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 75
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His pride in the remarkable record of the First National Bank of Pueblo, was certainly the only "vanity" I ever knew him to display. Its daily statement came to him when on his Eastern trips, and he would often hand me one of these reports. My almost invariable comment would be, "Yon have too much cash, why don't you buy a million more commercial paper?" The facts were that he did carry a far larger percentage of his deposits in cash and in reserve banks than any other bank in the whole United States, as far as I could determine. I doubt if he would have fol- lowed, or approved, such a policy in any other of the many banks in which he had a substantial stock interest; but the First National Bank of Pueblo wasn't to be judged as other banks-it had traditions which to him were sacred, and there were no minority stockholders pushing a man- agement for larger earnings and larger dividends.
His visits to New York City usually were made at the time of the quarterly meetings of the board of directors of the American Smelting &
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Refining Co., of which board he was a member. On these visits he would invest large sums in bonds and commercial paper for the account of the various banks in which he was interested and likewise for his personal account.
Those to whom M. D. Thatcher gave his friendship were, at least in the East, a highly favored few. With them he was a cordial companion, and to them his unexpected death brought a realization of a great loss.
GENERAL FREDERICK WATTS.
About 1760 Frederick Watts came to America with his family and settled upon a tract of 331 acres, now in Wheatfield Township, Perry County, which he warranted June 4, 1762. He was a Welshman, and was born June 1, 1719, and about 1749 took in wedlock Jane Murray, a niece of David Murray, who was Marquis of Tullibardine, a partisan of Charles Edward, the pretender, who after the Battle of Culloden fled to France.
The oncoming Revolution in America found him a patriot of the most advanced type, and as the Perry County territory was then a part of Cumberland, he was chosen as one of the eight men sent to Philadelphia, in June, 1776, to a convention, which was the first of a series of conferences which resulted in the Declaration of Independence. He was interested in the organization of the county's battalion and was made lieutenant colonel of the First Battalion, representing the same at the military convention held July 4, 1776, at Lancaster.
At the surrender of Fort Washington, November 16, 1776, he was in command of the "Flying Camp" of the First Battalion, and was captured, but soon after exchanged. April 1, 1778, he was commissioned as a justice of the peace of Cumberland County. In 1779 he was chosen as one of its representatives in the General Assembly. Following this he was appointed a sublieutenant of Cumberland County, April 18, 1780; brigadier general of Penn- sylvania Militia, May 27, 1782; served as a member of the Su- preme Executive Council of the Colony from October 20, 1787, until its abolition by the Constitution of 1790, which was the real governing body of the colonies during that trying period, being at the same time a member of the Board of Property.
Seven children blessed the Watts family, and on account of some of them becoming connected with the county's life and attain- ing more or less prominence, even in later generations, they are here mentioned. They were Margery, Catharine, Margaret, Eliza- beth, Mary, Sarah, and David. Of these Elizabeth married Thomas Hulings, a son of Marcus Hulings, the pioneer, and became the mother of David W. Hulings, for a long time a prominent attor- ney of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, and Rebecca Hulings Duncan, whose husband was Robt. C. Duncan, a son of Supreme Court Justice Thomas Duncan. Mrs. Duncan was the grandmother of
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P. F. Duncan, cashier of the Duncannon National Bank. Mar- garet was wed to George Smiley, of Shermansdale, thus bringing together the strains of two famous families. David Watts, the youngest and the only boy, studied law at Carlisle, married Juliana, a daughter of General Robert Miller, and became one of the lead- ing attorneys of the state. He was interested in the early furnace industry of Perry County with William Power. His son, Judge Frederick Watts, of Carlisle, was of the third generation to attain prominence.
GENERAL GEORGE GIBSON.
George Gibson, who, by the way, was a brother of Chief Justice John Bannister Gibson, whose biography appears in the preceding pages, was born in Spring Township, at Westover, the name given the tract of land where the Gibson mill stands, when it was war- ranted, after the ancestral home in England. In his early life he traveled over a large part of the world, and when the War of 1812 broke out he was appointed a lieutenant and served throughout the war against the country from whence his ancestry had migrated. He was also an officer in the field during the Seminole War in Florida, serving with Andrew Jackson, who was his personal friend thereafter. Andrew Jackson, during his Presidential term, appointed him as Commissary General of the United States Army, his commission being dated April 18, 1818, and he served with credit and distinction. His remains lie buried in the Congressional Cemetery at Washington, D. C., where he died September 21, 1861, while still serving in the capacity of Commissary General. His rank at that time was Brevet Major General of the U. S. A.
