USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men > Part 68
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No other man in American history carried a following so long or was voted for in so many national conventions. He was bal- loted for at five national conventions. He was twice Secretary of State (under Presidents Jas. A. Garfield and Benjamin Harrison ), and was the greatest statesman since the days of Clay and Webster.
James G. Blaine, like William J. Bryan of our day, was a noted orator, which statement recalls a paragraph from the works of that famous Perry Countian, Col. A. K. McClure, in which he says: "It is a notable fact in political history that no preeminent political orator ever succeeded to the Presidency."
Concisely stated, the Blaine generations in America which sprang from the original settler in what is now Perry County, are:
1. James Blaine, who patented land in Toboyne Township.
2. Ephraim Blaine, who was also from Toboyne Township, and became Commissary General in the Revolution.
3. James Blaine.
4. Ephraim Lyon Blaine, an attorney.
5. James Gillespie Blaine, nominated for the Presidency, Con- ยท gressman, Secretary of State, statesman.
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As part of the Borough of Blain (the final "e" being dropped) was located on lands originally warranted by the Blaines, the town was called Blain. Under the chapters devoted to Jackson and To- boyne Townships are facts in reference to those early land loca- tions.
The Stokes' mill property, at Blain, was originally the Blaine mill, and in the year of the county's erection, in 1820, on April 20, it passed from James S. Blaine to David Moreland. It was built by James Blaine, the head of the Blaine clan, and helped supply food to the Continental Army.
James Blaine, the ancestor of this famous family, was one of the men who warranted lands on February 3. 1755, the very first day of the allotment of lands which now comprise Perry County. He located 100 acres that day. its location adjoining John Car- rothers. It lies south of Laurel Run and north of the spur of which Pilot Hill; is the terminus, in Tyrone Township, not far from Landisburg. There is no evidence that he ever resided there. By referring to the chapters on Jackson Township and Toboyne Township more will be learned of their early holdings, as it was there that they resided.
The Blaine line of descent, as stated in your letter, is correct .- JOHN EWING BLAINE .- From a letter to the author. Mr. Blaine is the author of the genealogy of "The Blaine Family."
NOTE .- Many letters of Ephraim Blaine are to be found filed in the Congressional Library at Washington, D. C.
CHESTER I. LONG. UNITED STATES SENATOR.
Perry County territory has been the birthplace of two men who have become members of the United States Senate, part of the greatest lawmaking body of the world. The first was William Bigler, former governor of Pennsylvania, who represented his na- tive state from 1855 to 1861, and Chester I. Long, who represented the great agricultural state of Kansas from 1903 to 1909. Senator Long is a scion of a noted family of that name living east of the Juniata. The branch of the family to which Senator Long belongs is traced to Isaac Long, who came to America early in 1700 and purchased one thousand acres of land from John, Thomas and Richard Penn, at a point about six miles north of Lancaster, in Manheim Township, Lancaster County, probably called after Mannheim, the principal city of Baden, from whence he came. His ancestor fled from England during the religious persecution under Queen Mary about the middle of the Sixteenth Century, and located near Baden. He had evidently lived in Switzerland for a time, as it is from that country that records show his emigra- tion. The lands have long since been subdivided, but the Jacob R. Landis farm is a part of the area. Isaac Long had six sons, Isaac,
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Benjamin, Joseph, John, David, and Christian. It is from one of these sons that the Perry County branch of the family sprang, but lack of early records now available makes it uncertain which one
CHESTER 1. LONG, Ex-United States Senator from Kansas. Born in Greenwood Township, Perry County.
was the father of David Long, who migrated to what is now Perry County, in 1814, and who died in 1859. He was a United Brethren preacher, and with him came his son, Christian Long,
.
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and his grandson, Abraham G. Long, then two years old, who be- came the father of Senator Long.
