USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, Volume One > Part 51
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Robert J. Moorhead. Possessing in a marked degree the pronounced ability, forceful individuality, and perseverance of purpose that win suc- cess in business circles, and command universal respect, Robert J. Moor- head is actively associated with the financial growth and prosperity of the city of Erie, and as president of the Security Savings & Trust Company of Erie is prominently identified with one of the leading institutions in this part of Erie County. A man who has done much toward promoting the mercantile and manufacturing interests of Western Pennsylvania, and as a banker has carried on business with credit and success, being now one of the leading financiers of Erie, of which city he is to all in- tents and purposes a citizen, although he still maintains his family resi- dence in his old home town, North East. He was born April 2, 1852, in Moorheads, Harbor Creek Township, Erie County, which was the birth- place likewise of his parents, Joseph Byers and Eliza (Hampson) Moor- head. His grandfather, John Moorhead, with his two brothers, Robert and George, located in Erie County in the early part of the last century, in Harbor Creek Township, in the town of Moorheads, which was named in their honor.
Brought up on the farm, hewed from the forest by his father, Joseph Byers Moorhead, was there engaged in tilling the soil until 1865, when he removed with his family to North East, where for a period of eight years he was employed in the forwarding and commission business. Locating in Cadiz, Ohio, in 1873, he remained there until his death, March 10, 1880. His widow subsequently returned to her old home in North East, where her death occurred Sept. 6, 1891.
In 1869 he graduated from the North East Academy. Robert J. Moor- head worked as a bookkeeper in one of the business houses for a year
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and was afterwards bookkeeper for a similar length of time in the First National Bank of North East. Coming from there to Erie in April, 1871, Mr. Moorhead took charge of the books of the Second National Bank, and in October, 1872, went to Foxburg, Clarion County, to act as teller of the local savings bank, which was owned principally by Erie people, five months later becoming cashier, which position he held until February, 1874, having charge of this bank during the panic of 1873. This bank had an advertised capital of $100,000 with but $10,000 actually paid in, though having deposits of nearly one-half million dollars. Em- barking in the oil brokerage business in 1874, Mr. Moorhead was first located at Parker's Landing, then at Oil City, from there going to Pitts- burgh, where he remained until 1885, when he returned to North East. In 1888 Mr. Moorhead purchased the controlling interest in the Short Manufacturing Company, of North East, being made president of the company. In 1898 he was appointed national bank examiner by Hon. Charles G. Dawes, which office he held until 1903, when he became vice- president and manager of the newly-organized Colonial National Bank of Pittsburgh. He subsequently organized the Security Savings & Trust Company of Erie, and has since performed the duties devolving upon him in this capacity with recognized ability and fidelity, rendering it one of the strongest financial institutions in the county.
A. Hunter Willis, treasurer of the National Foundry Company, has been identified with the business development of Erie for a number of years. He was born at King George Court House, Va., April 24, 1887, the son of Rev. A. J. and Margaret (Mitchell) Willis.
Rev. A. J. Willis and his wife were natives of Virginia, where they spent their entire lives. He was a minister of the Episcopal Church and is now deceased. To Reverend and Mrs. Willis were born three children: Major J. M., U. S. Army; Mrs. Margaret Bliven, lives in Erie; and A. Hunter, the subject of this sketch.
A. Hunter Willis spent his boyhood in Virginia and was educated in the public schools. He began life as a bench hand in a Virginia paper mill and in 1907 came to Erie where he is now connected with the Na- tional Foundry Company as treasurer and works manager.
On Oct. 26, 1911, Mr. Willis was united in marriage with Miss Eliza- beth Sheldon, of Erie, and the daughter of Edmond W. and Mary (Daven- port) Sheldon, natives of Pennsylvania and residents of Erie. To Mr.
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and Mrs. Willis have been born three children: A. Hunter, Jr., born in 1914; Mary Elizabeth, born in 1920; and Edmond Sheldon, born in 1923.
Mr. Willis is a Republican, a member of the Episcopal Church and belongs to the Masonic Lodge, the Elks and the Erie Club.
Isador Sobel, who ranks among the prominent attorneys of Erie, was born in New York City, and is the son of Semel and Cecelia (Kunz) Sobel. The father, a merchant, came from Posen, Germany, in 1847 and settled in New York City.
