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 92

Author: Hain, Harry Harrison, 1873- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Harrisburg, Pa., Hain-Moore company
Number of Pages: 1102


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 92


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STITES, ALBERT HARVEY. Albert Harvey Stites was born in Millerstown, March 2, 1858, the son of Dr. Samuel and Catharine ( Motter) Stites. He attended the public schools, and in 1875 worked for one year


on The Times, at New Bloom- field. He then went to Philadel- phia and began clerking in a drug store. In 1879 he gradu- ated in pharmacy and continued there in the drug business until 1881. In Jie of that year he located in what was then Da- kota Territory, at Sioux Falls, and opened a drug store, which he has conducted for the past forty years. He was president of the South Dakota State Board of Pharmacy for six years, and was county commis- sioner of Minnehaha County for three years. In 1896 he was elected mayor of Sioux Falls, and in 1898 was elected to the State Senate, a position in which he served two terms, having been reelected. During the Roosevelt administration he ALBERT H. STITES. was postmaster for four years. In 1884 he married Elizabeth M. Law, of Chicago, to whom three children were born, one son, Samnel L., living and being in the drug business in Sioux Falls.


STITES, DR. HARRY. Dr. Harry Stites was born at Fisherville, Dauphin County, June 28, 1854, the son of Dr. Samuel and Catherine (Motter) Stites, but at a very early age his father having located at Mil- lerstown, he became a Perry Countian and always claimed it as his home. He was educated in the public schools of Millerstown and at Freeburg Academy. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1876 and immediately began practicing medicine at Newport. In 1881 he located at Sioux Falls, and became government physician to the Blackfoot Indian Agency, being later transferred to the Sioux Reservation. He then located in Florida for a time, and from 1887 to 1893 he practiced in Harrisburg. His health failing he returned to Florida, going in a vessel of his own with his family. In that state he was examining surgeon of the East Coast Railway under the noted Henry M. Flager's régime. In 1896 he took a


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postgraduate course in the Polyclinic College at Philadelphia and again located in Harrisburg, where he remained until 1900, when he traveled Europe, visiting the principal hospitals in order to advance further in his profession. He returned to his Harrisburg practice, but in January, 1906, left on a trip South to regain his health, going to Cuba. Two days after his arrival there he died. Dr. Stites had another distinction. In 1870 he organized Newport Council, No. 107, Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and two years later was elected National Vice-Councilor, be- coming National Councilor the succeeding year, so far as is known, the only Perry Countian to become the national head of a beneficial order.


STROUP, F. NEFF. F. Neff Stroup was born near Blain, in 1884, the son of George M. and Mary Ellen (Martin) Stroup. He attended the public schools of Jackson Township and graduated from the Millersville State Normal School in 1908, and at Dickinson College in 1913. In 1918 he graduated from Columbia University with the M.A. degree. He taught four years in Jackson Township, was principal of the Strasburg (Pa.) High School for two years, and assistant in mathematics at the Millers- ville State Normal School one year. For three years he was supervising principal of the schools of Spencerport, N. Y., and then became super- intendent of schools at Palmyra, N. Y., where he served five years. He is now superintendent of public schools at Newark, N. Y.


SWEGER, DYSON. Dyson Sweger was born in Buckwheat Valley, September 21, 1882, the son of Aaron and Martha Anit (Campbell) Sweger. He received his early education in the public schools, in Prof. W. E. Baker's Summer School at Eshcol, and at the New Bloomfield Academy, graduating in 1904. He later attended the Lebanon Valley Col- lege while teaching in the Annville schools. After completing a term in the A. Grammar School, at Newport, in 1906, he went West and located at Los Angeles, where he was first connected with the Pacific Electric Company. In 1911 he entered the Department of Health, and in 1918, through competitive examination, was promoted to the position of Execu- tive Secretary of the Housing Commission-a Bureau of the Health De- partment. Mr. Sweger has charge of all housing and hotel and tenement maintenance in the City of Los Angeles.


SWEGER, R. L. Roy L. Sweger was born at New Bloomfield, Octo- ber 14, 1886, the son of Isaac and Annie (Briner) Sweger. He attended the public schools and later learned printing. He left Perry County in 1905 and worked as a printer in New Jersey, Connecticut, and at Philadelphia for about four years. In the fall of 1909 he returned to New Bloomfield and attended the academy until spring, when he went to Florida and located at Live Oak, as foreman of the Surance Democrat. After two years he was made manager of this publication. He held this position four years, and then became manager of the Gasden County Times of Quincy, Florida. In 1918 he bought this plant, and has since owned and edited the paper. When Cary A. Hardee became governor of Florida it was after his name had been first announced by Mr. Sweger, who has since been made a member of the governor's staff, with the rank of lieu- tenant colonel.


