USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania; also containing a separate account of the several boroughs and townships in the county, with biographical sketches > Part 37
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Being elected to congress in 1852, he was re-elected two years later. In the Democratic national conven- tion of 1868, he was honored with the unanimous vote of the Pennsylvania delegation for the nomination for the presidency.
During the succeeding year, without seeking or de- siring it, he was given the Democratic nomination for governor, being defeated for this office by Governor Geary, who was then a candidate for re-election. The majority returned for Geary in the state was 4,596 votes, and so persistent were the supporters of Mr.
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Packer in declaring that the election had been carried by fraudulent means that a contest was narrowly averted.
Judge Packer, as he was familiarly known in Car- bon county, was a man of excellent presence, with a finely chiseled face that rarely expressed emotion, and he was very quiet and unassuming in conversation.
Prosperity is the true touchstone of the heart, and it must be said of Asa Packer that he was not spoiled by the possession of great wealth. He and his devoted wife always retained the simple tastes of their early life. She continued to the end of her days to knit her stockings, to fashion many of her own garments, and it was with difficulty that she could be persuaded to ride in her own carriage. They both loved the quiet of their home and were sternly severe to ostentatious display. He had no taste for society, and all formal social du- ties were extremly irksome to him.
Generous and whole-souled, however, he was the author of countless personal benefactions, always so modestly bestowed that the knowledge of them seldom reached the general public. As one of the wealthiest men of his time in Pennsylvania, he contributed to edu- cational, charitable and religious institutions with munificent liberality. His public spirit was shown at the breaking out of the Mexican War, when he mag- nanimously defrayed the cost of transporting the troops sent to the front from Carbon county.
During the Civil War, when Pennsylvania was in- vaded, many of the men in the employ of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, of which he was then almost the sole owner, volunteered for the emergency, receiving full pay during the period of their absence.
One of the favorite objects of his benevolence was St. Luke's Hospital, of South Bethlehem. In addi-
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
tion to the large sums which he gave to this institution during life, he left it a bequest of $300,000 upon his death. To St. Mark's church, of Mauch Chunk, of which he was for forty-four years a warden and ves- tryman, he left the sum of $30,000.
Deprived as he had been of the advantages of a liberal education, he was desirous of affording the youth of the state opportunities such as had been de- nied to him, and he crowned his life in the establish- ment of Lehigh University, which has become a fore- most seat of scientific and technical education.
In 1865 Judge Packer purchased fifty-six acres of land at South Bethlehem for the purpose he had in view, besides giving the sum of $500,000. Ten years later he added fifty-two acres to the University tract, at which time he also erected a fine library in memory of his daughter, Mrs. Lucy Packer Linderman.
This proved to be his last personal undertaking in connection with the institution, his death taking place a few years afterwards.
Under the provisions of his will, he left a perma- nent endowment of $1,500,000 for general maintenance, and $500,000 for library purposes. His total contribu- tions to the university amounted to about $3,000,000, and that institution will receive one-third of his estate when it is finally distributed.
A beautiful edifice, adorning the spacious grounds of Lehigh University, is the Packer Memorial church, erected in 1886 by Mrs. Mary Packer Cummings, a daughter of Judge Packer.
Mr. Packer was a member of the Masonic fraternity, while Packer Commandery, No. 23, Knights Templar, of Mauch Chunk, was named in honor of his son, Rob- ert Asa.
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His death occurred on May 17, 1879, in the seventy- fourth year of his age. His widow passed away three years later, and the remains of both repose in the Mauch Chunk cemetery.
Mrs. Mary Packer Cummings, who was their sole surviving child, died in the autumn of 1912. During her life-time she contributed generously to various worthy causes, and she left many large bequests to Mauch Chunk and its institutions, besides lavishing her benefactions in numerous other directions.
In recognition of her liberality and public spirit, the people of Mauch Chunk and of East Mauch Chunk have set aside the third Thursday of May of each year, to be observed as a holiday, and to be known as Mary Packer Cummings Day.
Packer, Harry Eldred, the younger son of Asa and Sarah M. (Blakslee) Packer, was born on June 4, 1850, at Mauch Chunk. Educated at Lehigh University, which was founded and so liberally endowed by his fa- ther, he early became prominently indentified with the coal and transportation interests of the Lehigh Valley. In 1879, he was elected a director of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and prior to that served as superintendent of the New Jersey Division of that road.
