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 76
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PERRY COUNTY'S NOTED MEN
During the spring of 1911 she went abroad for a period of rest and, returning to the United States, began a four weeks' engage- ment, February 26, 1912, in the title rôle of "Oliver Twist," in an all-star engagement. The engagement was extended, closing May 4th at the New Amsterdam theater, New York. On May 6, 1912, she appeared at the Lyric theater, New York, in the title rôle of "Patience," in a four-week revival of that opera. She went abroad and, on August 27, 1913, appeared in "The Scarlet Band," at the Comedy theater, London. Later she appeared in an extended en- gagement in "Diplomacy," at Wyndham's theater, London.
On February 1, 1914, by royal command, she played in "Diplo- macy," in Waterloo chamber, Windsor Castle, before their majes- ties, the King and Queen, and an audience of one hundred and eighty celebrities, the other principals in the play with Miss Doro being Gerald Du Maurier, Lady Tree, Eli Jeffry, and Norman Forbes. At the conclusion of the play those named were presented to their majesties, and Miss Doro enjoys the unique distinction of being the first American actress to play before the King and Queen by royal command. The World War becoming imminent she hastily sailed for the United States, July 31, 1914, catching the German steamer, "Kaiser Wilhelm H," at Cherbourg, France, just a day before the declaration of war.
She began her season as Dora, in "Diplomacy," at the Empire theater, New York, in November, 1914, then on tour, appearing February 8, 1915, at Blackstone theater, Chicago, and at the con- clusion of that engagement turned her attention to the silent drama. Her first picture, "Morals of Marcus," was produced by the Famous Players' Company. Then followed "The White Pearl," by the Triangle Company ; "The Wood Nymph," and others.
She returned to the speaking stage November 5, 1917, in the title rôle of "Barbara," at the Plymouth theater, New York, but on February 8, 1919, after a few weeks' rest from moving picture work, which she had again entered, she sailed for Europe, pursuing a new engagement to play in the silent drama. During the greater part of her time, since then to July, 1920, her work before the camera has been done in Rome, Naples and Sicily, Italy, although her first European picture, "Twelve-Ten," was made in London and Paris, as was her next picture, "Midnight Gambols." She re- turned to America in 1921 and again assumed rôles on the speak- ing stage.
During 1917 Marie Doro was united in marriage to Elliott Dex- ter, who is also engaged in moving picture work, and is accord- ingly known, in private life as Mrs. Marie Doro Dexter. Her salary during the past few years has far exceeded that of the Presi- dent of the United States.
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
ROBERT NEILSON STEPHENS, AUTHOR, NOVELIST.
Perry County has been the home of a number of men who later became authors of note. Col. McClure's historical volumes and Dr. Super's works along educational and allied lines are widely read. Another whose fame was country-wide was Robert Neilson Stephens. He was descended from Alexander Stephens, the Jacobite who settled near the Juniata's mouth, and who was also the ancestor of Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice-President of the Confederacy. The head of the clan had two sons, James and An- drew, born near Duncannon, both of whom accompanied him to Georgia, where he settled, that state having passed a free land law in 1795 to induce settlement. James came back North and set- tled on the south side of Hominy Ridge, having married Elizabeth Garrett, of near Milford. He had several sons, one being named Robert. Prof. James A. Stephens was a son of Robert, and in turn became the father of Robert Neilson Stephens, the noted author, whose mother was Rebecca (Neilson) Stephens.
He was born July 22, 1867, in New Bloomfield, his father hav- ing been principal of the Bloomfield Academy on several occa- sions. With his family he was later taken to Huntingdon, where he graduated from the High School. His father's death, in 1876, put the little family in straightened financial circumstances, and he was only enabled to even finish school through his mother becoming a teacher, after his father's death. He then worked for $3.50 a week in the stationery store connected with the J. C. Blair manu- factory. He was a delicate youth and books were his steadfast companions. Yet he chafed in the bookstore. He learned stenog- raphy and through W. B. Wilson, an old friend of his father, John Scott, solicitor general of the Pennsylvania Railroad, gave him a position in the Philadelphia offices of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. As soon as he was settled there he sent for his mother and brother.