SYPHER, J. R. Author and War Correspondent. Josiah Rhinehart Sypher was born in Greenwood Township, in 1832, being a brother of Gen. J. Hale Sypher, whose biography appears earlier in these pages. The Sypher family came to America during the early part of the Eighteenth Century, settling in Chester County. Subsequently a branch of the family located in Pfoutz Valley, where these sons were born. Josiah Rhinehart Sypher attended the public schools and then entered Union College at Schenectady, New York, where he graduated in 1858. He read law with


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Thaddeus Stevens at Lancaster, and in 1862 was admitted to the Lancaster County bar. He had in the meantime been doing corresponding for city newspapers, and when the Sectional War came on he went to the front as war correspondent of the New York Tribune. After the war he opened up the first Philadelphia office for that paper, and later was made an asso- ciate editor for the same. After the war, in connection with his news- paper work, he wrote and compiled the "History of the Pennsylvania Re- serves" (1865) and a "School History of Pennsylvania" (1868). In con- nection with E. A. Apgar he also wrote and published a School History of New Jersey. He was also a temperance worker and writer. For many years thereafter, or until his death in 1902, he practiced law in Philadelphia, specializing along the lines of copyrights, trade-marks and patents.


TAYLOR, DR. S. BANKS. Dr. S. Banks Taylor, son of George D. and Frances Taylor, was born in Tuscarora Township, March 14. 1868. His parents moved to Millerstown, where he attended the public schools, later graduating at the Central State Normal School at Lock Haven (1889) and at Jefferson Medical College (1895). After graduating at Lock Haven he taught until 1892. Upon graduating in medicine he located at Reading, Pennsylvania, where he is practicing at this time.


TOLAND, DR. L. L. Dr. L. L. Toland was born near Iroquois ( Miller Township) in 1870. His people located in the West and he graduated at the Sterling High School, the Ada (Ohio) Normal School, and the West- ern Reserve Medical College, and Chicago Polyclinic Medical College. He has been a teacher, pharmacist, physician, and is now an obstetrical phy- sician. He also served one year as interne at St. Clair Hospital at Cleve- land.


TRESSLER, PROF. JOHN A. John Andrew Tressler was the oldest son of Col. John and Elizabeth (Loy) Tressler, and was born at Loys- ville. His early education was secured in the local schools. He graduated from Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg in 1848. He then became an in- structor in the State University at Columbus, Ohio, reading law simul- taneously. There he met and became a close friend of Stephen A. Doug- las, later a national figure. He died September 12, 1851, while connected with the university.


TRESSLER, REV. JOHN WILLIAM. Rev. John William Tressler, a son of Colonel John and Elizabeth (Loy) Tressler, was born at Loys- ville. Educated in local schools and at Pennsylvania College at Gettys- burg, where he graduated. He entered the Lutheran ministry, serving principally charges in western Pennsylvania. He became known as "the missionary preacher," being successful in building many churches. He died in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, in 1907. He was the father of two daughters and a son, Rev. Victor G. A. Tressler, D.D., who is to-day one of the leading figures in Lutheran circles in the United States.


Rev. Victor G, A. Tressler, after finishing his course at McCormick Seminary at Chicago, started a mission at San Jose, California, where, after a few years of hard work he built a church. His postgraduate work was at London, Paris and Berlin. After four years of study and travel Leipsic University conferred the Ph.D degree upon him. Returning to America he occupied prominent positions in several institutions, among which was Wittenberg Seminary, at Springfield, Ohio. In 1919, at the time of the consolidation of the Lutheran Churches of America, he was the president of General Synod of the Lutheran Church in America.


TRESSLER, DR. JOSIAH EZRA. Dr. Josiah Ezra Tressler, a son of Colonel John and Elizabeth (Loy) Tressler, was born at Loysville. He was educated in the local schools, and in 1866 graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, having previously attended Loysville


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Academy and Muhlenberg Institute. He practiced his profession for some years in Illinois and then removed to Peabody, Kansas, where he engaged in the banking and brokerage business. He lives retired at "Luther Lawn," Peabody, Kansas. He is the only living son of Colonel John Tressler.


