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 82
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George Edward Kemp was born in Philadelphia, March 9, 1866, but his mother died before he was six years old, and his father left shortly after for New Orleans, no word or trace of him hav- ing been had since 1871. He accordingly became a member of the family of George and Martha Kemp, his grandpar- ents, natives of England, who purchased and moved to what was then the Woods farm in Oliver Township, now the Wagner farm, near the Newport fair grounds. There he was taken in December, 1866, when but nine months old, and Perry County is the place to which he always refers as home. Roaming these rural hills as a boy he obtained the vigorous constitution which per- mitted him to go to the battlefields of France, when most men of his age were rejected. From hunting game in the "wilds of Pur- gatory" (a name oft applied to a heavily wooded section of Oliver Township), he obtained his love for rifle and pistol shooting that has made him one of the most noted rifle and pistol shots in Penn- sylvania. He obtained his education in Evergreen school, in Oliver Township, under the tutorage of Alfred M. Gantt, Joseph M. Eshelman, Miss Flora Gantt, Peter Smith, John R. Smith, Irvin Smith, and S. E. Burke Kinsloe. There from studying history and from listening to stories of the Perry County soldiers who fought in the Sectional War, he was inspired to become a soldier, and at
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the first opportunity enlisted in the National Guard of Pennsyl- vania. There, with a record of thirty-six years, he has risen from a private to colonel, and is still active. He was a noted speller. According to the custom of the times, the best speller forged to the head of the class-a long line of standing pupils-and when Kemp
COL. GEO. E. KEMP, Postmaster at Philadelphia. Reared in Oliver Township.
got there he stayed until the end of the term. He was one of the first scholars of the Nativity Episcopal Sunday school at Newport, and never missed a Sunday while residing in the county. His grandfather sold the farm near Newport, and on August 15, 1882, removed to Philadelphia, and with him went the future colonel and postmaster. He was always interested in athletic sports in Perry County and "the call of the hills" has never left him. He keeps in touch with his boyhood home by correspondence, the local press and by periodical visits, when he may be found tramping through a favorite ravine or bypath of his boyhood.
On arriving at Philadelphia he attended the public schools a short time, but soon left to begin an apprenticeship at sailmaking
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
with F. Valderherchen. He became a journeyman, on his twenty- first birthday, but, steam having taken the place of sails, he entered the postal service as told above.
Colonel Kemp's military record is one of which any man would be proud. He became a private in Company A, Third In- fantry, of the Pennsylvania National Guard, August 6, 1886, be- ing promoted to corporal, June 22, 1888. On May 20, 1889, he was made second lieutenant, and on June 13, 1890, first lieutenant. On April 6, 1898, he was promoted to captain, and on July 11, 1903, to major. On July 24, 1915, he was made lieutenant colonel, and on July 1, 1916, colonel. On April 1, 1921, he was appointed inspector general, with the rank of colonel.
In the Spanish-American War he served as captain of Co. A, Third Penna. Volunteers, enlisting May 10, 1898, and being mus- tered out October 22d. When the Mexican border trouble came along in 1916 he was colonel of the Third Penna. Infantry and U. S. National Guard from July 1, 1916, to October 18th.
During the World War, he was mustered into the U. S. service March 28, 1917, as colonel of the Third Penna. Infantry, being assigned to guarding railroads and industries, with headquarters at Altoona. On August 5, 1917, he was drafted into the U. S. Army, and assigned to command the Iroth U. S. Infantry from September 30th to December 30th. From January 3d to April 3d, he attended the Brigade and Field Officers' School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He commanded the Fifty-Fifth Infantry Bri- gade April 5th to July 4, 1918, sailing on S. S. Carmania, May 3d, in command of troops. He landed at Liverpool, May 17th, and at Calais, France, May 18th. From July 5th to July 29th, he was in command of the Ioth U. S. Infantry, his former command, and from August 3d to August 8th, he had command of the U. S. troops at Nantes, France. From August 9th to November 30th, he was in command of Camp No. I, Base No. I, St. Nazaire, France, and from December 1, 1918, to July 10, 1919, he was administration officer at Embarkation Camp, No. I, St. Nazaire, France. He sailed July 12, 1919, in command of U. S. S. Callao, and landed at Norfolk, Virginia, July 24, 1919, being mustered out at Camp Dix, New Jersey, Angust 27, 1919.
