History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc, Part 152

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Publisher: W. Taylor
Number of Pages: 1280

USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 152
USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 152

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"A Political History of the United States During the Rebellion," extending from the presidential election of 1860 to April 13. 1865, the date of Lincoln's death: "A Political History of the United States During the Period of Reconstruction," extending from 1865 to 1870; "Iland-book of Polities for 1870-72;" " Hand book of Politics lor 1872-74;" also one for 1876-78; 1878-80; 1880-82; 1882-84; 1884-86. These latter volumes are editorial compila- tions of the political record of men and parties during that eventful period, and have re- ceived a high place in the confidence of all parties for completeness, fairness and accuracy. During the summer and fall of 1851 our subject served as volunteer aide on the staff of Gen. McCall, commanding the Pennsylvania Reserves, with a view of studying the wants and or- ganization of the army, and to fit himself for intelligent legislative action on those subjects. In the Thirty-seventh Congress he was a member of the military committee of the House and took an active part in legislation respecting the army. He also served as chairman of the Committee on the Library and as a regent of the Smithsonian Institute. He was secretary of the People's State Committee of Pennsylvania in 1857; was a member of the Republican National Committee from 1860 to 1864; was frequently a delegate to State con- ventions; was a representative delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1876, and was the permanent president of that body. He has actively participated in polities for many years and has been during three campaigns the secretary of the Republican Con- gressional Committee. In 1867 the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Penn- sylvania College. Mr. McPherson was married November 12, 1863, to Miss Annie D., daughter of John S. Crawford, Esq., of Gettysburg, and grand-daughter, on her father's side, of Dr. William Crawford, a native of Scotland, who settled near Gettysburg about 1786, who for eight years represented that district in Congress, and on her mother's side of the Rev. Dr. William Paxton, who for nearly fifty years served with distinction and ability Lower Marsh Creek Presbyterian Church. Mr. and Mrs. McPherson have four sons and one daughter.

WILLIAM MCSHERRY, JR., attorney at law, was born in Martinsburg, Va .- the home of his maternal grandfather. Dr. Richard McSherry -- July 15, 1855. His father, Hon. William McSherry, is a native and life-long resident of Adams County, Penn. ; and his mother was Eliza T. Mcsherry, a beautiful and intelligent lady of Virginia. He received his early education in the private, public and parochial schools of his father's home, Littlestown, Adams Co., Penn. From the age of fourteen to sixteen years he was a clerk in a hardware store; then he entered Mount Saint Mary's College, Emmittsburg, Md., from which he graduated in June, 1877, delivering the class valedictory. le read law under his father. Hon. William McSherry, LL. D., and Edward S. Reily, district attorney of Adams County, Penn. (formerly professor of laws at the University of Georgetown, D. C.), and was admitted to the bar August 17, 1878. He has since devoted his time to the study and practice of his profession, with nnusual success. He served as counsel to the directors of the poor from 1883 to 1886, and was then re-appointed, but declined fur- ther service. In June, 1884, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Penn- sylvania. Mr. MeSherry's home is at the family residence, "Home-wood," in Germany Township; his place of business is Gettysburg.

WILLIAM B. MEALS, marble cutter and proprietor of the Gettysburg Marble Works, was born in Adams County, Penn., September 27, 1822 or 1823, a descendant of the fourth generation of those his ancestors, who first settled in this country, some time prior to 1732, of German and Scotch descent. He is a son of Gabriel Meals and Nancy A. (Baugh- man) Meals, of whose ten children (seven boys and three girls), he is the third. Here- ceived part of his schooling in the common schools of Adams County, and his higher branches nnder private tutors. He is a man of culture, and is considered a ready speaker. With his attention to reading, he is generally posted in the current news of the day. He has prosecuted his business since a young man, and succeeded. In 1860 he was married to Miss Maria Schaeffer, daughter of D. S. Schaeffer (veterinary surgeon), of German descent, and a native of Pennsylvania and to them children were born, viz .: Louis Henry, the eldest, also a marble cutter, of superior skill, a partner with his father in the Gettysburg Marble Works; Nannie E .; William Washington Grant (a telegrapher), and Gabriel Franklin (the latter being young has not yet chosen a profession); Mr. and Mrs. Meals and family are members of the Lutheran Church, and Mr. Meals has been an office bearer in the same for thirty odd years. In politics he is a Republican; he has served as assessor, school director, as a member of the town council, burgess and justice of the peace in the borough of Gettysburg, where he lives, and was at home during the battle in 1863. September 4, 1864. he enlisted in the army of the Union, was attached to Company G, Two Hundred and Ninth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was discharged at the close of the war as commissary sergeant, May 9, 1865, he having participated in two battles: Fort Steadman and in front of Petersburg, Va., when Gen. Lee surrendered to Gen. Grant.

