Genealogical and biographical annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, Part 66

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 66

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John Morgan, who was making his famous raid into Ohio. After receiving his discharge with the regiment, at the end of his. term. the Doctor reentered the Union service, being appointed sur- geon of the 2d Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery Regiment, within the fortifications at Washington, D. C., at the northeast : in 1864 he was transferred from the northeast to the southwest, Washington defenses. In June, 1864, the regiment was ordered to join the army under General Grant, took part in the battle of Cold Harbor, and subsequently marched to White House Landing, where the troops took transports for City Point. The regi- ment was the first to advance upon Petersburg, where they remained until August, at which time they were stationed at Berinda Hundred, con- tinuing at that point until Lee evacuated Rich- mond. They were then ordered to Petersburg, re- maining in charge of the city until Jan. 1, 1866, when they were discharged by general order. While in the defenses at Washington Dr. DeWitt was a member of the staff of General Fariero, with headquarters at Arlington. During the summer of 1865 he was chief medical officer of the district

the most esteemed citizens of that place by his busy and well spent life. His skill as a physician has brought him a long list of patrons, to whom he is friend as well as doctor, and he is widely known in Riverside and the surrounding territory.

While at Snydertown, in 1873. Dr. DeWitt was elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, was reelected to serve in the same capacity in 1824, and in 1875 was elected tran- scribing clerk of the House. Since becoming a resident of Riverside he has not been identified with public affairs as an office holder, but the es- tablishment and maintenance of what is known as DeWitt's park is due to his efforts and is a worthy monument to his interest in the general welfare. It is a naturally wooded tract of some twenty acres, which has been well equipped for amusement purposes, with a pavilion 50 by 110 feet in dimensions, a dining hall 65 by 36 feet. and large ball grounds with a 100-foot grand stand. The park is well supplied with flowing water, cool and of excellent quality, conducted through the grounds from a spring. The spot is cool and beautiful on the hottest days, and the recreation ground has proved not only an improve- ment to the vicinity but a blessing to the inany who take advantage of its benefits. The idea was typical of Dr. DeWitt. He is a man of kind and genial disposition, and in spite of his advanced

Dr. DeWitt married Sarah Renn, who died July 2, 1906. at the age of sixty-six years. Of the four children born to this union one son died young, the others being: W. O., who married Lu- ella Gruver of Nanticoke, Pa .. and has children, Helen. Florence. John and William; Heber Lor- an, who married Anna Morrell and has two chil- dren, George and Sarah: and Cora Irene. who married William Mettler and has one daughter, Evelyn.

WILLIAM R. REINHARDT, general superin- tendent for the Mineral Railroad & Mining Com- pany, whose offices are at Shamokin, has been a miner ever since he became a resident of that borough in 18:1. A man who carries large respon- sibilities ably, a citizen of the highest standing. he is self-made in the best sense of the term, having won his success by industry and the most honorable methods. Mr. Reinhardt was born June 1st, 1855, in New York, and he is of German ex- traction, his father, William Frederick Reinhardt. having been born in Germany.

William Frederick Reinhardt came to America York he came to Schuylkill county. Pa .. and he also lived several years in Lehigh county, thenee

of Roanoke, with headquarters at Berksville June- about 1853-54. After a short residence in New tion, Va. He was mustered out at Philadelphia in 1866.

....

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coming to Shamokin, Northumberland county. He Shamokin. He is a member of the Lutheran died at Topton, in Berks county, of apoplexy, in Church and at present serving in the church coun- 1892, at the age of fifty-eight years. By trade he cil. was a printer, engaged in casting prints, but after coming to America he followed different kinds of outdoor work. His brother in Germany was a prominent citizen of Wittenburg and served as postmaster there. Mrs. Elizabeth Reinhardt, wife of William Frederick Reinhardt, was a native of Switzerland. She came with her husband to Amer- ica, and died about 1898, at the age of sixty-seven years. They are buried at Topton. Both were Lutherans in religious faith. They had children as follows: William R .; Christian, of Topton, Pa. ; Frank, of Shamokin, Pa .; and Ennna, of Topton, who married John Dve and (second) John Brouse.