TROSTLE, WM. P. William P. Trostle was born near New German- town, January 14, 1871, the son of Abraham M. and Susannah (Long) Trostle. He attended the public schools of Toboyne Township until 1889, and then taught in the same township until 1897. He took the normal course at Juniata College at Huntingdon, 1897-99, and the A.B. course 1899-1903. He later did postgraduate work in school administration. Dur- ing 1903 and 1904 he was principal of the Second Ward schools of Hunt- ingdon. During 1904-07 he was principal of the High School at Williams- burg, and 1907-18 he was the supervising principal of the Woodward Dis- trict schools of Clearfield County. In 1918 he was elected county super- intendent of the schools of Clearfield County, which position he has since filled. In college he was a noted debater.


TRUBY, REV. CHARLES. Rev. Charles Truby was born in Millers- town, November, 1867. After his completion of public school work he attended the New Bloomfield Academy and Princeton College, from which he graduated. He then entered McCormick Theological Seminary at Chi- cago, also graduating there. He served charges in Fowler, Winchester and Lafayette, Indiana, but is now located in New York City.


ULSH, DR. J. A. Dr. J. A. Ulsh was born in Greenwood Township, December 10, 1854, the son of George and Susannah (Cauffman) Ulsh. He attended the public schools and the Freeburg Academy (1870-71), and the Juniata Normal School at Millerstown (1872-73). He taught in the public schools of Greenwood and Liverpool Townships, and graduated in 1878 at the Medical College of Ohio, now the University of Cincinnati. He took postgraduate courses at Philadelphia Polyclinic and College of Graduates in Medicine, 1885 and 1893. He practiced medicine at Enders, Dauphin County, from 1878 to 1881, and at Elizabethville, 1881 to 1885, since which time he has been practicing in Lykens.


ULSH, RALPH. Ralph Ulsh was born near Millerstown, July 29, 1884. the son of James Morrow and Ada M. (Dimm) Ulsh. His people moving to Duncannon, he graduated from the high school there, from Franklin and Marshall Academy, and from Franklin and Marshall College (A.B.) in 1907. He was admitted to the bar in the State of New York in 1910, and practiced law at Elmira, New York, for about three years, and at Buffalo, New York, for about eight years.


VANCAMP, DR. J. E. Dr. Joshua Emanuel VanCamp was born at Bailey's, Miller Township, February 22, 1844, the son of William and Melvina (Hoffman) VanCamp. He attended the Loysville Academy in 1860, and went with Captain Tressler's company to serve in the Sectional War. Returning he attended Gettysburg College, 1865-66, and the Uni- versity of Michigan, 1866-68, graduating in medicine from the latter place. As a young man he had clerked in Dr. Singer's store at Newport. Upon his graduation in medicine he located at Markelville, where he practiced from 1869 to 1871. He located at Plainfield, Cumberland County, in 1872. He located at Carlisle in 1899, where he practiced until his death in 1904. He was a member of the commission to erect the Hartranft memorial, which stands at the west entrance to the Pennsylvania State Capitol, and made the presentation speech to the state.


VANCAMP, DR. DAVID W. Dr. David W. VanCamp was born at Markelville, Perry County, educated in the public schools of Cumberland County, graduated from Gettysburg College as salutatorian in 1894, and from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1898.


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During 1918-19 he was president of the Cumberland County Medical So- ciety, and is on the staff of the Carlisle Hospital.


WAGNER, REV. JAS. M. Rev. James M. Wagner was born in Ty- rone Township, March 1, 1842, the son of George and Mary (Stambaughi) Wagner. He attended the local schools and the New Bloomfield Academy, and later entered the ministry of the Church of God. He was later retired and resides at Penbrook, Pa.


WAGNER, JOHN C. John C. Wagner was born in Saville Township, March 10, 1872, the son of John W. and Sarah (Eby) Wagner. He at- tended the public schools, Millerstown High School, New Bloomfield Academy, and graduated from the Cumberland Valley State Normal School in 1892. Since that time he has done special work under various institutions. He taught in the townships of Miller and Howe, and was principal of the schools at Mt. Holly, 1892-97, and of Newport, 1897-1903. Since that time he has been superintendent of the schools of Carlisle, Pa. In 1905 Dickinson conferred the M.A. degree upon him. In 1917 he was elected treasurer of the Pennsylvania State Educational Association, in which position he still serves.


