History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 86

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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tion, and the six children born to them are: Isabella, Mrs. George W. Keefer; Joseph, superintendent of the Adirondacks railroad; Gertrude E., Mrs. P. P. Smith; J. Walter; George, who died in 1860 aged thirteen years, and Edgar, who died in infancy. Mrs. Zeigler died, September 5, 1889, aged sixty-nine years, eleven months, and five days. Mr. Zeigler is a member of the Presby- terian church and a Freemason.

WILLIAM A. SOBER, attorney at law and United States commisssioner for the Western district of Pennsylvania, is a native of Shamokin township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and was born, September 3, 1840. His father, Alexander Sober, was born in the same place, and his mother, whose maiden name was Foy, was probably born in Rockefeller township. The Sober family, originally from Germany, came here from New Jersey in the person of the grandfather of our subject during the latter part of the last century. Alexander Sober, third son of his father, was born in 1807, and died in December, 1869. He was a quiet and industrious citizen and farmer, and highly esteemed by his neighbors. His widow yet lives in her native place. They were the parents of twelve children, nine sons and three daughters, of whom all, except two of the former, are living. William A., the sixth son, was attending Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, when he decided to enter the army. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Fifty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served sixteen months, taking part in the battles of Yorktown, Williamsburg, White House, Chickahominy, and Seven Pines, and was seven days in front of Richmond. While at the latter place he was taken with typhoid fever, and was soon afterward dis- charged. In May, 1864, he was appointed to a position in the provost mar- shal general's office as chief clerk of the disbursing branch for the Western district of Pennsylvania, and resigned in December, 1865. He next read law under John B. Packer, and in August, 1867, was admitted to the bar. In 1871 he was appointed county solicitor and held the office three years; in 1872 he was appointed United States commissioner; from 1882 to 1886 he was in the borough council, and in the latter year he was elected assistant burgess. Always a Republican and ever active in behalf of that party, Mr. Sober has deserved well at its hands, and this brief summing up shows that his merits have not been wholly unappreciated. He was married in Read- ing, Pennsylvania, in October, 1869, to Emma E., daughter of Augustus F. Boas, a lawyer and many years a leading banker of Reading, and has one child, Emily Belle.

JOHN W. PEAL, M. D., removed from Hughesville, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, to Sunbury, in November, 1838. He lived and practiced med- icine there until 1868, when, owing to failure of health, he was removed to Lock Haven, where his son resided. Here after a prolonged illness he passed to rest on the 14th day of July, 1868, aged sixty-eight years and one month. He was the son of John Peal and Mary (McClintock) Peal, having been born

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near Shippensburg, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the 13th of June, 1800. At twenty-seven years he married Martha Washington Sturgeon, daughter of Samuel Sturgeon, of Shippensburg, who proved through life a beautiful character. They now sleep side by side in Highland cemetery at Lock Haven. He was a strong man, of commanding presence, sympathetic heart, and iron will. In his home life that will power which had been given him for the arena of men sometimes, as is the case with many men, got out of place, and wounded those he loved; but if thus he wounded, with what infinite tenderness did he heal! His generous heart could always be depended on for acts of manly kindness. He was a good husband, an ambi- tious father, and a thrifty business man. Six children-five daughters and one son-survive him, also nine grandsons and nine granddaughters. He wrote his name, John W., to distinguish it from his father's, but his name was simply John, the son of John Peal, who was the son of John Peal, an Englishman who immigrated to this country about the middle of the eight- eenth century, and was living, between 1800 and 1810, near Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Doctor Peal's mother, Mary McClintock, was Scotch-Irish, a relation of James McClintock, M. D., late of Philadelphia, and John McClin- tock, D. D., LL. D., late of Paris, France, a most gifted and cultured man. Mrs. Peal's father, Samuel Sturgeon, cousin to Daniel Sturgeon, late United States Senator from Pennsylvania, and her mother, Fanny Rogers, were Scotch- Irish also, and in "ye olden time" both families worshiped at the old Silver Spring Presbyterian church near Shippensburg. His name, John W. Peal, has descended to his grandson, John W. Peal, of New York City, and to his great-grandson, John W. Peal, son of Rembrandt R. Peal, Philadelphia. Doctor Peal lived an active and useful life. As a physician he was very attentive to his patients, very cheering and magnetic in the sick-room, and very original and bold in his treatment of diseases. He was a born physi- cian, and devoted his whole mentality to his profession. So deep was his interest in the sick ones who were entrusted to his healing art that he often when the case was critical walked his floor all night absorbed in thought. Looking back now, the writer sees a strong, handsome, earnest, unselfish man, whom never storm or darkness deterred from going to the bedside of the sick, whose tenderness to the suffering never failed, and whose skill in treatment was unexcelled by any of his compeers; this man was Dr. John W. Peal, of Sunbury. On his grave-stone in Highland Cemetery are written these expressive words "at rest."-S. R. P.