The Philadelphia Press was then a virtual cradle of authors, and in a short time he secured a position on that paper, and was as- signed to write theatrical notices. In a year he had advanced to the post of dramatic editor. In 1889 he married Maud Helfenstein, of Chicago. In 1893 he became general agent for a firm of the- atrical agents, part of his duty being to write plays for popular priced houses. He is said to have been the creator of the pictur- esque "Steve Brodie." His first melodrama was entitled "On the Bowery." He wrote "An Enemy to the King," which was his first ambitious production, 1895-96. With the noted E. H. South- ern playing it he accompanied his wife the first night, but reluc- tantly, and remained without the theater. The call for his appear- ance was led by DeWolf Hopper and Richard Harding Davis.
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Some time later Mr. Southern appeared in Boston in the same play, and L. C. Page, the Boston publisher, was in the audience. He recognized in it the elements which constitute a semi-historical romance, and forseeing the extensive demand for that type of fiction, sought Mr. Stephens and proposed that he should make a book of the play. Inside of twenty-four hours the contract was signed. It was published in 1897, and he then abandoned "hack work."
His health began to decline with his entry to fame and fortune, for this book had started him on the way to both. He was once met by a friend who remarked that he appeared to be in ill health. His reply was, "I would rather be ill and well-to-do, as I am, than poor and in good health, as I was for many years. I have had my sorrows, but hardly a sorrow that was not aggravated, if not caused by poverty, or that very moderate wealth would not have ameliorated or prevented. The difference between pecuniary ease and poverty is oftentimes simply as the difference between heaven and hell."
Two other plays which gave him fame were "The Continental Dragoon," in 1898, and "The Ragged Regiment." With 1898 his other books began appearing. They were: "The Road to Paris," "A Gentleman Player," "Capt. Ravenshaw," "Clementina's High- wayman," "The Bright Face of Danger," "Tales From Bohemia," "The Mystery of Murray Davenport," and "Philip Winwood," the latter appearing in England, the United States and Canada , simultaneously. There is something about Robert Neilson Stephens as a writer that makes one think of that other noted Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, in his Samoan home-a certain resemblance, the same delicacy, and the same suggestion of indomitable intellectual- ity. His publisher, L. C. Page, said of him: "He is unsurpassed among the novelists of the day for mastery of bygone periods."
He is also quoted by his publisher as saying: "When a man makes any kind of a success, however small, he finds that his old friends resolve themselves into three classes. The first class turn sullen, and show their envy in many mean ways. The second class wax more friendly than ever, and come showering their attentions. The third class show a reasonable pleasure at your success, and re- main just as they were before. God bless the last kind! God mend the second ! and God pity the first !" He died in 1906.
CARLTON LEWIS BRETZ, PROMINENT RAILROAD MAN.
From among the Pennsylvania Railroad employes of Perry County one reached virtually the top in railroading. That man was Carlton Lewis Bretz, who was born in Newport, March 28, 1847. When a young fellow in his teens force of circumstances led him into the railroad business, but that was his proper sphere.
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Prior to that time he had run away from home to join the Union forces which helped overwhelm Lee's Confederate hosts at Gettys-
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CARLTON LEWIS BRETZ, Railroad President. Born at Newport, Perry County.
burg. The ending of the war found him-then but sixteen years old-a veteran with an honorable discharge.
After the war he became a telegraph operator for the Pennsyl- vania Railroad at Newport, continuing until 1870, when he was
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made trainmaster of the Lewistown Division. Two years later he was transferred to the Bedford Division as trainmaster, where he remained until 1888. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railroad was then under construction, and Mr. Bretz's thorough knowledge of railroading came to the attention of Senator Henry Gassaway Davis and associates, who were building it, and they offered him the position of general manager, which he held from 1888 to 1906, when the Gould interests got possession of that line. To him was then tendered the general managership of the West- ern Maryland, but it necessitated his removal to Baltimore, and as he was bound to Cumberland, Maryland, by home and financial interests, he declined. It is said of Mr. Bretz that from two streaks of rust insecurely spiked to derelict ties he saw and helped develop a railroad so perfectly equipped that it commanded a pur- chase price of approximately eighteen millions of dollars.
