History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 102

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829-
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1424


USA > Pennsylvania > Northumberland County > History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania > Part 102


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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William Goodrich; Clement Calvin, of Milton; Ambrose White, of Philadel- phia; William Alfred, of Cumberland, Maryland, and Mary Louisa, de- ceased. He died, August 21, 1864. Isaac Straub left Lewistown in 1838 and went to Cincinnati, where he died, December 17, 1875. Christian Straub taught school and engaged in merchandising in Schuylkill county, where he served as sheriff; he was also elected to the Pennsylvania legislature and to Congress, but died before the expiration of his term, and was buried in the congressional burying ground at Washington, D. C.


CLEMENT C. STRAUB was born in Milton, Northumberland county, Penn- sylvania, November 23, 1833, son of Abraham and Nancy (Balliet) Straub. He attended the public schools and academy under Reverend Dieter, and was for many years engaged in the mercantile business. For the last twenty-five years he has been engaged in building portable mills in connection with his brother Ambrose, the inventor, their place of business being in Philadelphia. He is a director in the First National Bank of Milton. February 17, 1864, he was united in marriage with Elizabeth A., daughter of Justus Swenk, of Milton. She died, May 24, 1872. Mr. Straub is a prominent Republican, and was for many years a member of the school board and town council.


JOSEPH MARR was one of the pioneers of Turbut township, Northumber- land county, the site of his home being now embraced in the borough of Milton. He was born, June 15, 1750, in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, where he married Susannah Frampton of the same county, born April 27, 1754. In 1792 he purchased three hundred seventy-nine acres of land from the widow of Turbutt Francis, a part of a tract known as "Colonel's Re- ward," lying on the east bank of the West Branch, immediately north of Milton. It must have been well improved property, as he paid at the rate of four pounds per acre for it. In 1793 he settled upon his purchase, where he died, September 3, 1796; his widow survived him until December 27, 1826. They were the parents of six children: Mary, who married Robert Martin; Hannah, who became the wife of William Hull; David, who died, February 14, 1819; William, who died, December 18, 1823; Joseph, who died, October 5, 1804, and Alem, who became quite a prominent lawyer and politician and served two terms in Congress.


WILLIAM HULL was a native of Sussex county, New Jersey, born July 17, 1771, and settled in Turbut township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, in the last decade of the eighteenth century, where he married Hannah Marr, January 12, 1797. Her father, Joseph Marr, came from Northamp- ton county, Pennsylvania, in 1793, and located immediately north of Milton. She was born, March 23, 1777, and was about sixteen years old when her father settled in this county. To William and Hannah Hull were born four- teen children, only nine of whom reached maturity: Susan, who married Samuel McCarty; Elizabeth; Jesse; David; Alem; William P .; Thomas R .; Sarah A., who married John H. Brown, and Hannah M., who married Robert


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M. Slater. William Hull died upon the homestead farm in 1828; his widow afterward moved into Milton, where she died, February 10, 1858, in the eighty-first year of her age.


DR. THOMAS R. HULL, youngest son of William Hull, was born on the old homestead near Milton, February 19, 1815. He here grew to manhood, and received his early education at the old Milton Academy. About 1832 he entered Lafayette College, and subsequently read medicine under Doctors James S. Dougal and William McCleery, and graduated from Jefferson Med- ical College in 1838. He commenced practice at Washingtonville, Montour county, Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1861, when he rerwed to Milton and continued in the active duties of his profession up to his death, May 25, 1886. On the 23d of February, 1843, Doctor Hull was married to Elizabeth McCormick, who survives him. Seven children were born to this union: Margaret Mc .; William; Alem P .; Thomas R .; Harry B .; Edward L., deceased, and Elmer S. Doctor Hull was a skillful, careful, and consci- entious physician, and enjoyed a large and lucrative practice. Politically he was a Republican, and was a member of the electoral college which elected Lincoln to the presidency in 1860. He was chief burgess of Mil- ton two terms, and always took a deep interest in the public schools, and was a member of the board of education several years. He was an attendant of the Episcopal church and a man of unquestionable integrity and upright character.


