USA > Pennsylvania > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Vol. II > Part 2
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The technical courses of the University occupy four years each. During the Freshman year and part of the Sophomore year, several subjects- such as mathematics, English, German, drawing, physics, and chemistry-are common to all
courses ; and with them are combined elementary engineering subjects. During the last two years of each course, the subjects pursued are almost entirely professional in their character and bear directly upon the special division of engineering or science indicated by the name of the course. Drafting and laboratory practice accompany all subjects capable of being thus illustrated. Visits of inspection are made to the various engineering. structures of the vicinity ; and practical tests are made by the students of the efficiency of boilers, dynamos, etc., of local manufacturing plants.
Every student is required, as a necessary por- tion of his final examination, to present a thesis upon some topic connected with the course in which he is to be graduated. This thesis em- braces work of independent research under the direction and supervision of the head of the de- partment in which the student takes his degree, and serves as a test of the student's ability to con- duct original investigations.
The several departmental engineering socie- ties, conducted by the students of the various courses, form an attractive and valuable feature of college life, and supplement class-room instruc- tion. At the monthly meetings the students read and discuss papers relating to engineering sub- jects of their particular departments.
Prizes amounting in value to $775 for special proficiency in various departments, are annually distributed on Commencement Day. 4
Lehigh University is not an old college, but its alumni number, 1399, of whom 1310 are living. The University takes pride in the fact that all of its alumni are employed in influential and re- munerative positions, and that the demand for its graduates is vastly greater than the supply. In addition to the alumni, over 1500 students have taken partial courses at the University, but have not been graduated. Thus, with the student body at present enjoying the privileges of the Univer- sity, more than 3500 persons have been directly benefited as a result of the far-sightedness and the munificence of a man who was not merely a railroad builder and a capitalist, but as well a true philanthropist.
SAYRE OBSERVATORY.
PACKER HALL.
Au Partier
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
JUDGE ASA PACKER, of Mauch Chunk, was during an active carecr covering about one half a century one of the most conspicuously useful men in the great commonwealth of Penn- sylvania. He was equally noted and honored as a master of large affairs, for his great public spirit which made him a leader in the develop- ment of his state, for his munificent liberality in the establishment and maintenance of educational and benevolent institutions, and for those graces of personal character which made his life a bene- diction upon the community at large.
He was born in Mystic, Connecticut, Decem- ber 29, 1805. His early education was extremely limited, being only such as he could obtain in the primitive district schools of those early days. To compensate for deprivation in this respect, he was possessed of a receptive mind and habits of thought and observation, and through these he was enabled to acquire a generous store of practical knowledge which proved ample equip- ment for his future life, and gave him position side by side with many who had won college honors. At the age of seventeen he packed all his worldly possessions, consisting of a few simple articles of clothing, shouldered his humble pack, and set out afoot to make his own way in a great world which was altogether unknown to him. Trudging along the rugged roads of that almost primitive time the plucky lad walked the entire distance between his birthplace in the land of blue laws and wooden nutmegs to Brooklyn, Sus- quehanna county, Pennsylvania. This first achievement was a fair index to his future-the boy was father of the man whom, once determ- ined upon a course of action, no obstacle could stay, whose purpose no discouragement could shake, to whom could come no task too great to undertake. After many days of weary walking, of climbing his way up rocky hills and toiling through dusty valleys, in sunshine and in rain, the lad arrived, footsorc, weary and hungry, at the home of his cousin, Mr. Edward Packer, in Brooklyn. Mr. Packer was a house carpenter, and young Asa determined to learn the trade un- der his tutelage. He applied himself to his work
with genuine enthusiasm and characteristic thor- oughness, and became an accomplished mechanic. No master of the trade could push a plane truer or more rapidly, or send a nail home with greater precision.
