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 65

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Publisher: W. Taylor
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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 65
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 65

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JACOB HEMMINGER, county treasurer, Carlisle, was born on the homestead farm in South Middleton Township. Cumberland County, July 1. 1838. His grandfather, John Hemminger, emigrated from Germany to Lancaster County. Penn., when a young man, and married Miss Barbara Rhemm, of that county, and to them were born three sons and one daughter: John, Jacob, Samuel and Nancy; the latter married to George Stubbs, of Cumberland County, in 1800. John, the eldest son of John and Barbara (Rhemm) Hem- minger, married Miss Eliza Heagy, and settled on the old farm two miles and a half west of Carlisle, where were born their twelve children, viz .: Jane A .. wife of Lafayette Pfef- fer, of Dickinson Township; John a farmer near Waynesboro, Franklin County; Sarah . (unmarried), of Carlisle; Samuel (deceased); Catherine, wife of J. E. B. Graham (they re- side near Lincoln, Neb.); William, who died in 1873 (his widow resides in Newville); Joseph, who died in 1883 (his widow resides in Dickinson Township); Mary, the wife of William McCullough, a resident of near Shippensburg, Cumberland County; Hettie, wife of Joseph Beetem. of Carlisle; Jacob, of Carlisle; George, M. D., of Carlisle; and Susan- nah (unmarried), of Carlisle. Jacob Hemminger, when a youth, worked on his father's farm, and received such schooling as is generally given to farmers' sons. January 22, 1863. he was married to Miss Ellen Drawbaugh, a native of Cumberland County, and a daughter of George and Barbara (Bloser) Drawhaugh, old settlers of the same county.

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Our subject was engaged in farming until 1868. when he opened a general store at Mount Holly Springs, and, in 1870, was elected auditor of Cumberland County. In 1872 he re- turned to his farm, and there remained, when he again removed to Carlisle, and engaged in merchant tailoring and general mercantile business, in connection with real estate and auctioncering: the mercantile business he closed ont in 1881, and to the other department added fire insurance. In 1884 he was elected treasurer of Cumberland County. To Mr. and Mrs. Hemminger have been born four children: Sarah E., Wilmer A., Charles P. and John R. The parents are members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Hemminger is a mem - ber of the K. of P.

GEORGE HEMMINGER, M. D., physician and surgeon, Carlisle, is a native of Cum- berland County, Penn., born on his father's farm two and one-half miles west of Carlisle, September 8, 1840. His parents were John and Eliza (Heagy) Hemminger, the latter a daughter of John and Eliza Ileagy. John Hemminger was also the name of the grand- father of the Doctor, and for his history, with that of his son John and family, the reader is referred to the sketch of Jacob Hemminger. Our subject grew up on the farm, and re- ceived the rudiments of an education in the neighborhood schools. In 1861 he entered. Pennsylvanin College as a freshman, and one year later passed examination for the sopho- more class. In August, 1862. he, in company with seven of his classmates, went to Ilar- risburg, where. on the 16th of that month, they enlisted in Company B. One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. George was assigned to the Mid- dle Department with duty at the Relay Honse, Maryland, where he remained until June 16, 1863. lle was in the Second Brigade, Third Division and Corps (in June), escorting stores to Washington, D. C. From the 1st to the 5th of July he was at Wapping Heights, Va. ; July 23. he was at Kelly's Ford: November 7, at Brandy Station; November 8, at Mine Run: from November 26 to December 2, at Locust Grove. In March, 1864, he was in the Sixth Corps, same brigade and division: May 5 and 7 he was at the battle of the Wilderness; at Spottsylvania, from the 12th to the 19th of May; Cold Harbor, Ist to 3d of June; at the Trenches, Bermuda Hundred, June 17; destruction of the Weldon Rail- road June 22, 23; Monocacy, Md., July 9; February 17, 1865, in prison at Danville; next to Libby prison, Richmond, until March 25, when paroled and returned to the regi- ment April 10. Ile theu marched to Danville, and thence with the army of Gen. Sher- man to Washington, D. C., where he was in the grand review June 8, 1865. Returning to Carlisle, he entered Dickinson College, where he pursued his studies one year; then read medicine under Dr. J. J. Gitzer; later he passed one term in the medical department of the University at Ann Arbor, Mich., and entered the College of Medicine at Detroit, Mich., from which institution he was graduated in 1869. After his graduation he located at Newville, and there practiced his profession six years. From there he went to the city of Baltimore, Md., and formed a partnership with his old preceptor, Dr. J. J. Gitzer, with whom he remained until the fall of 1875, when he returned to Carlisle, and has here since been actively engaged in the practice of medicine. February 11, 1871. the Doctor married Miss Annie Powell, a native of Maryland, a danghter of Col. Samuel R. and Mary A. (Kelly) Powell, of Baltimore. To Dr. Hemminger and wife one son, George R .. was born at Newville, Cumberland Co., Penn., April 25, 1872. Dr. Hemminger stands high as a physician and a citizen. lle was a member of the Cumberland County Medical Society. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M.