LEE MUMPER. photographer, Gettysburg, was born near Dillsburg, York Co., Penn., May 7, 1843, a son of Samuel and Catherine (Shultz) Mumper, also natives of York County, and of Dutch descent. His father, in early life, was a farmer, but in later years kept a hotel at Harrisburg, Penn., his death occurring in that city; and of his seven chil- children Lee is the second. Our subject was reared in Adams County, receiving his edu-

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cation in the district schools in the vicinity where he grew up. When young he learned the cabinet-maker's trade, at which he worked until his enlistment, in 1862, in Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, com. manded by Col. Jennings, in which organization he served nine months. Returning home he learned the art of photography with Tyson Brothers, of Gettysburg, and in 1864 embarked in the business for himself at Gettysburg. The title of the firm at present is Mumper & Co., who execute both indoor and outdoor work with neatness and dispatch The studio is at No. 25 Baltimore Street, where all orders receive prompt attention. Any special picture of the battle of Gettysburg or mounts is always photographed by request, if not on hand. The firm keeps a full line of stereoscopic views of all parts of the battle- field in stock. In 1865 Mr. Mumper was married to Sarah S. Shaffer, daughter of Jacob ShatTer, of York Springs, Penn., and of German descent, and to this union have been born nine children: Jacob, Charles, Mammie. Frank L., Elsie, John, Alvin, Clyde and Edgar. Mrs. Mumper is a member of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Mumper is a member of Post No. 9. G. A. R., of Gettysburg.

COL. JAMES L. NEELY (deceased) was born in Tyrone Township, Adams Co., Penn., February 20, 1801, and died at his residence in Straban Township, on the 23d of April, 1863. He was of Scotch-Irish parentage. ITis grandfather, Samnel Neely, having come from the North of Ireland in 1730, settled in what is now known as Tyrone Township. took up large quantities of land and raised a large family of children, among whom was James Neely, Esq., or as he was generally known "Spectacle Jimmy," the father of the subject of this sketch. Col. James L. Neely was a farmer by occupation, and uever held office, except that in his early life he was elected colonel of a militia regiment, which position he held for a number of years. In 1854 he was nominated by the Whig party as its candidate for the Legislature, but was defeated by the Know-nothing movement. He was married December 18. 1829. to Sarah Cassat, eldest daughter of Hon. Jacob Cassat, and by her had three daughters and two sons. He prospered as a farmer and was able to give all his children the advantages of a good education. He was a large, fiue-looking man, of good address and correct habits; was prominent in the church and well and favorably known throughout the community.

JACOB CASSAT NEELY, attorney at law, Gettysburg, is a native of this county, born in Tyrone Township February 3, 1838. ITis father was Col. James L. Neely, and his materna! grandfather llon. Jacob Cassat, [see above and page 351]. Jacob C. Neely was the fourth child, and his early youth was passed on a farm. At the age of six- teen years he entered the junior class in Pennsylvania College, and was graduated from that institution in 1856. He then read law in the office of Hon. D. MeConaughy, at Gettysburg, and was admitted to the bar in 1859, and has since been actively engaged in the practice of law, for which profession he has great love. In politics Mr. Neely is a Democrat. Hle has shunned rather than sought office; has served six years as district attorney. In 1865 he was married in Gettysburg, to Alice, youngest daughter of Rev. S. S. Schmucker, D. D., who for many years was president of Pennsylvania College, and who was one of its founders. Dr. Schmucker was the first president of the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. To our subject and wife have been born Samuel S., who gradu- ated at Pennsylvania College in 1885, and is now a law student under his father; J. L ... now in the sophomore class of Pennsylvania College; Mary C. and Sarah C. The parents are identified with the Presbyterian Church.

