History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 87

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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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

MARTIN L. SNYDER, attorney at law, was born in Point township, North- umberland county, Pennsylvania, April 3, 1853, son of John S. and Mar- garet (Weiser) Snyder. He was educated at Bloomsburg State Normal School, and from 1876 to 1878 was cashier of the Augusta Bank of Sunbury. In August, 1879, he began the study of law with S. P. Wolverton, and in the fall of 1880 was admitted to the bar. After about one year in Mr. Wol- verton's office while that gentleman was in the State Senate, he opened an office and has since been actively engaged in practice. Mr. Snyder is a Republican in politics, a member of the K. of P., and one of the trustees of the Presbyterian church. From the age of thirteen to sixteen young Sny- der followed canal-boating between Williamsport and Philadelphia and thereby earned the money to purchase books and defray incidental expenses. From sixteen to twenty-one years of age he taught school and was gradu- ated at the Bloomsburg Normal School, and had just entered Princeton Col- lege when his brother, William Lester, died, and he was called home to suc- ceed him as cashier of the bank. Thus it will be seen that from the age of thirteen years Mr. Snyder has had to make a way for himself, and it is but proper to say that his success has been commensurate with his efforts. Be- ginning life without a penny, he is educated, has made himself a reputation as a lawyer, and has acquired wealth. Though often solicited he has steadily declined all official preferment; his only appearance in the political field was as a candidate for the nomination for district attorney, an honor he missed through indifference on his own part. Mr. Snyder's grandfather, Peter Snyder, was one of the first settlers in this part of the county. He was a farmer and justice of the peace, lived at Hollowing run, Lower Augusta township, and left large property, principally in real estate. He had four sons and four daughters: John S. and Peter H., twins; Anthony, and Will- iam S. Peter H. lives in Sunbury; Anthony lives in Fayette, Ohio, and William S. lives on a farm in Lower Augusta township. Of the daughters Mrs. Sober is dead; Jemima, Mrs. Griffith, was first married to a Mr. Bergstresser, and now lives in Dauphin county; Susan, Mrs. George Fisher, lives at Selinsgrove, on the Isle of Que, and Lydia, Mrs. Benjamin Fisher, is now in Nebraska. Peter was a descendant of Governor Snyder. Mr. Snyder's father, John S. Snyder, was born in Lower Augusta township, February 6, 1820, and married Margaret Weiser in 1844; she died in 1856 and he afterwards married Catharine Gemberling, and in 1877 moved West and now lives near Three Rivers, Michigan. His first wife, by whom he had four sons, was a daughter of Philip Weiser, a grandson of the famous Con- rad Weiser, and a farmer by occupation. He had two sons and four daugh- ters: Solomon, of Illinois; George, who died in 1882 in Lower Augusta town- ship; Margaret, Mrs. Snyder; Elizabeth, Mrs. George Kiefer; Sarah, Mrs. John Evert, and Catharine, who married Henry Fausold, now deceased. Philip Weiser, the grandfather of Mr. Snyder, was born in Pennsylvania in

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1786, and died in Upper Augusta township, November 16, 1862, his wife Catharine having died, March 31, 1851. John S. Snyder, the father of the subject of this sketch, had four sons by his wife, Margaret (Weiser) Snyder: Anson W., who on the 24th of December, 1874, married Sophie Kerns, of Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, and now lives upon his farm near Lewistown, Pennsylvania; William Lester, who died at the age of twenty-four years, January 23, 1876, after having served as cashier of the Augusta Bank of Sunbury, Pennsylvania; John Calvin, who was graduated in medicine at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Buffalo, New York, and after serving with distinction as assistant professor of anatomy at the University in Buffalo, New York, one year, located at Osborne, Kansas, in 1884, where he has since practiced his profession with credit and success, and married Jennie Annette Bainton, of Buchanan, Michigan, January 30, 1890; and Martin Luther, the subject of this sketch, who has been interested as counsel in both the civil and criminal, courts of this Commonwealth, in which he has represented a number of important cases, as well as before the Supreme court of the State.

