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 81

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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 81
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 81

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J. C. FOSNOT, editor Star and Enterprise, Newville, is a son of Jacob and Mary Fosnot, natives of Cumberland County, and who had twelve children: William C., J. C., Peter T., Joshua V., Edward W., Lewis C., Henry J., Elizabeth A., Mary Jane, Margaret E., Sarah C. and Martha M. Our subject was born October 3, 1831; learned the trade of a weaver, and later clerked in his uncle's store in Newburg. In 1856 he bought the Oak- ville store, which he kept for eighteen years, at the same time-three years, from 1866 to 1869-being engaged in business in Baltimore. In May, 1871, in order to give employ- ment to two brothers, he started the Oakville Enterprise, which, in December, 1874, he re- moved to Newville, and has since then devoted himself assiduously to it with gratifying results. Instead of a six-column, four-page, it is now a seven-column, eight-page paper, the largest in the whole Cumberland Valley. January 1, 1885, he bought the Star of the Valley, which his son George B. McC. conducted for one year, when Mr. Fosnot united it with the Enterprise under the name of the Star and Enterprise. The double paper is achieving a rare success. October 5, 1855, Mr. Fosnot was married to Elizabeth Ferguson, who has borne him six children: Laura Belle, Maggie R., Lou Ella, George B. McC. and William J., and another daughter who died when six years old. Lou Ella is the wife of Abraham J. Myers, farmer of Mifflin Township, this county. The rest are single, and liv- ing with their parents, respected by the community among whom they live.

. JOHN GRAHAM, tanner, Newville. This gentleman is of Scotch- Irish descent, his great-great-grandfather, Jared Graham, having emigrated from the North of Ireland in the

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eighteenth century, locating in Lancaster County, Penn. His descendants have in their possession a deed from "Thomas and Richard Penn, proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania." dated March 13, 1734, to Jared Graham, of Salisbury Township. Lancaster County, for a tract of land in the Manor of Maske, West Pennsborough Township, Cum- berland Co., Penn., on the south side of the Conodoguinet Creek. He never lived on this land, but continued to reside in Lancaster County, where he died. About 1745 his son James removed to this tract, at that time called the back woods, which was conveyed to him in 1762. His cabin was about thirty miles west of the Susquehanna. He died in 1807, aged eighty-two, leaving five sons: Jared, Thomas, Arthur, Isaiah and James. Thomas was the grandfather of our subject. On the death of his father Jared removed to Ohio. James was educated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, where he graduated, and, having stnd- ied theology under the learned Dr. Cooper, was licensed as a Presbyterian minister, and received a call from the congregation of Beulah, eight miles east of Pittsburgh, where he remained thirty-eight years, until his death in 1814. On the death of his father the land was divided between Thomas, Arthur and Isaiah. The two latter resided on the land, and Arthur's portion is yet held by his descendant, Robert Graham. Isaiah's descendants are represented by Duncan M. Graham, Carlisle. Thomas was married to Mary McKeehan, who was born in December, 1778, and died January 23, 1842. They had but one child- George, father of John Graham-who was born December 24, 1802, a short time before the death of his father. He inherited the farm, on which he lived until 1866, when he removed to Newville, having sold the farm. He died March 20, 1870. February 3, 1830, he was married to Miss Eliza Alter, who was born January 16, 1805, and died February 26, 1870. They had nine children, three of whom, Laura, George and Jane, died in infancy, and two, Lizzie and Mary, when nearing maturity. The others were George W., born December 6. 1840, who enlisted in his brother's Company F, Thirteenth Pennsyl- vania Cavalry, and was killed at Ashby's Gap, Va., May 16, 1863; Thomas J. was born November 25, 1830, and has been living in Colorado for twenty-six years past; Jacob A., born September 30, 1832. went into the army from Kansas, and afterward was captain of the company of which George W. was a member when killed. John, the subject of our sketch, was born Angust 4, 1843, on the homestead, attended district schools, and received a commercial education at Eastman's College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. After a few months spent in the West he returned to Newville, this county, bought a store, which he sold two years later, to become book-keeper in the First National Bank in 1870, and resigned in 1876 when, in company with Joseph B. Hurst, he bought the Big Spring tannery, which they still own, and is also engaged in other business enterprises. November 10, 1870, he married Miss Harriet McKee, of Newville, who died eleven months later. June 12, 1878, he was married to Miss Isabella Sterrett, an amiable and accomplished lady, daughter of Brice Innis Sterrett, of West Pennsborough Township. this county. In 1882 Mr. Graham was elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature, and re-elected in 1884. He is now serving his second term with eminent satisfaction to his constituents. The people among whom his life has been spent speak of him in terms of highest praise, and none grudge him the honorable position he has achieved. He and his wife are members of Big Spring Presby- terian Church, of which he was trustee. In politics he is a Democrat.