HON. ROBERT M. HENDERSON, was born March 11. 1827, in the same house where his father was born, on what is now known ns the McDowell or Miller farm, one mile east of Carlisle, Penn. In 1832 his parents moved to the old farm on which his fa- ther still resides, a part of which is now in the borough of Carlisle. Our subject worked on his father's farm, and was one of the first to graduate in 1838 from the high school of Carlisle under the present common school system. In 1845 he graduated from Dickinson College, studied law with Hon. John Reed, and was admitted to the bar August 25, 1847. and at once hegan the practice of his profession in Carlisle. In 1851 he was elected, by the Whigs of Cumberland County, a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and re- elected in 1852. He was appointed additional law judge of the Twelfth Judical District of Pennsylvania, in April, 1874, and was elected to the same office without opposition, in November of the same year. January 1, 1882, he became president judge of the dis- trict. In March, 1852, he resigned this position and resumed the practice of law in Car- lisle. At the outbreak of the Rebellion he raised Company A. Seventh Pennsylvania In- fantry Volunteer Reserves, and was elected and commissioned captain of this company, April 21. 1861. Ile served through the Peninsular Campaign, and was wounded in the left shoulder by a minie ball, at Charles City Cross Roads, Va .. June 30, 1862. July 4, 1863 he was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the Seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry Vol- unteer Reserves, and returned with his regiment from the Peninsula, when the reserves joined the Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Pope. The regiment remained with that command, was engaged in the second battle of Bull Run, and during the battle, ou the eve of August 30, 1862, while making a charge, Col. Henderson was shot through the body with a minie ball. and carried from the field. IIe rejoined his command January 2, 1863, at Belle Plain, and remained with his regiment until May 1, 1863, when he was

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appointed provost-marshal of the Nineteenth District of Pennsylvania, under an act of Congress, and held that position until the close of the war. March 13, 1865, he was made brevet colonel and brevet brigadier-general for services and gallantry on the Peninsula dur- ing the seven days fights and at the second Bull Run. Judge Henderson, as a soldier, judge and eitizen always discharged the duties imposed upon him faithfully. He and his wife are members of the First Presbyterian Church, of which for many years he has been trustee. In 1871 he was elected ruling elder in the church. which position he still retains. Judge Henderson married June 7, 1853, at Baltimore, Md., Miss Margaret A. Webster. a native of Baltimore. a daughter of John S. and Elizabeth (Thornburg) Webster. natives of Maryland and of English descent. Mr. and Mrs. Henderson have tive children: William M., a miller and merchant of Carlisle: John Webster, attorney and partner in the office of Henderson & lays; Margaret T .. residing at home with her parents: Elizabeth P., wife of Il. C. MeKnight, a wholesale merchant of Pittsburgh, and Rebecca, at home. William M. Henderson, father of the judge, was born May 28. 1795, and is still living at the advanerd age of ninety.one years, possessed of all his faculties. He is a son of Matthew aud Margaret (Miller) Henderson, natives of Pennsylvania. Matthew Henderson moved to Perry County, where he died near Gibson's Rock. William M. Hender-on worked at milling and farming all his life. He married Elizabeth Parker of Cumberland County. a daughter of Andrew and Margaret (Williams) Parker, Scotch Presbyterians and early settlers of Cumberland County.

