USA > Pennsylvania > Clinton County > Historical and biographical work, or past and present of Clinton County, comprising a sketch of every town and township of the county from date of settlement up to the present time > Part 11
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They have one daughter, who is married, and resides in Lock Haven. Rev. Long's efforts in behalf of the churches of his circuit have been very successful. He is an earnest and untiring worker, and greatly beloved by his people.
EVANGELICAL CHURCH.
The Central Pennsylvania Conference of the Evangelical Association at its annual session, held in Baltimore, March, 1866, established a mission in Lock Haven, but the mission was not supplied with a minister until the following year, when S. W. Seibert was appointed missionary to this new field. Rev. Seibert rented a room on the third floor of Strayer's block, corner Main and Grove streets. During the first eight months of this reverend gentleman's pastorate, services were held regularly every Sunday morning and evening. The congregation at first consisted of but two actual members, Mr. and Mrs. James Barber. At a pro- tracted meeting held in the fall of the first year, sixty-seven persons were converted, about fifty of whom joined the church. During the second year the church received twenty new members. About this time several families from other districts, who were members of the church, moved into the town, and thus the church was still further strengthened. Among them were S. G. Mingle and family, who have been useful and beneficial members ever since.
Rev. Seibert was succeeded in 1869 by Rev. George Hunter, who organized the first Sunday school in the church with some fifty scholars and about ten teachers, John A. Robb being elected the first superintendent of the school. The said Sunday school is still in existence. J. Sam. Paul is its present superintendent. The school has a mem- bership of 275 at the present time.
Rev. S. T. Buck took charge of the church in the spring of 1871, and remained for three years. It was during his pastorate that the congregation built their present church structure, on Main street, at a cost of $7,200. J. Shoemaker, James F. King and J. Willow were the building committee,
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and J. Shoemaker, George Kinley, S. G. Mingle, D. M. Cramer and John A. Robb were the first trustees.
The ministers who have had charge of the church since 1873 are as follows: U. F. Swengel, 1874, '75 and '76; P. S. Rishel, 1877; J. J. Lorh, 1878 and '79; Jacob Young, 1880 and '81; J. M. Ettinger, 1882 and '83; J. M. Dick, 1884, '85 and '86; Edwin Swengel, 1887,'88 and part of '89. G. W. Currin filled out the last six months of 1889, and he was succeeded by Rev. J. A. Hollenbaugh in the spring of 1890. J. A. Hollenbaugh was succeeded in 1892 by Rev. Benfer, the present pastor.
ST. AGNES' GERMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
The congregation now forming St. Agnes' church were formerly united with the English congregation. The number of German Catholics have very much increased. In the year 1870 they got permission from the right reverend bishop, Jeremiah Shanahan, to build a church for their own use, in which all the German Catholics should worship. In order to get the necessary funds, they started a society under the title of St. Franciscus Society, and collected a considerable amount of money, to which a great many citizens of other denominations liberally contributed. Then they bought a lot on Liberty street, and commenced building in 1872; a great part of the work was done by the members themselves. The structure is partly stone and partly frame. The base- ment, containing three rooms, was intended for a parochial school. The church was finished in 1873, and dedicated in March, 1873, by the right reverend bishop. The first pastor was Rev. Louis Grotemeyer, a native of Westphalia, Prussia. Under him the congregation flourished, and about sixty families belonged to the church. The church debt amounted to over $5,000; which Rev. Grotemeyer nearly succeeded in paying inside of three years. He also established a parochial school, under the care of a lady teacher. Father Grotemeyer remained in Lock Haven three years, and was succeeded by Rev. Henry Kelt, also a native of Westphalia, Prussia. Under him the panic broke out in Lock Haven,
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which forced many families to leave the city for want of work. Father Kelt struggled heroically against these ad- verse circumstances, kept up the school, and paid off nearly all the remaining debt, with interest. In the beginning of 1881 he had to leave the place on account of ill-health, and Rev. Charles Koch succeeded him. He brought the sisters of St. Francis, who had their mother-house in Philadelphia to take charge of the school. Father Koch was succeeded by Father F. C. Seubert in December, 1887. He remained until January, 1892. When under Father Seubert, the church property was greatly improved. The original frame structure was renewed with brick. The handsome parochial residence now in use was built by him, a steeple and bell was attached to the church, and the convent was also re- newed with brick, and many other needed improvements made to the interior and exterior of the structure. About the time the work was completed, the June flood of 1889 came and greatly damaged the property, and caused it to again be remodeled, which was done immediately. During the ministry of Father Seubert, he collected and expended about $12,000 on the property. He was succeeded in January, 1892, by Father H. S. Christ, the present pastor.
