History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 89

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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takings. To have represented on the road one house for two decades admits of but one conclusion. Mr. Eckert's popularity among all classes led his party in 1886 to place his name at the head of their legislative ticket and their good judgment was made manifest in his triumph. At the ensuing struggle for his successorship he was again the Democratic candidate, but, as is well known, the whole ticket was defeated. Though always a hard worker he has never been a candidate for any other office. Mr. Eckert is not unknown as a man of letters. His contributions to the Detroit Free Press and other leading journals have met with favor, and some of his verse, not- ably "The Susquehanna" and "Milton in Flames," find places in the choice collections of the connoisseur. In prose and in song many of his pro- ductions are familiar. In the latter, his "Under the Buttonwood," "The Orchard Bars," "Down by the Murmuring Sea," and others are exception- ably fine. Mr. Eckert is a Knight Templar Mason, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married in Catawissa, Pennsylvania, February 8, 1866, to Charlotte C. Long, and has living five children: Curtie W .; Edwin S .; Henry T .; Jennie Long, and Nellie Robins; two others died in infancy.

JARID C. IRWIN was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, March 13, 1830, son of Martin and Rachel (Irwin) Irwin, natives of Chester and Lan- caster counties, respectively. Martin Irwin came to Sunbury in 1832 and here spent the rest of his life, dying in 1849 at the age of forty-five years. His widow subsequently became the wife of Frederick Lazarus, whose widow she now is. Martin Irwin, a shoemaker by occupation, was a most reputable citizen, and served the county as register and recorder, having been elected in 1848. He reared a family of three sons and six daughters. Jarid, the eldest son, learned the shoemaker's trade under his father. In 1861 he responded to the President's first call for troops, and served three months in Company F, Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers. He next served one year as musician in the Forty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and later as a private carried a musket eleven months in the Forty-seventh Pennsyl- vania. With the Eleventh regiment he served in Maryland and Virginia; with the Forty-fifth he was in the battles of James Island, South Carolina, Antietam, and South Mountain, Maryland. Since the war he has lived in Sunbury, where he has been five years a borough councilman, and is now serving his fifth term as school director. Mr. Irwin is a consistent and reli- able Republican in politics, a member of the G. A. R., and a citizen of high standing. He was married in Danville, Pennsylvania, in 1851, to Ann S., daughter of the late George Kiehl, one time sheriff of this county, and has one child, Georgiana, Mrs. Sharon Stevens, of Harrisburg, who has two children: Fred and Bessie.

URIAS BLOOM, register of wills, recorder of deeds, and clerk of the orphan's court, was born in Lower Augusta, now Rockefeller township,

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Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1854, son of Hiram and Maria (Hileman) Bloom. Stephen Bloom, the first of the name to locate in this county, came here prior to 1795, as shown by his will, and was there- fore a pioneer in this part of the country. His son Samuel was the father of Jacob, and Jacob was the father of Hiram; thus with the stroke of the pen we connect the fifth with the first generation of a family whose name appears frequently in the early archives of the county. Samuel Bloom was commissioned as justice of the peace, February 28, 1809, served as county commissioner, 1813-15, and as county treasurer, 1834-36. The farm he bought from old Martin Raker and wife in 1797 in Rockefeller township near the old stone church is the property of Urias and is highly prized by him. Hiram Bloom reared nine children, eight of whom are living. Urias, the eldest, was educated at the common schools, and at the age of sixteen years began teaching. When about twenty years old he accepted a clerk- ship with Lemuel Shipman in the recorder's office, remained with that gentleman until 1880, and with his successor, George D. Bucher, from 1880 to 1886. In 1885 he was elected register and recorder and re-elected in 1888. At his first election he was about two hundred fifty ahead of his ticket (Democratic), and at his second over twelve hundred more votes were cast for him than for the rest of the ticket. Mr. Bloom is identified with the I. O. O. F., the Conclave, the Masonic fraternity, and the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married in Lower Augusta township, November 25, 1879, to Anna M. Wintersteen and has three children: Essie Uarda; Grace Imogene, and Goldie Edna.