His apprenticeship ended and now a grown young man, Mr. Packer went to New York, where he did journey work for a year. The lifc of the city was distasteful to him, however, and he returned to Susquehanna county, Pennsyl- vania, settling in Springville township, where he worked at his trade for some few years. Mean- time, on January 23, 1828, he married Miss Sarah M. Blakslee. In 1833, learning that men were wanted to run coal boats on the then just opened Lehigh canal, he drove in a primitive sled to Mauch Chunk, made a satisfactory engagement, and then returned home to close up his affairs in time for the opening of navigation. In the spring he set out to engage in his new undertaking, walking to Tunkhannock, on the Susquehanna river, where he boarded a raft which took him to Berwick, whence he walked to Mauch Chunk. He was at once given charge of a canal boat, and not long afterward contracted for an addi- tional vessel which he placed under his brother- in-law, James I. Blakslee. During the summer he brought his family to Mauch Chunk. His boating business proved so remunerative that at the end of two years he withdrew from active effort in this line, but retaining an interest in the enterprise. With a portion of the means which he had acquired he bought the general store of E. W. Kimball, on the banks of the Lehigh, mak- ing Mr. Blakslee its manager, while he himself established a boat yard and engaged in the build- ing of canal boats, a work for which he was well adapted by reason of his former experience as a carpenter. From this time on he prospered in all his undertakings, and in a few years came to be regarded as a wealthy man, though his means were small compared with what they after- wards became. About this time he placed in his store a stock of goods amounting to $25.000 in value, which was a large purchase for those days. He took large contracts for building locks on the
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
upper Lehigh, which he completed with hand- some profits in 1839. The following year he and his brother Robert took large contracts from Stockton & Stevens, of New Jersey, for building boats at Pottsville, Schuylkill county, to run in the direct coal trade to New York. At the end of three years the brothers dissolved partner- ship, Asa returning to Mauch Chunk, and Robert locating in Reading.
Mr. Packer next engaged in mining and ship- ping coal from the Nesquehoning and other mines, loading his product into his own boats from the first named at a point a little above where the East Mauch Chunk bridge now stands. Thenceforward his career was continuously and conspicuously prosperous, and altogether the re- sult of his own endeavor. In 1852 he took up his greatest business enterprise-the building of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. With rare fore- sight he discerned the vast results which would grow out of such a highway, and he entered upon
His principal monument, however, is the mag- nificent Lehigh University. Deprived, as has been seen, of a college training, he was desirous of affording to the youth of his state opportunities such as had been denied to him. This wish of his heart he imparted to Bishop Stevens, and to him unfolded his plans for the establishment at some point in the Lehigh Valley of a University where young men of limited means might have opportunity to secure a thorough education, es- pecially along technical lines. Accordingly, in 1865, he set aside for the establishment of the the gigantic undertaking unaided and alone. He. . proposed institution fifty-six acres of land in contended with difficulties, physical and financial, which many pronounced insuperable, and at one time his entire fortune was seriously imperiled. With almost superhuman courage and determ- ination he persisted in his work, and in 1855 his judgment was vindicated and his victory won, in its completion.
At the time of his death, Judge Packer was re- garded as one of Pennsylvania's richest men. True, he accumulated vast wealth, but he ad- ministered it with a liberal and enlightened judg- ment and a deeply sympathetic. heart, proving a great power in the development of his state, in the advancement of civilization, and in bring- ing employment to thousands of families. His personal benefactions were countless, but were so modestly bestowed that they went unheralded save by those recipients of his bounty who were helped to homes and established in business, or found relief at his hands in their time of sore need. Educational, religious and charitable in- stitutions always held a first place in his estima- tion, and such he aided with an unsparing hand. St. Luke's Hospital in South Bethlehem was one
of his favorite objects; he contributed to it liberally during his life, and at his death left it a bequest of $300,000. To St. Mark's church in Mauch Chunk, in which he was for forty-four years a warden and vestryman, he left the sum of $30,000. In this beautiful temple now stands, erected in his memory by his widow and chil- dren, one of the most beautiful rerodos in all America.