DANIEL W. SHINDEL, physician, was born in Sunbury, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, November 17, 1822, and is probably the oldest prac- ticing physician in Sunbury. His father was the Rev. John Peter Shindel of the Lutheran church, and his mother's family name was Mccullough. Both parents were native Pennsylvanians, the Shindel family coming originally from Germany and the Mccullough's from Ireland. Rev. J. P. Shindel came to

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Sunbury in 1812 and preached in various churches in this part of the coun- try thirty-five or forty years. He died in 1853, aged about sixty-seven years. They reared eight sons and four daughters, of whom three sons only are now living. The youngest, Luther, is a Lutheran preacher at Danville, Pennsyl- vania, and Jacob G. L., an ex-judge, is a druggist at Selinsgrove, Snyder county, Pennsylvania. Dr. D. W. Shindel was educated primarily at Sun- bury Academy, began the study of medicine while teaching school, and in 1850 was graduated from Pennsylvania Medical College. He has served the people in various local offices, such as councilman, assistant burgess, school director, and pension examiner. He has been a member of the school board twenty-one years and was United States pension examiner from 1865 to 1885. He has also served as medical examiner for several life insurance companies. He has been twice married, first in Sunbury, June 17, 1851, to Mary Wharton, who was the mother of three daughters: Florine, Mrs. J. Fasold; Susan D., Mrs. John R. Quiggle, and Mary E., Mrs. George W. Hoffman. Mrs. Shindel died in January, 1863. In 1864 the Doctor mar- ried Elizabeth Irwin, and to this union have been born six children: Will- iam L., editor of the Shamokin Dispatch; Jane, deceased; Carrie, deceased; Minnie; Georgia A., and Webster, deceased.

CAPTAIN CHARLES J. BRUNER was born in Sunbury, November 17, 1820, and died, March 15, 1885. His father was the Rev. Martin Bruner of the German Reformed church, and his mother's maiden name was Mary Gray- the latter a native of Sunbury and the former of Philadelphia. The Rev. Martin Bruner died in 1852; his widow lived to the age of seventy-five years. He came to Sunbury when twenty-one years old, from here moved to Hagers- town, Maryland, and from there to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he died.

Charles J. Bruner came to Sunbury to live in 1840. He was educated in Lancaster, studied law under Judge Alexander Jordan, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. For a time after coming to the bar he was associated with the late Major Dewart; afterward he had no law partner. At the meet- ing of the bar at Sunbury, Monday, March 30, 1885, held for the purpose, the formal announcement of Captain Bruner's death was made and the fol- lowing resolutions were adopted :-

The bar of Northumberland county, having convened to take recognition of the death, and to pay some seemly tribute to the character and memory of the late Charles J. Bruner, Esquire, whose relations as a member thereof have always been so honorable, but whose untimely decease it has been so suddenly and unexpectedly called to deplore, doth resolve,

First, That his spotless career as a lawyer while in active membership of this bar, his exemplary courage when in camp and field, while he served his country as a soldier in the early and trying days of the late civil war, his enviable record for effi- ciency and integrity as an officer in the civil service of the Federal government during the fourteen years or more he held the important trust of collector of internal revenue for the Fourteenth district of Pennsylvania, and his fair promise of honorable achieve- ment on his recent return to and renewal of active employment in his profession of

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the law, have made his name and character well worthy to be held in active memory, and render his fame well worthy of perpetuation among the historical records of our bar and his virtues and achievements in public and professional life well worthy of righteous emulation.