JOHN JUNIUS REIMENSNYDER, attorney at law, was born in Augusta count y Virginia, June 2, 1812, son of Rev. George Henry and Christina Reimen- snyder, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Frederick, Mary- land. They were the parents of five daughters and two sons; both the sons, like their father, entered the ministry of the Lutheran church. Rev. Cornelius Reimensnyder was for some years the agent of the American Sunday School Union, and died at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Rev. J. J. Reimensnyder received his education under the tuition of his father and at local academies, received the degree of A. M. from Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia, and was licensed to preach at the age of twenty years. He was successively located in the ministry at Mt. Sidney, Virginia, Woodsboro' and Smithburg, Mary- land, and Milton and Northumberland, Pennsylvania; from 1854 to 1864 he resided in Turbut township, Northumberland county, and since the latter date has been a resident of Sunbury. Owing to physical disability he was obliged to relinquish the work of the ministry, and in 1854 was elected as the first superintendent of public schools in Northumberland county; he filled this office with great acceptability six years, and during this period did much to promote the educational interests of the county. The first county institute was held in the first year of his incumbency, and at every subse- quent institute he has taken part in the exercises. In 1860 and 1862 he received the county nomination for Congress, but withdrew on each occasion from personal considerations without making a contest in the district con- vention. He was elected prothonotary of Northumberland county in 1863 and re-elected in 1866, serving in this office two terms. On the 14th of March, 1876, he was admitted to the bar, and has since been engaged in the practice of law. Mr. Reimensnyder was married, May 3, 1838, to Susan Margaret, daughter of Benjamin Bryon, of Augusta county, Virginia, a captain in the

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war of 1812. To this union were born eight children: Cornelius, a lawyer of Toledo, Ohio; Rev. Junius Benjamin, a Lutheran clergyman of New York City: Rev. John M., a Lutheran clergyman of Milton; George B., a lawyer of Sunbury; Millard F., a druggist of Sunbury; W. Virginia; S. Augusta, and H. Cleora, organist of Zion Lutheran church and a graduate of the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music.

GEORGE B. REIMENSNYDER, attorney at law, was born at Smithburg, Washington county, Maryland, July 27, 1849, son of Rev. J. J. and Susan (Bryan) Reimensnyder. He obtained his education at the public schools and at the academy of Sunbury, and received the honorary degree of A. M. from Pennsylvania College, June 25, 1886. He began active life as an apprentice to the printing trade in the office of the Democrat at Sunbury, where he remained one year. In 1866 he entered the prothonotary's office at Sunbury as deputy clerk, retaining that position until July 1, 1870. After teaching in the public schools of Rockefeller township one year he entered the office of the register and recorder at Sunbury, in which he was employed nine years and served as deputy clerk seven years. In 1875 he began the study of law under Leffert H. Kase, and was admitted to the bar on the 6th of August, 1877. In 1879 he entered upon the practice of his profession, in which he has achieved fair success. He has served as a member of the examining committee of the local bar association continuously since 1881, and as borough solicitor of Sunbury, 1888-89; in 1881 he was president of the convention of the Young Men's Christian Association of Pennsylvania at Bellefonte. At the present time he is secretary of the council of Zion Lutheran church, Sunbury, a director in the Sunbury Trust and Safe Deposit Company and solicitor for that institution, and president of the Pomfret Manor Cemetery Company. Mr. Reimensnyder was married, November 22, 1887, to Miss Clara B., only daughter of David L. Stackhouse, druggist, of Philadelphia. They are the parents of one child, Lillian, born March 23, 1889.

C. R. SAVIDGE, attorney at law, was born, January 19, 1851, in Trevorton, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. His father, Samuel K. Savidge, a mason and bricklayer by trade, was a native of Rush township. He married Ellen Campbell and to this union were born three children: C. R .; Harrison C., who is manager of Whitmer & Sons' lumber business in West Virginia, and Lizzie A., who married Williard Robinson, of West Virginia. The father died in 1858 and the mother in 1882. Both were consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. C. R. Savidge was fond of books from the time he learned to read, and in 1865 was employed to teach in the coun- try schools, in which he was engaged four years. In 1869 he taught in the public schools of Danville, Pennsylvania, after which he entered Princeton College, from which he was graduated in 1874, a classmate of Henry M. Hinckley and James Scarlett, both well known gentlemen of Riverside and Danville. On his return from college Mr. Savidge took employment in a

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saw mill and continued that with other arduous labors for some time. After reading law with Simon P. Wolverton, he was admitted to the bar of North- umberland county in 1877. He at once began practice in Sunbury and has taken a high rank among his fellow-members at the bar. In 1880 he was elected district attorney by a majority of one thousand sixty-six. On the 31st of December, 1875, he was married to Louise Essick, of Montour coun- ty, this State, and to this union have been born seven children, six of whom are living: Harry W .; Albert C .; Ralph W. E .; Preston M .; Louise, and Lucile. Mr. Savidge belongs to the F. & A. M., the Conclave, and K. of G. E. He is a Democrat, and the family are adherents of the Baptist church.