William R. Reinhardt received such educational advantages as the common schools afforded, most of his training, however, having been acquired in the fields of practical work. After he was fifteen years old he began working in the coal mines at Shamokin, starting as a laborer, and gained pro- motion by merit from time to time until he at- tained his present high position, the duties of which he assumed Jan. 1, 1900. During all this . time he has continued to make his home in Sham- okin, except for the two years 1898 and 1899, when he was general inside foreman at the Williamstown and Lykens collieries, which, however, were operated by the same company. He returned to Shamokin to take charge as general superintendent for the Mineral Railroad & Mining Company. hav- ing supervision of all the work in its seven collieries -Cameron, Luke Fidler, Hickory Swamp. Hickory Ridge, Scott, Pennsylvania and Riehards. Over five thousand men are employed in the district, which is one of the important coal fields of Penn- sylvania. The original concern, the Union Coal Company, had five collieries-all those above named except the Cameron and Luke Fidler, which belonged to the Mineral Mining Company. In 1904 the Union Coal Company was changed to the Susquehanna Coal Company, and in January, 1909, this was in turn absorbed by the Mineral Railroad & Mining Company, with offices at Shan- okin. Mr. Reinhardt has been a director of the Guarantee Trust & Safe Deposit Company of Shamokin since 1900. He has not taken anv active part in municipal affairs, except to give his iu- fluence as a public-spirited citizen to projects in- tended to advance the local welfare. He is a Republican in political matters.

Mr. Reinhardt is prominent in local fraternal circles, belonging to Lodge No. 256. B. P. O. E .. of Shamokin ; to the P. O. S. of A. at Shamokin ; and to the Masonic fraternity, in which connection he holds membership in Shamokin Lodge, No. 255. Shamokin Chapter, No. 264, R. A. M .. Shamokin Commandery, No. 77. K. T .. Rajah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Reading. and the Temple Club at

In 1822 Mr. Reinhardt married Amelia T. Sow- den, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth ( Williams) Sowden, of near Allentown, Pa., and they had one child, Elizabeth, who died of diphtheria and was buried in the same coffin with her mother, near Slatedale, Lehigh Co., Pa. Mrs. Reinhardt had been in poor health for about a year, and shortly before her death contracted a cold which ended fa- tally in April, 1883. Mr. Reinhardt's second mar- riage was to Alice Shipe, daughter of George and Rebecca ( Hoover) Shipe, of Montour county, though her father was a pioneer of Shamokin and built one of the very first houses at that place. He was a lumber merchant in the earlier days, later a dry goods merchant. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Reinhardt: George died of diphtheria when six years old ; Walter was a mining engineer and was killed in the mines while a mem- ber of an engineer corps; Harry is a mining en- gineer and lives at Shamokin : Robert and Florence are still at school.

SAMUEL SOWDEN was an Englishman, horn at Liskeard, England. May 11, 1816, and came to the United States in 1846, settling in Northamp- ton county, Pa. Here he was engaged in ore min- ing, employing a number of men, and he followed that business from the time of his settling there until his retirement from active pursuits. He was employed for a number of years by the Allentown Iron Company. Earlier in life he was a farmer in his native land. In 1858 he located at Ironton. where he lived until a few years before his death, when he moved to a location between Meyersville and the Iron Bridge. Here his death occurred Feb. 5. 1891, when he was aged seventy-four years, eight months, twenty-four days, and he was buried at the Egypt Church in Lehigh county. He always took an active interest in public affairs. and was a public-spirited man in the best sense of the word. never failing to lend a helping hand to promote the best interests of the community.

Mr. Sowden's first wife was Mary Elliott. She died in 1844 and was buried at Liskeard, England. They were the parents of two children: Hon. William H., born in 1840, who was twice elected to Congress from the Berks-Lehigh district of Pennsylvania, was a most popular orator and a strong and convincing speaker; and John, who emigrated from England to Australia, and who never married. Mr. Sowden married ( second ) Elizabeth H. Williams. also a native of Liskeard. horn Sept. 27. 1827, daughter of John and Eliza- beth ( Sowden) Williams. Her death occurred Ang. 17, 1890, at the age of sixty-two years. ten months, twenty days. She was the mother of the following children: Dr. Ralph T .: Amelia T.,

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who married William R. Reinhardt, of Shamokin; during his active years, building many of the most Edwin E., deceased ; Jabez B., retired, of Slate- dale, Pa .; Samuel, who died in infancy ; and Mame E., who married Morris A. Lentz, of Slatedale.