SIMON P. FAUSOLD, prothonotary, was born, April 30, 1840, in what is now Rockefeller township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, a son of Jona- than and Catharine (Bartholomew) Fausold. He was educated at the common schools and the Sunbury Seminary, then taught by Simon P. Wolverton. He taught school from 1858 to 1865, including terms in the Shamokin and Sun- bury public schools. In 1865 he was appointed deputy recorder for North- umberland county by J. A. J. Cummings, which position he filled creditably for a term of three years. He then engaged in the mercantile business at Montandon, this county, under the firm name of S. G. Fry & Company. From 1872 to 1877 this firm conducted a wholesale notion business on a canal boat, extending from Montandon to Lock Haven and Pittston, down the main line of the Pennsylvania canal to Wrightsville, York county, and up the Juniata river to McVeytown. After withdrawing from this in 1878 he taught one term of school, after which, in 1879, he was appointed deputy prothonotary by Wesley Auten, and was continued in the position by Prothonotary Auten during his two terms. H. F. Mann succeeded Auten and Mr. Fausold was retained by him during his two terms of office. In 1890 he was nominated by the Democratic party for prothonotary without opposition and was elected by a majority of nine hundred twenty-seven. When the first draft was made

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on Northumberland county in the late Rebellion, his name was in the list, but he was excused through the order of the Governor that school teachers in active service should be exempt from the draft. When the second draft was made he was again selected and this time furnished a substitute. Mr. Fau- sold has been married three times; first, in 1873, to Annie E. Andrews who died in 1877; his second marriage was in 1879 to Anna J. Diehm, who died in 1881; his third marriage was in 1883 to Ella C. Diehm. He is a Demo- crat, and with his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.

LUDLEM B. ROCKWELL, patentee and manufacturer of the celebrated Rock- well process for tempering steel, is a native of Wayne county, Pennsylvania, son of William P. and Sarah S. (Bassett) Rockwell, and was born, Septem- ber 10, 1843. The Rockwells came originally from England, the Bassetts from France, and both families were found among the early American colo- nists. The subject of this sketch received a common school education, and at Waymart learned the trade of blacksmith and wagon maker, at which he was engaged at the outbreak of the Rebellion. In October, 1862, he entered the army, and spent nine months on detached duty in Philadelphia. Febru- ary 28, 1864, in New York City, he enlisted in Company F, Fiftieth New York Volunteers, and served until the close of the war in the Army of the Potomac. Leaving the army he returned to Waymart, Pennsylvania, and there for three years worked at blacksmithing. He came to Sunbury in 1872 and for some years followed his trade. In December, 1884, he patented his process for tempering steel, and in 1888 secured letters on his method of moulding steel, an invention whereby he converts refused, worn-out, and broken steel tools into the highest grades of knives and other steel and iron- cutting implements. Mr. Rockwell is a member of the G. A. R. and of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, September 5, 1865, to Margaret Thorpe.

JOHN J. BATMAN, manufacturer and patentee of the Keystone Radial Drill Press and general manufacturer of engines, boilers, and machinery, was born near Hickory Corners, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, May 13, 1847, a son of Jacob and Matilda (Burrell) Batman. The senior Mr. Batman, a blacksmith in early life, and later a manufacturer of agricultural implements, was the son of one of the pioneers of this county. From here he moved to Dauphin county and at Uniontown manufactured grain drills and agricultural implements for some years. From thence he removed to Selinsgrove, where he now carries on a machinery repair shop. He has been the father of fourteen children, nine of whom are now living. John J., the eldest child, was educated at the common schools, and with his father learned the machin- ist trade. In 1866 he bought his father's shops at Uniontown and began business for himself. At the end of one year he and his father went into business at Selinsgrove, and he was there five years. In 1874 he came to Sunbury and began the manufacture of agricultural implements as the suc-

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cessor to Haupt & Youngman in Arch street. In 1880 he removed to his present site on East Market street, where his specialty is the manufacture of the Radial Drill Press, an ingenious device for drilling metal from a fixed center at any point within a given radius. In 1864 Mr. Batman entered the army at Harrisburg as a private in Company A, Two Hundred and Eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served to the close of the war. He is a mem- ber of the G. A. R. and of the Reformed church. His wife, to whom he was married near Uniontown in September, 1866, was Rebecca Romberger, and the children born to them are: Mary Minerva; Harry Oscar; Charles Albert, and Lillie May.