H. M. McCLURE, attorney at law, was born in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, August 8, 1859, a son of J. C. and. Glorvina (Elder) McClure. He received his education principally at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, from which institution he was graduated in 1877. In January, 1878, he began the study of law under the tuition of Simon P. Wolverton, and was admitted to the bar of Northumberland county, June 28, 1881. During the summer of 1878 he played base ball with the Binghamton and Syracuse clubs; in 1879 he played with the Rochester club, and in 1882 with the Baltimore club. From Janu- ary 9, 1884, to February 9, 1888, he was practicing law in the office of Simon P. Wolverton, and in the last mentioned year he established an office by himself, and by strict attention to business is meriting a large and growing practice. On the 12th of June, 1890, at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, he was married to Miss Margaret Focht. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Mc- Clure gave material aid in securing the national regatta of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen which was held at Sunbury in July, 1887.

CHRISTIAN NEFF was born, October 18, 1817, in Lancaster county, Penn- sylvania, and died in Sunbury, June 27, 1882. His father, John Neff, a farmer during his lifetime, was a native of Lancaster county, as was also his mother. Our subject spent his boyhood days upon a farm, until apprenticed to the tailor's trade, which he followed for some years in Louisville, Ken- tucky. Returning thence to Lancaster county, he was married, September 24, 1846, to Ann Brennaman, a step-daughter of Col. Abraham Greenawalt, of Elizabethtown, that county. He then purchased a small farm and after following rural pursuits for a while, he opened a dry goods and grocery store at Buck Lock along the line of the Pennsylvania canal. About the year 1860 he rented the Washington House at Middletown, Dauphin county, and kept it until April 1, 1867, when he purchased the old Washington House at Sunbury, which stood on the present site of the new Neff House. He at once removed his family to Sunbury, where he thereafter kept hotel until his death. He was courteous and gentlemanly, ever ready to accommodate his guests and make their stay with him as pleasant as possible. He thereby merited an oft remark from the traveling public, "that he was one of the most open-hearted landlords they had ever met." He was a member of the

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Perseverence Lodge of the Masonic order at Harrisburg, and served in the borough council of Sunbury. Mr. Neff began his political career as a Whig, and naturally drifted into the ranks of the Republican party, and although he always took an active interest in political issues, yet he never sought offi- cial position. Possessed of a large fund of general information, a keen knowledge of human nature, quick to perceive the ludicrous in all things and apt in telling an anecdote in the proper place, he was consequently very pop- ular among his friends and associates. His wife, who was born, February 18, 1822, died, April 26, 1878, and was the mother of the following children by her union with Mr. Neff: Helen A., deceased; Anna E., deceased; Cath- arine J., wife of B. M. Aughinbaugh; Horace B., who married Mary Gill; Caroline; George H., who married Ella Bright and is an attorney of Sun- bury; Lewis F., who married Margaret J. Martin; Christian S., who married Blanche Long; Walter, deceased, and Annie, deceased. Of these children, Catharine J., together with her husband and Lewis F. and George H., are the proprietors of the new Neff House of Sunbury.

GEORGE H. NEFF, attorney at law, was born, June 26, 1857, in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, son of Christian and Ann (Brenneman) Neff. He re- ceived his education at the common schools, finishing at the high school of Sunbury, from which he was graduated in 1874. He learned telegraphy in Sunbury, and was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as operator at Sunbury, Shamokin, and Mt. Carmel for about one year. On the 7th of January, 1877, he entered the law office of S. P. Wolverton as a clerk. While there he studied stenography and type-writing and subse- quently became his private secretary, which position he held for thirteen years. He also took up the study of law under Mr. Wolverton and was ad- mitted to the bar, June 28, 1881. At this date he was made assistant to Mr. Wolverton in his office practice and continued as such until September 1, 1889, when he opened an office and has since practiced by himself. He is a Democrat, and has always taken an active part in State and county politics. He is a director in the Southern Central Railroad Company, now in process of construction, extending from Sunbury to Harrisburg along the west shore of the Susquehanna river. He was married, June 2, 1887, to Ella Bright, daughter of Peter Bright, a boot and shoe merchant of Sunbury, and to this union one child has been born, Harold M. Mr. Neff with a few others was instrumental in securing the national regatta of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen, which was rowed on the Fort Augusta course on the Susquehanna river at Sunbury in July, 1887.