WILLIAM HULL, dealer in coal and grain, was born in Montour county, Pennsylvania, June 30, 1846, and is the eldest son of Dr. Thomas R. Hull. He was educated in the Milton schools, and in 1869 he began clerking for his uncle, William P. Hull, and continued in that capacity until the death of the latter in 1876, when he and his father purchased the business and con- ducted it under the firm name of William Hull. On the death of Doctor Hull in 1886, his son, Thomas R., became a member of the firm, which has since been known as Hull & Company. Mr. Hull is also interested in the lumber business at Jersey Shore and Pine Creek, Pennsylvania, and is a stockholder in the Milton Trust and Safe Deposit Company. He was married, July 4, 1872, to Emma, daughter of Samuel Leidy of Milton, who has borne him two children: May, and William P. Politically Mr. Hull is a Republican, and is now serving his ninth year as school director.


THE MCCORMICK FAMILY .- The ancestry of the McCormick family is traced to James McCormick, of Londonderry, Ireland, one of the signers of a memorial to William and Mary in 1689. His son, Thomas McCormick, was born in 1702 and immigrated to America in 1735, locating in Paxtang township, Lancaster (now Dauphin) county, Pennsylvania. In 1745 he removed to East Pennsboro' township, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1762. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Adam Carruth, and they were the parents of six children. The eldest, Thomas McCormick, was born


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in the North of Ireland in 1727, and died in East Pennsboro' township, Cum- berland county, Pennsylvania, in 1778. In 1756 he married Jean, daughter of John and Mary (Patterson) Oliver.


Of the five children born to this union the eldest, John McCormick, removed to Northumberland county in 1794 and was the progenitor of the branch of the family to which this sketch more particularly relates. He was born near Silver Spring, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1757, and died in his adopted county, September 22, 1815. He married Ann, daughter of John Sample, and they had issue as follows: Elizabeth, who married John Cook; Robert, who married Mrs. Eliza Wood, nee Montgom- ery; Jane, who married John Sample; Maria; John, who married Martha Giffen; William, who married Rachel Slote, and Sarah, who became the wife of David Davis.


ROBERT M. McCORMICK, eldest son of John and Ann McCormick, was born on the old homestead in this county, January 25, 1796, and died in Milton, whither he had removed from his farm, September 10, 1873. He was married, May 4, 1830, to Mrs. Eliza Wood, widow of ;Dr. ; Thomas Wood, of Muncy, and eldest child of David and Agnes (Shaw) Montgomery. She was born, April 27, 1800, upon the old homestead in what is now Lewis township, and died in Milton, February 1, 1876. Six children were born to Robert and Eliza McCormick: David M., who died in childhood; John, who died in early manhood; Robert, who was killed by guerrillas at Bardstown, Kentucky, December 29, 1864, while serving in the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry; Charles C., a gallant soldier of the same regiment, since deceased; Agnes, widow of William P. Dougal, and William C., of Kansas.


GENERAL CHARLES C. MCCORMICK, deceased, was born in Paradise, Lewis township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, February 18, 1838, and died, January 31, 1884. His parents were Robert and Eliza McCormick. He was reared on the homestead farm, and manifested a great love for books and a desire to improve his mind. He attended the McEwensville Academy and the Lewisburg University, and took a course at the Pittsburgh Commercial College. He removed with his parents to Milton in 1860. At the breaking out of the civil war he was among the first to respond to his country's call, and, owing to his military tact, indomitable energy, and unquestionable bravery, he gradually arose from the rank of private to that of brigadier general. October 9, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Eightieth Regiment (Seventh Cavalry), and November 18, 1861, was promoted to captain of Company L; January 10, 1865, he became colonel of the regi- ment, and was brevetted brigadier general, March 13, 1865, for long, faith- ful, and gallant service. He was mustered out, August 23, 1865, and was promoted after the war to the rank of major general of the National Guard of Pennsylvania. He fought in the Army of the Tennessee as a cavalryman, and was wounded at Bardstown, Kentucky, and Selma, Alabama. The 55


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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.


bullets received at the latter place remained in his body until his death. He participated in the battles of Murfreesboro, Stone River, Alexandria, Chickamauga, Macon, Dallas, Atlanta, Columbia, and Kennesaw Mountain. At the close of the war he returned to Milton and purchased an interest in the firm of Murray, Dougal & Company, car manufacturers, from which he retired in 1877. June 30, 1868, he married Charlotte A., daughter of L. M. and Sarah (Blake) Wright, of Troy, New York, and to them were born three children: Robert C., a student at Cornell University; Helen C., and Walter W., now attending school.


