History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 84

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

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803

GEARHART TOWNSHIP.

rassment, the Methodists were unable to retain. Their present place of wor- ship is a substantial brick building.

Riverside has been a station since 1873, with the following clergymen: 1873-74, A. S. Bowman; 1875-77, J. T. Wilson; 1879, J. Max Lantz; 1880, Benjamin H. Mosser; 1881-83, Daniel Hartman; 1884-85, N. Herbert Smith; 1886-87, John R. Melroy; 1888-89, Gideon H. Day; 1890, John W. Glover.

Grace Protestant Episcopal Chapel, Riverside .- The title to this prop- erty is vested in the corporation of Christ church, Danville, to which it was presented in June, 1878, by Charles Carr. It is a dependency of that par- ish, the rector of which, Rev. William R. Mulford, conducts the services.

CEMETERY.

Mt. Vernon Cemetery, the last resting place of many of the pioneers and older residents of the township, is situated on the main road from Danville to Snydertown one mile from Riverside. The manner in which this ground was set apart for burial purposes is best explained by the following extract from the will of Daniel Cameron, dated September 2, 1833 :-

WHEREAS, I have exchanged about one and one fourth acres of land, on which the Methodist meeting house near Judge Gearhart's stands, for the same quantity of land, to be taken off of Harmon Gearhart's farm on the river adjoining my farm; now, I hereby authorize my executors to grant and convey said lot of land on which said meeting house stands in trust for the Methodist society, on a good and sufficient deed . . clear of incumbrances being made to my children for a like quantity of land by Har- mon Gearhart, situate as aforesaid.

Harmon Gearhart, therefore, was the real donor, although the ground was taken from the Cameron farm. The title is now vested in the Mt. Ver- non Cemetery Association, which was incorporated on the 16th of November, 1870.

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

CHAPTER XLII.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

SUNBURY.

JACOB AWL, the original progenitor of this family in America, was born in the North of Ireland, August 6, 1727, and died in Paxtang township, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, September 26, 1793. He was a tanner by occupation. In the French and Indian war he held the rank of ensign and lieutenant in Colonel John Elder's battalion of rangers, and was active in organizing the associators of Lancaster county at the outbreak of the Revo- lution. Upon the formation of Dauphin county he was one of the commis- sioners by whom its boundaries were located, and when Harrisburg was laid out he was appointed by John Harris one of the trustees of the land reserved for public uses. In 1759 he married Sarah, daughter of Jeremiah Sturgeon; Samuel Awl, the fourth son and seventh child of this union, was born at Paxtang, March 5, 1773. In early manhood he was engaged in mercantile pursuits at Harrisburg; about the year 1800 he removed to Augusta township, Northumberland county, and there resided until his death, January 1, 1842. He served as county commissioner, 1805-08, and as county auditor, 1834-37; when the adoption of the public school system was first voted upon in Augusta township, his was one of eight ballots in its favor; he was an active Mason, and throughout the anti-Masonic agitation assisted in sustaining Lodge No. 22 at Sunbury. He married Mary, daugh- ter of Senator William Maclay; she was born at Harris's Ferry, March 19, 1776, and died in Augusta township, August 13, 1823. Their children were William Maclay; Mary Harris; Charles Maclay; Eleanor Maclay; Charles Samuel; George Washington; Sarah Irwin; Hester Hall; Elizabeth Jane, and Robert Harris.

William Maclay Awl was born at Harrisburg, May 24, 1799, and reared in Augusta township, Northumberland county. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduated from Jefferson Medical College, and located in the practice of his profession at Lancaster, Ohio, in 1825, but removed to Somerset, Ohio, shortly afterward, and thence to Columbus in 1833. He was appointed physician to the State penitentiary, and in 1835 suggested the organization of the State Medical Association. In 1857 he was director of the State lunatic asylum, of which he was superintendent twelve years, re- signing in 1850. He was the first to propose the education of the feeble-