DANIEL BECKLEY, court crier, was born, February 2, 1802, in Berks county, Pennsylvania, son of Daniel aud Hannah (Eyster) Beckley. The parents came to Northumberland county about the year 1812 and settled near Milton, in which town they both died, respected citizens and consistent members of the German Reformed church. Our subject received a common school edu-

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cation and was brought up at farm labor. He clerked in stores at Sunbury, Milton, Selinsgrove, and Trevorton. He was elected by the Democratic party to the offices of prothonotary and sheriff and served a term in each with credit. At the beginning of his term of office Judge Rockefeller appointed Mr. Beckley court crier, which position he has continued to fill to the present time. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and is one of the most upright and respected citizens of the county.

WILLIAM WHITMER, one of the active business men of Sunbury, was born at McAllistersville, Pennsylvania, December 11, 1835. He came to Sunbury > in 1872 and immediately embarked in the mercantile and lumber business, in both of which he has been successful. He is now a member of the mer- cantile firm of Whitmer & Trexler, the oldest dry goods house in Sunbury: He has branched into business from his present town into different parts of Pennsylvania, and also West Virginia, where he gives employment to a large number of men. He is a Republican, and one of the enterprising business men and highly respected citizens of the borough in which he resides.

LEWIS DEWART, attorney at law, was born in Sunbury, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1849. After a thorough academic preparation he entered Princeton College and was graduated therefrom in the class of 1872. He read law with the late Judge Jordan and was admitted to the bar in 1874. In 1875 he was elected borough clerk, held the office one term, and in 1877 was elected district attorney. He is an active and energetic Demo- crat, and for his party does much hard and effectual work. He has served on the central committee, and was a delegate to the convention that nomi- nated Pattison for Governor. The degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by his Alma Mater.

CHARLES D. GIBSON, attorney at law, was born in Sunbury, Northumber- land county, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1863. His father is the Rev. Lewis W. Gibson of the Episcopal church, now located at Dover, Delaware, and his mother was the daughter of the late Judge Charles G. Donnel, of Sunbury. Charles, the elder of the two sons, was educated by his father in private in- struction and at Union College, Schenectady, New York. He began the study of law in 1887 with John B. Packer as his preceptor and was admitted to the bar in September, 1889. Prior to his taking up the study of law he was five years in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as clerk.

JOHN S. HAAS was born, May 6, 1810, in Northumberland county, Penn- sylvania. He received a common school education and on the 6th of Decem- ber, 1835, was married to Margaret Deppen, who was born, March 4, 1812, in Berks county, Pennsylvania. When a young man he belonged to a mili- tia company and held the position of colonel. He was a Democrat, and served as overseer of the poor for many years. He died, November 30, 1885, followed by his widow on the 13th of December, 1887. Both were members of the German Reformed church. To their union were born four children,

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only one of whom is living, Hiram M .; the others died in infancy. The Sun- bury American of December 4, 1885, contained the following: "Colonel John S. Haas died at his residence in Upper Augusta township, near Sun- bury, on Monday last, aged about seventy-five years. He resided in Jack- son township, this county, until 1850, when he purchased what was then called the Sunbury mill property, where he resided since. By economy and good management he accumulated a large amount of wealth. He was unas- suming and seldom mingled in company and was respected for his fair and honest dealing. His death was caused from paralysis."

HIRAM M. HAAS, farmer, was born in Jackson township, March 4, 1846, son of John S. and Margaret (Deppen) Haas. He was educated at the Sun- bury schools and at Missionary Institute, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and also took a course at the Poughkeepsie Commercial College. He was occupied for fifteen years in conducting the mill, and in the management of his father's business. In 1870 he married Lusetta, daughter of John Hull, a merchant of Snydertown. By this union they have nine children: John F .; Edward L .; Isaac J .; Bessie May; Hiram W .; Mary Margaret; Essie Mabel; Nellie Jane, and Marion Valeria. Mr. Haas is an active member of the Democratic party. He has served as township auditor for three successive terms, and as school director three terms. He is connected with the I. O.O. F. and the Royal Arcanum of Sunbury.