Colonel Kemp was in the Champagne-Marne Defensive, July 14 to July 18, 1918, and in the Ainse-Marne Offensive, July 18 to July 29, 1918.
By General John J. Pershing, Commander-in-Chief of the U. S. Army, a merited citation was awarded April 19, 1919. It follows :
"Colonel George E. Kemp, Infantry, U. S. Army, for exceptionally meritorious and conspicuous services at St. Nazaire, France, American Expeditionary Forces. In testimony thereof, and as an expression of ap- preciation of these services, I award him this citation."
JOHN J. PERSHING, Commander-in-Chief.
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PERRY COUNTY'S NOTED MEN
While in London, England, on June 1, 1919, Col. Kemp visited St. Matthew Church, Bethel-Green, and found there the marriage record of his great-grandparents, William Kemp and Frances Ball, married August 20, 1782. He then visited Christ Church, on New- gate Street, where many notable persons are buried, including three former Queens of England, and there found the marriage record of his grandparents, George Kemp and Martha Twig, married December 24, 1820, instantly recognizing the signature of the grandfather who had reared him. The following day, at the old Parish Church, at Sheffield, England, he found the baptismal cer- tificate of his grandmother, "Martha, daughter of Joshua and Sarah Twig, Cutler, baptized August 1, 1802."
DAVID BILLOW, FIRST LAYMAN TO BECOME PRESIDENT OF WIT- TENBERG COLLEGE BOARD.
David Billow was another native Perry Countian who attained honor in his adopted state. He was the first layman to be elected as president of the Board of Directors of Wittenberg College at Springfield, Ohio. David Billow, a son of John George and Su- sannah (Ensminger) Billow, was born October II, 1828, near Dellville, Perry County, where he spent his early life on a farm on the banks of Sherman's Creek, which his parents had purchased while still wooded and had "cleared." His education was secured in the rude log schoolhouse of the period, by trudging several miles to school. His principal literature was the Bible, the Lu- theran catechism, a Bible concordance and Pilgrim's Progress, but through this study he secured a thorough knowledge of the Bible. Throughout his life he marked texts upon which he heard dis- courses and, with a wonderful memory, was able to repeat the gist of the various discourses, with much of it verbatim.
His health broken through overwork, he and a brother-in-law, Wm. Lupfer, engaged in general merchandising at Dellville for several years. A number of members of his family had moved to Crawford County, Ohio, and he also went to Ohio, locating at Shelby, Richland County, where he remained for twenty years. He followed the mercantile business there. He was also a loyal Unionist and foe of the liquor traffic, when that course was not always easy. He was a student in all things of an educational and religious nature, and naturally became a leader. For a number of years, 1872 to 1876, he was on the Board of Directors of Witten- berg College, located at Springfield. During this period he served several years as secretary and one year as president of the board, the first layman to fill that position. On February 26, 1852, he was married to Miss Susan Tressler, a daughter of David and Mary Catharine (Bernheisel) Tressler.
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
WILLIAM F. CALHOUN, SPEAKER, ILLINOIS ASSEMBLY.
Of the Calhoun boys of Madison Township, who migrated to Illinois and became noted and successful men, William F. was the one who trod the political or public service path, while his brothers gained distinction in the theo- .logical field. Their biogra- phies appear elsewhere in this book. So well did this young Perry Countian succeed that he not only became a member of the General Assembly of Illinois for three terms-al- ways being nominated by acclamation by the Thirtieth District-but became speaker of the Thirty-fifth General Assembly of that state. He established a daily newspaper which to-day is a power in central Illinois, and became Commander of the Illinois Department of the Grand Army of the Republic.