THE FOLLMER FAMILY are among the earliest settlers of this portion of Northumberland county. George Jacob Follmer was born, December 4, 1738, in Berks county, Pennsylvania. His father with an older brother, Michael, emigrated from Germany in 1737, and located near Reading, Berks county, Pennsylvania. In 1778 Michael and George Jacob came to this county and located in Turbut township. They took up a large tract of land, built their cabins, and engaged in clearing and improving the same. George Jacob Follmer married Catharine Walters and reared a family of twelve children. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war five years, and a Democrat in politics; he was elected as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1794 and continuously from 1798 to 1802, and was elected to the Senate in 1803. He died in 1804 before his term ex- pired. From these two brothers sprang the Follmer family, which now has several hundred descendants in this county.


DANIEL FOLLMER, youngest son of George Jacob Follmer, was born in Northumberland county, June 9, 1786, and was a farmer by occupation. He was colonel of a militia company for many years, and participated in the war of 1812. He was associate judge of Montour county one term. He married Susan Diffenbecher, a native of Columbia county, Pennsylvania, who died in 1836. Eight children were born to this union, three of whom are living: Conrad, of Kansas; Mary, widow of John A. Eshbach, of Iowa, and J. M., of Milton. His second wife was Mrs. Rachel Grier, by whom he had one child, who died at the age of twelve years. Mr. Follmer was a member of the German Reformed church, and served as elder many years. He died in 1873.


J. M. FOLLMER was born in Limestone township, Montour county, Penn- sylvania, May 3, 1825. He attended the public schools and Danville Academy, and has been engaged in farming, lumbering, and stock-raising. In 1863 he enlisted in Company E, Thirty-seventh Militia, received the appointment of regimental quartermaster, and was honorably discharged, August 4, 1863. He was a charter member of Bryson Post, G. A. R., of Watsontown, and chaplain of Henry Wilson Post, Milton. In 1865 he was a candidate for the legislature, but was defeated. In 1888 he was elected to the House of Representatives by a majority of about two hundred. In


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1850 he was united in marriage with Susan, daughter of J. P. Hackenberg, of this county. Seven children were born to this union: Emma; Matilda, Mrs. C. G. Wilson, of St. Mary's, Pennsylvania; Edward H., who died at the age of one year; Ada, Mrs. J. G. Bower, of Watsontown; William H., phy- sician, of Milton; Roland B., of Philadelphia, and John H. Mr. Follmer was connected with the Masonic order for twelve years, and Royal Arch three years; he is a member of the German Reformed church, was an elder several terms, and has been superintendent of the Sunday school for many years. He is now engaged in the insurance business, and represents several of the strongest companies.


SETH CADWALLADER was one of the pioneer merchants of Milton, in which town he settled about 1812. He was born in Montgomery county, Pennsyl- vania, October 11, 1796, and after coming to Milton engaged in clerking, but subsequently went into business and followed merchandising until 1854, when he retired. On the 3d of February, 1824, he married Elizabeth, daughter of George Hammond, and a native of Northumberland county. Her father was one of the first settlers of this part of the State, was captured by the Indians during the Revolutionary war and turned over to the Hessians, and was held a prisoner five years. Eleven children were born to Seth and Elizabeth Cadwallader, only three of whom are living: Hammond, of Juni- ata county; Albert, of Milton, and Kate, wife of James McConkey, of Phila- delphia. The parents died, August 24, 1863, and June 3, 1880, respectively.


ALBERT CADWALLADER was born in Milton, Pennsylvania, October 11, 1841, was reared and educated in his native town, and was engaged in the grocery and provision business until 1879. October 20, 1868, he married Annie L., daughter of Andrew Supplec, of Philadelphia, and by this union they have seven children: Gertrude H .; Austin S .; Seth Iredell; Mary Louisa; Kate E .; Bertha May, and Albert. During the Rebellion he volun- teered in Company A, Third Pennsylvania Militia, and later in Company E, Twenty-eighth Emergency Men, and was afterwards appointed agent for the United States sanitary commission to distribute supplies to the sick and wounded soldiers at the front. In politics he is a Republican, and was elected county treasurer in 1871, the first Republican ever elected to that office in this county. He served five terms as chief burgess of Milton, and has also been a member of the town council. He is secretary and treasurer in the Milton Knitting Factory, and has been a director of the Milton National Bank for several years. Mr. Cadwallader is a member of Henry Wilson Post, G. A. R., and served as quartermaster of the same four years. He and family attend the Presbyterian church.