It was at the home of Isaac Long, the son of Isaac, the emi- grant, that the United Brethren Church was organized, but, ac- cording to a letter from A. W. Drury, who in 1883 traveled Lan- caster County, making a close study of its early history while writ- ing the Life of Otterbein, the founder of that faith, "Isaac Long had two daughters, one of whom was married to Henry Landis." If Isaac Long had sons, I am sure I would have had a note to that effect." Accordingly the line of descent must have been from a brother of Isaac, and probably from Christian, as David, who came to Perry County and became the head of the clan there, had named his son Christian (probably after the grandfather, a custom of the period). When David Long removed to Perry County, he settled on the old Spahr farm, in Greenwood Township. He was successful, and gave a farm to each of his sons. His wife was Catherine Hershey, of Lancaster County, who preceded him in death.
The oldest son of Abraham G. Long, and brother of the future senator, was Ephraim C. Long, born in Greenwood Township, June 28, 1837. He died in Liverpool, August 17, 1887. He had studied law in the office of Benjamin McIntire, at New Bloom- field, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1862, and was elected district attorney that fall. He was a member of the 162d Regiment (Seventeenth Cavalry) during the Civil War. He started in the practice of the law with great success, but lost his health during service with the Union army and was not able to continue practice thereafter.
Senator Chester I. Long was born in Greenwood Township, on the farm of his father, on October 12, 1860, being the son of Abra- ham G. and Mary Cauffman Long, who migrated to Daviess County, Missouri, in 1865. He got his early education in the common schools and taught in the country schools. In 1879 he entered the Paola ( Kansas) Normal School, from which he gradti- ated.
As early as 1880 he made a reputation as an effective speaker for the Republicans in the national campaign. In 1883 he went to Topeka, Kansas, where he read law, being admitted to the bar in 1885, in the fall of that year locating at Medicine Lodge, Kansas. In the fall of 1889 he was elected to the State Senate of Kan- sas and immediately took rank as a leader, which was largely re- sponsible for his campaign for Congress in 1892, against Jerry Simpson, one of the able men who was carried into power on the tide of Populism, and referred to later as "Sockless Simpson." In that contest Mr. Simpson won. In 1894 the two men were again opponents, and Mr. Long won. In 1896 the conditions were
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reversed and Mr. Simpson again was elected, only to have Mr. Long, in 1898, again wrest the office from him. Mr. Long was his own successor in 1900 and 1902, thus having served in the Fifty-Fourth, Fifty-Sixth and Fifty-Seventh Congresses. Both men were residents of Medicine Lodge at the time, and no other congressional fight in the Union attracted more attention. In 1903 Mr. Long resigned as a member of Congress, after he was elected to the United States Senate, serving until 1909. When elected to that office, January 27, 1903, Senator Long was but forty-two years of age.
At the time of the historic legislative war in Kansas, in 1893, Mr. Long was one of the attorneys for the Republican House of Representatives, and in that connection prepared a brief from which extensive quotations were made by Chief Justice Horton, of the Supreme Court, in making his decision in the case. While a congressman his speech on the Porto Rico tariff bill made for him a national reputation. He proved also an effective and un- compromising advocate of reciprocity with Cuba.
Shortly after the election of Senator Long to the United States Senate, a native Perry Countian wrote to Governor W. J. Bailey, of Kansas, for information in reference to him. From the reply of Governor Bailey, the following is taken :
"Chester I. Long was educated in Paola, Kansas, and came into political prominence after having moved west by running against Jerry Simpson for Congress. In his campaigns against Simpson, he evinced a clear head, a high character, and an ability to take care of himself.
"In Congress he soon became recognized as a growing and a prominent member. Matters growing out of the Spanish-American War raising na- tional and international questions, new and momentous, brought Long to the front as a student of untiring zeal, a politician of practical skill, and a statesman of comprehensive grasp. There is no doubt that the Presi- dent counted him one of his trusted advisers and appreciated his hearty efforts to carry forward the purposes so near to the heart of the executive. He is now elevated to a place in the Senate where he will be a new mem- ber in title only, being already thoroughly familiar with the questions, the men and the forms with which he will have to deal. In Kansas Senator Long ranks as a clean, dignified gentleman of high ability, who has earned his promotion by the splendid work he has done for his country, his party, and his state. The state knows him and is proud of him."