William F. Calhoun was born near Cisna's Run, No- vember 21, 1844. being a son of John and Catharine WILLIAM F. CALHOUN. (Kiner) Calhoun. His fa- ther was a carpenter and builder, and he worked upon the farm and attended the winter sessions of the local schools, later teaching. After the death of his father, in 1858, the family removed to Blain. In 1862 he enlisted in the Union Army, being then eighteen, and was there until the war's finish, being present at the surrender of Lee's army of Northern Virginia. He first belonged to the 133d Penna. Volunteer Infantry, in which was incorporated his unit, Capt. D. L. Tressler's Company H of Perry County boys, where he served for a time as captain's clerk. At the expiration of their term of service he reënlisted for three years with the Twentieth Penna. Volunteer Cavalry, under command of Gen. Sheridan. In October, 1865, he located in La Salle County, Illinois, where he studied and practiced dentistry until 1869. He then removed to Champaign County and practiced until 1879, when he located in Dewitt County, continuing to practice. His first nomination to the Illinois Assembly was in 1881. He served three consecutive terms, 1882-1884-1886, being speaker of the Thirty-fifth General
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PERRY COUNTY'S NOTED MEN
Assembly. From his first entry into that body he was noted as one of the influential figures. During the Thirty-fourth session he was a leader in the movement which finally landed General John A. Logan in the United States Senate. At the previous term it was proposed to erect a monument in Chicago to Col. James A. Mulligan, which was largely opposed because he only ranked as a colonel. Its defeat secmed certain, when Dr. Calhoun addressed the house, stating that he saw that intrepid officer fall when he re- ceived a mortal wound on July 24, 1864, in the action at Kerus- town, Virginia; that several brave men attempting to keep the flag on the line of battle were shot down and that Col. Mulligan said to those about to assist him, "Lay me down and save the flag." The result was that not a single vote was cast against the bill.
On the expiration of his third term he removed to Decatur, Illi- nois, where he established the Daily Dispatch. Later he bought the Decatur Herald and consolidated the papers as the Herald- Dispatch. He is not only the owner and publisher, but as the editor-in-chief is still at the helm. His plant is one of the finest and his paper one of the most influential in central Illinois. Early during the administration of President Mckinley he was appointed postmaster at Decatur and held the office under the Roosevelt and Taft administrations, a total of sixteen years. In May, 1918, he was elected as Department Commander of the State of Illinois by the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization to which he had belonged almost from its inception. He was married in 1868 to Miss Blanche Dedrick, of Seneca, Illinois, five children being born to the family. Mrs. Calhoun died in the fall of 1918. A large class of men in the First Methodist Church of Decatur is taught by Dr. Calhoun, and his pastor states that he is the best teacher of men among his acquaintances.
JAMES MCCARTNEY, ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF ILLINOIS.
James McCartney, son of Irvine and Margaret McCartney, was born in Raccoon Valley, in 1842, but with his people left for Mercer County, Pennsylvania, when he was eight years old, later moving to Illinois. He was admitted to the bar in 1861 and located at Galva, Henry County, Illinois. He was a member of General Henderson's 112th Illinois Volunteers, becoming a cap- tain during the war. He had first belonged to the Seventeenth Illinois Volunteers. In 1880 the Republicans nominated him for attorney-general of the state, and he was elected and served a full four-year term, 1881-1885. After that he practiced law in Chi- cago, Illinois, until his death in 1913. (One informant says 1911.) He was an able lawyer and his term is said by the late General Henderson, under whom he served in the war, to have been marked by efficiency and industry.
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
His sister, Miss Lucy McCartney, also a Perry Countian, mar- ried Rev. P. A. Cool, D.D., who was later president of Wiley Uni- versity at Marshall, Texas, and of the George R. Smith College of Sedalia, Missouri. Their son became a prominent pastor in New York City, and died in 1917, while serving an important pastorate at Buffalo, New York.
ASSISTANT STATE LIBRARIAN AND DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL.
Joseph M. McClure was born at Green Park, Tyrone Township. Perry County, December 28, 1838, the sixth of ten children of James and Rachel Oliver ( Patterson) McClure. He attended the local schools and then learned the tanning trade. Studying in his spare moments he became a teacher in the higher departments of a graded school at twenty. The next year he entered Tuscarora Academy, in Juniata, County, and in 1862 entered Yale College, where he graduated in 1866. He studied law with Ezra Doty at Mifflintown, but completed his studies with the late Justice John Stewart and the noted A. K. McClure, at Chambersburg. He was admitted to the bar in 1867, began practice in Dauphin County in 1868, and was made assistant State Librarian in 1869. In the fall of the same year he was appointed Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania. In 1873 he edited an English and German weekly at Doylestown; in 1874 he resumed the practice of law, locating at Allentown, and in 1879 changed his location to Brad- ford. He was nominated by the Democratic party for president judge of the Potter-McKean District in 1892, but failed of election. As Deputy Attorney General of the commonwealth he detected the defalcations of George O. Evans, agent to collect the war claims of the state from the United States, amounting to $300,000. Evans fled the state, but returned and was imprisoned and judg- ment recorded against him for $185,000. Mr. McClure died Oc- tober 20, 1908.