South Bethlehem, and a sum of $500,000-a gift, it is believed, the largest given in the United Sates for such a purpose up to that time. In 1875 he added fifty-two acres to the University tract, increasing it to one hundred and fifteen acres, and also erected a fine library building at a cost of $400,000 in memory of his daughter, Mrs. Lucy Packer Linderman. This proved to be his last personal undertaking in connection with the institution, his death occurring not long afterward. Under the provisions of his will he left a permanent endowment of $1.500,000 for general maintenance, and added $400,000 to his previous gift of $100,000 for library purposes, thereby increasing that special endowment to a half million dollars, and the aggregate of his University benefactions (land value included) to the princely sum of three millions of dollars. and it is probable a similar amount will be re- ceived when his estate, now held in trust, is dis- tributed. In the grounds of Lehigh University stands a most beautiful edifice, the Packer Mem- orial church, erected in 1886 by Judge Packer's last surviving child, Mrs. Mary Packer Cum-
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
mings, at the cost of a quarter million of dol- lars.
Judge Packer was prominent in political af- fairs, and wielded a potent and salutary influence in the counsels of both state and nation, and in all pertaining to commercial and educational in- terests. In 1841 he was elected to the legisla- ture, and he was re-elected to succeed himself at the expiration of his term. His retirement from the legislature was followed (in 1843) by his ap- pointment by Governor David R. Porter to the position of associate judge of his county. In 1852 he was elected to congress, and he was re- elected in 1854. These official honors, though not solicited or even desired, were cheerfully ac- cepted, and all their multifarious trusts and duties were wisely and honorably discharged. In two instances he was brought prominently before the state and nation, when he permitted his name to be used solely as a matter of duty to his politi- cal friends, and where no reward were possible. In 1868 he was named for the presidential nomi- nation in the National Democratic Convention, and in the following year he was the Democratic candidate. for governor.
He was a member of various Masonic bodies, and Packer Commandery, No. 23, Knights Temp- lar, of Mauch Chunk, was named in honor of a member of his family. Mauch Chunk and Packer are names inseparable, for it was in the city named that he entered upon his career of phenom- enal success and usefulness, and there his interest centered throughout his life.
Judge Packer died on May 17, 1879, in the seventy-fourth year of his age, after a life of highest devotion to the interests of education and other laudable objects. In his personal character he was most unassuming, and his wealth, power and position never changed his outlook or bear- ing, but he was the same brave, strong, kindly, simple-hearted and generous man to the last. His toleration was marked. Strong as were his own opinions, he recognized the right of as strong contrary opinions by others, and so long as they were honestly held they never affected his friend- ships. His observance of Sunday as "the Lord's
Day" was most marked, and it was some circun1- stance entirely beyond his control which would keep him from attendance at the services of the church.
Judge Packer was survived by his widow, whose death occurred in 1882, three years after his passing away. The remains of the two, hus- band and wife, repose in the Match Chunk ceme- tery and by their side the bodies of their two sons-Robert, who died in 1883, and Harry El- dred, who died in 1884. The monument in the family plot stands prominently on the brow of Mount Pisgah, just rearward from the old home, the erection of which was begun by Judge Packer in 1860, and where, in 1878, he and his devoted wife celebrated their golden wedding, one of the most delightful and touching social events ever witnessed in the Lehigh Valley. The old home, about which cling so many tender mem- ories, is now the residence of the only surviving child of Judge and Mrs. Packer-Mary Packer Cummings.
ELISHA PACKER WILBUR, ex-president of the Lehigh Valley Railroad (a position which he occupied for many years by virtue of well tried merit), was born in Mystic, Connecticut, January 31, 1833, and was a son of Henry and Eveline (Packer) Wilbur, natives of that state, and both belonging to families long settled in New England. His father was a sea captain and followed that calling until 1838, when he came to Pennsylvania and settled at Mauch Chunk, where he remained in the employ of Asa Packer until his death in 1863. His wife, a sister of Judge Packer, and the mother of our subject, died in 1868.
In the meantime Elisha Packer Wilbur had obtained his education, principally in the schools of Match Chunk, and in 1847 went to Nesque- honing, then a coal and mining town, where he remained about five years in the employ of Mr. Packer, in the store which supplied the miners and the people scattered throughout the region for miles around. In 1852 he joined as rodman the corps of engineers who made the first survey
8
HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and so began in a very humble way his connection with the great corporation of which later he became the head. Very soon after taking this position he was placed in charge of the accounts of Judge Packer, who was the contractor for the Lehigh Valley, and as paymaster was intrusted with the disbursement of its monies, and in that capacity he acted until the completion of the railroad in the fall of 1855. During all this time he was the employee of Judge Packer, who was the originator and master mind of the Lehigh Valley Railroad project, and he obtained his knowledge of business methods and management from the great general whose forces developed the valley of the Lehigh, and placed its products before the world. The business discipline which he ob- tained under this great creator and organizer of transportation facilities was the foundation of his ability and success-the needful and proper school for the development of his native talent for the management of large affairs.