Elevated by successive steps, he was elected to the presidency of the company in 1883. Generous and pub- lic-spirited, he manifested great loyalty and attach- ment toward the place of his nativity, contributing liberally in various ways to the betterment and pros- perity of Mauch Chunk.
He was an active and influential Democrat, and his popularity with all classes of citizens throughout the county led to his being chosen without opposition, in 1881, to the office of associate judge. He succeeded his father as a vestryman of St. Mark's Parish.
HEPacken
' THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS :.
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On August 29, 1872, he was married to Mary Au- gusta, daughter of Alexander Lockhart, a pioneer resi- dent of Mauch Chunk.
Mr. Packer's untimely death, on February 1, 1884, in the thirty-fourth year of his age was the source of deep regret to all who knew him. His widow died at Pekin, China, during the spring of 1911, while making a tour of the world.
Packer, Robert Asa, the elder of the two sons of Asa Packer, was born at Mauch Chunk on November 19, 1842. He received a fair English education, and began life as a member of a corps of engineers, en- gaged in locating and constructing that portion of the Lehigh Valley Railroad extending from White Haven to Wilkes-Barre.
Beginning his career as a railway executive in the capacity of superintendent of the Wyoming Division of this railroad, he spent practically the whole of his mature life in directing the affairs of various railway lines belonging to the Lehigh Valley system.
For a time he was the superintendent of the Penn- sylvania and New York Canal and Railroad Company, of which he became the president in 1881. At the com- mencement of this connection he removed to Towanda, and later to Sayre, Pa., where he resided permanently.
He was the president of the Geneva, Ithaca and Sayre Railroad, the Lehigh Valley Railway Company, running from the Pennsylvania state line to Buffalo, and of the Lehigh Valley Transportation Company, owning a line of steamers plying between Buffalo and Chicago.
Mr. Packer was also a member of the board of di- rectors of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, chairman of its executive committee, a trustee of Lehigh University, and one of the trustees of the estate of his father.
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In 1883 he was appointed managing director of the Southern Central Railroad.
He was in politics a Democrat, and while he was re- peatedly urged to accept nominations for public office, he uniformly declined all honors of this nature, con- tenting himself with championing the cause of others who advocated the principles of his party.
Possessed of a fine personality and many excellent traits of character, he had hosts of loyal friends. He took pleasure in doing all in his power to build up and beautify the town of Sayre, and he was no less identi- fied with the educational and religious improvement of the place of his adoption than with its material ad- vancement.
His companion in life was Emily, the only daughter of Hon. Victor Piollet.
Mr. Packer's death occurred at his winter home, near Jacksonville, Fla., on February 20, 1883.
Prutzman, Morris G., a member of one of Carbon county's oldest families, is an architect, having his of- fice in the court house at Mauch Chunk, while living in East Mauch Chunk.
His maternal great-great-grandfather was Freder- ick Boyer, who was taken captive by the Indians dur- ing the uprising of 1755, being carried to Canada, where he was held as a prisoner for five years. Upon regaining his freedom he returned to his home, where Millport now stands, and where his father had been slain by the savages.
Abraham Prutzman, the grandfather of the subject of this notice, was of English descent, coming to Car- bon county from South Easton, and settling on a farm on the present site of Palmerton.
Morris G. Prutzman, son of Charles and Christiana
Morris S. Prutyman.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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(Boyer) Prutzman, was born on this farm, March 9, 1865. His father was a contractor and builder.
Morris was educated in the public schools and under a private tutor, being apprenticed to a decorative painter at Bethlehem when he became fifteen years of age. Following this art for a time, he later took up architecture, under a private instructor. Locating in East Mauch Chunk in 1897, he opened an office at that place, later establishing himself in Mauch Chunk. He is the only professional architect in the county, and has made a special study of school construction. He de- signed the first one-room school building having an indirect heating and ventilating system, without spe- cial apparatus, erected in this portion of the state.
The public school buildings at Palmerton and Bow- manstown, the Greek Catholic church at Nesquehoning, and No. 2 Fire House at Lehighton are examples of his work, while he has designed many other public and private buildings throughout this section.