In a short time after his retirement as general manager, the Con- solidated Coal Company tendered him the position of general manager of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad, which he filled until his death, September 30, 1910. This road had its be- ginning in 1844, with the construction of the Mt. Savage and Cum- berland Railroad. It is essentially a coal road. Mr. Bretz also came into control of the Cumberland and Westernport Electric Railway, running from Cumberland through the Georges Creek mining re- gion to Westernport, about 1908, and brought it to a high state of efficiency. He was president of this company at the time of his death.
He was a member of the Republican party, and was strongly urged, on several occasions, to be a candidate for Congress, and on one occasion refused the proffered State Controllership of Maryland. He was one of the most prominent citizens of western Maryland. He always stood high in the estimation of his men and never had a strike. Two labor organizations bear his name, the one after his wife being the Mrs. C. L. Bretz Auxiliary to the Railroad Trainmen, and the other the C. L. Bretz Division, Broth- erhood of Railroad Trainmen. He was survived by his wife. who was Miss Matilda H. Hartley, daughter of the late William Hart- ley, of Bedford, a retired capitalist who amassed a fortune and acquired widespread prominence in the oil industry of western Pennsylvania.
He represented Senator Henry Gassaway Davis' West Virginia Central at a meeting of the Railway Congress of the World in London, England, in 1895, and was among those entertained by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. In 1900 he represented the same road at another session of the World's Congress, at Paris, and was entertained at Versailles, and in 1900 when it met at Washington, D. C.
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Mr. Bretz, in railroad circles and in the home of his adoption, Cumberland-in fact, in all western Maryland-was known as a builder in every line as well as a thorough railroad man. He was quiet and unassuming, of a pleasing disposition, and his name will ever stand, in railroad annals, as an example of the self-made man. Of the hundreds of Perry Countians who have "made good" in the railroad world the name of Carlton Lewis Bretz stands at the top.
ELIZABETH REIFSNYDER, M.D.
Until recently, Dr. Elizabeth Reifsnyder was the only woman physician native to Perry County, but a very notable one, and one whose name was known afar. Furthermore, she graduated in medicine at that earlier period when it was an unusual thing for a woman to enter that profession, and her life work has placed her in the very first rank, not only of Perry County women, but of womanhood everywhere. Elizabeth Reifsnyder was born in Liver- pool, January 17, 1858, the daughter of John and Nancy Musselman Reifsnyder. Her early life was that of the average girl in a coun- try town, but she improved her time in the Liverpool schools, and entered the Millersville State Normal School, where she gradu- ated. She then entered the Woman's Medical College at Phila- delphia, where she graduated in 1881, when but twenty-three years of age. She served as an interne for one year, and left for China in 1883, where most of her life was spent, and where she opened the first hospital in China. It was opened under the auspices of the Women's Union Mission of America, and was interdenomina- tional. It was known as the Margaret Williamson Hospital. The work was begun in a temporary building, and the hospital built from plans drawn by Dr. Reifsnyder herself. She built up the organization as well, and it is principally to her that the great- est hospital in the Far East is to be credited. She interested not only friends in America, but the more wealthy Chinese who were her patients, and through their contributions was enabled to see that none were turned away. She was also a noted surgeon. Among her patients was Mrs. Wu Ting Fang, wife of the famed Chinese Ambassador to the United States. When the twenty-fifth anniversary was celebrated, press dispatches told that 800,000 had already been treated there, and that during the preceding year there had been treated 820 persons, with 56,700 others as office patients.
Dr. Reifsnyder left China about 1914 to come home for a visit, but owing to her health was never able to return. She left there a large sum of money which she had received for services, and with these funds the organization has erected a maternity building, the first one in China, and named it in her honor, the Elizabeth Reif- snyder Hospital. It will be marked by a bronze tablet telling of
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her inspiration and blessing to the Chinese people. When she came home she left the institution self-supporting. During the Chinese Rebellion, the Elizabeth Williamson Hospital was within the range of battle, in fact between the two contending battle lines. When the writer interviewed her in her home in Liverpool, in 1919, she
ELIZABETH REIFSNYDER, M.D.,
Noted physician. The first hospital in China was established with Dr. Reifsnyder, born at Liverpool, in charge. A maternity hospital there has been named in her honor.
told of the bullets entering the hospital, one of which she pre- sented to him as a memento. As she sat at her desk during the battle a bullet entered just above her head, puncturing a motto, on which were the words, "Trust Ye in the Lord Forever." From what the author knows of Dr. Reifsnyder the words on that motto may be said to have been the foundation for her work, for she
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was not only a practical woman, but a devout one. She died Feb- ruary 3. 1922. Over one million people had received treatment at the dispensary prior to her return to America. Her sister, Mrs. E. C. Dunkerly, was also in China for several years.