SAMUEL T. BROWN was for many years one of the best known business men of Milton, where he lived nearly half a century. He was born in White Deer valley, Union county, Pennsylvania, July 18, 1798, and was a descend- ant of an old Puritan family that settled in that valley at an early date in its


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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.


history. He learned the tanning trade, and in 1830 came to Milton and purchased the property now known as the Milton tannery, where he carried on business over thirty years. During this time he became actively identi- fied with the growth and progress of the town. He was a stockholder and director of the old Northumberland Bank more than twenty years, and was one of the organizers and directors of the First National Bank from its incep- tion up to his death, June 4, 1875. Mr. Brown was twice married, first to Nancy Woods, June 18, 1819, who bore him five children, three of whom grew to maturity: Cyrus; J. Woods, and Oliver. The two last mentioned are dead. He married for his second wife Elizabeth A. Young, of which union one child was born, but died in early youth. His widow survived him until October, 1883. Mr. Brown was an excellent citizen, a good neigh- bor, a man of sterling business character, and a kind husband and father. Politically he was a Democrat, and in religion a consistent member of the First Presbyterian church of Milton.


CYRUS BROWN, druggist, was born in White Deer valley, Union county, Pennsylvania, May 25, 1824, eldest son of Samuel T. and Nancy (Woods) Brown. He was educated at the schools of Milton, and the Lewisburg Academy, after which he entered a drug store in Philadelphia, where he remained until he acquired a thorough knowledge of the business. In 1854 he returned to Milton, and established his present drug house, which is now the largest in the county. He was burned out in May, 1880, with a loss of fifty thousand dollars, outside of his insurance, but rebuilt the same year, and in 1882 erected his present store. Mr. Brown handles white lead in large quantities, and is the inventor and manufacturer of the Red Horse powder. He is a believer in printer's ink, and is probably the most extensive advertiser in the county. In 1859 he married Louisa B., daughter of David Krauser, who died leaving one daughter, Hettie L. He was again married, January 1, 1876, to Mrs. Rebecca H. Rhodes, widow of Doctor Rhodes, of Milton. Politically Mr. Brown is a Democrat; he has served as city council- man, and is a member of the Presbyterian church.


J. WOODS BROWN, deceased, was born in White Deer valley, Union county, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1826, son of Samuel T. and Nancy (Woods) Brown. He attended the Milton Academy, also the McEwensville Academy under the Rev. S. S. Sheddon, D. D. He entered Jefferson Col- lege in the spring of 1846, and graduated from that institution in 1848. He then read law one year with Samuel Hepburn, of Milton, and afterwards entered the law school at Easton, Pennsylvania, under Judge McCarty and Henry Greer, and graduated in 1851, when he returned to Milton and engaged in practice. In 1853 he entered into co-partnership with W. C. Lawson, which relation continued successfully until 1880. After the great fire of that year in Milton neither partner cared to continue in the practice of law. Mr. Brown was an active and influential Democrat and a leader in


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the local councils of his party. In 1862-63 he represented Northumberland county in the House of Representatives in the State Legislature and occu - pied a prominent position in that body. He held a number of positions in civil life, in which his fidelity and conscientiousness were prominently mani- fested. He was the principal factor in the organization of the First National Bank of Milton in 1863, was elected its president, and continued in this office until his death. He was a remarkably quiet and unobtrusive man, yet possessed of that courage which always prompted him to follow the line of duty in a forcible, and oftentimes, aggressive, manner. His conceptions of right and his condemnation of all things that reflected the image of impro- priety made him a fearless advocate of good. January 29, 1851, he married Maria, daughter of William and Catherine Polk, of Easton, Pennsylvania. Seven children were born to their union, four of whom are living. Mr. Brown died, January 6, 1888.


WILLIAM HEINEN, deceased, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, in 1817, son of Doctor Heinen, who emigrated from Germany and married Miss Etzler, of York county, and practiced medicine in that county before remov- ing to Milton. William Heinen came to Milton with his parents when a child, and received his education at the Milton Academy under Rev. David Kirkpatrick. He started in life as a clerk, and served an extended appren- ticeship. In 1835 he, in co-partnership with Jesse Schreyer, established the mercantile firm of Schreyer & Heinen. He remained a member of that firm until 1866, when he withdrew and retired from active business in 1870. He married Anna M., daughter of Henry Funk, of Bucks county, by whom he had eight children, three of whom are living: Catharine, wife of D. M. Krauser; William A., and T. C. Mr. Heinen was one of the organizers of the Milton National Bank, and served as a director many years. He was a prominent member of the Lutheran church, and a Democrat in politics. He died, July 19, 1879; his widow died in 1885.