JUDGE MARTIN C. HERMAN, attorney at law, Carlisle, was born on the old family homestead near the village of New Kingston, Silver Spring Township, this county, February 14, 1841. This farm was purchased in 1771. by his great-grandfather, Martin Herman, who was born in Germany, and when a young man immigrated to America, land- ing in Philadelphia in 1754, where he remained a few years; then moved to L'mcaster County, Penn., where he married Miss Anna Dorothea Borrst, and engaged in farming until 1771, when he purchased the old farm in Silver Spring Township, this county, where he died in 1804. aged seventy-two years. He and his wife, members of the Lutheran Church, had four sons and tonr daughters. The sons were Christian. John, Jacob and Martin. Christian Was born in Laneaster County. Penn., October 20, 1761, and died October 23, 1899. He was a farmer; a soldier in the war of the Revolution, he fought in the army under Washington at the battle of Germantown, passed through the trials and sut- ferings at Valley Forge, and participated in the important engagements of this branch of the Continental Army up to the siege of Yorktown, being present at the surrender of Coin- wallis. He married Miss Elizabeth Bowers, of York County, Penn., in 1793. They were members of the Lutheran Church; had a family of eleven children, eight of whom lived to be men and women and had families. the sons being: John, Jacob. Martin, Christian and David; the daughters were Mary (married 10 Michael G. Betzhoover); Anna (married to Dr. Jacob Bosler, of Dayton, Ohio), and Eliza (married to Abram Bosler, of this eounty). Martin llerman, by occupation a farmer, was born on the old farm in Silver Spring Township this county, July 10, 1801, and inherited the farm by will from his father, Chris- tian Herman, and died May 22, 1872. Hle married in February, 1827, Miss Elizabeth Wol- ford, who was born in 1803, in York County, Penn., a daughter of the Hon. Peter and El zabeth (Albert) Wolford, former of whom was a prominent man of York County, Penn .. having represented that county in the Legislature. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Herman were members of the Lutheran Church. She dieu July 30, 1852. They had six children: Margaret. wife of Ezra M. Myers, of Adams County, Penn .; Margery A., wife of the Rev. A. W. Lilly. of York, York Co .. Penn .; Mary J., wife of Crawford Fleming, of Carlisle; P. Wolford, a farmer, who owns and resides on the old farm in Silver Spring Township. this county; Martin C .. our subjeet: and David B., born December 29, 1844, killed by hostile Indians on the North Platte River, Neb .. May 20 1876. while he was in charge of a cattle ranel. He was a member of the Cumberland County har, admitted in 1867. Judge Martin C. Herman, our subject. worked on the old farm with his father, and attended school during the winters, until the age of sixteen. let en entered the academy at York. Penn., presided over by George W. Ruby, and remained there until the close of ther summer term of 1858. He then entered the freshman class of Dickinson College, in September, 1858, from which he graduated June 26, 1862. In his junior year at this insti- tution he took the silver medal for oratory at the junior prize contest, and on June 24, 1862, delivered the seventy-sixth anniversary address of the Belles-Lettres Society; but prior to this, in January, 1862. he registered as a law student in the offire of B. Melntire & Son. at Bloom eld. P rry County. Penn. In April, 1863, he transferred his registry as a student of law to William II. Miller, of Carlisle; studied law with him, and was admi ted to the bar of Cumberland County, January 13. 1864; began the practice of law in Carlisle, and has been actively engaged in that profession ever since. He was elected by the people of Cumberland County president judge of the Ninth Judicial District, composed of the county of Cumberland at the general election of 1874 at that time being not quite thirty- four years of age. He took the bench on the first Monday of January, 1875. and served fur ton years until the first Monday of January, 1885. Was renominated by acclamation in August, 1884. Ile was married June 5, 1873, to Miss Josie Adair, a native of Cumberland

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County, Penn., and a daughter of S. Dunlap Adair (deceased), at one time a brilliant and leading lawyer of the Cumberland County bar, and who married Miss Henrietta Gray, daughter of John Gray, of Carlisle. Mr. and Mrs. Herman have four children: Adair. Henrietta G, Joseph B. and Bessie It. Mrs. Herman is a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, and the Judge is one of the vestrymen. He is not only a representa- tive of one of the oldest and best families of Cumberland County, with which he has been identified all his life, but is one of the self-made men, standing at the head of his profes- sion, and having the confidence and esteem of all.