HENRY K. STOUT, master mechanic of the Philadelphia and Erie division of the Pennsylvania railroad, is a native of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, a son of the late S. A. Stout, and was born, May 17, 1845. His father was nearly all his life a railroad man. He was with the Philadelphia and Reading from its beginning in 1844, and for twenty-five years superintendent of that com- pany's shops at Pottstown. He died in 1883, at the age of seventy-three years. He was a highly esteemed gentleman, a Democrat in politics, a Mason, and held many minor offices by appointment and election. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Ann Kline, died in 1859. They reared three sons: Eugene, foreman of the Philadelphia and Reading shops at Newberry Junction, Pennsylvania; John M., a miller and farmer, and Henry K. Henry K., the eldest son, was educated at the Pottstown public schools, and in the shops of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad learned the trade of machin- ist. During 1864 he served one hundred days in the army, and in the fol- lowing year worked in the railroad shops at Pottstown. From autumn, 1865, to November, 1866, he worked at his trade in Philadelphia with William Sellers & Company, and from the last named date until April, 1882, he worked for the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad Company at Renovo in the capacity of gang foreman and foreman of the machine shop. From Renovo, where he was chief burgess, he came to Sunbury in his present position. As master mechanic he has under him over four hundred men and the responsi- bilities of the position he occupies are multiform. Mr. Stout was married at Lock Haven, August 21, 1867, to Sarah B. Singer, and has four children: Annie; Mary; Harry, and Charles.

JOHN ADAM CAKE, for whose father was named the hamlet of Caketown, a place yet familiarly known by that name though for years past forming a part of Sunbury, was born in Harrisburg, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, August 25, 1846. He was educated at Russell's Military School, and at Yale and Princeton. With Benjamin H. Brewster as preceptor he read law for some time in Philadelphia, and in March, 1870, was admitted to the bar in Sunbury, after having pursued his studies one year with Messrs. Rocke- feller and Rohrbach. Since coming to the bar he has had his office in Cake- town, where he has large property interests requiring much of his attention.

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During the years 1867 and 1868 he held the position of assistant cashier in the Philadelphia Custom House under his father, who was then the United States collector of that port. Becoming a convert to the Greenback idea then so prevalent, he was a delegate to the convention held at Toledo, Ohio, in 1878 for the purpose of organizing the National Greenback and Labor party and therein took an active part. He was subsequently the repre- sentative of that party from his district to the national conventions of 1880 and 1884, and in the ensuing campaigns labored hard for the success of the respective nominees, Weaver and Butler. In 1880 he was his party's nomi- nee for Congress, and in 1882 their candidate for the Supreme court. Mr. Cake is now a Republican, but virtually withdrawn from active politics. He was married at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, February 27, 1868, to Minnie E., daughter of the late Captain Hugh Mccullough, who fell at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and has four children: John A .; Minnie C .; Joseph W., and Edith.

SAMUEL M. ELLIOTT, foreman of the blacksmith shops, Philadelphia and Erie division of the Pennsylvania railroad, was born in Mifflin (now Juniata) county, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1825, and his parents were William Elliott and Mary Crozier, both descendants from Scotch-Irish ancestors. Samuel was educated at the common schools of his native county, and there with John Middaugh, of Honey Grove, learned the blacksmith trade. He spent three years as an apprentice, conducted a shop three years, and in 1851 in the Pennsylvania railroad shops at Mifflin began his life as a railroad black- smith. In June, 1856, he was made foreman of the shops, in 1869 trans- ferred to Renovo, and in 1879 to his present position at Sunbury. In March, 1865, he joined Captain Musser's company, One Hundred and First Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served until July following as orderly ser- geant under General Schofield. While in Renovo he was three years a bor- ough councilman, and is now serving his third year as member of the Sun- bury school board. Mr. Elliott is connected with the Masons, Odd Fellows, and Red Men, and is a member of the Presbyterian church. He was mar- ried in Juniata county, January 2, 1849, to Hannah R. Kissinger, and has had borne to him seven children: Alfred; Rebecca R .; Lee, deceased; Han- nah J., deceased; Mary M., Mrs. Victor T. Kissinger; Julia J., and Sam- uel E.