JOHN HURSH. grain dealer and forwarder, Newville, is a grandson of Henry Hursh, who was a farmer in Lancaster County, Penn., afterward living in York County some time before the Revolutionary war; he died in 1837. His wife was Susanna Rudesil. They had three sons: John, Joseph and Henry. Joseph, married to Mary Fisher, retained the homestead, in which he died in 1819. Henry took a farm a few miles off. on which he died in 1840. John was born iu York County, Penn., in 1799, and lived on the farm until bis marriage with Barbara Bruckhart; he died in 1880, his wife two years before. They had nine children: Henry, Susan, Daniel, Mary, John. Joseph B .. Elizabeth, Abraham and David. Susan, Daniel and Mary are deceased. Henry is married to Cassandra Dietz, and lives in Hopewell Township; Elizabeth is the widow of Christian Rupp, and lives in Mechanicsburg; Abraham is married to Fanny Frantz, and lives in Steelton; David is married to Catharine Hale, and lives in Newville. John was born January 19, 1824, on the farm in York County, where he lived until twenty-four years old, at which time he went to Manchester, York Co., Penn., and engaged in dry goods business with his brother, Joseph B., and when the latter went to Virginia he took the business alone. In 1854 he removed to Mechanicsburg, Penn., and January 1. 1856. to Newville, where he has since resided. engaged in forwarding and dealing in grain, flour, salt, fish, coal, Inmber, etc., etc. Until 1870 he was in company with Joseph B., but since then has been alone. At that time they had an interest in the flouring-mill of D. Shipp & Co., of Tamaqua, which in the division his brother assumed, John retaining the business here, including the mill- ing business on Big Spring. He and Joseph own together one-half interest in the Mount Vernon Mill on the Conodoguinet. In 1850 Mr. Hursh was married to Miss Sarah A., daughter of George Livingston, of York County. Penn .. and born in 1823. They had five children, one of whom, John, born May 10, 1857, died young. Those living are Daniel G., born June 24, 1851, who was married December 17, 1874, to Annie C. Bert, of Newville, and is his father's book-keeper; Susan, born October 17, 1852, is the wife of W. B. Oyler,

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of Newville; Sarah, born August 3, 1855, is the wife of Erwin C. Glover, of Detroit, Mich., and James, born July 23, 1860, is married to Annie C. Kratzer, of Newville. Mr. Harsh has held many township offices, and is now and has been, for several years, treas- urer of Newville Cemetery. He and his wife and son Daniel, and daughter, Susan, are members of the United Brethren Church, and in all the relations of life he has ever shown himself to be a man of probity.

ROBERT McCACHRAN, attorney at law, Newville, is a representative of an old Scotch family, who came to this country early in the last century, at which time his great- great-grandfather emigrated, with his wife, three sons and one daughter. His son, James, married Mary Ralston, whom he had known in the old country, and they had three sons: James, John and Robert. In 1790 they purchased a farm on the Brandywine from the Penns, and here they lived until, on the death of his wife, the father, having made other arrangements for his youngest son, divided the farm between James and John, with whom he lived until his death, September 22, 1822, aged eighty-seven. John, the grandfather of Robert McCachran, was born about 1763, and in 1794 or 1795, was married to Isabella, danghter of John Cunningham, who enlisted in the Revolutionary war, and was never again heard of. John McCachran died February 8, 1808, aged about forty-five, leaving five children. His widow died February 12, 1851, at the residence of her son John, near Newville, aged eighty-six. Their children were James, Elizabeth, Robert, John and Isa- bella. Robert, father of our subject, was born in 1798. He had an ardent desire for a liberal education, which he procured under great difficulties in various places, finally com- pleting the three years' course at the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J. He was licensed to preach in 1827 and given a charge at Middleton, Penn., also attending to the religions wants of the community for miles around. He was ordained May 19, 1829. In 1830 he took a journey in search of health, and in Newville was invited to preach in the Big Spring Church, then without a pastor. This resulted in his becoming pastor of that church in which he labored for twenty-one years, resigning in 1851. Iu 1834, he married Jane, daughter of Atcheson Laughlin, head of one of the oldest and most widely known and respected families of this region. She was born in 1799. They had two children: Robert, born October 6, 1835, and Mary born in 1837 (wife of James Oliver); she died in 1875. Robert McCachran, Sr., died at Newville, February, 15, 1885, aged eighty-five years; his wife died in 1872. Until 1853, young Robert attended a classical school taught by his father. He then went to Jefferson College, and gradnated from Lafayette College, Easton, Penn., the following year. He engaged in teaching and read law in the office of Judge Frederick Watts, of Carlisle, and was admitted in 1857, but did not practice for some years. having the management of his father's property. Having prepared himself for the profession, he, in 1870, became civil engineer on the Harrisburg & Potomac Road, and, in 1872, took a similar position on the Pennsylvania Railroad, resigning in 1875, to look after his father's interests. In 1883 he began practicing as an attorney. In Decem- ber, 1874, he married Martha McCandish, born in 1847, daughter of Thomas McCandish, of an old Scotch family, who have been in this neighborhood since early in the last cen- tury. To this union were born six children: Thomas, born February 16, 1876; Mary, born September 11, 1877; Jane, born October 28. 1878; Margaret, born December 21, 1879; Robert, born November 28, 1881 (deceased) and Russell Atcheson. born March 1, 1886. Mr. MeCachran was a member of the Legislature four years, elected in 1878, and again in 1880, and is attorney for the borough. He is a K. T. He is a man of unswerving honesty and is in every way trustworthy.

