History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 88

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.

Fellowship, Knights of Pythias, Improved Order of Red Men, and the Re- formed church. He was first married in Sunbury, December 15, 1858, to Hester A., daughter of the late James Beard, at one time prothonotary of the county and afterward a lawyer. She died, December 26, 1862, leaving three children: Francis Edward, a lawyer in Philadelphia; John Beard, a merchant of Sunbury, and Mary Margeret, who was born, September 13, 1862, and died, February 14, 1877. His second wife, to whom he was mar- ried, March 4, 1868, was Mary Jane, daughter of Ira T. Clement, who died in December following, leaving one child, Laura C. February 13, 1872, Mr. Bucher married Mary Faust, by whom he has had five children: Samuel Faust, deceased; William Henry; Sarah Helen; George Franklin, and Mary Ann Masser, deceased.

CHARLES M. MARTIN, physician and surgeon, is a son of Rev. Jacob Martin, of the Lutheran church, and Abbie A. (Stephenson) Martin, and was born at Greencastle, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, January 15, 1840. His grand- father, George Martin, was one of the pioneers of Sunbury and here his sons, George, William, Henry, John, Charles, Luther, and Jacob were born and reared. George served thirty-two years in the United States Army, includ- ing the Seminole Indian war. He and his brother William served through the Mexican war, and William, Luther, Henry, George, and Charles were soldiers in the Union Army during the late Rebellion. Luther was killed in the battle of Gettysburg, and Henry at the battle of the Wilderness. William was a major and George a captain; both live retired in Philadelphia. Charles resides in Savannah, Ohio. Rev. Jacob died in Sunbury in 1872 at the age of sixty-eight years, fifty years of his life having been spent in the ministry. His widow survived him but three months. Of his four children, Henry died at the age of eighteen years; one of his daughters is the wife of James Lyon, of Sunbury; another is the wife of D. W. Shryeck, of Greens- burg, Pennsylvania, and Charles M., the subject of this sketch, is a physician. At the outbreak of the war between the States Mr. Martin was living at Westminister, Maryland, and Charles M., after an academic training at Penn- sylvania College, Gettysburg, was attending lectures at the University of Maryland, at Baltimore, from which institution he was graduated in March, 1863. While in Baltimore he was a resident student of the hospital and after graduating was appointed assistant surgeon by Surgeon General Hammond of the United States Army, and assigned to hospital duty at Frederick, Maryland. At the close of the war he located in practice at Owing's Mills, Baltimore county, Maryland, and was there until the summer of 1870, at which time he came to Sunbury. Here his talents were readily recognized and he at once took and has since maintained high rank in the profession. Doctor Martin is vice-president of the Sunbury Medical Association, and has been resident surgeon of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for the past twelve or thirteen years. He was appointed on the board of pension exam-

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iners, removed by President Cleveland in the spring of 1884, and reappointed by President Harrison in June, 1889. The Doctor is a Republican in politics, has been a member of the borough council, is now a school director, is a Knight Templar Mason, and a member of the Lutheran church. He was married in 1865 at Westminster, Maryland, to Sallie H. Shreeve, who died in 1872 at Owing's Mills. In February, 1883, he married Mary Alice, daughter of John Haas, of Sunbury, and has one son, William H.

HIRAM LONG, physician and surgeon, was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, April 30, 1831. He was reared upon his father's farm and ed- ucated at Strousburg and Blairstown academies, and Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania. He read medicine in his native village, and was graduated from New York Medical College in the spring of 1859. In 1862 he became assistant surgeon of the One Hundred and Seventy-third Penn- sylvania Volunteers and subsequently in order of promotion assistant surgeon and surgeon of the Two Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, a posi- tion he held at the close of the war. With the Two Hundred and Fifth reg- iment he was in the Ninth army corps and took part in all the battles fought by the Army of the Potomac. Returning home he resumed the practice of medicine in Union county, and was there until 1871, when he located in Sun- bury. In 1880 he removed to his present residence in Purdytown, and sought to give up as far as possible the practice of his profession. Under President Cleveland's administration he was appointed pension examiner and held the office until displaced by Corporal Tanner. The Doctor is a member of the Sunbury Medical Association and was some years its president. He is prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity, the G. A. R., the Loyal Legion, the Presbyterian church, and the Sunday school. He was married at his native place, October 28, 1860, to Frances M., daughter of Dr. Robert E. James. Dr. Long's father was William A. Long and the maiden name of his mother was Eva Miller. The Longs were Scotch-Irish and came to America in 1740, settling first in Chester county, Pennsylvania; later some of them moved into Bucks and subsequently others into Northampton coun- ty. William A. Long's grandfather located at Mt. Bethel in Northampton county prior to the war for independence and there his children, grandchil- dren, and many great-grandchildren were born. William A. Long married Eva Miller, whose parents were of German descent, and they reared three sons and three daughters. The daughters are all deceased, and of the sons Jeremiah is a merchant in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Jacob E. is a banker in Bangor, Pennsylvania, and Hiram is a physician at Sunbury.