GEORGE W. KEEFER, contractor and builder, was born in Lower Augusta township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1845, son of George and Elizabeth (Weiser) Keefer. He was educated at the common schools and learned the carpenter trade while a young man. He followed his trade four years and then embarked in merchandising, which he followed nine years, the last six years in Sunbury. In 1873 he turned his attention to his present vocation, and is now one among the most successful contract- ors in bridge building and all kind of public work. He employs a great

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many men during a season. He was married in Sunbury, December 16, 1879, to Belle M., daughter of George W. Zeigler. Mr. Keefer is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity and of the Presbyterian church. His father was born in Berks county in 1796, and died in this county in 1879. By his first wife he reared two sons and three daughters. By his second wife, Elizabeth Weiser, he had three sons and three daughters.

NORMAN S. ENGLE, broker and real estate agent, was born at Albion, Noble county, Indiana, January 20, 1841, son of William F. Engle, a for- mer resident of Sunbury, who settled in the northern part of Indiana in 1837 and was one of the prominent pioneers of that section of the State. He married a western lady, who died at an early age and was followed soon after by her husband. Norman S. and his sister Emily came to Sunbury in 1851 and made their home with the family of H. B. Masser. His education was obtained at the public school taught by Jacob Ulp in a building at the site of the present Masonic hall, and also under the private tuition of Miss Kate Black. In June, 1854, he entered the office of the Sunbury American to learn the printing business, at which he continued until June, 1863, when he was appointed to a clerkship in the office of the provost marshal at Harrisburg under his uncle, General J. K. Clement. There he continued until June, 1865, and then returned to Sunbury. On the 1st of April, 1866, he entered into partnership with H. B. Masser in the publication of the Sunbury American, retiring from this connection on the 1st of January, 1869. He then opened a real estate and brokerage office at Sunbury, and has been in business continuously ever since. He has been active in estab- lishing and promoting building and loan associations, and at the present time is vice-president and director of the Susquehanna Building and Loan Association. He was elected borough treasurer in 1875, and annually there- after for eleven consecutive years; it was under his management that the reorganization of the borough finances was effected by the issue of bonds to the amount of forty-five thousand dollars, thus establishing the credit of the borough upon a firm basis. When Lee invaded Maryland in 1862 he enlisted in Company D, Third Pennsylvania Militia, and was mustered out with his regiment, September 25, 1862. At the age of sixteen he became a member of the Good Intent Fire Company, and is now an honorary member of Sun- bury Steam Fire Company, No. 1. Since 1867 he has been identified with the Masonic fraternity. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and since attaining his majority has taken an active interest in every important polit- ical campaign. On the 17th of November, 1869, he married Jane W., daugh- ter of Henry and Catherine (Weaver) Haas; they are the parents of one child, a son.

H. E. DAVIS, coal operator and dealer, was born, June 7, 1845, in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, a son of John and Agnes (Swineford) Davis. He was educated in the common schools and at Missionary Institute, Selins-

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grove. At the age of eighteen years he was employed by the Empire Stove Company at Meadville and Greenville, Pennsylvania, for one year. In 1867 he became a clerk in the First National Bank of Sunbury, remaining until 1869, when he was married to Miss Kate Haas, daughter of Henry Haas, then proprietor of the Central Hotel of Sunbury. In the fall of 1871 he began representing Hall Brothers & Company, who were sole agents for the Mineral Railroad and Mining Company and the Lykens Valley Coal Com- pany, and remained with them until 1881, when he became a member of the firm of Hall Brothers & Company, continuing until 1883; from the latter date until 1889 he was agent for the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company. During 1889 he was made vice-president and general manager of the Bethel Coal Company; he is president of the Sunbury and Northum- berland Street railway, president of the Sunbury Electric Light and Power Company, a director of the contemplated Southern Central railroad, a direct- or of the First National Bank of Sunbury, and was assistant burgess of Sunbury one term. He has two children: Helen A. and Mary C.