GILBERT VORIS (deceased) lived for over fifty years on a farm in what is now West Chillis- quaque township, Northumberland county, in which region, in the territory embraced in either this or Montour county. the Voris family has been well known for many years. He was one of the most respected eitizens of his community, a worthy representative of a name which has long been honored as standing for intelligence, integrity and sterling qualities of manhood and citizenship.

important structures in the locality, among them the old eight-cornered schoolhouse known as the Sodom school in Chillisquaque township, which he erected in 1814. In 1852 he purchased part of the Maj. James McMahan farm, known as the Teneriffe tract, for which his son's widow, Mrs. Gilbert Voris, now holds the original deed made by the Penns to the MeMahans. The tract is now occupied by her son John L. Voris. Here stood the old fort, close to which Major McMahan was taken prisoner by the Indians. Later Gilbert

Voris purchased more land in Chillisqnaque town- ship, Northumberland county, until he owned about seven hundred acres, and he became very The first of the family to come to America eini- grated from Holland and spelled the name Voor- hees, as appears from the church record of Okey Voorhees, ancestor of the branch in which we are Mr. Voris married Sarah Hendrickson, who was interested. But as the name at one time was writ- ten de Voorhees it is supposed the family is of French origin. It is known that three brothers, Okey, James and Abraham, came to this country from Holland and settled on Long Island during the seventeenth century, later settling near Tren- ton, in New Jersey, where they took up a large tract of land. Okey, the ancestor of the branch in successful in his agricultural pursuits, being a man of great business ability as well as an intelligent worker. He retired when about sixty years of age. born May 11, 1796, daughter of Adam and Catha- rine (Vandling) Hendrickson, and died May 11," 1814. Mr. and Mrs. Voris were members of the Methodist Church. They were the parents of the following children: Mary; Jane, born in 1819, who died in 1895, the wife of Joseph Kerr (1815- 1876) ; Catharine ; Peter, who had one child, Lizzie B., wife of Dr. J. S. Follmer ; Gilbert : Elizabeth : Northumberland county, was born in either Hol- Abraham; William, who married Anna Mack and land or France, and as stated settled in New Jer- had twelve children, Josephine ( Mrs. Charles sey, where he reared a family. Eventually he moved out to Michigan, where he became a pros- perous farmer, and a county was named for him. He died in Michigan.

Gilbert Voris, son of Okey, came about 1765 to Montour county, Pa., obtained a tract of over six

Blue), George M., Jennie ( Mrs. Harry Kramer), Mary E., Bertha, John, Nellie (deceased), Okey (deceased), Anna G., Sarah L., Emma Caroline (married Edwin Murray) and William Edwin; John ; and. Ellen.

Gilbert Voris, son of John and Sarah ( Hen- hundred acres near Mooresburg, and died in 1797. drickson) Voris. was born May 3, 1826, in Mon- tour county, and received his education in the pub- lic schools of his native township. Until he be- came of age he worked on his father's land. and in 1862 he purchased one of his father's farms, all his life continuing to engage in farming, in which he was very successful. Though a faithful Dem- ocrat in politics he always refused any offers of public office, but he was a very active worker in the band being John Carson; she died in October, Presbyterian Church, serving as president of the committee that had charge of the erection of the Chillisquaque Church at Pottsgrove. the fourth structure built by that organization. The first church building, erected in 1773, the oldest church in this vicinity, was burned by the Indians. In 1:89-90 the second was creeted. the third in 1853, and the fourth in 1889-91. Mr. Voris was not only a zealons church worker, but actively inter- ested in everything that affected the welfare of the

He was buried in the old cemetery at Danville, now Memorial park, and when the question came up of changing the cemetery grounds into a park Mr. William Voris transferred the markers and re- mains elsewhere. Gilbert Voris was one of the founders of the Presbyterian Church at Danville. In New Jersey he married Jane McClanathan, who survived him and remarried. her second his- 1816. She was the mother of four children by her second marriage. and four children were also born to her union with Mr. Voris, namely: (1) James settled in Liberty township, Montour county, and died at Danville. He married Anna Grey and they were the parents of fourteen children. (2) John is mentioned below. (3) Eleanor married Elijah Crawford and they became the parents of ten children. (4) Elizabeth married Peter Vanda- lang and had children : Adam, Jolm, Gilbert, Jane, community, where he was held in the highest es- James and Peter.

teem. He died Jan. 26, 1904, and is buried in

Jolin Voris, son of Gilbert, was born Ang. 29. Harmony cemetery. at Milton.