PHILIP H. RENN, physician, and secretary of the Sunbury Medical Asso- ciation, was born in Sunbury, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, May 26, 1851. He received his primary education at the public schools and at Sunbury Academy, read medicine with Doctor Clark and later with Doctor Mckay, and in 1877 was graduated from the University of Louisville, Ken-

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

tucky, to which institution he was cadetted by the United States government. In 1879 he opened an office in Sunbury, coming hither from the Marine hos- pital at Louisville, where he was house surgeon. Here he stepped readily into prominence in the profession and has steadily kept abreast of the fore- most. Doctor Renn is a member of the K. of P., the I. O. O. F., and the Presbyterian church. He was married in Chicago, July 25, 1889, to Miss Dora, of Louisville, Kentucky.

JACOB MASSER, deceased, physician and surgeon, was born in 1820, grad- uated from Jefferson Medical College in 1841, and from that time until his death successfully practiced medicine in Sunbury. He served one term as register and recorder of Northumberland county, was a surgeon in the late Rebellion for about one year, and died, September 10, 1876; his widow sur- vives him and now resides in Sunbury, Pennsylvania.

FRANKLIN B. MASSER, physician and surgeon, son of Dr. Jacob and Sarah (Heighler) Masser, was born in Sunbury, this State, July 14, 1860. He re- ceived a common school education; when seventeen years of age he com- menced the study of medicine with Dr. R. H. Awl as his preceptor, was graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1880, and has since been in active practice. Our subject is a member of the Sunbury Medical Associa- tion, has been city physician, and pension examiner; he is also a member of the Royal Arcanum, Knights of the Golden Eagle, and the Episcopal church. Mr. Masser was married in Sunbury, April 12, 1884, to Harriet Houtz, daughter of the late Dr. Henry Houtz, and to their union have been born two children: Franklin and Sarah.

JACOB R. CRESSINGER, D. D. S., was born in Sunbury, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, May 31, 1844. His father was the Rev. John B. Cressinger of the Baptist church, a native of this county and a grandson of Michael Cressinger, a German count who came to America in 1768 and settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania. Count Cressinger was an officer in the Continental army during the seven years' war for liberty, and took an active part in many hard battles with the British. His wife accompanied . him through the entire war and with him lived many happy years of subse- quent peace. After the war he came into this county and lived in Augusta township to a ripe old age. He reared four sons: Michael; Henry; William, and Peter. Henry, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was an officer in the war of 1812, and lived many years at the mountain near the mouth of Shamokin creek; just when he died is not known, but he is buried in Sunbury cemetery. His wife was Margaret Renn, and he reared two sons: John B. and Barney. The latter left Sunbury some time in the '50's and died in Michigan. John B. preached many years in this county, organized and built up several churches, and in 1848 removed to Ohio, where he yet lives. He was born, January 1, 1812, and in July, 1831, married Mary Baumgardner. She died in 1881 at the age of seventy-five