Second, That his learning, the high order of his natural abilities, his discriminating judgment and quickness of perception, and the noble virtues of his public and private life, have largely contributed to place him in high rank among the just and honorable of his profession.

Third, That by his genial manners, his amiable temper, his affectionate disposi- tion, his generous impulses, as well by his unswerving fidelity in pure and disinter- ested friendship as by his kindly and beneficent influences in social and professional intercourse, he has won his way to the strongest feelings and best impulses of our hearts.

Fourth, That a committee of four members of the bar be appointed to convey to his family the assurance of our heartfelt sympathy with them in this sudden and great bereavement, and to commend them in the great depth of their sorrow to the strong staff tendered by Him "who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," and fails not to remember the widow or the orphan, but notes in tenderness of mercy even the fall of the sparrow.

Signed, W. A. SOBER, G. W. ZEIGLER, SAMUEL HECKERT, P. L. HACKENBERG, Committee.

At Lincoln's first call for troops in 1861 Captain Bruner responded as the leader of Company F, Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served about six months, taking an active part in the battle of Falling Waters. He was afterward in the emergency service a short time. General Grant while President appointed him collector of internal revenue for the Fourteenth Pennsylvania district, a position he held successively under both Hayes and Arthur. The Grand Army Post in Sunbury is named in honor of his brother, William. Captain Bruner was a member of the Reformed church and prominent in the I. O. O. F. He was a self-made man. Beginning life without fortune in wordly goods, he gave liberally through his life from his stores made ample by his personal industry, and died leaving those dependent upon him a fair competency. He is a direct descendant from the celebrated Bradys, and his widow, to whom he was married in Sunbury, June 3, 1852, was Louisa Weiser, a direct descendant of Conrad Weiser, the noted Indian interpreter during the early settlement of the region of Shamo- kin, now Sunbury. To this union were born the following children: Mary Gray, the wife of C. G. Voris, attorney, of Milton; Elizabeth, who died before a year old; Louisa, who died at four and a half years of age; Charles, who died at one and a half years of age; William W., now in the United States postal service, and Franklin, who died when eight years old.

GENERAL JOHN KAY CLEMENT, deceased, was born at Philadelphia, January 1, 1820, son of Evan and Hannah (Kay) Clement. His father died when he was but seven years of age. He was educated at the Friends'

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school in his native city, read law under Richard Howell of Camden, New Jersey, and was admitted to the bar at Trenton in 1841. Shortly afterward he located in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, residing at Minersville and Pottsville, and removed to Sunbury in 1854. He possessed great ability as a lawyer, and was an orator of exceptional eloquence and power. Among the official positions with which he was honored were those of brigadier general of the State militia, to which he was appointed while a resident of Schuylkill county; district attorney of Northumberland county, to which he was elected in 1859 and 1871 and appointed in 1877; and provost marshal of the Fourteenth Pennsylvania district from 1862 to 1864. In 1854 he married Mary S., eldest daughter of Isaac and Mary (Eyer) Zeigler, of Sun- bury; Charles M. Clement, deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth of Penn- sylvania, is their only surviving son. General Clement died at Sunbury on the 15th of October, 1882. He was a Republican in politics, a member of the Masonic fraternity, and a vestryman in St. Matthew's Protestant Epis- copal church at the time of his death.

LLOYD T. ROHRBACH, treasurer of the Sunbury Nail, Bar, and Guide Iron Manufacturing Company, treasurer of the Sunbury Water Company, dealer in ice and coal, and manufacturer of brick, a lawyer by profession, and an active all-around business man, was born in Upper Augusta township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, January 22, 1839. He was educated at the common schools of Sunbury, Missionary Institute at Selinsgrove, and Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, and in April, 1861, joined the army as a private in Company F, Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers. At the end of

three months' service he read law, and in 1863 was admitted to the bar. In 1868 he was appointed United States commissioner, held the office several years, and resigned. Giving up the practice of law in 1872 he afterwards served two terms as prothonotary and clerk of the courts, and thereafter turned his attention to his business interests. A Republican in politics, he is regarded as one of the best workers in the party, and though seeking no office for himself his invaluable services are always at the command of his friends. He was married at Sunbury, December 20, 1866, to Jennie C., daughter of John Haas, and has two children: George Edward and William R.