He is the architect of the parochial school building of St. Joseph's Catholic church, of East Mauch Chunk, which is soon to be erected.
Mr. Prutzman was married on December 12, 1899, to Jennie L., daughter of Conrad Ebert, of Lehigh county. She is a graduate of the Allentown high school, and was engaged as a teacher prior to her marriage. Allen Ebert is their only child.
Mr. Prutzman is a communicant of the Lutheran church, while politically speaking, he is an independent Democrat.
Pryor, Captain John W., one of Carbon county's most gallant soldiers, a veteran of the Mexican War and of the War of Secession, was born at Pittsburgh, Pa., on January 6, 1826. While still quite young, he located at Mauch Chunk, becoming a member of the
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Stockton Artillerists, with which organization he went to the front as a sergeant upon the breaking out of hostilities with our sister republic of the south.
His command served with distinction under General Scott in the campaign which culminated in the fall of Mexico and the close of the war.
A Mexican battle flag which he took during this cam- paign is still among the treasured possessions of his family.
During the Civil War he was a captain in the famous Eighty-first Pennsylvania Regiment, participating in every important battle in which the Army of the Poto- mac was engaged until the turning back of Lee's army from its second invasion of the North. He was repeat- edly wounded in battle and was frequently compli- mented in general reports for gallantry. At the battle of Gettysburg he was severely wounded, and after a long stay in the hospital he was honorably discharged for disability.
Captain Pryor was a moulder by trade. Soon after the close of the war he located in Weatherly, where he spent the remainder of his active life in the service of the Lehigh Valley Railroad.
On October 2, 1849, he was married to Eliza Ginter, a grandchild of Philip Ginter, the discoverer of coal at Summit Hill. The following children were born to them: Newton, deceased; Maria (White), of Wilkes- Barre; Sarah, deceased; Alexander, of Scranton; Grant E., of Horton, Kansas.
The Weatherly camp of the Sons of Veterans was named in honor of Captain Pryor. His death occurred on October 20, 1901, and his remains repose in Union Cemetery at Weatherly.
Pursell, David E., burgess of Mauch Chunk, and senior member of the firm of Pursell and Dods, general
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insurance and real estate agents of that place, is the son of Daniel M. and Rebecca W. (Eilenburger) Pur- sell.
His paternal ancestors were of Scotch-Irish extrac- tion, and were among the early settlers of Bucks coun- ty, Pennsylvania. The father was a general contrac- tor, being engaged for a time as a boat builder on the Lehigh Canal.
David was born at Upper Black Eddy, Bucks county, Pa., on August 22, 1869. At the age of thirteen he began life as a farm laborer, attending school during the winter months. Two years later he enrolled for a single term at the Kutztown State Normal School. Subsequently he fitted himself as a stenographer at Chaffee's Phonographic Institute, of Oswego, New York.
During the winter of 1887 he came to Mauch Chunk, where he secured employment as an amanuensis in the office of the division superintendent of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Later he held the chief clerk- ship of this office.
In 1899 Mr. Pursell established himself in the in- surance business, forming a partnership with William Dods four years later. As a result of their united ef- forts, theirs has become the leading agency of its kind in this portion of the state. They have also opened a branch office in Scranton, while holding and dealing in real estate.
In 1909 Mr. Pursell was unanimously chosen to the office of burgess of Mauch Chunk, which position he still holds. He has also served as president of the Business Men's Association of the borough.
In 1891 he was married to Carrie H., daughter of Samuel H. Heist, of Mauch Chunk. Their three chil- dren are: Stanley H., a student at the University of Pennsylvania ; Edwin D., and Mildred L. Pursell.
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Quinn, A. John, one of Lansford's best known busi- ness men, being one of the pioneer residents of that borough, is the son of James and Catherine (Heather- man) Quinn, and was born at Buck Mountain, Carbon county, May 10, 1848.
His parents were natives of Limmerick, Ireland, where they were married. They came to the United States in 1845, and made their home at Buck Moun- tain, where Mr. Quinn became a miner. Of their six children, Elizabeth and John A. alone survive.