COLONEL ALEXANDER K. MCCLURE.
Perry County, in its first decade, was the birthplace of a lad who became one of the greatest editors in the United States, being classed with men of the caliber of Charles A. Dana and Henry Watterson. With Medill, McCullogh and McLean he was of the group of Celt-American editors. Alexander Kelly McClure was born in Madison Township on January 9, 1828. He was the son Alexander and Isabella (Anderson) McClure, and was born on the farm war- ranted by James Wilson, whose wife was killed there by the Indians in 1756, while passing from their home to Fort Robinson, for pro- tection. Its location is but a small distance from the old Indian trail to the West, and close to Centre Church. Here, amid these historic surroundings, he spent his boyhood in the manner of the period, helping with the farm labor and attending a few months of school in the winters. It is recorded that he and his brother attended alternate weeks, one being needed at home.
During 1843, when fifteen years of age, he was apprenticed to James Marshall, then a New Bloomfield tanner, to learn the trade,
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which he finished in 1846. While learning the tanning trade he became acquainted with Associate Judge John A. Baker, who was the editor and publisher of the Perry Freeman, and spent his eve- nings in that office reading exchanges, learning to set type, hearing politics discussed and, like Lincoln, reading all that was available.
COLONEL A. K. MCCLURE,
Colonel McClure was a friend of Lincoln's and was long a familiar figure in Pennsylvania politics. He wrote the famous edict on Se- cession for Governor Curtin's inaugural.
There he learned more, probably, than he would have learned had he continued attending district school. Judge Baker was a Whig, and a remarkable man in his day. Before finishing his trade young McClure had already contributed articles for the Freeman. Dur- ing the summer of 1846 he traveled through Pennsylvania, New York and New England.
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Hardly had he finished his trade when the Whigs of Juniata County were interested in having a paper started for them at Mif- flintown. Reluctantly, upon the advice of Judge Baker, he bought a hand press and some type with a loan of about five hundred dol- lars which he secured from his father, and in the fall of 1846 started the Sentinel in that town, a paper which exists to this day. He was then only eighteen years of age. He mastered the me- chanical end, and before a year had gone by he did all the work on the paper, with the help of a single apprentice. Young Mc- Clure had inherited a liking for politics, especially from his moth- er's family, and it had been nurtured in the atmosphere surround- ing Judge Baker and the Perry Freeman office. Before he was of age he was a congressional conferee as a supporter of Andrew G. Curtin, who later became the great war governor of Pennsylvania. Curtin was defeated, but the friendship between him and McClure lasted through all the changes of politics in state and nation. Simon Cameron was a leader of a Democratic faction known as state improvement men, and about this time young MeClure began fighting him.
During the campaign of 1848, when Governor William F. John- son was the Whig nominee, McClure supported him editorially, the strength of his editorials attracting attention over the state. He also appeared on the stump, and when the new governor was in- augurated one of his first acts was to appoint MeClure an aid on his staff, with the rank and title of Colonel. His commission was dlated on the very day he became of voting age. Through Curtin, in 1850, he was appointed deputy United States Marshal of Juniata County, to take the census. As soon as he completed that task he sold the Sentinel for twelve hundred dollars, which, with the money he received as deputy marshal he invested in a half interest in the Chambersburg Repository. In 1853 the Whigs, then in a hopeless minority, nominated him for auditor general of Pennsyl- vania by acclamation, for which he was defeated. He was then but twenty-five years of age.
In 1855, at the formation of the Republican party, the Chan- bersburg Repository was the foremost paper in Pennsylvania to support it and to hammer the slavery traffic. MeClure was one of the men who met at Pittsburgh to form the party in the state. He was opposed to the Know Nothing party of that day, and when the Whigs of Franklin County and the Know Nothings formed a coalition he sold his interest in the paper at once. In the meantime he had been reading law with William McClelland and was shortly admitted to the bar, becoming his preceptor's law partner. Governor Pollock appointed him superintendent of pub- lic printing, the first man to fill that position, being commissioned February 7, 1855. He resigned in a short time and was appointed
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superintendent of the Frie & Northeastern Railroad Company, and brought order out of chaos in the Erie riot trouble.