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
The Roman Catholic congregation of Lock Haven had for their first pastor Rev. Father Gilligan. Under his direc- tions a lot was purchased, and a frame church erected in 1854, on Bald Eagle street, near the Second ward school house.
Two years later the Bald Eagle property was sold, and the present church property on Water street purchased.
The corner stone of the Water street church, now in use, was laid August 19th, 1857. Father Gilligan was assisted on that occasion by Rev. John P. Dunn. The Catholic cemetery on Susquehanna avenue was blessed on the same day.
Father Gilligan died in 1873, and Father Power took charge of the parish. Under his directions the parochial
REV. W. R. PERKINS,
PASTOR BAPTIST CHURCH, LOCK HAVEN, PA.
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school was established, and the handsome brick school building of the parish built.
Father Power was succeeded in the fall of 1891 by Rev. Father E. P. Rafferty, the present pastor.
The church property is a valuable one, and the congre- gation large.
The parochial school building is the finest structure of its kind in Central Pennsylvania.
BAPTIST CHURCH.
The Baptist congregation of Lock Haven was organized under Rev. George Higgins, then pastor of the Baptist church in Jersey Shore. The first communion service was held December 15th, 1836. The church does not seem to have been recognized until June, 1838. There is noth- ing in the church records to show how long Mr. Higgins served the congregation. He held his meetings in the private houses of G. M. Spratt and Charles Tucker.
December Ist, 1841, the church extended a call to Rev. J. F. Jones, who served the congregation for two years. Rev. Charles Tucker, who succeeded Mr. Higgins as pastor of the Jersey Shore church, began to preach to the Lock Haven congregation January 4th, 1843. He held his meet- ings in the old Court House, and during his ministry about thirty members were added to the congregation.
In 1845, Rev. J. G. Miles became pastor of the church, and it grew to a membership of 150. In the interim after his resignation there was a division.
From 1851 to 1860 the church was without a pastor, and received only an occasional sermon from Rev. G. M. Spratt, D. D., and others.
In the spring of 1860 Rev. A. J. Furman commenced supplying the pulpit. He was ordained pastor of the church in August of the same year. He remained two years, re- signing to take a chaplaincy in the Union army, and was succeeded in 1862 by Rev. J. A. Kirkpatrick, who served the church until May Ist, 1864. Under his pastorate the
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lot on Church street was procured, and 130 members added to the congregation. He was succeeded by Rev. S. M. Hubbard, whose pastorate was very brief. For one year the church was without a regular pastor. 1
From December, 1865, until April, 1866, the church was supplied by the missionary committee of the Northumber- land Association.
April Ist, 1866, Rev. J. G. Miles again took charge of the church, and remained until the fall of 1868.
The erection of the present church edifice had so far pro- gressed that services could be held in the basement of their own church.
In December, 1868, the church called Rev. A. B. Runyon, who served from April Ist, 1869, until August 5th, 1871.
Rev. G. W. Snyder accepted a call from the church Oc- tober 2Ist, 1871, and served the church from November IIth, 1871, to October, 1873, and under his ministry the audience room of the meeting house was finished and dedicated.
Rev. C. E. Barto became the pastor of this church Jan- uary Ist, 1874, and remained until January Ist, 1875. He was succeeded by Rev. R. Dunlap, from October 17th, 1875, to March 3d, 1877.
At this date Rev. George Cooper, D. D., pastor of the First Baptist church, Williamsport, and other pastors of the Northumberland Association, took hold of the church, and Rev. F. H. Cooper, a graduate of Lewisburg, was ordained pastor in June, 1882, and served the church faithfully until the summer of 1886. The church was without preaching until October, 1887, when Rev. R. W. Perkins was called to the pastorate. Since then the entire indebtedness of the church has been cancelled, the church property greatly im- proved, and a lot purchased. The present membership of the church is 120; of the Sunday school, 235.
The building is a two-story brick, 45x75 feet, con- veniently arranged, well lighted and furnished, valued at $17,000, located on the corner of Church and Vesper streets.
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The present officers are : Deacons, John Williams, John MacNaul, Archibald Munro, Theodore Myers, Professor W. J. Wolverton; Sunday school Superintendent, A. L. Benedict; Trustees, Archibald Munro, W. J. Wolverton, John MacNaul, John C. Munro, Theodore Myers, F. T. Car- ruth and A. L. Benedict.