Senator Long was married while a member of Congress, to Miss Anna Bache, with whom he attended school at Paola. They lived together for almost twenty-five years, until her death in 1919. Their married life was unusually happy. They had two daughters, Agnes and Margaret, both of whom have been graduated from the University of Chicago.
After the expiration of his term in the Senate, Senator Long moved to Wichita, where he has since resided and practiced law. . He has a large and lucrative practice in the state and Federal
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courts, being a member of the firm of Long, Houston, Cowan & Depew. He is a member of the General Council of the American Bar Association and one of the Board of Editors of its Journal. He is also president of the Kansas State Bar Association, chair- man of the Commission to Revise the General Statutes of Kansas, and a member of the American Society of International Law.
The story of the migration of David Long is told in the sketch elsewhere pertaining to Theodore K. Long, founder of the Carson Long Institute, as he was the ancestor of both.
GOVERNOR WILLIAM BIGLER.
It is no small thing for a barefoot Perry County boy to become Governor of Pennsylvania, yet William Bigler, the twelfth man to fill that important position, was born in the famous old *Gibson mansion, in what is now Spring Township, Perry County, on +December 31, 1813. His father, Jacob Bigler, was the miller at Gibson's mill, and his mother's maiden name was #Susan Dock, a sister of Judge Dock, of Dauphin County. They were of German (lescent and were educated in both tongues, not an unusual thing in those days.
When he was yet a boy, his parents in the hope of bettering their fortune, moved to Mercer County, purchasing a large tract of woodland. The title proved defective and they found themselves left with only a small farm. The matter of providing even the
*At the memorial session of the Pennsylvania State Senate, March II, 1881, Charles H. Smiley, then State Senator from Perry County, in his eulogy, mentioned the birthplace of the Bigler brothers, Chief Justice Gib- son, General George Gibson, Commissary General of the United States, and Congressman Bernheisel, who adopted the Mormon faith and became the representative of that people in Congress, as having taken place in the same room, in the old Gibson mansion, at Gibson's Mill. This has been widely quoted, yet it had an earlier publication, as it appeared on page 259 of Wright's History in 1873. Landisburg citizens have claimed that the Biglers, or at least Governor John Bigler, was born in that town. The facts are these: Jacob Bigler, the father, rented the Rice mill, near Lan- disburg, in 1795, and did not rent the Gibson mill until 1809, from which the deduction is made that John Bigler, the Governor of California, whose birth occurred in 1805, was born at Landisburg, where Jacob Bigler re- sided until renting the Gibson mill. That William Bigler, born in 1813, was not born at Landisburg, but at the Gibson mill, is also no doubt the truth, as his father rented the Gibson mill in 1809, after the death of Ann West Gibson, the mother of the Chief Justice, at which time her other son, Francis, located in Carlisle, where he remained for many years, later returning to the old home. In an autobiography of the late Judge Dock he states that in 1813 he visited his sister Susan, married to Jacob Bigler, at their home on Sherman's Creek. The late William M. Henderson, during his life, made the statement in writing that one was born at Landisburg and one at Gibson's mill, as his parents had moved near the Gibson mill as early as 1803 or 1804, and the families were friends.
+Date sometimes given as January 1, 1814.
#Susan Dock Bigler, the widowed mother, lived to see her two sons be- come famous, and when she died, March 16, 1854, they were both in office, as governors of widely separated commonwealths.
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necessities for a large family from land barely rescued from the forest meant incessant toil, and the elder Bigler soon yielded to ill health and passed away, leaving a widow and children to wrestle with the vicissitudes of life in a newly settled community.
WILLIAM BIGLER, Twelfth Governor of Pennsylvania. Born at "Westover" Mill, Perry County.
The children received only such an education as the common schools of that day in the rural districts afforded. William began learning the printing trade, and from 1830 to 1833 he was em- ployed on the Centre Democrat, published at Bellefonte by his brother John. At the end of that period, influenced by friends, among whom was Andrew G. Curtin, later to become the great
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"war governor" of Pennsylvania, he went to Clearfield and began, not without misgivings, however, the publication of the Clear field Democrat, a political paper. It is said of him that he "had no money, but possessed about everything else requisite to the publi- cation of a paper." Aided by friends he secured a second-hand press and some old type, and as he later said, "started an eight- by-ten Jackson paper to counteract the influence of a seven-by- nine Whig paper." He did all the work, both editorial and me- chanical. He was very courteous and was a veritable backwoods- man-a crack shot and a good hunter, political accomplishments of that period.