Isador Sobel received his preliminary education in the public schools of his native city, subsequently attending the College of the City of New York, and the Erie High School. He studied law under the preceptorship of Hon. S. M. Brainerd of Erie and was admitted to the bar in 1888, and that same year, in association with Mr. Brainerd, established the firm of Brainerd & Sobel. He has since continued a general law practice in the county, superior and supreme courts, giving special attention to commercial and bankruptcy law, also corporation law. From the begin- ning of his active career he has been closely identified with local, state and national politics as a Republican. He was elected a member of the Erie city council in 1891; was re-elected in 1893, and was president of that body in 1894. During 1889-91 he was secretary of the Erie County Republican Committee, and was its chairman during 1893-96. He became vice-president of the Republican League of Pennsylvania in 1894, and was president during 1896-98, and he was a presidential elector in 1896. President Mckinley appointed him postmaster of Erie in 1898, to which office he was reappointed by President Roosevelt in 1902 and 1906, and by President Taft in 1910. Meanwhile, in 1908, Mr. Sobel served as presi- dent of the Postmasters' Association of Pennsylvania. He was elected president of the National Association of Postmasters of First-Class Offices of the United States in 1912, and the following year became the first honorary president of that organization. He became a member of Dis- trict No. 3, Independent Order B'nai B'rith, in 1908; of the general com- mittee of that order in 1910, and was president of the district grand lodge during 1910-12.
Mr. Sobel is a former member of the executive committee of the American-Jewish Committee; president of the Board of Governors, B'nai B'rith Orphanage and Home for Friendless Children of District No. 3; former president Anche Chesed Reform Congregation, Erie; member ad-
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visory council Home for the Friendless, Erie; corporator of Hamot Hos- pital, Erie, and a member of the Jewish Historical Society, Jewish Pub- lication Society, and of the Erie, Elks, Shriner's and Country Clubs, Erie; is a 32d degree Mason and member of the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Sobel was married March 17, 1891, to Miss Emma Auerhaim, the daughter of Samuel Auerhaim, a merchant of Bradford, Pa. They have three children: Jeffrey Mortimer, Norman Tyler and Sidney Amos Sobel.
Thomas W. Spofford, an attorney of Erie, is recognized as one of the representative members of the bar of Erie County. He was born in North East Township, Erie County, Aug. 20, 1885, the son of James L. and Alice (Hitchcock) Spofford.
James L. Spofford was born in Erie County and was successfully engaged in farming during his life. He owned a well improved fruit and dairy farm of 100 acres in North East Township. He died in 1915 and his widow, a native of Oswego County, N. Y., resides with her son, Thomas W., the subject of this sketch. There were four children in the Spofford family: Calvin, who died in early youth; Edith, married Wil- liam Hummer, and lives at Burlingame, Calif .; James, a civil engineer and ranchman, lives at Murphy, Idaho; and Thomas W.
Thomas W. Spofford was educated in the public and high schools of North East and in 1908 received his degree in law at the University of Michigan. After a year's practice at Salt Lake City, Utah, Mr. Spofford returned to his father's farm, where he remained three years. During the years, 1913-14-15 he was connected with the Legislative Reference Bureau at Harrisburg, Pa., preparing codes of state laws. Since 1916 he has been associated in law practice at Erie with Joseph Orin Wait and J. Elmer Reed, the firm being known as Reed, Wait & Spofford. Their offices are in the Masonic Temple Building.
On Nov. 22, 1916, Mr. Spofford was united in marriage with Miss Isabelle Pancake, of Harrisburg, Pa., who was the daughter of Albert and May (Myers) Pancake. They have a son, T. Edwin, born March 13, 1919.
Politically Mr. Spofford is a Republican. He holds membership in the First Methodist Episcopal Church and belongs to the Masonic Lodge, Erie Consistory, Zem Zem Shrine and the University Club. Mr. Spofford is an excellent citizen and an asset to his community.
THOMAS W. SPOFFORD
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Jacob O. Hertzler has gained a wide reputation in Erie County as a successful attorney. He was born on a farm near Carlisle, Pa., July 10, 1882, and is a descendant of the Swiss Hertzler family, being the seventh generation in Pennsylvania. He is the son of Samuel and Florence (Hol- linger) Hertzler.
The Hertzlers were Mennonites in Lancaster and Cumberland counties and the Hollingers were people of the Dunkard faith. Jacob Hollinger, grandfather, was a leading Dunkard minister in Cumberland County, Pa., for many years. He died at the age of 82 years.