In the spring of 1856 Mr. Wilbur went to Philadelphia and entered Mr. Packer's office, and in that capacity he had charge of all ac- counts and acted as confidential clerk and private secretary for Judge Packer. This intimate busi- ness relationship was maintained until the death of Judge Packer in 1879, and during the long intimacy thus engendered Mr. Wilbur had the best of opportunities for gaining a thorough knowlege of the railroad business and a minute acquaintance with the affairs of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Upon the death of Judge Packer, Mr. Wilbur was made one of his executors and one of the five trustees of his vast estate. He was appointed by that body acting trustee, and in that capacity has had almost supreme control of the money and property of the deceased railroad maker and manager-a position the bestowal of which was complimentary alike to his business judgment and integrity. He has had charge of all the affairs of the estate, and administered them to the entire satisfaction of the people in- terested. From the time of Judge Packer's death Mr. Wilbur was virtually the manager of
the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and served officially as a director. Early in 1884 he was elected to the presidency of the company, which office he held many years and until he resigned on ac- count of business cares. The varied duties he performed for the company, the several positions he occupied, and his close relation with the pro- jector of the Lehigh Valley Railroad fitted him for the place of honor and responsibility which he held as its chief executive, and his administra- tion was highly satisfactory to the stockholders, directors, and all concerned. In fact, his man- agement resulted in an increased prosperity of the road, and an extension of its line which was probably never contemplated until he was placed in control of the business. He also developed many tributaries of the main line which have largely increased its profits. He was president of the Eastern & Amboy Railroad, the Lehigh Valley, the Pennsylvania & New York Canal and Railroad Company, the Geneva, Ithaca & Sayre Railroad, together with numerous tributar- ies, all now included in the great Lehigh Valley Railroad system.
In addition to his duties as president of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, Mr. Wilbur has carried many other business burdens, being identified with several large corporations in some official capacity. He was for many years one of the directors and chairman of the advisory and finance committee of the Bethlehem Iron Com- pany, now known as the Bethlehem Steel Com- pany, and one of its largest stockholders. He is and was from its organization the president of the Copley Iron Company, which had an ex- tensively plant in the Lehigh Valley above Allen- town ; and is a director of the Northampton Iron Company, and a leading owner of the Lucey Furnace. He has also large coal interests, and is president of the Jefferson Coal Company, own- ing valuable lands in Jefferson county, Pennsyl- vania, is likewise interested in the Franklin Coal Company, and is the president of the Packer Coal Company, whose property is now under lease to the Midvalley Coal Company. He is president of the Wilbur Coal and Coke Com-
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
pany, owning thirty thousand acres of land in West Virginia, and is a director in the Valley Coal and Coke Company of Belington, in the same state. He is president of the First National Bank of Sayre, New York, and of the Sayre Land and Water Company, and a stockholder in the Thousand Island Bank at Alexandria Bay, New York. He was president of the South Bethlehem Gas & Water Company from its or- ganization until about 1902. He is at the head of the house known since 1887 as the E. P. Wil- bur Trust Company, which was originally organ- ized in 1870 as the E. P. Wilbur Company Bank- ing House, and was one of the directors of the Lehigh Valley National Bank of Bethlehem.
Mr. Wilbur has a beautiful home in South Bethlehem, and takes a deep interest in the wel- fare, material and moral, of that flourishing bor- ough. He was for several years burgess of the borough, and is now its treasurer. There is prob- ably no more popular citizen in Northampton county, and the enviable position in which he stands has been attained by numerous good deeds benefitting directly or indirectly the town. Deeply interested in educational affairs, he has long been a most active and efficient member of the board of trustees of Lehigh University. (See sketch of Asa Packer). He is also a trustee and treasurer of St. Luke's Hospital of South Bethlehem, an institution which has been a peculiar object of his benefactions. Besides his home in South Bethle- hem, Mr. Wilbur maintains a magnificent resi- dence on Sport Island, in the St. Lawrence river, adjoining Little Lehigh Island, of which he is also the owner. He was one of the first to set- tle on this famous region, having built here in 1876, since which time it has been his summer home.