DOUGLASS FAMILY, CONTRACTORS.
The Douglass family, of Perry County, has had a varied experi- ence in the contracting business. The first one to enter the business was William A. Douglass, born in Cumberland County in 1826, but who made his home in Perry practically all of his life. He was identified with the construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad at various points before entering the contracting business, includ- ing Millerstown, Huntingdon, and the Portage tunnel, being a superintendent there at its building. Following that he was super- intendent of construction of fortifications with the Engineer Corps of the Northern army during the Sectional War, and at its close served in the same capacity in the reconstruction of the old Orange and Alexandria Railway, now part of the Southern Railway. He
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was also engaged in a similar capacity at the construction of the Hoosac tunnel and in general charge of the building of a seven- mile canal at Keokuk, Jowa, and the deepening the bed of the Mis- sissippi. There he brought to success a project on which his prede- cessors had failed, and General Wilson, then chief engineer for the government, told him that a man of his ability should be work- ing for himself instead of others and helped him secure his first contract. His contracting experience covered a period of seven- teen years, from 1870 to 1887, inclusive. During that time he constructed 179 iniles of railroad at a cost of approximately $7,- 000,000. The most important of these contracts was on the New York, Ontaria & Western, the New York, West Shore & Buffalo, and the Colorado Midland Railways, these three contracts amount- ing to over $5,000,000.
Mr. Douglass died April 3, 1887. He had been married in 1851 to Catharine C. Mitchell, a daughter of John Mitchell, of Green- wood Township, to whom were born three sons, John M., Samuel F., and William M., the latter two surviving and later succeeding their father in the contracting business, operating as Douglass Brothers, and having associated with then Dr. James B. Eby, of Newport, as a silent partner. Their various contracts with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Tidewater Railways approxi- mated around $1,500,000.
MORE NOTED PROFESSIONAL MEN AND WOMEN.
The extent to which these biographies have grown and the ne- cessity of keeping within the number of pages for a single volume necessitates the use of smaller type for the remainder, but has no other significance, as many of those following are no doubt the peers of many of those previously named, all having attained suc- cess in some particular field. For the same reason only the more important or outstanding facts are given, save in rare cases. A few pages farther on the list has been placed alphabetically, as it will facilitate the finding of names more quickly when reference is to be made, the placing of the names here also having no other significance. Some of these men have been dead for almost a cen- tury, and their records are brief, owing to the lapse of time. Un- doubtedly many have been missed, but the foregoing and following lists will serve as a basis upon which to build. In fact, until such time as a Perry County Historical Society shall be organized, the author of this book will gladly receive information as to others, or any vital facts as to those here mentioned, which will be filed and turned over to such society, if organized. The only request in such cases is that a separate sheet of paper be used bearing on that subject alone, so that the original may be turned over.
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
A QUARTETTE OF PROMINENT MINISTERS.
CALHOUN, REV. JOHN DILL. Among the theologians who have gone forth from Perry County the name of Rev. John Dill Calhoun stands in the forefront. One of three brothers who became noted- the others being Rev. W. Scott Calhoun and Dr. Wmn. F. Cal- houn, once speaker of the Illi- nois Assembly-it is interest- ing to note their risc. Born sons of John and Catharine (Kiner) Calhoun, near Cisna's Run, Madison Township, they all attained success in that great State of Illinois. Rev. John Dill Calhoun's birth oc- curred November 17, 1850. In 1858 the father died, leaving the mother and five children. Selling the home place they moved to Blain, where they re- sided for eight years. The eldest, William F., was in the Union Army, and the next older brother was in the civil service of the government, part of the time plying the coast in a transport. The eight years spent at Blain included the en- tire period of the Sectional War, and the Kittatinny Moun- REV. JOHN DILL CALHOUN. tain, a few miles south, was the barrier which held back Lee's army-for again had Perry County become a borderland, just as it had been for decades in Indian affairs. There, as a boy, he heard the sound of cannonry, from the Gettysburg Battlefield, less than forty miles away, as it echoed through the mountains.