PETER H. SNYDER, a retired citizen of Sunbury, was born in Lower Augusta township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, February 6, 1820, son of Peter and Joanna (Shipman) Snyder. His grandfather, Casper Sny- der, came from Germany and settled in this county before the Revolutionary war. He was a farmer and tavern keeper on the old Harrisburg and Sun- bury road, where his son Peter succeeded him; the old brick tavern house was built by Casper Snyder in 1798. Peter Snyder was born in 1788 and died in February, 1866; his wife died six years previously at the age of seventy years. They reared nine children, and buried three; eight are now living. Peter H. Snyder was born, February 6, 1820; he was reared upon the farm and educated in the common schools and at Danville Academy. He studied surveying, and taught school twenty-one winters. He removed to Sunbury in 1881 and retired from active business. October 23, 1845, he married Malinda Wolverton, and they are the parents of four children: Newton W .; Dennis H .; Rosetta J., and Anna Laura. Mr. Snyder is a Republican in politics, and in faith a member of the Presbyterian church.

HENRY B. SMITH, merchant, was born at Womelsdorf, Berks county, Penn- sylvania, November 19, 1855, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Haak) Smith. The father, a lumber merchant, died in 1876 at the age of fifty-six years, and his widowed mother yet lives at Womelsdorf. Henry is the eldest of two sons and two daughters. The straitened condition of their financial affairs after the death of his father limited his schooling to such only as

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was possible prior to his thirteenth year. At that age he began to clerk in his native village and remained there one year. Having accumulated the (to him) vast sum of twenty dollars, he packed his valise and started West. Arriving at Sunbury, the "great west" was yet a great way off, and his capital had dwindled down to the minimum. He sought employment with Clement & Dissinger, merchants, and remained with them ten or eleven years. In 1882, having saved about two hundred dollars, he formed a part- nership with S. C. Drumheller and engaged in the coal business. The year following the dry goods house of Smith, Drumheller & Zeigler was estab- lished as H. B. Smith & Company. Zeigler retired at the end of three years and Drumheller at the end of two more. Thus, since 1887, Mr. Smith has had no partner. They began with a capital of three thousand dollars; Mr. Smith has now invested over twenty thousand dollars and not only does an extensive retail trade but sells a great many goods at wholesale. He is a member of the Patriotic Sons of America, Royal Arcanum, Conclave, and the Lutheran church. He was married in Sunbury, October 24, 1888, to Mary E., daughter of Nathan Martz.

JOHN WEISER BUCHER .- The Bucher family date their advent into North- umberland county back to the Indian occupation, and the name figures with more or less prominence in all the succeeding generations. Henry Bucher, grandfather of John W., reared a large family of children, and his youngest son, Francis, a tanner by occupation, married Mary Ann Masser, December 8, 1831, reared six sons and two daughters, and died, March 19, 1875. Of his eight children, the subject of this sketch is the oldest of four sons and one daughter now living. He was born in Sunbury, September 15, 1835, received an academic education, learned the tanning business under his fa- ther, and at the age of about twenty years became clerk and deputy to the register and recorder, a position he filled about six years. He was next appointed deputy prothonotary and held that office one year. In February, 1864, he enlisted in Company C, Forty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, at Harrisburg, and served one year as a private under General Hancock in the Nineteenth army corps. He was mustered out at Charleston, South Caro- lina, returned to Sunbury, and for two or three succeeding years was en- gaged in the tanning business. His next employment was with Ira T. Clem- ent as book-keeper of that gentleman's manufacturing establishment, a position he was continued in for several years. He has been secretary of the Sunbury Steam Ferry and Tow Boat Company and associate manager or superintendent of the various manufacturing industries of Mr. Clement, in whose employ he was for the fourth of a century. Mr. Bucher has been chief burgess and treasurer of Sunbury and four or five terms borough coun- cilman. In July, 1890, he was elected secretary and treasurer of the Sun- bury Trust & Safe Deposit Company, a new bank now about starting up on the corner of Fourth and Market streets. He is prominent in Masonry, Odd

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History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 87

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