Rev. Reece W. Perkins comes of a long line of Baptist ancestry, who have been members of the Brandywine Baptist church, Delaware county, Pa., since the seventeenth century. He was born at Elam, Delaware county, March 12th, 1847. He was educated in the public schools, and went to an academy in Wilmington, Del., with the intention of entering the legal profession. While there he was con- verted and baptized March 13th, 1865, into the fellowship of the Second Baptist church. Soon after he began teach- ing school. He entered Lewisburg, now Bucknell univer- sity, and graduated in 1872, with an oration of the first class. He then entered Crozer Theological seminary, Ches- ter, Pa., and graduated in 1875. He was ordained pastor of the Third Baptist church, at Camden, N. J., in 1877, where he remained until he became pastor of Lock Haven Baptist church, in 1888.
Mr. Perkins is a hard working pastor. He has shown excellent executive ability, and is very frequently made moderator of ecclesiastical councils. For ten years he was clerk of the West Jersey Baptist association, and of the Camden association. For ten years he was secretary of the Crozer Alumni asssociation. He was also president of the Philadelphia Conference of Baptist Ministers.
During his Camden pastorate he was an active member of the executive committees of Union Sunday school and Temperance work, of the Sabbath association, Law and Order society, and of the Organized Charity society.
In Lock Haven he has for some time conducted a Union Bible class, that has been highly successful. His church has greatly prospered under his leadership. Mr. Perkins has a very carefully selected library of 2,000 volumes. He is a
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diligent student, widely read in modern speculations, but is a pronounced conservative in theology.
THE CENTRAL STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
This important and excellent institution of learning was established in the city of Lock Haven through the efforts of Dr. Albert N. Raub and Rev. G. W. Shinn. The latter gentleman being rector of St. Paul's Episcopal church from 1866 to 1870, and Dr. Raub, during part of this time, acting as principal of the Lock Haven high school. Rev. Shinn, being a frequent visitor to the school, made the acquaint- ance of Dr. Raub, who first suggested the project of making Lock Haven the place for the school of the Eighth Normal school district. Rev. Shinn received the suggestion with enthusiasm, and from that time these two educated and tal- ented gentlemen worked together diligently to accomplish their purpose. The first matter to occupy their attention was the selecting of a suitable location. This question be- came a very important one, and it was to the liberal-hearted citizen, Philip M. Price, they turned in their emergency. He at once assured them that any ten acres of land he possessed was at their service. The site selected for the school consisted of sixteen acres, located between the Highland cemetery tract and Susquehanna river, in what was called the "Price Addi- tion." The land donated was worth at least $5.000. Hon. L. A. Mackey headed a subscription list for $1,000, and other individuals responded to the call for funds until the starting .of the school became a certainty. The subscribers met at that time and formed an organization, which was char- tered under the name of "The Central Normal school as- sociation of the State of Pennsylvania." The decree estab- lishing the organization was delivered by the Court Febru- ary 14th, 1870. At a meeting held February 17th, 1870, the subscriptions had amounted to $29,000, and it was de- . cided to begin the erection of a building as soon as the amount subscribed reached $35,000. A Board of Trustees was named until an election should be held by the stock- holders. Hon. L. A. Mackey was elected president of this
DR. ALBERT N. RAUB., Ph. D., PRESIDENT DELAWARE COLLEGE, NEWARK, DEL.
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Board of Trustees, which position he held for years, and up until the time of his death-in 1890-he was one of the warmest supporters of the institution. The corner ner stone of the old Normal school building was laid July 4th, 1873. The first trustees of the school were Hon. L. A. Mackey, President; S. D. Ball, Esq., Secretary; Dr. A. N. Raub, W. W. Rankin, Hon. J. W. Smith, Jacob Brown, Dr. J. H. Barton, John S. Furst, G. Kintzing, Samuel Christ, Robert E. Cook, Colonel A. C. Noyes, Rev. Joseph Nesbitt, A. M. Best, Wilson Kistler; Thomas Yardley, Treasurer. Philip M. Price and Judge Parsons, two of the original trustees appointed by the Court, died previous to the laying of the corner stone, in 1873. The first term of the Central State Normal school opened May 14th, 1877, in the city high school building. The faculty at that time being : Principal and Professor of Theory and Practice, A. N. Raub, A. M .; Professor of Mathematics, John A. Robb; Pro- fessor of Drawing, Penmanship and Book-keeping, M. W. Herr; Professor of English Language and Literature I. A. Harvey, A. B .; Teacher of Geography and His- tory, Miss Agnes Reilly; Teacher of Reading and Elo- cution, Miss Dora E, Merrill, M. E. The school was rec- ognized as a State institution on the 14th of September, 1877. The following gentlemen constituted the commit- tee of inspection: Hon. James P. Wickersham, State Superintendent; C. B. Gould, Esq., Hon. William Bigler, Hon. C. R. Earley, General James A. Beaver; George R. Dixon, Superintendent of Elk county; Henry Myer, Super- intendent of Centre county ; N. H. Schenk, Superintendent; J. A. Gregory, Superintendent of Clearfield county ; J. W. Allen, Superintendent of Potter county; M. W. Herr, Superintendent of Clinton county, and John A. Robb, Super- intendent of Lock Haven city, who unanimously recom- mended to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction the recognition of the school as a State institution. On the 17th of September, 1877, the school was opened in the new building with forty-eight pupils. Dr. Raub continued to
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PAST AND PRESENT OF CLINTON COUNTY.