ALFRED J. HERMAN. M. D., physician and surgeon, Carlisle, was born near Potts- town. Montgomery Co., Penn., in May, 1815, a son of Frederick L. and Mary ( Fite) Her- man: former a native of Germany, latter of New Jersey. Frederick L., when a young man, was sent to America as a missionary of the Reformed Church, of which he was a minister. Eight sons and five daughters were born to Frederick 1. and Mary Herman, Alfred J. being next to the youngest son. Our subject, until sixteen years of age, at- tended the college at Pottstown, which had been established by his father for the educa- tion of young men for the ministry; then began the study of medicine with Dr. David Rutter, of Pottstown, who, some two years and a half later, received a professorship at Chi- cago, and young Herman then accepted a partnership with Dr. Slemm, a physician of Kutz- town, Berks County, Penn., and in 1846 was graduated from the University of Medicine at Philadelphia. He practiced medicine in connection with his partner at Kutztown until the fall of 1846, when he settled in Middlesex, Cumberland County, where he remained some four years; then located at Sterrett's Gap with the intention of establishing a hydro- pathic institution, but was kept too busy with his patients. In 1852 he located in Carlisle, where he has since followed his profession. At the organization of the Cumberland County Medical Society, Dr. Herman took an active part, and has since taken a deep in- terest in its success. He has served as its resident physician, and otherwise officiated in its meetings. In January, 1886. he was elected an honorary member of the society. He is also a member of the State Medical Society of Pennsylvania, and a life member of the American Medical Association, to the latter of which he has been three times a delegate. Dr. Herman stands high as a physician, and has enjoyed an extensive practice. He is a member of the Reformed Church.

CHRISTIAN PINLIP HUMRICII, attorney, Carlisle, was born in that place March 9. 1831, of parents John Adams and Mary Ann (Zeigler) Humrich. The former was born in Lancaster City, and the latter in Montgomery County, this State. John A. was a son Christian Humrich, a native of the Palatinate, in Germany, who came to America about 1800, and was naturalized in Lancaster County, Penn., on June 14, 1802. He was a sad- dler by occupation. He married in Lancaster City, and moved to Cumberland County in 1807. where he opened a hotel (now the Pennsylvania Inn; then the " Black Bear "), which he kept over thirty years. His death occurred in Carlisle in 1812. at the age of ninety-four years. ITis children were Philip, Maria, John, Catharine and John Adams. The last, too, was a saddler and harness-maker by trade and. later in life. farmed. He died in February, 1880, aged eighty years. John Adams and wife had four sons: Christian Philip. John A., Samuel K. and William A. John died in 1862. All the rest are living in Carlisle. The parents were members of the Lutheran Church. Christian P. attended the first common school in Carlisle (opening August 13, 1836), and at the age of sixteen years attended Dickinson College, graduating in 1852. He then began the study of law with Judge Rob- ert M. Henderson, and was admitted to the bar November 14, 1854. since which time he has been actively engaged in the practice of law. He has been twice nominated district attorney by the Republican party, also received the nomination for Representative, but that party being in the minority, was defeated at the election. He has served as school director since 1857, and has been secretary of the school board since 1860. May 12, 1859, Mr. Humrich was married to Miss Amanda R. Zeigler. a'native of Cumberland County, and a daughter of Jesse and Mary (A. Peffer) Zeigler, old settlers of that county. To our subject and wife have been born nine children, six of whom are living, namely: Charles F., insurance agent, Carlisle: Ellen K., Carrie A .. Blanch Z .. Mary A. and Christian P., Jr. The parents are members of the Litheran Church. In polities Mr. Humrich was first an old-line Whig, and on the organization of the Republican party, espoused its principles, and has ever since been one of its strong supporters.

ADAM KELLER. cashier of the Carliste Deposit Bank, Carlisle, was born in Phila- delphia. December 9, 1512. a son of Adam and Mary (Loller) Keller, natives of Philadel- phia. He graduated from the Central High School of that city. in 1861. and entered as a clerk, in Philadelphia. in a notary's office, where he remained until the spring of 1862, when he engaged in mercantile trade at Harrisburg until 1865, in which year he entered the law office of Col. William M. Penrose, at Carlisle, and wis admitted to the bar of Cumberland County. He engaged in the practice of law until 1869, when he was elected cashier of the Second National Bank at Mechanicsburg. In February, 1877, he was elected cashier of the Carlisle Deposit Bank, of Carlisle, which posicion he has filled and con- tinues to fill, to the present time, to the satisfaction of all. He married at ('arlisle, Penn., December 9, 1869, Miss Katherine Wilkins Stevenson, who was born in Carlisle, a daugh-

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ter of Dr. Thomas Collins and Eliza (Duncan) Stevenson. Dr. Thomas Collins Stevenson, an able practicing physician, was a son of Dr. George Stevenson, a very learned and courteous gentleman, at one time president of the old United States Bank, at Pittsburgh. He married a Miss Maria Barker, of Delaware, a granddaughter of Gov. Thomas Collins, of that State. Mr. and Mrs. Adam Keller are members of St. John's Episcopal Church, of Carlisle. He is treasurer of the parish and a vestryman. He and his wife have had three children; two daughters (now deceased), Bessie Duncan and Mary Loller. and one son, Thomas Collins Stevenson Keller, born July 2, 1884, who is living. Mr. Keller stands high in the estimation of all as a strict business man and an upright gentleman.