In the records of the colonies of immigrants in Pennsylvania on file in the Pennsylvania Historical Society in Philadelphia, the names of five Hertzlers are recorded above the age of 16 years who arrived in Phila- delphia from 1727 until 1776, namely: Jacob Hertzler, born in 1703, of Swiss parents in Switzerland; occupation, farmer and minister of the Amish Mennonite Church. He immigrated with his family from Switzer- land to the Palatinate, in France, and after residing there for some years, during the reign of Louis XV, a king of France, on account of being persecuted for his religious faith, being a Mennonite, he and his family immigrated from there to America, coming over in the ship "St. Andrew", James Abercrombie, Master, from Rotterdam, landing in Philadelphia, Sept. 9, 1749 .. From there he went to Berne Township, Lancaster County, Pa., now Upper Berne Township, Berks County, two miles west of Ham- burg, on the direct road leading from Harrisburg, and purchased from the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, Richard and Thomas Penn, in Phila- delphia, 404 acres of land all set with timber in a wilderness, which he improved. His sons were John, Jacob and Christian Hertzler.
Hans Hertzler and his son, Johannes Hertzler, arrived in Philadelphia, Nov. 3, 1750, in the ship "Brotherhood", John Thompson, Captain, from Rotterdam, last from Cowes, and they have numerous descendants in Pennsylvania, largely in Mifflin and Lancaster counties. Hans Hertzler resided when he died in the western part of the Lancaster County and has numerous descendants in Pennsylvania and the western states. He was related to Jacob Hertzler and was a member of the Mennonite church.
John Nickel Hertzler arrived in Philadelphia, Oct. 21, 1761, in the ship "Snow Squirrel", John Benn, Master, from Rotterdam, last from Cowes.
Jacob O. Hertzler, the subject of this sketch, spent his childhood and youth on the farm where he was born. After attending the township
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school he entered the Carlisle public schools, after which he spent two years in Dickinson Preparatory School, now Conway Hall. He then en- tered Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., and was graduated with the class of 1903, receiving the degree of Ph. B. He then entered the University of West Virginia, Morgantown, W. Va., Law Department, and received the degree of LL. B. in 1905. He also received the degree of Master of Arts from Dickinson College in the same year.
In 1905 Mr. Hertzler established his practice at Philippi, W. Va., and Wellsburg, W. Va. On Jan. 1, 1911, he came to Erie, where he has since engaged in the practice of his profession.
On April 5, 1906, Mr. Hertzler was married to Miss Neuvia Gladfelter of Seven Valleys, York County, Pa. Both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran Church and are active in Sunday School and church work in Erie and throughout the county. Mr. Hertzler is serving his fifth term as president of the Erie County Sabbath School Association. They have an extensive acquaintance in the community and are highly esteemed.
Judge Uriah Pennypacker Rossiter. A member of the Erie County bar for 38 years, 1887-1925, Judge Rossiter's private practice was inter- fered with in 1893, when he was called to fill the office of district attorney, and again in 1916, when he was elected to the position he now most worthily and ably fills, President Judge of the Sixth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, which comprises the county of Erie. He is learned in the law, and as attorney served a very important clientele. His nine years on the bench have demonstrated his judicial fitness and he commands the unlimited respect and confidence of the entire bench and bar.
Judge Rossiter is a grandson of Lindley and Margaret (Pennypacker) Rossiter, the former a tanner and currier of Norristown, Pa., for 40 years. He was succeeded by his son, Samuel Y. Rossiter, born in Norris- town, in 1835, died in Girard, Pa., Oct. 8, 1899. From Norristown Samuel Y. Rossiter moved to St. Mary's, Elk County, Pa., but after two years in business there moved to Girard, Erie County, where he bought out the tanning business of C. I. England. He married in 1857, Mary B. John- son, born in Norristown, Pa., who yet survives him, now residing in Girard.
Uriah P. Rossiter, son of Samuel Y. and Mary B. (Johnson) Rossiter, was born in Norristown, Pa., Oct. 6, 1861, but eight years later moved to St. Mary's with his parents, and in 1871 to Girard. He attended public
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schools in Norristown, St. Mary's and Girard, also was a student at Girard Academy and at Swarthmore College. He began the study of law under the preceptorship of J. Ross Thompson, of the Erie bar, and on June 17, 1887, was admitted to the bar of Erie County. He at once began prac- tice in Erie, and in turn was admitted to the United States State, Circuit and District Courts, to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (1895), and to the United States Supreme Court (1902). He continued in private prac- tice until 1893, when he was elected district attorney, an office he admin- istered with marked ability.
