. The petition was granted. Among the sixteen signers to this peti- tion were Francis and Peter Yarnell.

In Northumberland county a member of this same family, Richard Yarnall. was the second set- tler at Mount Carmel. His father. Jesse Yarnall, kept a hotel on the old Minersville road. at the crossing of Mahanoy creek, near Otto's forge. Schuylkill county, about four miles south of Mount Carmel. ' An Indian path which led from the vicin- ity of Roaring Creek township, Columbia county,

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to his hotel is referred to in the early official rec- venture. He is a Republican in politics, and has ords of Northumberland county as "Yarnall's served as constable of Mount Carmel. path." He married Hannah Penrose, of Roaring Creek township, whose people, like his, came from Maiden-creek township, Berks county, and were Friends.

Richard Yarnall was born April 10, 1791, and died Oct. 14, 1847. He learned the trade of car- penter and millwright. About the time he reached manhood the Centre turnpike was constructed, re- sulting in a large increase in the travel between Danville and Sunbury on the north and Reading and Pottsville on the sonth. A favorable oppor- tunity was presented for the erection of a hotel on this important thoroughfare at the present site of Mount Carmel, which is about equidistant from Danville and Pottsville, and, prompted by these considerations, Mr. Yarnall erected the "Mount Carmel Inn," a two-story log structure situated on the southeast side of the turnpike immediately northeast of the "Commercial Hotel." He opened a hotel there and conducted the business with fair snecess for several years, when, having become surety for a friend who failed to meet his obliga- tions, the property was sold and he removed to Joseph Yarnall, son of Francis, was born April 9, 1825, in the section of Schuylkill county where his father lived and died Feb. 24, 1888, in Sun- bury, where he is buried, in the old south cemetery on Fourth street. He was a natural mechanic, a skillful woodworker and engineer, a sawmill worker and expert saw filer, and was in the employ the vicinity of Bear Gap, where he was variously employed for several years. He then located on a small eleared tract near the old Minersville road, and also resided at the Tomlinson farm, after which he engaged. in hotel-keeping at the Riffert tavern, where he died. The Riffert tavern was a log structure standing on the east side of the of Ira T. Clement, of Sunbury, for some thirty turnpike, north of the Lehigh Valley depot. It years. Politically he was a Republican and popu- lar locally, being elected to varions offices in his is not known who erected it. and under the man- tion, but with Mr. Yarnall as proprietor it re-

agement of its early owners it bore a bad reputa- district. He was active in the organization of the fire department, and helped to purchase the first ceived the confidence and patronage of the travel- engine, in 18:0. He was a member of the I. O. O. F. and the Knights of Pythias.

ing public. He married Mary King, daughter of John King, of Ralpho township, and we have record of two of their sons, Jesse and John, both of . whom lived at Mount Carmel. The former was born July :, 1815, near Bear Gap.

John Yarnall. son of Richard, was born Feb. 15, 1828, at the Tomlinson farin, in Coal township, Northumberland county, and learned the carpen- ter's trade with his father, working at that oceu- pation for some years. In 1859 he married Hen- rietta Mussina, daughter of Henry B. and Eliza- beth (Winters) Mussina, of Center county. Pa .. and they became the parents of eight children : Mrs. William H. Hinkel. Henry M., Newton L., Richard K., Jerusha M. (deceased ), John W., William and Lizzie.

Richard K. Varuall was born Feb. 6, 1865, at Mount Carmel, received a public school education there and learned the trade of painter and paper- hanger. After working as a journeyman five years he commenced business for himself at Mount Car- mel, on March 1, 1889. and made a success of the

Of another branch of this Yarnall family was Francis Yarnall, who had brothers Amos, Jona- than, Asa, John and Elijah. Francis Yarnall was a native of Schuylkill county, Pa., and lived in Barry township, that county, where he was not only a farmer but also one of the carly merchants of the region, and conducted a sawmill. His home was near what was then the line between Northumber- land and Berks counties. He was a man of affairs, of more than ordinary intelligence and usefulness, and quite prominent in his day. and lived to an advanced age, dying in 1869. He is interred in a private graveyard on the public road leading from Ashland to Gowen City. His wife died long before he did. Among their children were: Jo- seph ; Isaac, who lived at Ashland, Pa .; William, who had a son William ; and Lydia A. and Anna, who never married and remained on the home- stead farm, near Taylorsville. Schuylkill county, conducting the sawmill, etc. Miss Lydia A. Yarn- all gave much of the information contained in this artiele.

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Genealogical and biographical annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, Part 48

Author: Floyd, J.L., & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, J. L. Floyd & Co. Number of Pages: 1090

Author: Floyd, J.L., & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, J. L. Floyd & Co.
Number of Pages: 1090