JOIIN W. C. O'NEAL, M. D., was born in Fairfax County, Va., April 21, 1821, of Irish and American parentage. His classical and literary education was obtained at Penn - sylvania College, Gettysburg. Penn., and in the primary schools connected therewith. ITis medical studies were pursued under the private tutorship of Dr. John Swope, of Tancy- town. and N. R. Smith, Baltimore, Md., and the teaching of the medical department of the University of Maryland, from which he received his degree of M. D. in 1844, together covering a period of four years. He settled in Ilanover, York Co., Penn., in the spring of 1844; moved to Baltimore in 1849, and finally established himself at Gettysburg in 1863, Ile is a member of the Phrenakosmian Society of Pennsylvania College; a member of Adams County Medical Society, of which he was president in 1875; belongs to the Penn- sylvania Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He has contributed to the literature of the profession a pamphlet on the cholera of 1852, as it appeared in Baltimore, another on medical and surgical experience upon the battlefields of Antietam and Gettysburg, the Katalysine spring water, and a comparison of its powers with the waters of foreign springs, and other fugitive papers and reports. lle served as commis- sioner of public schools of Baltimore City during the years 1850-51-52, and was vaccine physician of the Twentieth Ward of that city for that period. Ile served as delegate to the Maryland State Medical Society, from Pennsylvania, in 1877 and 1886; was made a member of the Board of Commissioners of Public Charities of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1883, which position he still fills. He attended as medical and surgical ad- viser the House of Industry for Adams County from 1863 to 1871 inclusive, and resigned in favor of his son, Dr. Walter H., who continued to fill the appointment for several years after: he was a delegate to the National Medical Association in 1844 from the State

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of Pennsylvania, and has held continued membership since. In 1847 he married Ellen, daughter of Henry Wirt. of Hanover, York Co., Penn. His report of rectal alimentation and medication, to the Adams County Medical Association in 1878, brought him cards of thanks from many eminent physicians, as William Goodell, of Philadelphia; Ilenry F. Campbell of Augusta, Ga., and W.W. Potter of New York. He with two others repre- sented the State of Pennsylvania in the Thirteenth National Conference of Charities and Corrections, at St. Paul. Minn., in 1886, by appointment from the Pennsylvania State Board of Public Charities.

CHARLES II. RUFF, clerk of the commissioners of Adams County, Gettysburg, was born in Hamilton Township, Adams Co., Penn., September 2, 1842, a son of John and Elizabeth (Ehchart) Ruff, the former a native of Germany, and the latter of Pennsyl- vania, of German descent. John Ruff was the father of ten children who grew to man- hood and womanhood, and of whom Charles H. is the fifth. The father followed huck- stering for many years, at which he was successful. He gave his children the advantages of good schools and they obtained fair educations. Charles Hl. attended the common schools of his neighborhood and the high school at New Oxford, and early in life learned the plasterer's trade, at which he worked for four years. He then went into the huckstering business, which he followed seven years, after which, and until 1877. he was employed as a clerk in Gettysburg. In 1877 he embarked in the grocery business, in which he con- tinued until 1884, when he sold out to accept his present position. In 1871 Mr. Ruff was married to Miss Emma Ilowell, by whom he had two children: Cora A. and Emma E. Mrs. Ruff died in 1876, and in 1879 Mr. Ruff married Miss Sarah E. Culp, daughter of Jeremiah Culp, of German descent. Mr. and Mrs. Ruff are members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Ruff is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity, of which he is a chapter memher. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. of which he is secretary, and of the encampment and division. He is also a member of the Order of Red Men, and a member of East Berlin Beneficial Society.

DR. JOHN RUNKEL (deceased) was born in Frederick County, Md., February 22. 1786, a son of Rev. John William Runkel, who was born in the Palatinate. Germany, in 1749, and at the age of fifteen years came to America with his father. Rev. John William, in 1770, married Catherine Nies. He was of a pious disposition and turned his atten- tion to the study of theology, receiving private instruction. and July 30, 1778, he was ordained at Carlisle, Penn., to the ministry of the German Reformed Church. He he- came a very active missionary for several years, and subsequently became pastor of a church at Frederick, Md., aud did work throughout western Maryland and Virginia. He was pastor of a church for a period. at Germantown, Penn., accepting the call in 1802; he was also pastor of a church in New York City, the call to which he accepted in 1805. In 1812 he returned to Germantown, and in July, 1815, be accepted a call to the church at Gettysburg, Penn., and Emmittsburg and Taneytown, Md., selecting Emmittsburg as a place of residence. In 1821 he removed to Gettysburg and served the church there seven years, after which he withdrew from active service. His death occurred November 5, 1832, in his eighty-fourth year, and was buried in the graveyard at Emmittsburg. Dr. John Runkel for a time studied theology, but abandoned it for the medical profession. He read medicine and attended several courses of lectures and received his degrees in