At the expiration of his term he returned to private practice and be- came attorney for many corporations of the district, including the Penn- sylvania Railroad and allied roads, the Reading and Susquehanna Rail- roads. His practice was very large and he continued its active head until his election as President Judge. He assumed the duties of this office Jan. 1, 1916, his term expiring Dec. 31, 1926.
In the business world Judge Rossiter has long had important inter- ests. He was one of the incorporators of the Cascade Foundry Company of Erie, and is now its vice-president. In politics he is a Republican, and for many generations in the past the Rossiters have been members of the Society of Friends. He is a member of Lodge, Chapter and Commandery of the York Rite of Masonry, and in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite he has attained the 32d degree. He is a life member and past exalted ruler of Erie Lodge, Benevolent and Protected Order of Elks; a member of the Erie Club, Maennerchor Club, and of the Erie County, Pennsyl- vania State and American Bar Associations. His favorite recreations are those of the out of doors, hunting and fishing, but in these later years he takes a great deal of pleasure from the management of his farm at Girard.
Judge Rossiter married, in Dunkirk, N. Y., Ella A. Nichols, born in Girard, daughter of James H. and Mary A. (Hay) Nichols, and grand- niece of Erie's first postmaster. Judge and Mrs. Rossiter have a son, Samuel Y. Rossiter, born Aug. 12, 1888. He is a graduate of Erie High School, Allegheny College, and the Law School of the University of Penn- sylvania, L. L. B., class of 1913. He is a member of the Erie County bar, began practice with his father, and when the latter became President Judge of the Sixth District, the son succeeded to his practice. He is attorney for the Pennsylvania Railroad and other large interests; is a member of the Pennsylvania State and Erie County Bar Associations; is a Republican, and active in local and state politics.
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William James Robinson was born near Mill Village, LeBoeuf Town- ship, Erie County, March 7, 1854. His father, William Robinson, and his mother, Ann Eliza Ford, were natives of Erie County. His grandfather, John Robinson, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, emigrating to this country before 1800, and settling in Erie County in 1805. His great- grandfather, on the maternal side, was Captain Robert King, soldier and officer in the Revolutionary War and a personal friend of General Lafay- ette. Captain King settled in Erie County in 1794, removing here from Lycoming County. As a reward for Captain King's valuable services in ยท securing treaties with the Indians the Legislature of Pennsylvania voted him "400 acres of land west of the Allegheny River." William Robinson and Ann Eliza Ford Robinson are buried in Mackey Hill Cemetery, Mill Village. Captain King's remains were removed to the Waterford Ceme- tery when the old Oak Grove Cemetery at Mill Village was discontinued. Mr. Robinson was educated in the public and private schools of Mill Vil- lage and subsequently completed a commercial course. At this time the family consisted of the parents and six children: Elizabeth, Belle, John, Peter, Mary and William, but by the time William reached the age of 21 he was the only surviving child.
In 1876 William James Robinson married Margaret Frazer Sweatman, of Summit Township. Her parents were Mathew Sweatman and Ann Andrews, natives of England, who emigrated to Erie in 1849. Her mother subsequently married Zachriah Worswick, who came here from England in 1870. Their children were: John Parke, who died at the age of 13 years and is buried in Erie Cemetery; Florence Page, now Mrs. Frederick H. Rice of Buffalo, N. Y .; and William James, Jr., of Erie. Florence Rob- inson Rice was graduated from Masten Park High School, Buffalo, in 1904 and from Vassar College in 1908. She has two children, Margaret and Charlotte.
In 1877 when he was 23 years old, Mr. Robinson engaged in the general merchandising business in Mill Village, in which he was very successful during the ten years which followed. He was naturally at- tracted to politics, however, and in 1886 was elected treasurer of Erie County, serving three years. At this time he moved to Erie, and in 1890 bought an interest in the Erie Daily and Weekly Dispatch. The following year he became general manager of the Dispatch Publishing Company and it was under his management that the company bought the old Erie Gazette and established in 1892 the Erie Evening News. This period
WILLIAM J. ROBINSON
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of Mr. Robinson's life was primarily political. From the time he cast his first vote for Governor Hartranft in 1875, his political influence grew. He was elected a member of the Erie County Republican executive committee in 1876 and served on that committee as secretary for three years and chairman one term. He was a delegate to the Republican State Conven- tions of 1879, 1887 and 1889. His election as county treasurer in 1886 was in the year that James A. Beaver was elected governor and William L. Scott to Congress. Although Mr. Scott was running on the Democratic ticket and carried Erie County by more than 2,000 plurality, Mr. Robin- son running on the Republican ticket carried the county by 1,200. The late James R. Burns was elected to the State Legislature that year on the Democratic ticket with more than a thousand majority.