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minded to the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane (of which he was vice-president from 1846 to 1848 and presi - dent from 1848 to 1851), and from this suggestion the various institutions for this purpose throughout the world have ultimately resulted. He was president of the board of examiners which passed upon the qualifications of surgeons for the Ohio regiments during the civil war, and late in life served as physician to the Ohio institute for the blind, which he had been largely instrumental in founding. An active member of the Presbyterian church, he was a frequent contributor to biblical literature and prepared a chronologi- cal chart showing genealogy, race, and age of Bible characters from Adam to Moses. He married Rebecca Loughery, January 28, 1830, and died on the 19th of November, 1876. Mary Harris Awl was born, September 1, 1802, married William C. Gearhart, of Rush township, and died, November 29, 1870. Charles Maclay Awl, born, January 5, 1804, died in infancy. Eleanor Maclay Awl, born, November 26, 1806, married Ezra Grossman, and died, May 26, 1889. Charles Samuel Awl, born, August 1, 1808, married Lucy Duncan; he resided on a farm near Peoria, Illinois, where he was justice of the peace many years, and died, November 1, 1883. George Washington Awl, born, June 27, 1810, died, September 4, 1829, in this county. Sarah Irwin Awl, born, June 1, 1812, married George C. Welker, and resides at Sunbury. Hester Hall Awl, born, August 18, 1814, married William Brindel, a nephew of Governor Ritner, and resides at Sunbury. Elizabeth Jane Awl, born, November 28, 1816, married Daniel Rohrbach, and resides at Selinsgrove.

ROBERT HARRIS AWL, M. D., was born in Augusta township, Northumber- land county, Pennsylvania, December 27, 1819, son of Samuel and Mary (Maclay) Awl. He was educated at the common schools, read medicine with Dr. J. W. Peal, and graduated from Pennsylvania Medical College in 1842. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession, and was located at Gratztown and Halifax, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, until 1845; he then removed to Columbus, Ohio, where he was appointed assistant physician to the State lunatic asylum and remained three years. Resigning on account of ill health he returned to Sunbury in 1849, and here he has since resided in the steady enjoyment of a lucrative practice. Between 1855 and 1888, in- clusive, he was fourteen years the regular physician to the Northumberland county prison. Eight physicians began the study of medicine with him as their preceptor, viz .: Dr. John J. Miller, who died at Magringo, Iowa; Dr. Ebenezer Russ, of St. Mary's, Pennsylvania; Dr. F. L. Haupt, of Sunbury; Dr. Isaiah Folk, who died in Upper Augusta; Dr. A. C. Clark, of Sunbury; Dr. H. H. Malick, who died in Upper Mahanoy; and Doctors F. B. Masser and D. E. Lenker, of Sunbury. Doctor Awl was surgeon to the Sixteenth Pennsylvania militia in 1843; in 1845 he was the Democratic candidate for the legislature in Dauphin county; in 1864 he was elected treasurer of North-

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

umberland county, and served one term; at a later date he was president of the Northumberland County Agricultural Society, and in 1885 he was a mem- ber of the commission by which the limits of the present wards of Sunbury borough were defined. Politically he has been a life-long Democrat, and rendered valuable .services to the party in connection with the founding of the Northumberland County Democrat. For John F. Meginness's various publications Doctor Awl has furnished monograms of high merit on "North- umberland County Prisons," "The old Cannon," "The First Duel in North- umberland County," and " The Brady Family," while the numerous acknowl- edgments to his assistance in the preparation of this work furnish ample evidence of his interest in other matters pertaining to local history. The Doctor is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was first married, March 9, 1843, to Eliza Bower, of Dauphin county, who died, July 28, 1846. On the 21st of November, 1849, he mar- ried Rebecca A., daughter of Peter and Rachel (Miller) Pursel, of Sunbury; the children born to this union are William Maclay; Ellen E., and Mary P., Mrs. Edward Young, of Renovo, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Young are the parents of two children, John Packer and Robert Harris.

HENRY B. MASSER, retired publisher, was born at Sunbury, August 17, 1809, son of Henry and Mary (Baldy) Masser, natives of Berks county, Penn- sylvania, and Sunbury, respectively. He was to a large extent self-educated; leaving school at the age of fourteen to take charge of his father's store, he pursued the study of the classics under Charles G. Donnel and Rev. William R. Smith as private instructors, and thus acquired an acadamic education. After reading law the prescribed period under Alexander Jordan, he was ad- mitted to the bar of Northumberland county on the 5th of November, 1833, at the same time as James Pollock, Charles W. Hegins, and Samuel P. John- son. The three last mentioned all became president judges in Pennsylvania -Pollock in Northumberland county, Hegins in Schuykill, and Johnson in Warren, while Pollock was also Governor of the State, and it is doubtful whether four men of equal ability and subsequent prominence were ever ad- mitted to the local bar at the same time on any other occasion. In 1839 Mr. Masser was appointed deputy attorney general for Northumberland county; how faithfully and efficiently he performed his official duties is attested by the fact that during the six years of his incumbency he never had an indict- ment quashed.