In 1836 he married a daughter of Alexander B. Reed, of Clear- field, sold his paper and went into partnership with Mr. Reed in the mercantile line. . His industry soon placed him as a leader in that line and in the lumber business, which he also conducted. From 1845 to 1850 he was the leading lumber producer in Penn- sylvania, and at that time lumbering was probably the leading in- dustry in the state.
In 1841 he was nominated for state senator from the district comprised of the counties of Armstrong, Indiana, Cambria and Clearfield, and elected by three thousand majority. Though op- posed by a regularly nominated candidate of the Whigs he polled every vote in Clearfield County, save one-an unheard-of result in politics. Sessions of the State Senate at that time were devoted to matters of unusual importance. The United States Bank and the Bank of Pennsylvania, with the funds of the state on deposit, had failed and had prevented payment of the interest on the public debt, then an enormous sum. Inevitable discontent and murmur- ings of repudiation of the public debt followed and Senator Bigler was the active leader of those who stood by the integrity of the commonwealth. His principal address upon the resumption of specie payments created such a favorable impression that Senator John Strohm, of Lancaster, said: "Young man, that speech will make you Governor of Pennsylvania, if you behave yourself well hereafter."
In 1843 he was elected speaker of the senate, the presiding offi- cer being known by that title until the adoption of the Constitution of 1873, and was reelected, having been returned to the senate in 1844. During his second term in the senate the question of railroad communication between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh was the absorbing topic in legislative halls. Capitalists from Philadel- phia applied for a charter to construct a road between the two cities wholly in Pennsylvania territory. Pittsburgh, however, con- tended that a direct route across the Alleghenies was impractical and insisted on granting the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company the right to extend their right of way through western counties of
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the state to their city, claiming that for all time the only railroad communication between eastern and western Pennsylvania would be through the states of Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia. Senator Bigler's district was divided, but he pleaded for the road through the state. He did not believe the route to be impractical and had great faith in promised improvements in motive power, in which he has long since been justified. The matter was settled by a propo- sition which he himself advanced, that if a bona fide subscription of three million dollars was not made and paid towards the con- struction of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad on or before the first of the ensuing June then the act granting the right of way to the Baltimore & Ohio Company should become effective, but other- wise be null and void.
In 1848 his name was placed in nomination for governor, but he was defeated for the nomination by Morris Longstreth, then a canal commissioner, who was defeated by William F. Johnston at the polls. In 1849 he was appointed a revenue commissioner, whose duty it was to adjust the tax rate of different sections of the state. In 1851 he was given the Democratic nomination by acclamation and defeated Governor Johnston for reelection at the polls. Not only were great questions of state then involved, but the Fugitive Slave Law and the question of slavery in the terri- tories were leading topics. He was then but thirty-eight years old and was, until the election of Governor Pattison in 1883, the youngest governor of Pennsylvania ever elected. A curious co- incidence was that his brother John was chosen Governor of Cali- fornia at the same time. His biography appears in the next few pages.
Governor Bigler's administration was characterized by the old- time virtues, insisting on rigid economy and strict accountability in the use of public monies. He took a decided stand against the pernicious practice of putting good and bad legislation in the same bill for the purpose of getting the bad measures enacted into law, and it was through his insistence that a bill was passed forbidding the passage of an act which did not fully state in its title the sub- ject matter and which contained more than one subject. This was afterwards incorporated into the Constitution of 1874, as Section 3 of Article 3.