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years. They reared four sons and one daughter, and buried two sons and a daughter in infancy. Jacob R., the youngest of the family, was educated at the common schools and studied dentistry with his brother. At the out- break of the war he was attending Oberlin College, Ohio, and from there joined the army in August, 1861, served until November 27, 1865, in the Forty-first Ohio Infantry, and left the service as brevet second lieutenant. With the gallant Forty-first he fought in the battle of Shiloh and the siege of Corinth, and did garrison duty at Murfreesboro'; he met the enemy face to face at Perrysville and at Stone River, where on the second day he was wounded. He was on duty at Readyville, Tennessee, and in the Tulla- homa campaign; he participated in the bloody engagements of Ringgold, Gordon's Mills, Chickamauga, Brown's Ferry, Orchard Knob, Mission Ridge, and the expedition to the relief of Knoxville, and was finally mustered out at Blain's Cross Roads, December 31, 1863. By reason of re-enlistment as veteran, January 1, 1864, he took part in the battle of Dan- dridge, Tennessee, January 16-17th, and on January 17th started for home on a thirty days' veteran furlough, rejoined his command at Chattanooga, Tennessee, March 10, 1864, and was with it in the following engagements: Rockford Ridge, Resaca, Adairsville, Dallas, Kennesaw, Culp's House, Knickajack Creek, Chattahoochee River, Pickett's Mills, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Utah Creek, Lovejoy Station (Georgia), Columbia, Franklin, Nash- ville (Tennessee), and in pursuit of Hood to Huntsville, Alabama. From that time on to the close of the war he was with his regiment in Texas. After the war he completed the study of dentistry, and in February, 1868, came to Sunbury. Mr. Cressinger is a thirty-second degree Mason, an Odd Fellow, and prominent in the G. A. R. and in the Baptist church. He was married in Sunbury, May 31, 1869, to Mary A. Brice, has three children living, and has buried one, Edna, at the age of one and one half years. John B. is a student at Bucknell University and Horace G. is at home. Doctor Cressinger's brother, Isaac, enlisted in 1862 in Company C, Twenty- third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was captured at Harper's Ferry, confined in Libby and Andersonville prisons, in the fall of 1863 was exchanged, and subsequently discharged on a surgeon's certificate. In January, 1864, he re-enlisted and October 19, 1864, at the battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, he was killed. Another brother, Daniel B., enlisted in a company from Ohio in 1861, was discharged in 1863, and soon after his return home died at Upper Sandusky, Ohio. The Doctor has in his possession a hammer which was used by his great-grandfather, Michael Cressinger, to sharpen his flints while serving in the Revolutionary war, and used by his grandfather in the war of 1812.

ANDREW NEBINGER BRICE, editor and proprietor of the Sunbury Weekly News, is a lawyer by profession and a justice of the peace by repeated elec- tions. He was born at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1840, son of

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Thomas and Mary (Wenck) Brice, natives of this county and the city of Phil- adelphia, and of Irish and German extraction, respectively. Mr. Brice was educated at the common schools and in the office of the Sunbury Gazette he started to learn the printing business in 1857, serving three years and a half. In the spring of 1861 he assisted in starting the Northumberland County Democrat, and was connected with that paper about a year, reading law in the meantime with Judge Alexander Jordan. In the summer of 1862 he joined the army and was made second lieutenant of Company C, One Hun- dred and Thirty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers, served nine months, and was mustered out as first lieutenant. July 4, 1863, he re-entered the army, going out as a private in a volunteer cavalry squadron, and served six months. September 7, 1864, he again enlisted and served nearly one year as a private in Company H, Fifth Pennsylvania Cavalry. While a member of the One Hundred and Thirty-first regiment he was at Chancellorsville and Antietam, with the volunteer squadron he was looking after the wounded at Gettys- burg, and with the Fifth Cavalry he was in front of Richmond and Five Forks. In front of Richmond, December 14, 1864, he was slightly wounded, but the great irreparable injury received by him while a soldier was not caused by the armed enemy; it was the more formidable and dangerous work of disease. That enemy that attacks you in the air you breathe, in the water you drink, in the food you eat; that silent, invisible, and insidious monster which hovers about you while you sleep; that evil genius which mixes the fetid effluvium of decaying animal and vegetable matter with the pure hydro- gen and oxygen of life and plants the germ of destruction in the blood-from the wounds of this enemy Mr. Brice will never wholly recover. After the

war he resumed the study of law and diversified the time with school teach- ing until admitted to the bar in 1870. He has been three years chief bur- gess of Sunbury, more than once in the council, and five times elected justice of the peace. In 1881 he started the Sunbury News, which in 1883 absorbed the old Gazette, and is publishing the Legal News, a small periodical of law- book size. Mr. Brice was first commander of the local post of the G. A. R. He is a past grand of the Order of Odd Fellows, past chief patriarch of the Encampment branch, and also past grand marshal of the State of Pennsyl- vania of the same order. As a Mason he belongs to the Elysburg Lodge, and is a member of Northumberland Chapter of Sunbury. He belongs to the commandery at Danville and to Bloomsburg Consistory, having taken thirty- two degrees in Masonry. He is a past master of the Blue lodge and a past high priest of the chapter. He is one of the leading Republicans of the county, having served three years as chairman of the county committee. In his leisure moments he has been working on the history of his first regiment, . the One Hundred and Thirty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers. The new build- ing just put up by him where the News is located is opposite his residence. It is a well equipped newspaper office, in height three stories and a base-