He was a delegate from Pennsylvania to the convention which gave birth to the Republican party, which nominated John C. Free- mont for President in 1856. In 1857 he was nominated by the Franklin County Republicans for member of the General Assem- bly and elected by a large majority. In 1858 he was reelected by a still greater majority. In 1859 he was nominated for the State Senate, and was elected after a hard-fought contest. In 1860. when the fate of the nation was in the balance, he was state chair- man of the Republican party and saw Pennsylvania cast its vote for Abraham Lincoln. When the senate organized he was the most noted figure upon the floor, and when Fort Sumter was fired on by the Confederates he urged an immediate war policy and preparations for a long and bloody conflict. He was chairman of the Committee of Military Affairs, introduced war measures of great importance, and in consequence was closely associated with both Governor Curtin and President Lincoln. During the early part of the war and many times later the President saw Mr. Mc- Clure almost daily, so closely were they associated in the saving of the Union.
Upon the expiration of his term in the senate, in 1862, McClure was appointed assistant Adjutant General of the United States Army, and had charge of the draft in Pennsylvania, his appoint- ment coming through unusual circumstances. Working night and day at Harrisburg McClure saw recruits to the number of a thou- sand a day come to Harrisburg, only to fret there in idleness against the "red tape" which held them instead of sending forth a regiment a day. The military commanders sent out only two com- panies each day, leaving the mass to be fed by army contractors. McClure wrote to President Lincoln, "You must send a mustering officer to Harrisburg who will do as I say; I cannot stay there longer under existing conditions." Lincoln sent for Adjutant General Thomas and asked the highest rank of military officer at Harrisburg. Thomas informed him "Captain, sir." The Presi- dent retorted, "Bring me a commission for an assistant Adjutant General of the United States, with the rank of Major." And so the Perry County lad-now a man of affairs-was mustered in, and from then on a regiment a day of boys. in blue left Harrisburg for the front and the preservation of the Union.
When the state's quota was filled he resigned and returned to his law offices at Chambersburg. His inclination was towards jour- nalism, however, and in 1862 he purchased the Chambersburg Re- pository, in which he formerly owned a half interest, and returned to his favorite profession. In 1864 he was a delegate-at-large to the Republican State Convention, and at the following election
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was again elected to the General Assembly. When the Confeder- ates invaded Chambersburg in July, 1864, all his property was de- stroyed. In 1868 he was not only a delegate, but at the head of the Pennsylvania delegation, to the Republican convention which nominated General U. S. Grant for the Presidency. He had cam- paigned in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Penn- sylvania. After the election he decided to abandon politics and moved to Philadelphia to practice law.
In 1872 he aligned himself with the Greenback party and was state chairman of the Liberal Republican committee. He was again elected to the State Senate, this time from a Philadelphia district and on an Independent ticket. He was excluded from his seat by false returns, but contested the matter with his usual en- ergy and success, obtaining his seat March 27th.
He was nominated for mayor of Philadelphia in 1874. but was defeated. He was chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation to the Cincinnati convention, which nominated Horace Greely for Presi- dent.
In 1875, in conjunction with Frank McLaughlin, a noted printer and publisher, his brother John, and Philip Collins, a company was formed and began publishing the Philadelphia Times, at first an independent newspaper, but later Democratic in politics. McClure's interest was taken care of in the beginning by Governor Curtin, Charles A. Dana, Andrew H. Dill, and Colonel Scott. In 1892 the paper was burned out. It was in operation for twenty-six years, all of which time McClure was at its head, editorially, when it was sold to and combined with the Public Ledger. During that time it paid its owners in cash dividends their entire capital five times over, and the sale of the property was at an additional pre- mium of $275 per share. In 1896 fellow newspaper workers ar- ranged a banquet to celebrate Col. McClure's fiftieth anniversary in the newspaper business, and gathered about the festal board were the leaders of the nation.
Col. McClure was a man of fine physique and was over six feet tall. He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, had a kindly face and al- ways led a busy life, working hard in any capacity. He was a noted speaker and never lacked an audience. He was first married to Matilda S. Grey, February 10, 1852. They had one child, Wil- liam Anderson McClure, who died in 1911. He was married a sec- ond time, and his widow, Mrs. Cora (Gratz) McClure, still lives at 1828 Spruce Street, Philadelphia. Colonel McClure died June 6, 1909.