Although thus established in the practice of the law, Mr. Masser's na- tural talent as a writer early found expression in contributions to the local papers and eventually led him to devote the best activities of his life to the work of journalism. The history of the Sunbury American, founded by him in 1840, is fully detailed in this work in the chapter on the Press; as the re- sponsible editor of this paper during a period of twenty-nine years his name will always occpuy a prominent place in the annals of local journalism. Mr.

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Masser was recognized as a trenchant and forcible writer, and a sagacious observer of the political and social movements of the day. The paper had an extensive circulation throughout this section of the State, while its edito- rial utterances were widely copied and generally regarded as the expression of conservative and unbiased opinion. Under his management the American was particularly earnest in its advocacy of measures designed to promote the internal development of the State, and rendered effective service in fostering the growth of public sentiment favorable to a protective tariff. In politics it was Democratic, but supported James Pollock for Congress in opposition to William A. Petrikin, the party candidate, on the tariff issue; its influence was shown by the fact that this county, strongly Democratic under ordinary conditions, gave Pollock a majority of several hundred. An equally notice- able demonstration of its influence occurred in the contest of Richard Coul- ter (Whig) and James Campbell (Democrat) for the Supreme bench; the American declined to support Campbell on the ground of unfitness for the position, and his competitor received a majority of six hundred in Northum- berland county. Early in Buchanan's administration it became identified with the " free soil " movement in the Democratic party; its support was transferred to President Lincoln shortly after his election in 1860, and from that time it has been a stanch Republican paper. Mr. Masser retired from its active editorship in 1869, but has not ceased to manifest a warm interest in educational and literary matters.

In 1842 Mr. Masser married Diana M. Engle, of Sunbury, who died on the 7th of May, 1862. Two children were born to this union: Henry, who was born February 1, 1843, and died, September 17, 1843; and Mary. Mr. Masser has served for some years as a member of the vestry of St. Matthew's Protestant Episcopal church, Sunbury.

HUGH BELLAS, deceased, was descended in the third generation from Hugh Bellas, of Liswatly, Ireland, who married a Miss Hunter about 1740; they had issue as follows: George; James; Hugh; Thomas, and a daughter who married a Mr. Sloan and immigrated to America prior to the close of the last century. George Bellas was born at Liswatly about 1750, immi- grated to America, and settled in Fishing Creek township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania; he married a Miss Boyce and they had issue as fol- lows: Hugh; Agnes; Sarah; Samuel; George; John; James; Thomas, and Elizabeth. James Bellas was born in 1752, settled at Ballyarton, and died in April, 1842; he married Sarah Huey and they had issue as follows: Jane, who was born in 1796 and died in 1819; Hugh, who was born in 1798 and died in 1868; James, who was born in 1800 and died in 1828; Rev. George, who was born in 1802 and died in 1885; Stewart, who was born in 1804 and died in 1815; Sarah, who was born in 1805; Thomas H., who was born in 1807 and died in 1883, and William, who was born in 1809 and died in 1817. Hugh Bellas was born about 1755, and died at Liswatly in 1825; he

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

married a Miss King and they had issue as follows: Mrs. Mary Ann War- den; Mrs. Jane Caskey; Mrs. Sarah Williamson; Thomas, who located at Philadelphia; Rev. Joseph, who died in 1872; Hugh, who located at Port Stewart, married a Miss Elder, and died in 1885; James, who located at Philadelphia; Samuel, who died at Liswatly in 1832, and Elizabeth, who died at Port Stewart in 1876. Thomas Bellas was born between 1755 and 1760, immigrated to America, returned in bad health, and died at Liswatly before the close of the last century.

Hugh Bellas, deceased, attorney at law, was born near Belfast, Ireland, April 26, 1780, son of George Bellas. He began the practice of law in Sunbury in 1803 and resided at that place until his death, October 26, 1863. He married Esther Anthony and they had three children: Eliza P .; Ann Caroline, and Amelia S.

Eliza P. Bellas married Charles Pleasants, resided at Sunbury, and had the following children: Israel, an officer in the United States Army, who was killed at the battle of the Wilderness in 1863; Eliza F. Pleasants, who married W. K. Lineweaver and had the following children: Charles P .; James, and Florence.