WAGNER, REV. SCOTT R. Rev. Scott R. Wagner was born in Sa- ville Township, August 16, 1874, the son of John W. and Sarah (Eby) Wagner. He attended the public schools, the New Bloomfield Academy, where he graduated in 1893, and Franklin and Marshall College, where he graduated in 1897. He then entered the Reformed Theological Semi- nary, and graduated in 1900. He served congregations in Allentown, Riegelsville, and Reading, Pa., and is now pastor of Zion Reformed Church at Hagerstown, Md. He received the degree of D.D. in 1918. He served as chaplain in the World War with the rank of first lieutenant, being sta- tioned at Camp Zachary Taylor, in Kentucky, and Camp Jackson, in South Carolina.


WAGNER, REV. S. T. Rev. Samuel T. Wagner was born in Spring Township, in 1846, the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Tressler) Wagner. He attended the public schools, and graduated from Mercersburg College, of which Dr. E. E. Higbee was then president, in 1874, and in the post- graduate course in theology in 1878. Between the two courses he was principal of an academy in Iowa, 1874-75. He had also taught two terms in Perry County prior to that. He served several pastoral charges in Penn- sylvania until 1905, and since then has had no regular appointment, being classed as retired. He has several times served as president of Classis, and one year as president of the Pittsburgh Synod. For fifteen years he was a member of the board of directors of St. Paul's Orphan Home, now located at Greenville, Pa. He resides at Alinda, Perry County.


WEIRICK, DR. CARL. Dr. E. Carl Weirick was born at Liverpool, March 5, 1876, the son of John C. and Ada C. (Patton) Weirick. He at- tended the Liverpool schools, graduating from the high school in 1889, and from the Harrisburg High School in 1893. In 1904 he graduated from the University of Michigan, and located at Harrisburg, Pa. In 1905 he was appointed as surgeon of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which position he still holds, being located at Harrisburg.


WEISE, REV. CHAS F. Rev. Charles F. Weise, son of Henry C. and Delila (Cook) Weise, was born at Milford, Juniata Township, December 2, 1867. He attended the public schools and the Bloomfield Academy. From 1883 to 1800 he was a telegraph operator in the employ of the P. R. R. During 1891-92 he was connected with the P. & R. in a similar capacity. He then entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been a member of the Central Pennsylvania Conference for twenty-five years. During 1912 he organized the First National Bank of Three Springs,


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Pennsylvania, of which he was president for three years. In 1919 he or- ganized the First National Bank of Port Royal, Pennsylvania, of which he is a director. He has been pastor of the Port Royal M. E. Church since April, 1917.


WEST, REV. WM. A. Rev. William A. West was the son of William and Susan (Loy) West, his grandfather having been Edward West, the pioneer who settled near Falling Springs, about four miles east of Lan- disburg. Rev. West was born at Landisburg, February 25, 1825. That spring the family removed to Warm Springs, Perry County, where they resided for ten years, then living a year in Landisburg. In 1836 they re- moved to New Bloomfield, where the future theologian attended the public schools. A year later, when the Bloomfield Academy opened its first term, he was one of the students, and there he prepared for college, teaching in the meantime, when yet not seventeen. He united with the Bloomfield Presbyterian Church in 1843. In 1844 he entered Marshall College, at Mercersburg, but lost a year by becoming organizer and first teacher in the Reformed Parochial School at Middletown, Maryland, and six months as a private tutor, to replenish his funds for his education. He graduated in 1849. He then entered the Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny, Pa. While at the seminary he taught latin and mathematics two hours daily at Caton Academy, in Pittsburgh, and during one vacation at the Plainfield Academy, near Carlisle. On April 14, 1852, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Carlisle, to preach the gospel. During the following winter he filled the Upper Path Valley pastorate for Rev. Wm. A. Graham, who was ill. When Rev. Graham resigned, he became the pastor, being installed in 1853. He remained there until 1873, when he went to Harris- burg to engage in mission work, under the joint care of the Market Square and Pine Street churches. During September of that year Rev. West organ- ized Westminster Presbyterian Church, in the small, dingy lodge room over the Broad Street market house. The next year a small chapel was erected at Reily and Green Streets, and there he remained until 1890. Then, owing to throat trouble he had to leave a river atmosphere, and located at Carlisle, filling the pulpit of the Second Presbyterian Church for over a year, while the pastor was in Europe. He then returned to Path Valley, feeling that his ministry was at an end. However, he filled pulpits as stated supply, served a year at the Biddle Memorial Mission, in Carlisle. He was pastor of the Robert Kennedy Memorial Church at Welsh Run for five years. There, on February 6, 1898, Mrs. West passed away, and Rev. West then left there to become president of Metzgar College, at Carlisle. In 1900 he was called to the McConnellsburg and Green Hill churches, where he was pastor until his retirement, about 1905. He died in 1908. He was stated clerk of Carlisle Presbytery for many years.