John A. Quinn acquired his early training in the public schools of Buck Mountain and those of Hazle- ton; in 1872 he graduated at Eastman Business Col- lege, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He taught school in the vil- lage of his birth and at Ashton (now Lansford) for several terms. Learning the drug business under Dr. J. B. Longshore, who was then one of the most prom- inent physicians of the Hazleton region, and at Phila- delphia, Mr. Quinn opened a drug store in Lansford. Disposing of this business he secured a contract from the Central Railroad of New Jersey to build a section of the line of that road between Eckley and Drifton, Luzerne county.
Upon the completion of this work he went to Mon- tana, in 1878, locating at Philipsburg, near Butte. He carried the civil law into this border town, becoming its first justice of the peace and teaching school there.
Returning to Pennsylvania after an interval of three years, Mr. Quinn formed a partnership with L. P. Jen- kins, and re-entered the drug business; at the expira- tion of a year he purchased the interest of Mr. Jenkins, and has since conducted the store as sole owner. He has also conducted an undertaking establishment for many years, and has been interested in various other business enterprises. He has been a director of the
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First National Bank, of Lansford, since its organiza- tion, while he is the president of the Carbon Telephone Company, and vice president of the Panther Creek Valley Electric Light, Heat and Power Company.
Mr. Quinn bore a conspicuous and heroic part in the small-pox epidemic which for a time threatened to wipe out the entire population of Lansford in 1874. The large majority of those who were seized with the dread disease died, and new cases were of almost daily occur- rence.
The people of the village were panic-stricken, and many fled from their homes. Under the circumstances it was naturally difficult to secure the services of any- one who was willing to jeopardize his own safety by ministering to the sick, and, excepting the physicians who were on the scene, cheerfully incurring all hazards in the discharge of their professional duty, Mr. Quinn alone volunteered, doing all in his power to alleviate the miseries of those who suffered from the visitation.
On his return from Montana, in 1881, Mr. Quinn was united in marriage to Marcella F. Kennedy, daughter of Matthew and Ellen Kennedy, of Summit Hill. The names of their surviving children are as follows: Vin- cent De Paul, Ellen L., wife of John B. McGurl, a Minersville attorney ; Catherine B., Sidney A., John J., William T., and Matthew K. Quinn. Vincent has charge of his father's drug store, while Sidney is a student at Jefferson Medical College; John is a grad- uate of the Medico-Chirurgical College, of Philadel- phia ; Matthew is a student in the Lansford high school.
Mr. Quinn is an active member of St. Ann's Roman Catholic church, while being connected with the Auxil- iary Association of Eli T. Connor Post, G. A. R., of Summit Hill.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
Rauch, E. H., politician, soldier and editor, was born at Warwick, Lancaster county, on July 19, 1820, the fourth son of Christian H. and Mary M. Rauch.
His grandfather, Johann Heinrich Rauch, came to America from Köhn, on the Rhine, Germany, in 1769. He was by trade a whitesmith, and located at Lititz, Pa., where he engaged in the manufacture of edge tools, gun locks and coffee mills. In 1776 he was im- pressed with the fact that an auger that would bore a hole and at the same time eject the chips would be an improvement on the old style "pot" auger then in use. With this idea in mind, he invented the principle and bit of the auger of to-day.
Edward H. Rauch was educated at Lititz, and at the age of fourteen went to work on a farm for two dollars a month. Soon thereafter he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker, named Jacob Bear, at Lancaster, being bound to serve until attaining his majority. He became a good workman, while Bear developed into a severe task-master.
This led the young apprentice to run away two years before the expiration of the time he was expected to serve. He went to Philadelphia, where he found em- ployment.
His father being responsible for his service, com- promised with Bear for one hundred and twenty-five dollars, which sum young Edward refunded in instal- ments.
In 1840 he went to Mullica Hill, N. J., where he worked as a carpenter. He began his political career and made his maiden speech during the presidential campaign of that year. He next returned to Warwick to assist in the conduct of the affairs of his father, while his brother Rudolph secured for him an appoint- ment to a clerkship in the office of the prothonotary of Lancaster county.
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CAPT. E. H. RAUCH.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
During the year 1846 he entered into partnership with John Willard as a house painter, which continued for about a year.
It was at this period, with Thaddeus Stephens and others, that he became connected with what was known as the Underground Railway.