Ann Caroline Bellas married Aristide Rodrigue and had the following children: Andrew J .; Esther Aline, who married J. K. Gilbert; Hugh B., who married Elizabeth Dougherty; Ann Caroline, deceased; Aristide, de- ceased; Clara V., who married James A. Ruthven, and William, deceased; Henrietta, deceased; and Florence V., who married Fitz-Gerald Tisdall.

Amelia S. Bellas married James Brisbin and had the following children: Esther, who married Franklin B. Gowen and has one child, Esther B. Gowen; Hugh B .; Horace, and William M.

A sketch of the personal career of Hugh Bellas appears in this work in the chapter on the Bench and Bar.

EBENEZER AND ABIGAIL (ISRAEL) GREENOUGH were natives, respectively, of Massachusetts and Delaware. The former was born, December 11, 1783, and died, December 25, 1847; the latter was born, December 12, 1791, and died in 1868. Mr. Greenough graduated from Harvard University in 1804, and came soon afterward to Pennsylvania; immediately upon his arrival at Wilkesbarre he accepted the principalship of the academy at that place, and during his connection with this institution began the study of law. He removed to Sunbury in the latter part of 1806, completed his professional preparation, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1808. He was a man of large educational attainments, a strong Federalist in politics, and a brilliant lawyer. A contemporary of Samuel J. Packer, the two were warm friends and worked much together in matters of great public interest. Mr. Greenough was one term in the legislature, where he was conspicu- ous in the advocacy of internal improvement and in the shaping of manu- facturing and corporation laws. He was the author of the Lateral Railroad

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law, although this was probably written after he left the legislature, and while he was not again in office his interest in public affairs continued to wield a wide and potent influence. He reared one son and five daughters, and left to them at his death what was then considered a handsome compe- tency.

WILLIAM I. GREENOUGH, attorney and counselor at law, was born at Sun- bury, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, May 27, 1821. He prepared for college at the academies of Sunbury, Wilkesbarre, and Danville, and in 1839 graduated from Princeton. Having decided upon the law as his pro- fession, he devoted three years to its study with his distinguished father as preceptor, and in 1842 was admitted to the bar. In ante bellum days a Whig, he drifted naturally into the Republican party upon its organization, and has since been consistently loyal to its principles, though at no time an aspirant to official preferment. In fact, his life has been devoted to the law, in which his wisdom as counselor is unquestioned. At Danville, Penn- sylvania, September 21, 1852, Mr. Greenough was married to Mary C., daughter of Peter Baldy, and has one son: Ebenezer, a graduate of Prince- ton and a lawyer by profession.

SAMUEL J. PACKER, deceased, was born in Howard township, Centre county, Pennsylvania, March 23, 1799, son of Amos and Elizabeth (Jones) Packer. The ancestry of the family is traced to Philip Packer, a native of England, who immigrated to New Jersey and located near Princeton. He married Rebecca Jones, a native of Philadelphia; their eldest son, Philip Packer, 2d, settled in the forks of Cooper's creek, opposite Kensington, Philadelphia, but afterward removed to the vicinity of Yellow Springs, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He married Ann Coates, a native of Ireland; their eldest son, James Packer, was born near Princeton, New Jersey, on the 4th of 2d month, 1725, removed to Howard township, Centre county, about 1794, and died there, January 10, 1805. On the 1st of January, 1752, at East Caln meeting house, Chester county, he married Rose Mendenhall, who died in Bald Eagle, Clinton county, in June, 1824, at the age of ninety- one. Amos Packer, fifth child of James and Rose (Mendenhall) Packer, was born in Chester county, January 30, 1759, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Lydia Jones. Samuel J. Packer, seventh child of Amos and Elizabeth (Jones) Packer, was reared in his native township, edu- cated under the tuition of his father, and apprenticed to the printing trade at Bellefonte. He established the Inquirer at Sunbury in .1820, studied law under Hugh Bellas, and was admitted to the bar of Northumberland county in 1823. A sketch of his professional and public career appears in this work in the chapter on the Bench and Bar. He married Rachel, daugh- ter of James and Catherine (Cochran) Black, and to this union were born five children: John B .; Eliza J., deceased; Jane B., deceased; Samuel J., and Mary C., deceased, who intermarried with the Rev. F. B. Riddle.