J. NORRIS and THOMAS E. MYERS, merchants, Newville. are grandchildren of John Myers, an old and respected citizen of Georgetown, D. C., who died there in 1853. He, John Myers, had seven children: John H., a prominent citizen of Lexington, Va., where he died; Charles, a merchant of Georgetown, where he lived all his lifetime; Thomas, the father of our subjects; Edward and William E., who were in business as partners in Georgetown for several years (the former died recently in Brooklyn, N. Y., and the latter, some years ago at sea, while on a health trip): Louisa (deceased in 1873), was the wife of Joseph Libbey, a prominent and wealthy merchant of Georgetown, and Catharine S., unmarried, lives in Georgetown. Thomas Myers was born in 1813; in 1835 he entered the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church; in 1843 and 1844, was stationed on the Carlisle Circuit and lived in Mechanicsburg, where he is well remem- bered. In March, 1885. he preached by special request, before the Conference, his semi-cen- tennial sermon, in the Eutaw Street Church, Baltimore, Md. He has, for the past three years, heen stationed at Woodberry, Md., and is now agent of the Maryland Bible Society, at Baltimore, Md. His remarkable tact and business ability have caused his being sent on sev- eral occasions to struggling parishes to build new churches and parsonages, in which he has always succeeded. Now, in his seventy-fourth year. he is as hale and vigorous as many men of twenty years his junior. His deceased children are Lottie. a young lady, who died in 1876, and two other children who died in infancy. The living are J. Norris. Mary L .. Thomas E. and James R. Mary L. is the wife of John J. Frick, teller in First National Bank, York, Penn. James R. is married to Laura V. Murray, and is in commission business in Baltimore, Md. J. Norris was boru in Lewistown, Penn., November 17, 1842. He at-

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tended the grammar school at St. John's College, Annapolis, Md., and completed his edu- ention in Newton University. Baltimore. In 1858, he went into the hardware store of Duer, Norris & Co., in that city, which he left, in 1866, to engage in business under the firm name of Ullrich & Myers, giving up, several years after, on account of his health and engaging as a commercial traveler. In 1879, with his brother, Thomas E., he came to Newville, this county, and established the firm of Myers & Bro., which was dissolved in 1882, when he returned to Baltimore. While confidential clerk for a large importing house, his health was impaired by overwork, and by his physician's advice he- removed to the country. and in February, 1886, the firm of Myers & Bro. was revived by his pur- chase of the interest of his brother's partner. In 1876 he was married to Laura V., daugh- ter of William M. Starr, of Baltimore, a man of brilliant attainments, who has occupied many positions of honor and trust. He was a son of the wealthy Wesley Starr, who built the Starr Methodist Protestant Church in that city and endowed its parsonage. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have three children: William Starr. John Norris and Thomas Miller. Mr. Myers is welcomed back to Newville by all who know him. He and his wife are com- municants of the Methodist Episcopal Church and command universal respect. Thomas E. Myers, our other subject, was born in Cumberland, Md., in 1850, and was educated mainly in Baltimore. In 1866 he went into his brother's store there, and remained until 1872, when he became book keeper in the largest retail hardware store in Baltimore, re- maining until 1878. In 1879 he came to Newville, as stated above, and on the dissolution of the firm, in 1882, formed a partnership with John M. MeCandlish, which was dissolved the following year in consequence of the failing health of his partner, who went West. Ile then formed a partnership with James S. Brattan, under style of Myers & Brattan, which continued until the purchase of his partner's interest by his brother, J. Norris. He was married. in 1882, to Miss Emma J., daughter of Rev. Thomas M. Reese, one of the oldest members and a leading one of the Central Pennsylvania Methodist Episcopal Con- ference, who died in March, 1882. To this union two children have been born: Lottie Reese and Elizabeth Parrish. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and, as an upright Christian business man, he bears an enviable reputation.