WHITE, JAMES W. James W. White was born near Shermansdale, June 9, 1886, the son of James A. and Jennie S. (Smiley) White. He at- tended Lackey's school and later the New Bloomfield Academy. He took teachers' training instruction during two summers at Landisburg select school, teaching during the winter. He graduated from the Cumberland Valley State Normal School in 1910, and took postgraduate work at Co- lumbia University in 1916, and at the Maryland University in 1919. He was principal of the Cold Spring Harbor (N. Y.) public schools for three years, and of the Darnestown (Md.) High School, seven years.


WHITE, THOS. J. Thomas J. White was born in Perry County, May · 17, 1827. His parents early moved to Ohio, settling in Crawford County. He was elected to the General Assembly of Ohio.


WICKEY, H. J. H. J. Wickey, son of Rev. Lewis A. and Lydia A. (Wagner) Wickey, was born at Mont Alto, Pa., November 1, 1870, but


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was taken to Perry County when about six years old, and spent all of his early life there. He attended the village school at Eschol under Professor William E. Baker. In 1889 he taught his first term of school in Saville Township, teaching three years in Perry County. In 1893 he graduated from the Cumberland Valley State Normal School, and was elected prin- cipal of schools of Orbisonia, Huntingdon County, where he remained until 1896. He was then elected principal of the high school at Middle- town. In 1899 he was advanced to the superintendency of the schools at Middletown, Pa., which position he is still filling.


WICKEY, J. GOULD. Rev. J. Gould Wickey, son of W. O. and Jennie A. (Hartman) Wickey, was born at Eshcol, where he attended Prof. W. A. Baker's school. His parents moved to Littlestown, Pa. He graduated from the Littlestown schools in 1907, Gettysburg College (1911), and the Theological Seminary there (1915), after which he entered Harvard and war awarded the D.D. degree in 1921. He won a year's scholarship at the University of Oxford, England. He returned to America, in 1920, and is now professor of philosophy at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., of which he is dean and where he teaches religious philosophy.


WOODS, REV. ROBERT W. Rev. Robert W. Woods was born at Blain, May 30, 1873, the son of William Wharton and Catherine Jane (Loy) Woods. William Wharton Woods was the descendant of General Anthony Wayne. Rev. Woods attended the public schools at Blain, and at an early age joined the Zion Lutheran Church. He attended the Blain schools, Gettysburg Academy, and graduated from the Pennsylvania Col- lege at Gettysburg in 1898. In 1901 he graduated from the seminary there. During the summer prior to his graduation he had worked up a charter membership for the organization of a new Lutheran church at Pittsburgh, to be known as the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. On his graduation he was called as its first pastor, and is still connected with this church, although twenty years has elapsed, and he has received calls from else- where. He has taken into this church over 1,500 adults, and has had an average annual increase in salary of $100. He has served as the president of the Homewood Christian Committee for social betterment, and as sec- retary, treasurer, and president of the Lutheran Ministerial Association of Pittsburgh at different times. For eight years he was president of the Perry County Association of Pittsburgh. He is a member of the Com- mittee on Jewish Mission Work of the United Lutheran Church, and has served as president of Pittsburgh Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.


WRIGHT, DR. W. J. Dr. Winfred J. Wright was born in Millerstown, November 8, 1876, the son of Silas and Fannie E. (Calhoun) Wright. When about five years old, his parents removed to Greenwood Township, where he received his early education. During 1895-96 he taught in Pfoutz Valley, and from 1896 to 1898 attended the Mifflin Academy, where he graduated. In 1902 he graduated from the Medico-Chi. College at Phila- delphia, and began the practice of medicine at Ickesburg. In March, 1903, he located at Duncannon, succeeding Dr. Robert T. Barnett. He remained here until August, 1909, when for less than a year he was located at Swarthmore, Delaware County. He then purchased the home and prac- tice of a physician at Skippack, Montgomery County, where he has prac- ticed successfully since. He was president of the Montgomery County Medical Society during 1918, and while in Perry County was president of the Perry County Medical Society.


ZEIGLER, REV. GEO. C. Rev. Geo. C. Zeigler was born in Howe Township, January 16, 1867, the son of Jacob A. and Hannah M. (Lahr) Zeigler. He began attending school there, but when eleven years old his parents removed to Mifflintown, where he finished his common school


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