On March 14. 1854. Mr. Voris married Harriet

1791, and died April 2, 1863. By trade he was a. carpenter, though he also followed farming. He McWilliams, and they had a family of four chil- was the most prominent contractor in his district dren: (1) Anna, born March 14, 1835, married

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Dr. H. M. Emeriek, of Milton, and died Sept. 3, religion a Presbyterian, belonging to the old 1897. (2) John L. is mentioned more fully be- church at Pottsgrove which the family has so long helped to support.

low. (3) Hugh McW., born in 1864, died young. (4) Harriet E., born Feb. 20, 1873, is the wife of Luther Moll and has three children, Sidney V.

Mr. Voris married Mary Hamor, daughter of William and Emma ( Robins) Hamor, and they (born April 10, 1892). Anna R. (born Sept. 30, have had the following children: Gilbert, who married Grace Schell; Emily, who is at home; Frank, who died in infancy; and J. Harold, at home.

1899) and Frank H. (born Nov .. 8, 1906). Mrs. Voris now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Moll, in Pottsgrove. whither she removed af- ter her husband's death. She and her husband lived on the farm where they began their married life for over fifty years.

The McWilliams family to which Mrs. Gilbert Voris belongs has long been settled in this section of Pennsylvania. The earliest of the name of which we have record was her great-great-grand- father, Robert McWilliams, who married Jean Orr, by whom he had three sons, Hugh, John and Robert.

WILLIAM MACLAY, one of the first officials of Northumberland county and one of the two men who first had the honor of representing Pennsyl- vania in the Senate of the United States, left an impress upon the politics of the State and country more appreciable in the present generation than ever before. He and his brother, Sammel Maclay, who was the first representative of Northumber- land and Dauphin counties in the Lower house of Hugh McWilliams, son of Robert, married Re- becca Dunwoody, and with his bride eame to Mon- tour county, Pa., where he took up some eight hundred acres of land. the National Congress, 1794, and later served as United States senator, were recognized as men of the highest influence and important figures in the life of their day. William Maclay served only two Robert McWilliams, son of Hugh, was born in 1725, and in 1197 married Jane Curry, whose fa- ther, Robert Curry, was killed by Indians. To this union were born three children, Hugh, John and Mrs. Caldwell. years in the Senate. But he helped to direct the course of the ship of state for a much longer period. Moreover, time has proved that his ideas, or more properly his ideals, were so far in advance of his time that he became almost discouraged in his hope of ever seeing them generally adopted. Yet to-day these ideas are by common consent the only ones which a high-minded statesman will acknowledge. the ones upon which he counts most to gain popular support. Mr. Maclay thought a man should enter politics with the one idea of serving his consti- tuents to the highest and best of his ability; that he should receive their confidence on that basis; that he should be unhampered by the solicitations of selfish private interests, seeking to exalt the prosperity or promote the advantages of the few at the expense of the many. The project seemed simple enough. It was so big that though a full century has elapsed it is now only partially de- veloped. But the evolution has been of a stable handsome residence which stands on this property, character. The theories which this broad-minded and far-sighted legislator attempted to put into practice over a century ago are becoming crystal- lized in modern political standards.

Hugh McWilliams, son of Robert, was born in 1799 and died in 18:2. He married Rebecca Lemon, and they had children : Harriet, now the widow of Gilbert Voris; Regina (deceased), who married Dr. Simington; and Anna, widow of Frank Hain.

JOHN L. VORIS, son of the late Gilbert Voris, was born Aug. 6, 1858, in East Chillisquaque township, and there began his education in the public schools. He also went to school at Bloom and at Lewisburg. He has followed farming all his life, and in April, 1884, settled at his present home, a tract of 212 acres which was one of his father's farms, the famous Teneriffe tract, adjoin- ing the old Voris homestead. In 1891 he built the one of the most beautiful homes in this region, up- to-date in every respect, and embodying all the conveniences found in metropolitan dwellings-a comfortable, commodious house which is a credit Mr. Maclay was born July 20. 1:32, in New Gar- den township, Chester Co., Pa., son of Charles and Eleanor (Query) Maclay. He was of Irish extrac- tion, his father having been born in County An- trim, Ireland, a descendant of Charles Maclay. Baron Fingal. In 1742 the family moved to Lur- gan township. Franklin Co .. Pa., and there Wil- liam grew to manhood. At the outbreak of the French and Indian war he was a pupil at the class- to the vicinity. It is located on the road between Lewisburg and Danville. Mr. Voris is one of the leading citizens of his district. He is at present serving his third term as member of the township school board, and he has always been among the first to support worthy movements in his neigh- borhood. of whatever nature. He was a member of the Grange and also of the State Grange, do- ing all he could to raise the standards of agricul- ical academy of Rey. John Blair, in Chester coun- ture, in which he himself has been most success- ty ; entering the military service as ensign, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant May :. 1:58. ful as the result of progressive methods and well directed energy. Politically he is a Democrat, in in the 3d Battalion, and served with credit in Gen-