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ment, the basement containing the newspaper Hoe press, boiler, and engine. Though Mr. Brice of late years has suffered much from ill health, contracted from exposure in the field, he is a very busy worker, spending most of his time with a pen in his hand. It is a noteworthy fact in his life that in 1880 he was offered the nomination for Congress, but declined it in favor of another county in the congressional district. He was married in Sunbury, July 31, 1862, to Rebecca Friling, and has three children: Edward L .; William F., and Mary. His sons are associated with him in newspaper bus- iness. He was commissioned postmaster of Sunbury by President Harrison, and his son, William F., is the efficient deputy in charge.

JACOB E. EICHHOLTZ, one of the proprietors and editors of the Northum- berland County Democrat and the Sunbury Daily, was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, November 11, 1836. His father was the Rev. George Eich- holtz, of the Lutheran church, and his mother was Harriet Ely. The senior Mr. Eichholtz's ministerial duties led him to various places of abode, and he died in Lycoming county in 1885, aged seventy-two years. His grandfather came to America from Germany with John Jacob Astor, and was for a time engaged in the fur trade with that great accumulator of wealth. Harriet Eichholtz died in 1881. She was the mother of four sons and four daughters, the subject of this sketch being her second son. Jacob received a common and high school education at Lancaster, learned the printing trade at Mifflin- town, and from that to the present time has been at newspaper work as "jour," publisher, reporter, editor, and proprietor. He came to Sunbury about the time the Northumberland County Democrat was started, joined Mr. Purdy in its publication, and in July, 1868, purchased the plant. In 1880 he sold a fourth interest to Mr. Dewart, his partner and associate in both papers mentioned in this sketch. In 1873 and 1874 Mr. Eichholtz was chairman of the Democratic county central committee; in May, 1885, he was appointed postmaster by Mr. Cleveland. He was first married in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, January 19, 1860, to Harriet Erisman, who died in the fall of 1883. The present Mrs. Eichholtz, to whom he was married at Lewisburg, February 11, 1885, was Rosa Schaffle. By his first marriage he has one son, Herbert; by his second, a son, William.

THOMAS J. SILVIUS, editor and publisher of the Sunbury American, was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, May 14, 1854. His father, Jacob Silvius, also a native of Lancaster, was born, December 11, 1827, and his mother, whose maiden name was Mary Tucker, was born in Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, September 14, 1830. They now reside in East Sunbury, the father having some years since retired from active business. The names of their children are: Ellis T., master mechanic of a railroad in Florida; Thomas J .; Charles L., foreman of the Pennsylvania railroad tin shops, Sunbury; Jennie, married to R. F. Bateman, of Lancaster; Sadie, of Florida; Clara, and Allie. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which organ-

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ization each of their children belongs. Thomas J. was educated at the com- mon schools, learned the printing business, and has followed it thus far almost to the exclusion of everything else. He spent six months in the photograph business, one year clerking in a store, and twelve months as a traveling salesman, and has been four years assessor of property for taxation in the Fifth ward of the borough of Sunbury. In 1875, associated with J. Adam Cake, he published the Sunbury Independent, and in 1875-76, with W. J. Walsmith, issued the Sunbury Daily. In 1878 he joined Mr. J. A. Coker in the utterance of the Cape Girardeau, Missouri, News, and devoted his time thereto for the succeeding five years. He is now editor and pub- lisher of the Sunbury American, the oldest newspaper published in this place. Mr. Silvius is a thorough newspaper man, a terse and vigorous writer, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a Republican in politics. He was married in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, June 15, 1879, to Lelia A. Jennings, and two children have been borne to them: Pearl E. and Robert C .; the latter died, June 15, 1890.