STEPHEN BARNETT KIEFFER, A. M., M. D., Carlisle, was born in Franklin Coun- ty, Penn., and spent the earlier part of his life on his father's farm. Ile comes of a line of ancestors dating back through five generations, descending from Abram Kieffer, a French Huguenot, from Strasburg. Ile entered Marshall College as a student in 1844, and grad- uated with honor in 1848. He subsequently read medicine in Mercersburg, Penn., and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1851, after which he immediately located, for the practice of his profession, in Carlisle. Since that time he has devoted all his en- ergies to his profession, in which he takes a sincere interest. In his professional life Dr. Kieffer combined both medicine and surgery, and as a surgeon he has made some of the most interesting and difficult operations in this portion of Pennsylvania. Dr. Kieffer was honored with the degree of A. M. by his alma mater in due course of time; was president of the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania; is a member of the American Medi- cal Association; and was a member of the International Medical Convention in 1876. Principally, in his life, he feels honored in having been largely instrumental together, especially, with Dr. R. L. Sibbet, in inaugurating the national movement, which has re- sulted in the establishment of the American Academy of Medicine, the grandest medical association of the United States. Besides, Dr. Kieffer has contributed frequently to the leading medical journals, both in the interest of medicine and surgery. He has frequently delivered orations before various medical associations, and a few years ago was chosen by his alma mater to deliver the address before the alumni of Franklin and Marshall College, where, taking for his subject, "The Relations of Science and Faith," he made a masterly philosophical oration. Large-hearted, sympathetic with suffering, social in instinct. he is popular as a citizen, and is, undoubtedly, one of the real leaders of his profession in Pennsylvania.

JOHN B. LANDIS, Carlisle, was born on his father's farm in Upper Allen Township, one mile south of Mechanicsburg, August 21, 1841. He worked on the farm and attended school until he was seventeen, when he hegan teaching, and taught in York and Cumber- land Counties five sessions; then entered the select school of Prof. S. B. Heiges, where he completed his studies. In April, 1860, he began the study of medicine with Dr. R. H. Long, of Mechanicsburg, with whom he remained until August, 1862, when he enlisted as a private in Company F, One Hundred and Thirtieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and was later made a corporal. He participated in the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg, and in the latter received a shell wound in the neck and shoulder. He was sent to Point Lookout Hospital, Maryland, and on February 12, 1863, was discharged for disability. when be returned home. Subsequently he assisted in raising Company A, Two Hundred and Ninth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. of which company he was made captain in September, 1864, serving as such until the close of the war. From September 29 until November 24, 1864, he was in command of Redoubt Carpenter on the Bermuda Hundred front, on the south bank of the James River. His regiment was next stationed in front of Petersburg, at Meade Station. He participated in the battles of Fort Steadman March 25 1865, and Petersburg April 2, 1865, besides various skirmishes, and was mustered out with his regiment May 31, 1865, and returned to his home in Mechanicsburg. In 1866 Capt. Landis was appointed military instructor for the White Hall Soldiers' Orphan School, and in April, 1867. received the appointment of deputy collector of internal revenue for the Fifteenth District of Pennsylvania, which he resigned September 30, 1876, to enter the Carlisle Deposit Bank, accepting the position of cashier. This position he held until February, 1877, when he resigned on account of impaired health, and after a year's rest began the study of law in the office of John Hays, Esq., of Carlisle. In 1881 he was admitted to the bar, and has since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession. The Captain was elected treasurer of the Carlisle Gas & Water Company July 1, 1882, and has been a member of the town council since the spring of 1881. On June 9, 1870, he was married to Miss Barbara H. Merkel, a daughter of Hon. Levi and Susannah (Martin) Merkel, former of whom was a banker of Mechanicsburg and the organizer of the present First National Bank there. To our subject and wife have been born four sons and two daughters: Victor (who died in infancy), Norman, Merkel, Naomi, Olive and Kenneth. Mr. and Mrs. Landis are members of the First Presbyterian Church, in which he is an elder and trustee. The father of Capt. Landis was Jacob Landis, a native of York County, a farmer and mill-wright, who married Miss Mary Moh- ler, of Cumberland County, a daughter of Daniel Mobiler, of Lancaster County. Capt. Landis has the following brothers and sisters: Anna, wife of George Brindle, a retired

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

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