No citizen of the republic has had as close an acquaintance with so many men who have filled the Presidency of the United States as had Col. McClure. He knew personally Presidents Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Ar-
-
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thur, Cleveland, Harrison, Mckinley, and Roosevelt-half the number who had filled that important office from the foundation of the government until his death.
LUTHER MELANCHTHON BERNHEISEL, PROMINENT CONTRACTOR.
It seems that some Perry Countian was to make his mark in every line of endeavor, but that one had become one of the fore-
LUTHER M. BERNHEISEL, Prominent Contractor.
most contractors of the great Middle West, in fact, of the entire country, is unknown to many. That man was Luther Melancthon Bernheisel, and his work still stands from the Atlantic coast to
45
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west of the Mississippi, a monument to the dreams of his boyhood in his Perry County home.
Luther Melancthon Bernheisel, at the time of his death was president of the Bernheisel Construction Company of Chicago. He was born on April 30, 1845, the son of Solomon and Hannah (Dunkelberger) Bernheisel, at Green Park, Tyrone Township. Either as an employee or as contractor Mr. Bernheisel was iden- tified with many of the great steel structural installations through- out the country. One of his earliest pieces of construction was the supervision of the building of the Third Avenue elevated rail- way in New York City. Another was the supervision of the con- struction of the bridge across the Hudson at Poughkeepsie, New York. Many of the steel "skyscrapers" in Chicago were erected under his supervision, and many of the great steel railway bridges that span the rivers of the Middle West were also erected under his supervision, or through the Bernheisel Construction Company. He was the organizer and became the president of the Bernheisel Construction Company.
Mr. Bernheisel was a man of means, accumulated by his own industry and ability. He took a keen interest in social and civil life, and for over a dozen years was identified with the Board of Education of Evanston, Illinois. He died May 22, 1920, leaving the following children : Mrs. Fanny Bernheisel Quilling, of Meno- monie, Wisconsin ; Mrs. Helen Bernheisel Hier, of Denver, Colo- rado, and L. M. Bernheisel, of Chicago, Illinois. He is also sur- vived by Mrs. Bernheisel.
ELIIIU C. IRVIN, NOTED PRESIDENT OF INSURANCE COMPANIES.
Of the Perry County teachers who have gone forth to larger fields in the business world, Elihu C. Irvin, president of the Fire Association of Philadelphia, ranks among the very first. He was born at Petersburg (now Duncannon), on May 22, 1839. His education was gotten at the local schools and at the New Bloom- field Academy, where he was prepared for college, graduating in 1859. Just as he was about to enter college, business reverses of his father necessitated his becoming a wage-earner, and he began by teaching school, being teacher of the Duncannon High School for several terms. During the War between the States he had charge of the Duncannon nail works. In 1870 he removed to Har- risburg, where he represented the Germania Insurance Company for five years, his territory being Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In 1875 he became associated with the Phoenix of Hartford, locat- ing in Philadelphia, with a territory from Lake Erie to the Gulf of Mexico, remaining with them almost ten years. In this work he had become most proficient and was already recognized as an ex- pert in fire insurance.
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In 1884 Mr. Irvin was appointed first vice-president of the Fire Association of Philadelphia, as manager of the agency business of the entire United States, and seven years later, in 1891, was made president of that large insurance company, with assets of $16,- 000,000, and doing a business of over $9.000,000 annually. The
ELIHU C. IRVIN,
Noted Insurance President. Born at Duncannon.
dividends paid to the stockholders have been as high as forty per cent. In 1899 Mr. Irvin was honored by being selected as presi- dent of the National Board of Underwriters of the United States, serving in that capacity for a number of terms. In 1919 he organ- ized the Victory Insurance Company and became its president, and
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in 1921 he took over the Reliance Insurance Company and became its president, and is now president of the three companies. In addition to his duties as president of the Fire Association, Mr. Irvin is a director of the First National Bank, of the Chamber of Commerce, and of the Union League.