ROBERT S. RANDALL, bank teller, Newville, is a grandson of George and Mar- garet (Steinbeck) Randall, natives of Philadelphia, Penn., whose parents came from Ger- many. George Randall died in 1812 or 1813, and his widow in 1856; they had thirteen children, five of whom died young. The others were John, David, George, Joseph S., Lawrence H., Sarah, Catharine and Mary. Lawrence H. Randall was born October 14, 1810, learned the trade of a tailor, and came to Newville, this county, in 1833, where he carried on the business until 1875. He is a director of the First National Bank, of which he was an incorporator. In 1833 he was married to Miss Mary Jane Dunlap, of Harris- burg, and on October 14, 1883, they celebrated their golden wedding, in company with twenty six of their descendants and a large number of other friends, receiving many expressions of esteem and good-will. They had twelve children: Margaret, Scott. and William. deceased; and Mary, wife of W. R. Tittler, of Newville; Sarah A., wife of Al- bert 11. Newman, of Catasanqua, Penn .; Edmund, married to Maria E. Williams, and living in Catasauqua: William L., living in Altoona; Laura, Marian J., Eva K .. and Jo- seph S., living with their parents; and Robert S., who was born June 21, 1840, and learned his father's trade. and lived with his parents until 1862, when he enlisted at Chambersburg, in Company A, One Hundred and Twenty- sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, for nine months. He was in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, where he was captured and taken to Belle Isle, at Richmond. Ile was one of the 5,000 prisoners paroled by the rebels, who were afterward exchanged and were sent to Camp Parole, at Annapolis, Md., thence to Harrisburg, where he was honorably discharged with his regiment in May, 1863. On his return he entered a commercial college in Philadelphia to acquire a business edu- cation. and then was in business with his father for ten years. In 1875, he went to Cata- sauqua, Penn., where, with his brother Edmund. he published The Catasauqua Dispatch. still conducted by his brother. Two years later he returned to Newville, this county, and bought the Lewis Sumac and Bark Mill, which he ran for three years, when he accepted the position of teller of the First National Bank, which he retains. In 1868, he was mar- ried to Florence, daughter of George Bricker, Sr., of Newville, who died in 1871, her two ch ldren having preceded her to the grave. Mr. Randall re-married in 1882: his wife is Maimec, a daughter of Maj. Edmund Hawkins, of Catasauqua, Penn. They have two children: Ernest Il., born October 18, 1883, and Lawrence E., born June 12, 1885. Mr. Randall belongs to Colwell Post. No. 201, G. A. R .; has once been councilman, and is now school director. IIe and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian Church. As a man of character and prohity he has no superior in the community in which he lives.

JOHN W. STROHM, editor Times, Newville, was born in this county December 6, 1855, son of George and Eliza Strohm, of Plainfield. Penn. George Strohm was one of four brothers who came to this county from Lebanon County prior to 1838, in which year he was married. He engaged in wagon and cabinet-making, and amassed a comfortable competence. He has had nine children: Benjamin F., married to Annie Grove; Mary A., widow of Dr. Wilmer James, a prominent homeopathic physician; Sarah J., wedded

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to Robert E. Myers, living in Ohio; J. Silas, married to Catherine Bear; George W., married to Cathrine Faust, of Carlisle; David E. married Sadie E. Paul; Horace L. married Clara Jacoby; Lizzie G. is the wife of John Paul, and John W., our subject, was married, March 23, 1880, to Alice, daughter of David and Rachael Sanderson, of this county. One son, Orie Curtis, has blessed this union. Prior to his marriage, John W. Strohm was engaged in mercantile business at Plainfield, this county, where, on May 11, 1882, he began the publication of the Plainfield Times, purchasing a complete outfit, in- cluding steam press, and has made the paper a pronounced success, its popularity grow- ing with each issue. In November, 1885, he removed it to Newville, and called it The Newville Times. It has a large circulation. In August, 1883, he started a matrimonial paper called Cupid's Corner, which has proven a profitable venture. Mr. Strohm has evinced his ability. and is a man of rank in journalism.