act as principal until 1884, when he left Lock Haven and removed his family to Newark, Delaware. He was suc- ceeded as principal of the Normal school by Prof. George P. Beard. In 1887 Prof. Beard was succeeded by Dr. James Eldon, who occupies the position at this writing.
The first Normal school building was totally destroyed by fire Sunday afternoon, December 9th, 1888. The school lost much valuable property in the shape of apparatus, etc. For a time it looked as if Lock Haven was to loose her Normal school. There was a heavy debt on the building at the time it was burned, which the insurance failed to cover. The old Montour House was leased and fitted up for the use of the school. Here the winter term was opened January Ist, 1889, and the school moved on in the even tenor of its way, until it received another blow of adversity at the time of the flood of June Ist, 1889. Again the school was closed. No commencement exercises were held that year. The students, however, received their diplomas from the State Board of Examiners. School again opened in the Montour House, September, 1889. Through the efforts of Hon. John U. Shaffer, then a member of the Legislature from this district, an appropriation of $85,000 was secured from the State towards the erection of another Normal school building. At the next session of the Legislature, an ad- ditional $20,000 was secured for the same purpose, making a total of $105,000. As soon as the first appropriation was a certainty, plans and specifications were prepared, and ground broken for the new building, June 27th, 1889. The contract for the stone work of the building was given to Charles Ferguson, of Williamsport, and the contract for the brick work to Levi R. Paup, of Lock Haven. The corner stone of the new building was laid October 2d, 1889. The schools of the city were given a holiday, and turned out in parade 1,200 strong, May 6th, 1890. The faculty and students of the school marched in a body to the new build- ing. The new building is not located upon the site of the burned structure, but at the foot of the hill, on the corner of
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Main and Fairview streets. It is built of brick, with brown stone trimmings, and has three distinct parts-a main building and two dormitories. The school is considered one of the best equipped of its kind in the State. The number of graduates from this institution, including the class of '92, numbers 608; of this number nineteen are dead. The faculty of the Normal school at the present time is as follows : James Eldon, A. M. Ph. D., Principal of Mental and Moral Science; Obadiah Wilbur Kitchel, A. M., Mathe- matics and Astromomy; Mr. Frank K. Sechrist, Grammar, Rhetoric and English Grammar; Andrew Dickson Meloy, A. M., Natural Science and Instructor in Gymnasium; Mar- guerite May McCloskey, M. E., Superintendent of Training School; Florence Geraldine Brosius, M. E., Reading and Elocution; Ella Catharine Smith, M. E., Penmanship and Drawing; Alice Kronenberg Meloy, Latin and History ; Theodore Reimer, M. B., Music; David Martin Brungard, Pedagogics; Will Grant Chambers, Assistant in Mathe- matics; Benjamin F. Pletcher, Shorthand and Typewriting; Mrs. Addie Schuyler, Preceptress.
The Stockholders' Trustees of the School are at present S. D. Ball, Charles Kreamer, Paul S. Merrill, J. N. Wel- liver, J .. G. Harris, H. T. Harvey, W. F. Satterlee, A. S. Grow, J. A. Wilson, James Jefferis, George W. Hipple and J. B. G. Kinsloe.
The State Trustees are Dr. R. B. Watson, Hon. C. A. Mayer, H. O. Chapman, J. W. Bridgens, S. M. McCormick and Dr. Armstrong.
Albert N. Raub, A. M., Ph. D., was born in Lancaster county, Pa., March 28th, 1840. His early education was received in the public schools of his native county. At the age of sixteen years he entered the State Normal school at Millersville, Pa., and graduated in the scientific course in 1860. Soon after graduating he was made principal of Glo the Bedford Union school, and one year later elected as principal of the schools of Cressona, Schuylkill county, Pa. He held this position for three years, when he was elected 10
1861.