George Hughes, a slave-catching detective had head- quarters at Lancaster, and being illiterate, needed some one to do his writing. Not knowing Mr. Rauch's sentiments, he asked him to become his secretary, which was agreed to. This gave the underground rail- roaders certain knowledge of the plans and movements of the slave-catchers, and it is noteworthy that during the time this arrangement remained in force, Hughes was unsuccessful in catching a single runaway slave.
In 1847 Mr. Rauch was a collector of toll on the Philadelphia and Lancaster turnpike, which afforded him an opportunity to enter more actively into politi- cal affairs. By shrewd manipulation of a primary election he secured the nomination of Thaddeus Stephens for congress, saving the great Commoner from defeat at a most critical stage in his career.
Shortly afterwards he became deputy register of Lancaster county.
Under the leadership of Thaddeus Stephens, a com- pany was formed in 1848 to publish a daily and weekly newspaper as the organ of the anti-slavery element of the Whig party. Mr. Rauch and Edward McPherson were placed in charge of the paper, the Independent Whig and Inland Daily, of Lancaster. This was the beginning of Mr. Rauch's long and varied career as a journalist. After about six years he disposed of his interest in this establishment, removing to Bethlehem, where he founded the Lehigh Valley Times, which be- came a Republican organ in a Democratic stronghold.
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Coming to Mauch Chunk in the spring of 1857, he purchased the Mauch Chunk Gazette, resulting in the political revolution of Carbon county. He was ap- pointed to the position of transcribing clerk in the House of Representatives at Harrisburg in 1859, and was chief clerk of the House in 1860-61. In 1860 he was a delegate to the convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency.
During 1861, although still holding his position at Harrisburg, he recruited Company H of the Eleventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and was appointed captain. On returning to Harrisburg he was astonished to learn that he had been nominated for re-election. After much hesitation he decided to accept, on condition that he be granted leave of absence during the session, whilst his regiment was in winter quarters at Annapolis.
During his service as a soldier, Captain Rauch par- ticipated with his company in the engagements of Cedar Mountain, Thoroughfare Gap, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and in the fighting on the Rappahan- nock. At the battle of Second Bull Run he was wound- ed in the thigh. Soon after the battle of Fredericks- burg he became afflicted with rheumatism, and in April, 1863, was discharged on that account. During the re- mainder of his life he was never entirely free from this complaint.
At the close of the war he was offered a majorship in the regular army, but rejected it, later becoming pro- vost marshal for Carbon and Luzerne counties, and participating in many important arrests of Buckshots or Mollie Maguires, who were then terrorizing the mining region.
Finding his printing establishment ruined and neg- lected upon his return from the army, he did not at-
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tempt to rehabilitate it, but went to Reading, where he started the Berks County Zeitung. After a time he concluded that he was unfitted to conduct a real Ger- man newspaper, abandoning the venture to become the editor of the Reading Daily Eagle.
A venture which proved a complete success was the publication of a campaign paper called The Father Abraham. This he conducted in association with Thomas Cochran at Lancaster. Its circulation reached twenty thousand copies, which was at that time consid- ered a very large list.
After the campaign of 1868 he became the sole owner of the establishment, conducting the paper under vari- ous names through several campaigns.
In 1872 he joined the Liberal Republican movement for Greely, serving as one of the secretaries of the state committee under the chairmanship of A. K. Mc- Clure. Four years later he supported Tilden, and pub- lished a campaign paper under the name of Uncle Samuel.
To meet a local political emergency, he was induced to return to Mauch Chunk, in 1877, to take charge of a newspaper, known as the Carbon County Democrat, which successfully advocated the candidacy of Robert Klotz for congress.
Having served its purpose, this paper was after a time merged with the Mauch Chunk Democrat, then owned by H. E. Packer, Mr. Rauch being retained as editor. Upon the death of the former, Mr. Rauch and his son Lawrence purchased the property. In 1892 they started the Daily News, later taking in R. C. Rauch as a partner.
Soon after the close of the war Mr. Rauch began the publication of what became famous as the "Pit Schwefflebrenner" letters, written in Pennsylvania
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Dutch, and regularly appearing in his newspapers until the time of his death. They teemed with homely wisdom and subtle humor, and with many of his read- ers they constituted the most popular feature of his paper.
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