Mr. Wilbur married, May II, 1858, Miss Stella M. Abbott, and of their union the follow- ing named children are now living :
I. Warren A., now vice-president of the E. P. Wilbur Trust Company. He married (first) Sally P. Linderman (deceased), daughter of Garrett B. Linderman (See Linderman family), and to them were born two children, of whom
one, Robert A., is now living. He married (sec- ond) Kate Broadhead, daughter of Charles Broadhead. (See Linderman and Broadhead, elsewhere in this work).
2. Isabel E., now the wife of Judge McAl- pin, of Savannalı, Georgia,
3. Rollin H., was general manager of the Lehigh Valley Railroad until 1904. He married N. Lamberton, daughter of Robert A. Lamberton, deceased, who was a prominent lawyer of Penn- sylvania, and president of the Lehigh University at the time of his death ; to them were born two children, Dorothy and Isabel.
4. Elisha P., Jr., secretary and treasurer of the Sayre Land and Sayre Water Companies, and connected with various other corporations. He married Katharine T., daughter of John Thomas (see sketch elsewhere), and to them were born three children-Robert Lockhart, Helen and Stella.
5. Ray, who is at home.
6. Harry, who is a captain in the United States army, and is stationed at Key West, Flor- ida. He married Mary Widdiefield.
7. Eldridge P., who is at home, and holds a position in the E. P. Wilbur Trust Company. He married Lilian Linderman, daughter of Dr. Lin- derman.
8. Kenneth, who is a civil engineer, connected with the Lehigh Valley Railroad. He married Margaret Gaston.
DAVID JARVIS PEARSALL, of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, was born at Bergen Fields, Bergen county, New Jersey, January 4, 1861, and is a representative of a family that has been found in New York city and on Long Island for more than two centuries. His father, David Pearsall, was born at Englewood Cliffs, Bergen county, New Jersey, July 15, 1824. and died at Englewood, that state, February 29, 1802. His wife, Jannette Graham, was born in Washing- ton, D. C., November 29, 1824. and died Decem- ber 8. 1893. Her parents were Peter and Janet (Whyte) Graham, both natives of Kirkcaldy, Scotland.
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
David J. Pearsall was a lad of five when his parents removed to Englewood, New Jersey, where he continued to make his home until his re- moval to Mauch Chunk, in 1885. He began his education in the public schools of his native town, and afterward attended Englewood Academy. Entering upon his business career, he spent seven years in the New York office of H. E. Packer, then superintendent of the New Jersey division and president of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company. In 1885 Mr. Pearsall came to Mauch Chunk, where for seven years he occupied a posi- tion in the paymaster department of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company. He then resigned in 1892 in order to devote his entire time and atten- tion to the business affairs of Mrs. Mary Packer Cummings. In 1900 he was named by Mrs. Cum- mings as one of the trustees of her trust estate, and, with J. H. Wilhelm, succeeded E. P. Wilbur and Charles Hartshorne, the former trustees.
In his political affiliations, Mr. Pearsall is a Democrat, and was candidate for presidential elector in 1900. He has been a member of the school board of the borough of Mauch Chunk since 1898, and was its president for five years. He holds membership in St. Mark's church, is a member of its vestry, and since 1893 has been superintendent of the Upper Mauch Chunk mis- sion of that church. He is likewise a member of the Church Club of the Diocese of Central Penn- sylvania, and since 1891 has been a member of the board of directors of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, and served as president of the board in 1896. Socially, he is a Mason of high rank, belonging to Carbon Lodge, No. 242, F. & A. M .; Lilly Chapter, No. 181, R. A. M .; and Packer Commandery, No. 23, K. T., while in Philadelphia he has taken the various degrees of the Scottish Rite, becoming a member of the Consistory.
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