JAMES H. McDEVITT, attorney at law and United States commissioner for the Western district of Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 7, 1843. He was graduated from St. Francis College in 1861, and for some years was engaged in mercantile business at Altoona. He came to Sunbury in 1870 as a clerk in the office of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and while there began the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1873, and has been regularly in practice ever since. In September, 1873, he was appointed United States commissioner, the term of which office is limited to good behavior or life. He is an active Democratic worker, was

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for some years a member of the executive committee of the State, and in 1886 was the regular nominee for Congress, a sort of forlorn hope, the dis- trict being then overwhelmingly Republican. Mr. McDevitt is a Royal Arch Mason and an Odd Fellow. He was married in Danville, Pennsylvania, November 11, 1871, to Amelia, daughter of S. B. Boyer, and has one daugh- ter, Essie. The parents of Mr. McDevitt were John and Charlotte (Caffey) McDevitt, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Pennsylvania, of Quaker origin. The father was many years a merchant in Altoona and died there in 1873 aged seventy-seven years. His widow resides in Philadelphia.

SOLOMON B. BOYER, attorney at law, was born in Little Mahanoy town- ship, now Cameron, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1829, son of John and Elizabeth (Bixler) Boyer, early settlers of this county. The senior Mr. Boyer, a farmer and merchant by occupation, reared eleven children, nine of whom are living. Solomon B., the eldest, was educated at the common schools, learned the cabinet maker's trade, and occasionally. clerked for his father. He read law with the late H. J. Wolverton and was admitted to the bar in August, 1858. Entering at once into practice, he readily gained reputation and popularity, and has for many years been recog- nized as a successful lawyer in the civil and criminal courts. His practice extends throughout the State, and into all the courts, both State and Federal. Now and for some years past an ardent Democrat, he was during the war a Republican, and held the office of deputy revenue collector under President Lincoln's administration. He has been chief burgess of Sunbury four years and held other minor offices at various times. In Masonry, Odd Fellowship, and Knights of Pythias Mr. Boyer is the foremost man in the county. There is scarcely any position in the order of Odd Fellows, including the office of Grand Master of this State, that he has not held, nor any honors they have not conferred upon him from time to time. He was married in Cameron township in 1850 to Esther Haupt, and has had two children: Francis, his only son, who was accidentally drowned when between nine and ten years of age, and Amelia, wife of J. H. McDevitt, of Sunbury.

JOHN NEVIN HILL, attorney at law, was born at Selinsgrove, Pennsyl- vania, September 3, 1855, son of George Hill. He received a thorough academic education, studied law under his father, and was admitted to the bar, March 11, 1878. Beginning the practice in Luzerne county, he was at Hazelton four years and in 1882 associated himself with his father in Sunbury. This partnership lasted two years, since which Mr. Hill has been alone in the practice. He was admitted to practice before the State Supreme court in April, 1883; and in 1889 he was commissioned by the Governor as one of seven to revise and codify the laws relating to the care of the poor, an honor earned by his public labor and addresses upon this subject. In 1885 he compiled the laws and ordinances of the borough of Northumber- land and he is now the authorized county reporter of the Pennsylvania

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County Court Reports, a work requiring and receiving much careful research as shown by his elaborate and thorough annotations. He is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellow fraternities, and of the Episcopal church. July 15, 1878, he was married in Northumberland to Florence I. McFarland, and has three children: Martha Olivia; John McFarland, and George M.

ISAAC L. WITMER is a son of John and Mary M. (Lenker) Witmer, both of leading families that came early from Lebanon county, this State, and settled in the Mahanoy region, this county. He married Annie Bubb, a daughter of Michael Bubb, whose father at the early age of sixteen years emigrated from Germany and settled in Mahanoy township. To this union were born thirteen children, of whom nine grew to maturity and are yet living.