HUDSON WITHINGTON, one of the proprietors, editors, and publishers of the Sunbury American, is a native of Snydertown, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, a son of William and Sarah (Shaffer) Withington, and was born, February 14, 1858. The senior Mr. Withington, a farmer by occupa- tion, was also born in Snydertown, and his wife, Sarah Shaffer, was born in Zerbe township. They reside now at Snydertown, as does also the subject of this sketch, and their children are: Jacob; Mary E .; Franklin; Minnie C., and Hudson. The latter received a common school education, and at Sun- bury learned the printing business, in the practical application of which, in all its various branches, he is a recognized expert. Under the subject head of the Press, this volume, will be found the history of his identity with the American, a paper whose every issue shows in its mechanical make-up a completeness in detail that evidences the skill of an adept. Mr. Withington is a Republican in politics and a member of the I. O. O. F. He was married, November 18, 1888, at Snydertown, to Aldah M. Neice, who was born in Rush township, this county, April 13, 1867. (Since the foregoing was writ- ten Mr. Withington has withdrawn from the paper, and is now a compositor on the Philadelphia Inquirer.)

GEORGE B. CADWALLADER, ex-chief burgess of Sunbury, was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, October 20, 1830, son of Dr. Peter and Hannah (Magill) Cadwallader, natives of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and descend- ants of Scotch ancestry. Doctor Cadwallader died in 1832, and his widow lived to the advanced age of eighty years. Of his three sons and one daugh- ter George B. is the only one living. The subject of this sketch was reared in Bucks county, received an academic education, and subsequently gradu- ated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Engaging in the drug business at Danville, he followed it altogether at various places about twenty-

kauffman

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five years. When the war broke out he was in business at Shamokin, and in April, 1861, entered the army as first lieutenant of Company A, Eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served three months. Re-enlisting in August following he was made first lieutenant of Company K, Forty-sixth Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, and thereafter served in about the following manner until September 10, 1866, at which time he was mustered out at Richmond, Vir- ginia: September 17, 1861, he was first lieutenant and quartermaster of the Forty-sixth regiment; July, 1863, captain and assistant quartermaster U. S. A .; March, 1865, brevetted major and lieutenant colonel; for faithful and meritorious service during the war he was brevetted colonel, and in November, 1865, for faithful and efficient services in the quartermaster's department, he was brevetted brigadier general. During the period covered by the foregoing promotions, he was brigade quartermaster of William's brigade, Army of Virginia; quartermaster of the First brigade, Second corps, Army of Vir- ginia, and of the First brigade, First division, Twelfth corps, Army of the Potomac; post quartermaster at Dechert, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia; in charge of transportation on Sherman's march to the sea; in charge of marine and land transportation at Savannah, Georgia; in charge of quarter- master's depot at Cleveland, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia, and finally in charge of the national cemeteries at Seven Pines, Fair Oaks, and Hollywood. Leaving the army, he came to Sunbury and for a short time was in the grain, flour, and feed business. From 1869 to 1884 he was engaged in the drug business, thence to the present time in the manufacture of nails, an enterprise with which he is now connected. General Cadwallader was married in this place in 1870 to Mrs. Georgiana (Markle) Wolverton. Mrs. Cadwallader died, May 9, 1885, leaving her husband and two daughters: Mary and Annie. The General is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Presbyterian church. He was first elected as chief burgess in 1887, on the Republican ticket, and re-elected in 1889.

HENRY T. ECKERT was born in Northumberland, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, August 20, 1842, and was educated at the public schools and at Freeburg Academy in Snyder county, Pennsylvania. He taught a few terms of school, clerked a season for a Northumberland firm, and conducted a grocery of his own about three years. In the fall of 1869 he went on the road as a "Knight of the Grip" for Burns & Smucker, grocers, of Philadel- -

phia, and it is written of him that his employers knew where he was every pay-day for the fifth of a century. He remained with this firm regularly until March, 1889. Since the last named date he has been engaged with the firm of R. C. Williams & Company of New York. The position of the drum- mer is no sinecure, and the fitness of a man for its duties is established by a multiplicity of tests. Success is the one word that fixes the tenure with his employers; but the accomplishments prerequisite to that rating are beyond the reach of many who deem themselves equal to the most difficult under-

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History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 88

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