Maryland. He began the practice of medicine in that State, and in 1821 located with his father's family at Gettysburg, where he passed the remainder of his life. Being pos- sessed of means he did not pursue bis profession actively. He was thoroughly educated and polished in manner. Frank, sincere and honest in all things, he was justly held in universal esteem, and in his death the town lost not only one of its oldest, but one of its best citizens. His death occurred at Gettysburg April 19, 1880, in the ninety-fifth year of his age. The first wife of Dr. Runkel was Elizabeth Roop, of Germantown, Penn., whom he married in 1817, and by whom he had two children: one who died when quite young, and Anna M., a maiden lady, the only surviving member of the family. The mother of Anna M. died in 1856. a member of the German Reformed Church. The Doc- tor married his second wife in Philadelphia. In politics he was a Democrat.

JUDGE S. R. RUSSELL, retired lawyer, Gettysburg, is a native of that place, born June 21, 1801, in the house in which he now resides and of which he is owner. His par- ents, Alexander and Mary (McPherson) Russell, were of Irish descent. The former was a studeut in Princeton College on the breaking out of the Revolution, in which he enlisted and participated in a number of battles, and was promoted to the post of captain. He served for many years as a magistrate, having been appointed by the king for life or during good behavior. After the office was made an elective one, the captain persisted in holding it, which he succeeded in doing for thirty years. He reared nine children. two of whom are now living-our subject and Mrs. Maria Wilson, widow of Robert Wilson, a soldier in the war of 1812, whose death occurred in 1821. Mrs. Wilson was born February 28, 1797, and is now among the few surviving pensioners of that war. Lewis, the third son, was born July 30, 1803, and for many years was a banker in Lewistown, Penn. Our subject, the second son, was reared in Gettysburg, and read law at Bedford, under the in- struction of his elder brother, James W. (who was subsequently a member of Congress

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from that district), and was admitted to the bar in 1823. He was engaged in practice at Gettysburg until 1851, when he was appointed judge, a position he held for five years. Judge Russell, though retired from active business, serves as president of the Gettysburg Fire Insurance Company. He is identified with the Presbyterian Church.

J. LAWRENCE SCHICK, merchant, Gettysburg, was born in Lancaster, Penn., December 25. 1822, son of J. L. and Susan (Holtzworth) Schick, the former a brewer by oc eupation and a native of Rhenish Bavaria, a province, on the Rhine, of Germany, and the latter of York County, Penn., and both of German descent. J. Lawrence is the second of five sons. His parents moved to Gettysburg in 1826, where his father died in 1828. Our subject received only a limited common school education, and at the early age of twelve years was put to the tailor's trade, at which he served a regular apprenticeship. Subse quently, and when yet a young man, he embarked in the notion business, and that small beginning has grown into his present extensive store. December 25, 1814, Mr. Schick was married to Mary, daughter of Conrad Hereter, of German extraction and to this union have been born two children, Rudolph M., a prominent attorney of Philadelphia, and Henry H. chief clerk in bis father's store. Mrs. Schick died in 1831, and in 1853 Mr. Schick was married to Sarah J. Welty, of German descent. The grandfather of the latter was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. To this last marriage have been born the following named children: Mary E., Charles W.(who resides at Dixon, Il., engaged in the insurance business), Eva S. (wife of Rev. Charles S. Trump, a Lutheran minister), Anna K. (de- ceased), John L. (a machinist), and David W. (a student). Before the late war, Mr. Schick was a Democrat in politics, but since that time he has been identified with the Re- publiean party. In 1855-56 he served as treasurer of Adams County. Mr. Schick has been a member of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association from the time of its organ- ization. and since the year 1879, has been treasurer of the association.