The family removed to Illinois in 1866. The mother married a second time, in 1868, her husband being Josiah B. Terpening, owner and proprietor of a large stock farm at Geneseo, Illinois. After finishing in the country schools John Dill Calhoun attended the Cambridge High School and Farm Ridge Seminary. He then taught for several years in Henry County, be- ginning 1871. On March 25, 1873, he was united in marriage to Miss Bina J. Robinson, also a teacher who had been educated at the State Normal School. Having been an active member of the church for several years, he joined the Central Illinois Conference in September, 1873. Unlike many other denominations the Methodist Episcopal Church had a time limit for the service of its pastors, no matter how successful. Notwithstanding this the record of Rev. Calhoun is one of which any minister could be proud. An official announcement of the Central Illinois Conference in 1919 was that he held the highest record for length of term of service. When the limitation of the pastoral term was three years, he served four charges the full term. Then, when by the action of conference the limit was fixed at five years, he served Pekin, a city of 12,000, five years, and Cambridge, the county seat of Henry County, where he had been both a school boy and teacher, five years. He was then appointed to Knoxville, and while there the time limit was removed, and he remained there six years. Following
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this he served five years at Wenona, and the succeeding five at Lacon, the county seat of Marshall County. He served six years at Washington, Illinois, and is now at Metamora, in the first year of his pastorate, serving a federated church (Lutheran-Methodist-Presbyterian-Congrega- tionalist-Baptist). Three beautiful churches and two fine parsonages have been erected as a result of his labors. Evangelistic in his methods, Rev. Calhoun has added hundreds to the rolls of several of his churches and many to each of them, and his courteous demeanor and kindly disposition have had a marked effect upon many nonattendants in these Illinois com- munities. He is a clear, logical thinker, and as a public speaker has had few equals in his state, being constantly called upon to deliver addresses at public functions. In 1911, with James A. Beaver, a former governor of Pennsylvania, he appeared upon the platform and delivered an address at the Old Home Week of his boyhood home at Blain, Pennsylvania, a never- to-be-forgotten occasion. Both were native Perry Countians and had brought credit upon it.
Several decades ago Rev. Calhoun wrote for the People's Advocate and Press of New Bloomfield, a series of articles on Perry Countians in the West, which contained much of historical value and to which we are in- debted for many suggestions. He has also been called to his native state on other occasions. He has been secretary of his conference for more than twenty years, and is president of the ministerial association of his town, a city with seven churches, the pride of the community. Personally, the writer believes that Rev. Calhoun's success in the ministry is largely the result of his keeping in touch with the rising generation, which he has done in both school and church work, and even in the great every-day- world, where he has found time to say a kind word in passing or to write a cheering letter to a lonesome soul.
The Illinois General Assembly, at its sessions of 1920-21, selected Rev. Calhoun as one of its chaplains. Unlike many states, Illinois has adopted the plan of having a chaplain from each senatorial district, each serving for a stated period. Rev. Calhoun was chosen from the Thirtieth District, representing five counties of central Illinois.
While at work on this book, the author had the pleasure of getting per- sonally acquainted with Rev. Calhoun, and found that, true to form, the succeeding generation are educationally inclined, and while not born Perry Countians, a word of them. Six children have been born to the family and, like their parents, all were teachers in the public schools. They are all married. William S. has taught for ten years in Knox and Henry Counties ; John Paul is superintendent of schools at Morton, and Glenn H. is superintendent of schools at Lexington-they having completed their education at Hedding College. Harold Verne, a State Normal graduate, is superintendent of schools at Mackinaw. The daughters, Katharine Nellie (wife of Dr. L. M\ Magill, of Lexington, Ill.), and Florence Grace (wife of B. Orin Ball, cashier of the First National Bank of Kewanee, Ill.), both graduated from St. Mary's Ladies' College, an Episcopal institution at Knoxville, Illinois. To his wife Rev. Calhoun is inclined to give much credit for his success, she being an efficient and capable religious worker, a power in missionary work among his people.
Rev. Calhoun has a characteristic that is quite common to those born among the charming scenery of Perry County, save that with him it amounts almost to a passion, and while his life has been largely spent in religious work in the State of Illinois-the value of which can never even be estimated-his heart has roamed the hills and valleys of his native county during all the years and he has made many pilgrimages back to the haunts of childhood.
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