MINA KERR, PH.D., Miss Kerr Was the First Perry County Woman to Attain this Coveted Degree. She was born in Saville Township.
MINA KERR, PH.D., DEAN OF WHEATON COLLEGE.
Among women educators of the United States, the name of Mina Kerr stands out prominently. She was born at Saville, Sa- ville Township, September 25, 1878, being a daughter of that noted early educator and county superintendent of schools, Lewis Barnett Kerr. Her mother was Elizabeth ( Wagner) Kerr. She
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attended the public schools and prepared for college under the in- struction of her father and brothers, taking the final year at the Wellesley-Walton Preparatory School in Philadelphia. She gradu- ated from Smith College with the degree of B.A and Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1900, and received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1909, the first Perry County woman to attain that honor. She was instructor and professor of Eng- lish at Hood College, Maryland, from 1900 to 1906, and professor of English at Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa, 1909-10. She then became dean of Milwaukee-Downer College, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she remained until 1921, when she was appointed dean of Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts.
Mina Kerr is the author of "The Influence of Ben Johnson on English Comedy," and also of many articles in educational and religious magazines. She has twice visited Europe, has traveled in Alaska, many parts of Canada, the Hawaiian Islands and throughout the United States, to further her education. She is a well-known and able speaker along religious, educational and Americanization lines. During November, 1921, when a banquet was held in Boston in honor of Judith Winsor Smith, the surviv- ing member of the group of early suffragists, including Susan B. Anthony, Julia Ward Howe, Lucy Stone and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mina Kerr was the principal speaker of the occasion. From 1918 to 1920 she was president of the Milwaukee Branch of the American Association of University Women, during which time a College Women's Club House was established by this asso- ciation. During 1920-22 she was president of the National Asso- ciation of Deans of Women, a department of the National Educa- tional Association. Wheaton College, of which she is now dean, is a college for women just outside of Boston, chartered as a college in 1912, and already numbering over three hundred students. She is a member of various boards and committees of Boston Branch of the American Association of University Women, and of vari- ous bodies devoted to community and civic betterment. Every summer of her life so far, save three years when she was traveling abroad, she has returned to Perry County, for, although she has traveled afar, she still finds it "one of the most beautiful places on earth."
DAVID LOY TRESSLER, COLLEGE PRESIDENT.
Throughout the United States there are many small colleges, the value of whose usefulness as a whole is greater by far than those of the great universities. One of these-Carthage College-is located in the beautiful town of Carthage, Illinois, and the first president of that institution, Rev. David Loy Tressler, Ph.D., was a Perry Countian, In the sketches in this book devoted to the
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Loysville Academy, the Loysville Soldiers' Orphan School and the Tressler Orphan Home, the name of Rev. Tressler appears, having been principal of the first two and the name of his family being bestowed upon the Tressler Home. Of this man, the first Perry Countian to become a college president, Perry County is justly proud, for he was a man whose record is one of continuous success.
DAVID L. TRESSLER, PH.D., President of Carthage College.
David Loy Tressler was a son of Col. John and Elizabeth (Loy) Tressler, born February 15, 1839, at Loysville, in a home where religious instruction was a part of the daily duties. Educated in the local schools, then in their infancy, as the free school law of Pennsylvania only became effective a few years prior to his birth, he prepared for college at the Loysville Academy, an institution founded by his father. In 1857 he was admitted to the sophomore class of Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, where he was gradu- ated with first honors in 1860. The same year he became principal
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of the Loysville Academy. During the summer of 1862 he organ- ized a company which later became part of the 133d Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and among those enrolled were most of the students of the little institution. He was made its captain, partici- pating in the Battles of South Mountain, Antietam, and Fredericks- burg, receiving two severe wounds in the latter engagement, but being again with his company in the Chancellorsville engagement. He was tendered a colonel's commission, at the expiration of his term of service, but declined. In 1864 he was admitted to the bar and practiced five years. His preceptor was the late Benj. McIn- tire, of New Bloomfield, to whose daughter, Ada Josephine, he was united in marriage in 1865. In 1870 he located in Mendota, Illinois, and in the autumn, entered the ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Lena, Illinois. He filled that position until 1872, when he accepted a professorship in Carthage College, a new institution, and a year later was made its first president, and subsequently its treasurer, both of which positions he held until his death.