CHARLES B. WITMER, the eldest son of Isaac L. and Annie (Bubb) Wit- mer, was born in Lower Mahanoy township, Northumberland county, Penn- sylvania, April 13, 1862. His boyhood days were spent upon the farm where his parents still reside, alternating the labor incident to farm life with attendance at the public schools of his neighborhood. He early became desirous of obtaining a liberal education, and with such in view he entered the Uniontown select school during the fall of 1879. He was subsequently licensed and employed to teach the primary school at Georgetown, this county, and at the close of one term entered the Millersburg high school where he remained some time. Returning home, and after several weeks' attendance at the Berrysburg Teachers' Normal, he was again licensed and employed to teach in the public schools of Lower Mahanoy township. In the spring of 1881 he entered Union Seminary, now known as Central Penn- sylvania College, at New Berlin, where he remained, supported by the means obtained by farm labor and teaching, until he was graduated in the class of 1883. During the following year he was principal of the Georgetown high school, and in the fall of 1884 was examined and registered to read law with C. G. Voris, then of Sunbury. He continued his legal studies, with the exception of the summer of 1886, during which he was principal of the Teachers' Normal Institute of Snyder county, Pennsylvania, until February, 1887, when he was admitted to the bar of Northumberland county. He began at once to practice his profession at Sunbury, and by strict attention to business he has merited a lucrative and growing practice, not only in his native county, but also in the surrounding counties.

He was appointed solicitor for Northumberland county in 1889, and in the spring of the same year was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the State. On the 20th of August, 1889, he was nominated by the Repub- lican party for district attorney, and after a heated and ably conducted cam- paign, in which he made many friends, was defeated by a small majority. He is a member of the First Reformed church and the Sunday school, in both of which is a leading officer, is also a member of the I. O. O. F., S. P.

Pur, Hill.

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K., and P. O. S. of A., and in each has filled important positions. He was married, October 17, 1885, to Mollie, daughter of Isaac Beaver, of Middle- burg, Pennsylvania, and has one son.

WILLIAM C. FARNSWORTH, attorney at law, was born at Sunbury, January 1, 1864. He was principally educated at the public schools. At the age of seventeen he migrated to the West, locating for a time at Des Moines, Iowa, as editor of the Industrial Motor. He was afterwards employed for a short time on special work for the Iowa State Register, and later kept books for a wholesale house and had charge of the Western Lyceum Bureau. Altogether he spent one year at Des Moines. He then returned to Pennsylvania, and clerked for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Shamokin until 1885. In February of that year he began the study of law in the office of John B. Packer at Sunbury. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1887, entered immediately upon the practice of his profession, and has rapidly attained rank and recognition. He is a Republican in politics, and was the nominee of his party for Congress in 1890 from the Seventeenth Pennsylvania district. On the 12th of January, 1887, Mr. Farnsworth married Miss Mary A. Lodge, of Halifax, Pennsylvania; they are the parents of one child, Margaret Packer.

CHARLES M. CLEMENT, a lawyer of Sunbury and now deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth, was born in Sunbury, Northumberland county, Pennsyl- vania, October 23, 1855. His father was General John Kay Clement, one of the leading criminal lawyers of Pennsylvania, and his mother was Mary S., daughter of Isaac Zeigler, once a prominent merchant of Sunbury. General Clement died, October 15, 1882, at the age of sixty-three years. Charles M., his only son now living, was educated at Sunbury Academy and Burlington, New Jersey. After leaving school he clerked six years in the prothonotary's office, read law with his father, and was admitted to the bar, March 11, 1878. In January following he began the practice and was associated with his father until the death of the latter. Mr. Clement has been one term assistant burgess of Sunbury and five or six years a member of the borough council, was for several years borough solicitor, and is now solicitor for the school board. October 1, 1887, he was appointed by Charles W. Stone corporation clerk of the State department and November 29, 1890, was appointed by Governor Beaver to his present position. From 1879 to 1883 he was secretary of the county central committee, Republican, and from 1883 to 1888 was chairman of the committee. He was one of the organizers of the Sunbury Guards, Company E, Twelfth Regiment N. G. P., entered the service as a private, and was promoted in regular order to the captaincy, a position to which he has been twice chosen, first in 1882 and secondly in 1887. Mr. Clement is a member of the Sons of Veterans, Sons of the Revolution, Knights of the Golden Eagle, and the S. P. K. He was married at Northumberland, November 19, 1879, to Alice Withington, and has three children: John Kay; Martin W., and Charles Francis.

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History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 86

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