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1864 superintendent of schools in the town of Ashland, Pa. In April, 1866, he was called to the chair of English literature, rhetoric and grammar in the State Normal school of Kutz- town, Pa., where he remained until the fall of 1868, when he accepted the principalship of the Lock Haven public schools, with the view of establishing a State Normal school in that city. In 1869 he reorganized the schools of Lock Haven and was made city superintendent. In the summer of 1871 he was appointed county superintendent of Clinton county by the State superintendent, and in the spring of 1872 was recalled to act as city superintendent of Lock Haven, which position he held for three years. When the Normal school was opened in Lock Haven, September 17th, 1877, Dr. A. N. Raub was elected its first principal, which position he held until the close of the summer session of 1884, when he severed his connection with the institution. He spent the next year in revising his numerous text books. In the fall of 1885, he was called to the principalship of the academy of Newark, Del., an institution chartered by the Penns in 1767. He was called to the presidency of Delaware college in the same town in June, 1888, a position which made him also ex-officio president of the State Board of Education of Delaware. He is still serving as president of Delaware col- lege at a present salary of $3,000 per year, and has built up the college from an attendance of less than twenty to nearly one hundred in the past four years. Since leaving the State Normal school at Lock Haven, Dr. Raub has published and edited a weekly educational journal, The Educational News, with the main office in Philadelphia. Dr. A. N. Raub is a man of marked ability, and as an instructor has no superior· During his term as principal of the Lock Haven Normal school, which extended over a period of seven years, he graduated from the institution 316 persons, several of his classes being the largest ever graduated from any Normal school in the United States. It is partly to his individual efforts that the people of Lock Haven owe the existence of the C. S. N. S. He was one of its founders, and during
DR. JAMES ELDON, Ph. D., PRINCIPAL LOCK HAVEN NORMAL SCHOOL.
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the time he was principal of the school, his personal efforts in its behalf placed the institution on a solid footing, and made it the equal in importance and usefulness of any other school of its kind in the State. It began its work with few students, an empty treasury and an indebtedness of $50,000, over one-half of which was paid before the school had been in existence five years. Dr. Raub, in connection with his work as a teacher, has gained an enviable reputation as a writer and publisher. In 1860 he published two spellers. In 1865 he wrote and published a work entitled "Plain Ed- ucational Talks with Teachers and Parents." In 1877 he published a series of arithmetics, and in 1878 a series of readers. In 1880 he published two works on the English language entitled "Lessons in English" and "Practical Eng- lish Grammar." In addition to the books already men- tioned, he published his "School Management" and his "Studies in English and American Literature" in 1882, his "Methods of Teaching" in 1883, and his "Practical Rhetoric" in 1887. All of these books have an extensive and profitable sale throughout the United States.
Dr. James Eldon, A. M., Ph. D., present principal of the Central State Normal school, was born at Shippensburg, Cum- berland county, Pa., July 1 Ith, 1847. His father was a miller. When the subject of this sketch was three years of age, his parents moved to Waynesborough, Franklin county, Pa., where the youthful days of Dr. Eldon were spent. As soon as he was old enough he assisted his father in the mill, and became a full-fledged miller himself before he reached his seventeenth year. In 1864 he taught one term of school, at the close of which he went into partnership with his brother in the mercantile business at Waynesborough, dealing in boots, shoes, hats and notions. The adventure proved very successful, and at the end of three years the brothers sold out. In the fall of 1867 James Eldon, then a young man in his twentieth year, entered Allegheny col- lege, where he spent the next four years of his life. He graduated with the highest honors of his class in 1871.
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While at college he was the leader in all the athletic sports of the institution, and won two prizes for composition. Im- mediately after his graduation he was recommended by the faculty of the college to a professorship in Upper Iowa university, which position he secured and acceptably filled for one year. He was re-elected the second year, but re- signed to accept the professorship of mathematics at Ship- pensburg Normal school, which was then about to open. Here he remained two years, when he resigned this position to accept a similar one in Dickinson Seminary, Williams- port. Leaving here he went to Carlisle and reorganized the Dickinson College Preparatory school, which had been abandoned for several years. During the five years he re- mained here as principal of this school, it increased greatly in usefulness and number of students. From Carlisle he went to the California State Normal school, where he ac- cepted the position of mathematical instructor, He re- mained there two years, when he was elected vice principal and a member of the faculty of the Lock Haven Normal school, under the principalship of Professor George P. Beard. In 1884 he was elected to the principalship of the Normal school, and held the position ever since. Dr. Eldon is a faithful and untiring worker, and has labored zealously to promote the success of the school.
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