Upon his retirement from military service the boys, whom he had instructed at Loysville and whom he had led in the field of battle, presented him with an expensive gold watch, as a token of esteem. While his period in the law occupied a bare five years, yet the press of the day spoke of him as a brilliant young lawyer. Made president of Carthage College, his friends showered him with congratulations. In replying to a letter from his family, on hearing of his promotion, he aptly put some thoughts, from which the following are extracts: "Condolence (rather than congratula- tions) is more befitting the occasion. * Trials, self-denial, heartaches and ills that careless observers dream not of, are the lot of a college president. It is a mighty work to found a college, and half the work devolves upon the president. I tremble in the presence of the greatness of the work." In leav- ing the legal profession he said to a loved one: "If I wish to be- rich in this world's goods, I will remain in the legal profession -- if rich in the next world, I will enter the ministry."
Carthage did not have a Lutheran church, and into the project of building a church there he put his entire energy, with the result that the Lutheran church then built was the largest and best church edifice in the county. To it he was a most liberal contributor, and at the time of his death also its beloved pastor. During the closing month of 1879 a new bell was placed in the belfry, and its dedi- cation culminated when it "rang out the old, rang in the new" year. On that occasion Dr. Tressler remarked, "For which of us shall this bell first toll a funeral knell?" probably little thinking that he should be that one.
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
His death occurred February 20, 1880. He was a martyr to the cause in which he was enlisted, as his death will testify. His fatal illness began on February 2d. On February Ist (Sunday ) he filled a preaching appointment twenty miles from the college. The roads being too muddy to make the journey by carriage, he went on horseback. So fatigued was he, upon his return, that he could not dismount without assistance.
At the obsequies of Rev. Tressler, Rev. Willis G. Craig, D.D., a Presbyterian pastor, among other things said: "You have taken this region for Christian culture with an honored grave." In the funeral procession were Company G, Illinois National Guard, with reversed arms; the faculty, the alumni, and the student body of Carthage College.
Dr. Tressler was a man of fine physique, slightly above medium height, with square shoulders, erect posture, an open face and a commanding presence. With a sunny disposition and a kind word he was every man's friend. Endowed with a splendid mind and a remarkable memory, with accurate judgment and large sympathy, he was a man among men. Successful as a teacher, as an officer in the U. S. Army, as an attorney, as a theologian, and as a col- lege president, all in a span of but forty-one years, this native Perry Countian stands in the very front rank of those who have gone forth and writ their names high.
Dr. and Mrs. Tressler were the parents of five children, two of whom, Annie McIntire and John Arthur, died in early life. Mary Loyetta Tressler, born at New Bloomfield, Perry County, mar- ried Prof. Cyrus B. Newcomer, of Carthage College. She is much interested in the work of Carthage College, having been active in responsible positions in the carrying on of the work which her father so nobly commenced. She is a member of the school board, president of the Alumni Association of Carthage College, member of the General Literature Committee of the Women's Missionary Society of the United Lutheran Church, as well as being inter- ested in organizations of civic betterment. Elizabeth Agnes Tress- ler, born at Newport, Perry County, married James Sumner Ma- loney, of Rockford, Illinois, where she is much interested in things religious and civic affairs. She is president of the Y. W. C. A. of the city of Rockford and teacher of a large organized Sunday school class in Trinity Lutheran Church. Charles J. Tressler is the alumni representative on the board of trustees of Carthage College. He is an attorney, and after nineteen years with Swift & Company of Chicago-ten of which he was assistant general attorney of the firm, united to form the partnership of McCabe & Tressler, attorneys, specializing in law along the lines relating to food. The firm has offices in Chicago and Washington City. Mr. Tressler was married to Miss Bess Ringheim, a Carthage
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