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

JOHN B. PACKER, attorney at law, was born at Sunbury, Pennsylvania, March 21, 1824, son of Samuel J. and Rachel (Black) Packer. He received an academic education, studied law under Ebenezer Greenough, and was admitted to the bar of Northumberland county, August 6, 1844. Prior to the organization of the Republican party he was a tariff Democrat, and as such was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature from his native county in 1849 and 1850. He was elected to Congress in 1868 from the Fourteenth Pennsylvania district, served four consecutive terms, and declined a fifth after receiving the nomination. More complete details regarding his profes- sional and political career are given in the chapter on the Bench and Bar in this work. While a member of the State legislature he secured the incor- poration of the Susquehanna Railroad Company, afterward merged into the Northern Central, of which he was one of the organizers and for many years a director. He has served as counsel for that corporation since its formation, and has also represented the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in a similar capacity in this part of the State. In 1855 he became identified with the Bank of Northumberland, of which he was president from 1857 until it was merged into the First National Bank of Sunbury in 1864; of the latter insti- tution he has been president since its organization, and is also connected with banking houses at Selinsgrove and Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. Packer was married on the 22d of May, 1851, to Mary M., daughter of the late Will- iam Cameron, of Lewisburg, and they are the parents of five children: Will- iam C., who was born on the 1st of May, 1852, became a brilliant member of the bar, and died on the 4th of June, 1886; Rachel, wife of F. K. Hill, of Sunbury; James C., attorney at law, Sunbury; Mary, and Nellie C.

SAMUEL J. PACKER, cashier of the First National Bank of Sunbury, was born at that borough on the 19th of June, 1831, son of Samuel J. and Rachel (Black) Packer. He was educated at the public schools and academy of his native town, read law with his brother, John B. Packer, and was admitted to the bar of Northumberland county on the 4th of April, 1860. He at once entered upon and continued in the active practice of his profession until his election as cashier of the Bank of Northumberland, November 19, 1863. He has served in that capacity in the Bank of Northumberland and in the First National Bank of Sunbury to the present time. Of his ability as a financier the uniform prosperity of the institution with which he is so responsibly con- nected is sufficient evidence. Mr. Packer is a Republican in politics.

WILLIAM CAMERON PACKER, deceased, was born at Sunbury, May 1, 1852, eldest son of John B. and Mary (Cameron) Packer. He was reared in his native town, and after leaving the local schools attended the Wilkesbarre Academy and Bloomsburg State Normal School, graduating from the latter institution in 1871. He pursued the study of the law under his father, and was admitted to the bar of Northumberland county on the 5th of November, 1872, after which he at once entered upon the practice of his profession at

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Sunbury. Several years later he was appointed solicitor for the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company in Northumberland county, discharging the duties of this responsible position with ability and credit until his death. He also acquired a very considerable general practice, and ranked with the ablest among the younger members of the local bar. He laid out the Cameron addi- tion to Shamokin, served as director in the First National Bank of Sunbury, and was also connected with other business enterprises. In politics he was a Republican; in 1875 he was elected a member of the borough council, in 1876-78, assistant burgess, in 1879-80, second burgess, and in 1881-83, chief burgess. During his incumbency in the latter office and largely through his instrumentality the river embankment was constructed for the protection of the town against floods, the borough debt was materially reduced and the remainder refunded at a lower rate of interest, resulting in a large annual saving to the tax-payers of the town. In 1875 Mr. Packer married Jennie H., daughter of Dr. Henry C. and Harriet (Boob) Houtz, of Alexandria, Pennsylvania; she was born on the 9th of December, 1852, and died, April 1, 1882. In 1884 he married her sister, Laura A. Houtz, who, with the chil- dren by his first marriage, Mary C., John B., and William C., survives him and resides at Sunbury. He died on the 4th of June, 1886, at the age of thirty-four and in the full vigor of early manhood. "Running through his life," wrote one who knew him well, "was a vein of generosity that formed one of his prominent characteristics. The poor, into whose homes his bounte- ous hand carried comfort and assistance, are among those who will miss him most in the days to come. His friends are numbered by thousands, includ- ing all classes of society. To know him was to love him, and few there are who have had that pleasure that do not recall some kindly deed performed or some cheering word uttered in the hour of adversity. To the sick and afflicted he is endeared by ties which even death can not sever, for his good- ness supplied many delicacies and attentions otherwise beyond their reach. In all the relations of life he was the same honorable, upright, manly, and charitable."

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History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 84

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

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