REV. SAMUEL S. SCHMUCKER, D. D. (deceased), the first president of the Evan - gelical Lutheran Theological Seminary, at Gettysburg, was for many years one of the foremost men of his State. He was the son of Rev. Dr. J. G. Schmucker, an eminent Lutheran divine, and was born at Hagerstown, Md., February 28, 1799, and died at Gettys- burg July 25, 1823. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1817, and at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1820. Endowed with rare natural ability and educated in the best schools of his day, he soon attracted public attention, and rapidly rose to a leading position in the Lutheran Church. His first pastoral charge was at Newmarket, Shenandoah Co., Va., and such was his reputation for ability and scholarship that in a few years he gathered about him in that remote locality quite a class of theological stu- dents. When the General Synod of the Lutheran Church established, in 1826, at Gettys- burg, its first theological seminary, Dr. Schmucker was by common consent regarded as the most suitable person to be placed at its head, and was at once called to its presidency. This position he filled with distinguished honor for nearly forty years, during the greater part of which time he was regarded as the leading man in the Lutheran Church in the United States. His finished scholarship and evangelical piety made a deep impression upon the many students who studied under him, and were of lasting benefit to his de- nomination. He took an active part in the management of the interests of his denomina- tion at large. Ile was a great organizer, and evidence of his handiwork is found in most of the institutions and enterprises set on foot by the Lutheran Church during the active period of his lifetime. His own denomination, dear as it was to him, did not monopolize his labors. Every great moral and religious movement of his day found in him an able coadjutor. The cause of Christian union, the Bible and tract societies, the Christian Sab- bath, emancipation and African colonization, all profited by the labors of his brain and pen. He was especially devoted to the subject of Christian union, publishing several val- uable works in advocacy of the cause, and was repeatedly a delegate to the World's Evangelical Alliance, attending its meetings both in Europe and America. In addition to his works on Christian union, he was a prolific author in the fields of theology, church history and mental philosophy. some of his works passing through many editions. ITis publications number more than forty in all, the most important of which are his "Formula of Government and Discipline for Churches and Synods," published in 1823; " Popular Theology," in 1834; " Mental Philosophy," in 1842; " History of the Lutheran Church in America," in 1851; and "Lutheran Manual," in 1855. Pennsylvania College owes its ex- istence in a large measure to the persistent and sagacious efforts put forth in its behalf by Dr. Schmucker. lle was largely instrumental in procuring for it a charter from the State Legislature, and an annual appropriation for some years from the State funds. He re- garded the college as a valuable feeder to the Theological Seminary, and for that reason, as well as because of his interest in the cause of education in general, he always sought to promote the welfare of the college, and to the last remained one of its warmest and most efficient friends. Dr. Schmucker was a man of genial and kindly disposition, and readily made friends. As a citizen be took a warm interest in the affairs of his town and its vicinity, lending the aid of his counsel and his purse to all laudable local enter- prises. In 1865 he retired from the presidency of the theological seminary, of which he was then made professor emeritus, and devoted the remainder of his life to literary labors and recreations.

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JACOB SIIEADS, dealer in lumber, coal and wood, Gettysburg, is a native of Adams County, Penn., born at Gettysburg May 12, 1821, son of Peter and Salone (Troxwel) Sheads, the former a native of Adams County, the latter of Maryland, and both of Ger- man descent. The father was a mason by trade, an occupation he followed for many years in Gettysburg. His death occurred in 1848. He was the father of eleven children, the eldest of whom was born in this county in 1808. Jacob Sheads, the ninth child, was reared in Gettysburg, where, early in life, he learned the tailor's trade, and subsequently was for a time engaged in that business, in connection with W. T. King, the present pop- ular merchant tailor of Gettysburg. In 1866 Mr. Sheads established his present business. and has since conducted the same, meeting with moderate success. In 1854 he was mar- ried to Miss Agnes Flora Gehr, daughter of Henry Gehr, and of English and German ex- traction. To Mr. and Mrs. Sheads have been born the following children that are now living: Ida (wife of Rev. C. T. Durboraw, of Kansas), David E. and Anna M. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which Mr. Sheads is a trustee. He served one term of two years (1866 and 1867) as treasurer of Adams County. In poli- tics he is a Prohibitionist, but is not an active politician. The ancestors of Mr. Sheads were representatives of the first-class of pioneers of this section of the State. His pater- nal grandfather, John Melchoir Sheads, a native of Germany, became a pioneer of this county, and his maternal grandfather, John Troxwel, assisted in laying out the town of Gettysburg, his name being recorded on the first plat of the village. He is an extensive cattle dealer.

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Author: Publication date: Publisher: W. Taylor Number of Pages: 1280

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher: W. Taylor
Number of Pages: 1280