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eral Forbes's expedition in that year. In 1:63 he forming part of his correspondence relating to af- partieipated in the battle of Bushy Run, and dur- fairs in Northumberland county published in the ing the subsequent progress of Bouquet's campaign Pennsylvania Archives. Mrs. Hunter, the was stationed in command of his company at one of the stockades on the route of the expedition. Colonel's wife, accompanied the Maclays when they left Sunbury. Another letter of Maclay's written Meantime, in the intervals of his military service, July 26, 1719, states: "The stores at Sunbury are the young man had studied law, and was admitted deposited in my late dwelling house, which is large and conveniently situated, both for defense and the reception and delivery of stores. The back part of it was stockaded last year by Colonel Hartley ; a small expense would complete the stockade and mount a few swivels, several of which lie there dis- mounted I have had the charge of the magazine at Sunbury for some time past." to the bar, in York connty, Pa., April 28, 1:60. It does not appear that he ever devoted himself to legal practice, but he must have found his knowl- edge of the law extremely useful in administering the duties of the various public trusts to which he was called. Surveying was his principal oceupa- tion during his earlier manhood, and in that work he eovered the vast tracts of wild land in the cen- After the war Mr. Maclay was steadily in the popular favor. In 1781, 1:82, 1783 and 1:85 he was elected to the State Assembly from this coun- ty, and in 1786 to the Supreme Executive Coun- cil, over which Benjamin Franklin presided. In January, 1789, he had the honor of being one of the first two senators from Pennsylvania to the National House of Representatives, his colleague tral and western parts of Pennsylvania. At the close of the French and Indian war he visited Eng- land and had an interview with Thomas Penn, one of the proprietaries, relative to the survey of lands on the frontier of what was then the "Province" of Pennsylvania, he being a deputy surveyor for the Penns in Berks county, which then enibraced the whole northwestern portion of the Province. being Robert Morris, who drew the long term. It was as a surveyor that he first became familiar . Mr. Maclay's services ended, therefore, March 3, with the territory of what is now Northumberland 1791. Though his service in that capacity was brief, it included participation in some of the most momentous affairs in the organization of the na- tional government. Thuis he took part in the in- auguration of our constitutional government when the First Congress assembled in New York in 1:89 and Washington was invested with the Presidency. Senator Maclay enjoyed an intimate personal ac- quaintance with Washington and was a frequent gnest at his table. He kept a journal during his senatorial term, in which he summarized the de- bates in both open and secret sessions, and the comments it contains upon the events of the first Congress now form valuable and important con- tributions to the history of the period. His journal has been published in book form with notes by George Washington Harris. and also in the New York Sun. Dr. Egle, in his "Pennsylvania Gen- ealogies," throws a light upon Maclay's strength of character and influence which could not be gath- ered, naturally, from his own writings, and we quote the same as important to an insight of his real worth :

county. On Feb. 23, 1:69, he made the first sur- vey in the valley of the West Branch, Buffalo Val- ley, one of the tracts apportioned to officers of the French and Indian war, in which he shared by virtue of his own services. Thus he became a set- tler in the region he so honored by his able and public-spirited devotion to its advancement, and which in turn honored him by intrusting him with its most important public affairs. When Northumberland county was formed out of Berks in 1772 he became the first prothonotary and clerk of the courts, register of wills and recorder of deeds, receiving his commission March 24th of that year. The same day he was commissioned justice for the county, his later commissions to that office bearing the dates June 11. 1767, and Jan. 24, 1785. He served as prothonotary etc. until 1777. In 1772 he assisted John Lukens in sur- veying the town of Sunbury, and in the following years erected a stone dwelling at the northeast corner of Arch and Front streets, the most sub- stantial and pretentious of the early private honses at the county seat, where he continued to make his home for a number of years. He subsequently moved to Harrisburg. He was a foremost advocate in his section of the Colonists' canse from the early

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Genealogical and biographical annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, Part 66

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