The Fire Association, of which he is president, occupies its own seven-story marble building, located at Fourth and Walnut Streets, in the very heart of the city. On the first floor of that building is a bronze tablet, placed there by the association, which is one of the finest tributes to Mr. Irvin's ability as an executive, and bears this inscription :
This building Erected during the Presidency of Elihu C. Irvin is a tribute to His Ability and Untiring Devotion to the Interests of the Fire Association of Philadelphia. 1817 1912
Seated in his private office in 1919, when interviewed by the author of this book, Mr. Irvin said: "I have always wanted to return to Perry County-to Duncannon, where I was born, with its grand mountains and its charming river-to reside in retire- ment, but I am too busy," and he spoke the truth; for in that very year he had organized the Victory Insurance Company, asking for subscriptions to the amount of $1,000,000, and the stock had been oversubscribed by $700,000. Having taken over the Reliance In- surance Company, the plan is for the three associations to be run jointly. Mr. Irvin has gained his high position through vision and the motto, "Let well enough alone." His benefactions for young men and along religious lines have been manifold. He is of the Presbyterian faith. Through constant industry he has seen his company go from modest offices to more pretentious ones, and finally into the magnificent building now occupied by them, and its capital doubled. He is now (1922) over four score years of age, but retains the vigor of his fiftieth year.
"MARIE DORO," DRAMATIC STAR.
A Perry Countian by birth, but known throughout the nation, "Marie Doro" stands in the front rank of her profession as a dra- matic star, both on the speaking and silent stage. She has appeared upon the stage not only in the leading cities of America but of the continent as well and had the great distinction of appearing "by royal command," the first American actress to be so honored. Her life story is one of succeeding successes, the climax to ambition and ability.
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"Marie Doro" was born Marie Katharine Stewart, in Duncan- non, Perry County, May 25, 1882. She is the only daughter of Richard H. and Virginia B. (Weaver) Stewart, both natives of the county, her father having been a practicing lawyer and district
Sarony
"MARIE DORO," THE NOTED ACTRESS. Born at Duncannon, Perry County.
attorney of the county from 1885 to 1888. The family, in 1888, moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Marie received her pre- liminary education, afterwards pursuing her studies in New York. She entered upon her professional career in 1901. Since there
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were then already known in the theatrical world two Mary Stew- arts and one Marie Stewart, in order to avoid confusion in names, she adopted as her professional or stage name, Marie Doro, as being plain, short, easy to remember, and not likely to be confused with another.
She made her first appearance on the stage with Criterion Stock Company in St. Paul, Minnesota, June 9, 1901, as Katharine, in "Aristocracy," and with that company she assumed important rôles. In 1901-02, under the management of David Belasco, she appeared on tour in "Naughty Anthony." December 29, 1902. she appeared as Rosalba Peppercorn, in "The Billionaire," with Jerome Sykes, at Daly's theater. New York, and then on tour. In the summer of 1903 she appeared in "A Runaway Girl" and "The Circus Girl," with Duff Opera Company, in San Francisco. On November 2, 1903. she began her season at the Herald Square theater, New York, as Nancy Lowly, in "The Girl from Kay's," under management of the late Charles Frohman.
She entered dramatic work January 4, 1904, at the Empire thea- ter, New York, appearing as Lady Millicent, in "Little Mary," and subsequently played as Lady Catharine Losenby, with William Gillette, in "The Admirable Crichton," on tour. On October 24. 1904, she began her engagement as Dora, in "Granny," with the late Mrs. G. H. Gilbert, and at the Savoy theater, New York, Janu- ary 31, 1905, appeared in the title role of "Friquet."
Her first appearance on the London, England, stage, was at the Comedy theater, May 3. 1905, as Lucy Sheridan, in "The Dicta- tor," with William Collier. She was seen next at the Duke of York's theater, London, September 13. 1905. in the title rôle of "Clarice," with William Gillette, and on October 17, 1905, she began playing the part of Alice Faulkner, in "Sherlock Holmes." On November 8. 1905, she played as Caroline Mitford, in "Secret Service." Returning to the United States, she reenacted the rôle of "Clarice," with William Gillette, at Garrick theater, New York, October 16, 1906. On October 7. 1907. in Boston, Massachusetts, she was promoted to the rank of "star," when she appeared as Carlotta, in "The Morals of Marcus," appearing in the Criterion theater, New York, November 18, 1907, in the same part. In Boston, September, 1908, she played Benjamin Monnier, in "The Richest Girl," appearing at the Criterion theater, New York, March 1, 1909, in the same part. On August 9, 1909, she appeared at the Lyceum theater, New York, as Carlotta, in "The Morals of Marcus." She played Adelina, in "The Climax." in Jersey City, January 5. 1910, and appeared in the same rôle at the Comedy theater, London, England, February 26, 1910. On October 26, IgIO, she played Emeline Twimbly, in "Electricity," at Lyceum theater, New York.
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