He was in March, 1854, again unanimously nominated, but a new party, the Native Americans, in conjunction with the Whigs, defeated him, electing James Pollock. In January, 1855, he was elected president of the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad Company. and later the same year was elected United States Senator from Pennsylvania, serving for six years. He was there while the war clouds of secession and rebellion gathered and burst in all their fury, spreading ruin throughout the land. In February, 1861,
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upon the senate floor he said, "as for secession, I am utterly against it. I deny the right and abhor the consequences." When Abra- ham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, Senator Bigler was untiring in his zeal to help adjust national difficulties, acting with Mr. Crittenden in efforts to secure a compromise. He held that the Southern states had no reasonable plea for resorting to violence until all peaceful means for adjustment had been ex- hausted. He was a member of the Committee of Thirteen to which were referred the famous compromise propositions and advocated their submission to a vote of the people of the several states, which was rejected, but which, it is contended by many, would have crushed secession.
He was a member of the National Democratic Convention at Charleston in 1860, and was against the nomination of Douglas. In 1864 he was temporary chairman of the National Convention which nominated George B. McClellan, whom he favored. He was a candidate for Congress in 1864, but was defeated.
In 1875 his name was placed in nomination for the governor- ship again, and for ten ballots he led all the candidates. His name was withdrawn and Cyrus L. Pershing, of Schuylkill, was nominated, but was defeated by John F. Hartranft at the polls. In 1876 he manifested much interest in the Presidential election, and when the result was seen to hinge on the disputed votes of certain Southern states, he, with Ex-Governor Andrew G. Curtin and Samuel J. Randall, for years a Pennsylvania Congressman, were sent to New Orleans to see that the canvass was fair. He was financial agent of the Centennial of 1876, the first national exhibition of any import.
Governor Bigler died at Clearfield, August 9, 1880. Ile was the father of five sons. His career was marked by honesty and ability. He was one of the statesmen of his day, and whether in official position or following the pursuits of private life his actions were distinguished for their honesty and good intent. When secession threatened, amid strife, contention and hesitation, his allegiance was unfaltering and he could realize no other destiny than that which has resulted, showing the firm foundation and stability of our government-an undivided Union.
His characteristics were marked: Of sturdy character, not bril- liant perhaps, but honest, intelligent and faithful to every trust. On June 5. 1858, when he was a United States Senator, a writer in Harper's Weekly said: "He is less seen and more felt than any gentleman on the administration side of the senate." His messages and public papers were always expressed in excellent English and his arguments were logical and convincing. A colleague said of him: "His greatest glory was not his ability, his statesmanship, nor the high and honorable positions which he held. They are
PERRY COUNTY'S NOTED MEN
worthy of high honor, it is true; but they fade before the brighter. stronger claims of his generous, sympathetic, unselfish nature, manifested in a long life of kindness to his fellow man."
It was the lot of Governor Bigler to figure in three distinct eras of Pennsylvania history : In the period of our canal system, when the revulsion of 1841 had impaired the public credit, with the project uncompleted further impairing it; later, when the rail- roads were threading their way and seeking to use the national highways, and still later when the railroads were built and were attempting to control legislation.
For many years he was a ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church, and after retiring from active life he said in an address that he had "a higher and nobler enjoyment in discharging his religious duties than he ever experienced amidst the honors of official life." At the eulogistic services held by the Pennsylvania Legislature, after his death, a speaker said: "If I were a teacher and some ambi- tious pupil whose ideas were looking forth to future fame in the service of the republic, were to ask me, 'What governor's life should I study to prepare me for the contest?' I would answer. 'William Bigler's, for none fought the battle of life more suc- cessfully.' "
That great editor, Col. A. K. McClure, a personal acquaintance, in "Old-Time Notes of Pennsylvania," said of William Bigler :
"William Bigler became governor in January, 1852, when the conditions of trade and industry were greatly improved, giving him unusual oppor- tunity to make a successful administration, and no governor in the history of the state could have more intelligently directed the government to the best interests of the people.
"He was born not far from the little community of Shermansdale, now Perry County, close to the home of my boyhood. It was a very primitive and sparsely settled section, but the eyes of the people always brightened when they spoke of the distinguished public men it had furnished to the country in Chief Justice John Bannister Gibson, Governor William Bigler, of Pennsylvania, and Governor John Bigler, of California, all of whom were in office at one time.
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