WILLIAM A. HEINEN was born in Milton, Northumberland county, Penn- sylvania, October 16, 1850, son of William and Anna (Funk) Heinen. He received his education in the Milton schools and Bucknell University, Lewis- burg, Pennsylvania, and in early life turned his attention to farming. In 1870 he became a member of the firm of Heinen, Schreyer & Company, but retired from the same in 1880, and has since returned to farming. He is a director in the Milton Trust and Safe Deposit Company, the Milton Iron Company, the Milton Gas Company, and the Milton Driving Park and Fair Association, a stockholder in the Milton Water Company, and a member of the Milton Bridge Company, also one of the organizers and secretary and treasurer of the Milton Creamery Company. Politically he is a Republican. October 8, 1889, he married Mary, daughter of S. J. Shimer, of Milton.


T. C. HEINEN was born in Milton, March 11, 1859, son of William and Anna (Funk) Heinen. He was educated in the schools of Milton, after


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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.


which he entered the mercantile business as clerk, and succeeded his father as a member of the firm of Heinen, Schreyer & Company. He is a stock- holder in the Milton Iron Company, the Milton Knitting Company, the Mil- ton Water Company, the Milton Gas Company, and the Milton Driving Park and Fair Association. In 1885 he married Carrie V., daughter of D. W. A. Belford, of Milton, and has one child, Catharine E.


WILLIAM CHAMBERLIN was born in New Jersey, September 25, 1736. He was lieutenant colonel in the New Jersey militia, and served in the Revolu- tionary war. He was married in 1758 to Miss Tinbrook, who bore him.seven children. March 3, 1771, he married Ann Park, who bore him four chil- dren, and died, November 12, 1779. In 1782 he married Margaret Park, and by her were born four children; she died, April 29, 1791, and August 16, 1794, he married Ann Mary Kimble, and to this union were born eight children. He was twenty-three years of age at the birth of his first child, and seventy-six years of age at the birth of his twenty-third child. He died, August 21, 1817. His oldest son Lewis, while on a visit to his father, was killed at the battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777, by a cannon ball. About 1792 he removed to Buffalo valley and purchased six hundred acres of land, in what is now Kelly township, Union county, where he lived in prosperity until his death. He was a prominent member of the Baptist church. His last wife came of an old family. She was familiar with Washington Irving, George Washing- ton, and others. She was a member of the Presbyterian church, and having a very retentive memory, committed many chapters of the Bible to mem- ory. She died, March 4, 1859.


MOSES CHAMBERLIN was born in Union county, Pennsylvania, November 8, 1812, youngest son of William and Ann Mary (Kimble) Chamberlin. He was reared on his father's homestead and educated at the schools of that period. At the age of twenty years he went to Lewisburg and served an apprenticeship of three years at the tanner's trade. In 1833 he removed to Milton, engaged in the mercantile business, and followed the various occupations of milling, lumbering, and farming until 1874, when he retired from active life. He purchased the land and laid out what is known as the Chamberlin addition to Milton, and also laid out and sold land upon which Watsontown is situated. He was married in 1835 to Mary Ann, daughter of George Correy, of Milton, who died, August 15, 1838. One child was born to this union, Elizabeth H., widow of William Follmer, of Watsontown. He was again married in 1840 to Jane H. Montgomery, daughter of John Watson, of Watsontown, and to them six children have been born, four of whom are living: William, of Milton; Caroline, Mrs. A. O. First, of Belle- fonte; James, of Harrisburg, and Frank, an attorney of Milton. Mr. Cham- berlin is a Republican in politics, and has served in the several municipal offices of his town. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and has served as trustee, recording steward, class leader, Sunday school superintendent, etc.


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JOHN HAAG, deceased, was a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, and after marrying Mary Knauss, of that county, he removed in 1836 to Turbut township, Northumberland county, where he followed farming until his death in 1867; his widow survived him until 1882, and they were consistent members of the Lutheran church and the parents of seven children: John, deceased; Catharine, deceased; B. K .; Elizabeth, deceased; Rebecca, who married William Balliet and lives in Montour county, Pennsylvania; Hettie, wife of William Gouger, also of Montour county, and Sarah, deceased.




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