In 1894 Mr. Robinson disposed of his newspaper interests. He had been head over heels in every political campaign up to this time but now began to devote more of his time to business. He organized the Dispatch Printing & Engraving Company of which he was president and general manager. A number of the successful men today in that line here served their apprenticeship under him at the Dispatch Printing & Engraving. The Dispatch Printing & Engraving is still one of the leading printing establishments in Erie and is controlled by interests who were associated with Mr. Robinson from the time of its organization.
Late in the nineties Mr. Robinson sold his interest in the Dispatch Printing & Engraving Company and turned all his attention to the life insurance business which he had been persuaded to enter by William M. Wood of Pittsburgh. His success in Erie was such that when the general agency for Western New York, of the United States Life Insurance Com- pany, became vacant in 1901 he was appointed general agent. This neces- sitated the removal of the Robinson family to Buffalo, N. Y. The follow- ing eight years in the life insurance business were very successful. Dur- ing that time Mr. Robinson served on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Life Underwriters and as president for one term of the Association of Life Underwriters of Western New York. Through- out these years he maintained his insurance connections in Erie and in 1908 he purchased the general insurance business which the late Richard F. Gaggin had organized in 1880. In 1909 he moved back to Erie to devote his entire time to the general insurance business here. Mr. Gaggin's office was in the Scott block but at the time of the purchase Mr. Robinson moved the office to the Erie Trust Company building, where he remained until
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1920 when he purchased the building at 18 East Eighth Street, where the office is still located. The business was incorporated in 1909 under the name of The Robinson Agency and under this name the business is now conducted by his son.
Mr. Robinson died suddenly, July 30, 1921, at Mayville, N. Y., at the age of 67 years. He was, during his residence in Erie, a member of the First Methodist Church. He was a 32nd degree Mason, a member of the Shrine, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. At the time of his death he belonged to the Kahkwa and Erie Clubs. His residence for the last 10 years of his life was at 952 West Ninth Street, where Mrs. Robin- son still lives.
William J. Robinson, Jr., of 18 East Eighth Street, is the active head of The Robinson Agency, Inc., General Insurance. In addition to the insur- ance business he carries on the practice of insurance law. Mr. Robinson was born in Erie, Aug. 17, 1896, the youngest child of William J. and Margaret F. Sweatman. His ancestry is given in the biographical sketch of his father.
Mr. Robinson's father became Western New York Manager for the United States Life Insurance Company in 1901 so that Mr. Robinson's education began in Buffalo and was carried on there through the grade schools. Upon the family returning to Erie in 1909, he completed his last year of grade school at Longfellow (then No. 16) School, and spent the next four years at Central (then Erie) High School, graduating an active leader in the class of 1914. In the fall of 1914 he matriculated at Yale University. His studies directed toward an A. B. degree were inter- rupted by our entry into the World War in 1917. He later (in 1919) received from Yale an A. B., Honoris Causa. Because of two years pre- vious experience at the Plattsburgh Civilian Training Camps, Mr. Robin- son was admitted to the Officers' Training Camp at Madison Barracks, May 13, 1917, and was commissioned a second lieutenant, Aug. 15, 1917, under the age of 21, although such was the required age. Assigned to the 311th Infantry, 78th Division, he served with that organization from Aug. 29, 1917, to Feb. 28, 1919, training at Camp Dix, N. J., and in France with the British Second Army on the Hazelbrouck and Arras Sectors; and in action in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives. He was commissioned a first lieutenant Dec. 31, 1917. After the armistice, Mr.
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Robinson was chosen as a member of the Student Detachment American Expeditionary Forces, and as such attended Pembroke College, Oxford University, from March until July, 1919. He returned to this country and was discharged Aug. 2, after 14 months overseas and 27 months in the army. In the fall of that year he resumed his educational work, entering Harvard Law School, where he received his LL. B. degree in 1923. At the end of his second year at Law School the sudden death of his father necessitated Mr. Robinson's taking charge of The Robinson Agency. After a year, he found it possible to complete his work at Harvard and at the same time conduct the insurance business by frequent trips from Boston to Erie.
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