JOIN WAGNER, bank president, Newville, is the representative of the Wagner family, from whom Wagner's Gap, in the Blue Ridge, took its name. His great-grandfather immigrated in 1740, and his grandfather, Jacob Wagner, whose father and mother both died on the ocean while on their way from Switzerland. first settled in Rock Hill Township, Bucks County, Penn., afterward removing to this county, where he took up a tract of 700 aeres on what is known as Wagner's Road, leading from Carlisle to the Gap. He died there in 1809. The farm is still owned by members of the family. His wife was Mary Cathrine Bauer. They had nine children: John, Jacob, George, Abrabam, Philip, Cath- erine, Mary, Margaret and Henry. Jacob, father of John Wagner was born in 1760, and on his father's death inherited half of the land where he lived all his days. In 1806 he married Christiana, daughter of Nicholas Ferdig, of North Middleton Township, Cumber- land County. They had four children: John, Jacob, George and Elizabeth. Of these Jacob, who succeeded to the mansion farm, married Ann, daughter of John Lane, Esq., and died near Carlisle in 1884; George married Sarah Strohm, and lived near Carlisle, where he died in 1880, his widow is still living; Elizabeth (deceased in 1853) was the wife of Peter Laue, a brother of Ann Lane (Mrs. Jacob Wagner); John, the only survivor, was born April 30, 1808, in North Middleton Township, Cumberland County, Penn., and when eighteen years old he went to Perry County, Penn., to learn the tanner's trade; thence to Buffalo, N. Y., for a year, and then back to the farm. The following year he worked in a tannery, which he subsequently bought in 1850. and ran until 1878, since which time he has leased it. In January, 1871, he was elected president of the First National Bank of Newville, an office which his associates have since insisted on his retaining. In 1836 he mar- ried Jane, daughter of George Klink, of Newville. They celebrated their golden wedding June 2, 1886. To this union nine children have been born. The deceased are Mary Ellen, who became wife of John Curn, of California, and died in 1877; Jacob A. and Eva F. died after reaching their majority. The living are John P., a contractor living in Iowa; Samuel C. of whom a sketch appears below; Annie E., wife of S. I. Irvine, now living in Sioux City, Iowa; Sarah J., wife of Thomas N. Henderson, merchant of Germantown, Md .; and Lydia, wife of Joseph S. Henderson, a farmer near Germantown (the Hender- sons are sous of the former pastor of Big Spring Presbyterian Church in Newville); Re- becca K. lives with her parents. Mr. Wagner has on many occasions held the office of burgess, town councilor, and was school director for nearly forty years. He and his wife are members of Big Spring Presbyterian Church, of which he is an elder, and for thirty years he was superintendent of the Union Sabbath-school. He and his wife are now en- joying the fruits of a long unblemished life, with all the comforts that ample means can procure and with the good-will of every member of the community.

SAMUEL C. WAGNER, grain and flour dealer, and State Senator, representing the Cumberland and Adams District, Newville, a son of John and Jane (Klink) Wagner, was born August 9, 1843, and was educated at schools and academies in the county, afterward getting a business education at the Iron City Commercial College, Pittsburgh, Penn. In 1859 he kept books in a wholesale dry goods house in Leavenworth, Kas., for a few months, when he returned to Newville, this county, and worked in the tannery of his father until August 8, 1861; when. just eighteen, he enlisted in Young's Kentucky Cav- alry, afterward the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry. He has a most brilliant record as a sol- dier. Six months after his enlistment the young man was promoted to regimental com- missary sergeant, and in a few months more was promoted again to second lieutenant of Company I. In a short time he was again promoted to first lieutenant and regimental commissary. On the reorganization of the cavalry, under Gen. Pleasanton, he was as- signed to the staff of Gen. J. B. MeIntosh, commanding the First Brigade of Gregg's di- vision of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He was afterward assigned to fill a vacancy caused by the disability of Capt. Pollard, of Gen. Gregg's staff, at Warren- ton, Va., in the winter of 1863. In the spring of 1864. when Gen. Grant began his move- ment toward Richmond, he was ordered to report to Gen. Patrick, provost-marshal-gen- eral of the Army of the Potomac, as commissary to prisoners, in which he remained until mustered out in the fall of 1864, in front of Petersburg, where he was brevetted captain for gallant services. He took part in the battles of Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Charles City Cross Roads, Malvern Hill (where he was one of the last officers to leave the

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

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