JEROME B. REED, merchant, was born in Northampton county, Penn- sylvania, June 21, 1850, and is a son of Abram and Matilda (Elick) Reed. The mother died about the year 1859 while the father, who is a distant rela- tive of T. B. Reed, the present Speaker of the House of Representatives, resides in Kansas City, Missouri. At the death of his mother our sub- ject went to make his home with a cousin, where he remained a few years alternating farm labor with attendance at the common schools. When sixteen he began to learn the tinsmith trade at Milton, North- umberland county, this State, where he progressed rapidly for two years, and in March, 1868, was assigned to the management of A. Krause's branch store in Sunbury and held that position until May, 1869; he then went to Louisville, Kentucky, and after six months service as con- ductor of a street car, was employed at his trade in a tin shop, serving also an apprenticeship in the art of plumbing and gas-fitting. In 1872 he gave up his position at that city and returned to Sunbury, where, in February, 1873, he was married to Catharine J. Harrison, daughter of George and Rebecca Harrison, old residents and respected citizens of this borough. To this union have been born three children: George; Daisy, and Florence. Soon after marriage he was employed as foreman of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company's tin shops at Sunbury, under the instructions of Martin Walls, master mechanic. Following this term of employment was a severe spell of sickness which reduced his finances to a small amount. Judge Jordan, having taken an interest in Mr. Reed, induced him to accept from him a loan of three hundred dollars and establish a business. He opened up on a small scale a line of tinware, stoves, plumbing and gas- fitting, has added from time to time a general line of house furnishing goods, guns, ammunition, etc., and now makes a specialty of plumbing and

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steam and hot water heating apparatus; in these he has built up a large trade, not only in Northumberland but also in the adjoining counties, employing from twelve to thirty-five men. In 1884 he built his present commodious business house in which he carries a regular stock of goods valued at from twelve to fifteen thousand dollars. Mr. Reed is a Republican and with his family belongs to the Lutheran church.

JACOB G. KRAMER, ex-sheriff, was born September 20, 1829, and is a son of Christian and Lena (Brown) Kramer. The father came to America in 1833, settling in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania. He removed to this county in 1853 and died at Trevorton the same year at the age of fifty-four years, his wife having preceded him to the grave one year. They reared four sons, of whom our subject was the eldest. He was educated in the common schools and worked as miner and superintendent of mines thirty- five years. In 1887 he was elected sheriff of Northumberland county by the Republican party. He was married in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in 1850, to Agnes Griffith. She died in 1877 and was the mother of eight children: Agnes, wife of A. Miller; Maggie; Elmira, wife of R. James; George; Susannah, wife of John Schatzlein; Louisa, wife of Edward Kase; Emma, and Clinton. He is a Republican, belongs to the Masonic and Odd Fellow fraternities, was for eight years treasurer of the Knights of the Golden Eagle, and is a member of the Lutheran church.

GEORGE W. STROH, ex-chief burgess and proprietor of the Packer House, was born in Upper Augusta township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, February 10, 1830. His father, Philip Stroh, was a native of Lancaster county, and one of the early settlers of Upper Augusta township, where he became a prominent farmer, contractor, and distiller. Politically he was a Whig, served as township constable for many years, and was also a prominent member of the German Reformed church. He was twice married, and by the first marriage had eight children, all of whom are deceased. His second wife was Margaret Farron, daughter of James Farron, and widow of John Christian; by her he had two children: A. J. and George W. The subject of this sketch received but three months' schooling, his education being most- ly self-acquired. After leaving the homestead farm he went to Danville, where he learned the trade of harness maker, finishing the same in Sunbury, and when eighteen years of age engaged in business for himself, which he conducted nine years. He then engaged in contracting and hauled the great- er part of the limestone and iron used by the Dry Valley and Shamokin fur- naces for a number of years. In 1865 he located on Packer's island, where he was engaged in farming nine years. When he first came to Sunbury he purchased the present site of the Packer House, and in 1876 built the same, which he has since conducted. In March, 1855, he married Sarah, daughter of John Keefer, of Upper Augusta township, by whom he has ten children: Rachel Ellen; Mary R., wife of Walter Holmes; Mayberry H .; Isaac K .;

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Susan; Flora; Charles H .; Harry J .; Edward, and George W., Jr. Mr. Stroh is an active member of the Republican party, and has filled the office of con- stable five years, was borough treasurer of Sunbury three years, and in Feb- ruary, 1890, was elected chief burgess. Mrs. Stroh is a member of the Pres- byterian church.

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History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 89

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