History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 85

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1372

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He was an independent thinker who could not be confined to the well worn paths of those who preceded him. He de- rived theological views from contemporary German theologians which were looked upon with suspicion by the orthodox of his time. He accordingly did not escape charges of heresy. He believed in a pro- gressive theology. He writes in an edi- torial that "he feels no sort of obligation to maintain the theological system of his own church any further than he conscientiously believes that it is contained in the Holy Scriptures." The type of his mind is shown in a letter to the Rev. Mr. Reily, March 16, 1836, in which he says: "I have been brought in times of trials to doubt everything and to look upon our destination as a thing wrapped up in impenetrable and be found in the medical chapter in this

FREDERICK VALENTINE MELS- HEIMER, known to the history of science as the "Father of American Entomology," was born in Brunswick, Germany, and came to this country during the Revolution as chaplain to the Brunswick Dragoons. He left the military service in 1777 and went to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The following year he was licensed as a clergyman in the Lutheran church, and assigned to a charge in Lancaster County. In 1787, he became one of the founders of Franklin College, of which he was the first instructor in German. From 1790 until the time of his death in 1814, he was pastor of St. Matthew's Church at Hanover. He spent much of his time during the last twenty-five years of his life in the study of entomology, and in 1806, published at Hanover "The Insects of Penn- sylvania," the first work of its kind that ap- peared from the press in America, of which only seven copies are now known to be in existence. He was the author of several religious works that were published in the German language, and printed at Hanover, Pennsylvania, and Frederick, Maryland. An account of his collection of insects will

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

work, in the biography of his son, Dr. Ernst Frederick Melsheimer, who sold it to the great scientist, Agassiz, for the museum at Harvard University, where it has since been kept.

on a part of what is now the famous battle- field of Gettysburg. His residence at York was used by the Board of Treasury while Congress sat in York.

JOHN GOTLIEB MORRIS, clergy- man, was born in York, Pennsylvania, No- vember 14, 1803. He was graduated at Dickinson College in 1823, studied theology at Princeton in 1823-6, and at Gettysburg Seminary in 1827, being a member of the first class in the latter institution, and was licensed to preach in 1827. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1839, and that of Doctor of Laws in 1873, both from

ARCHIBALD McCLEAN was of Scotch origin. In the year 1715 a portion of the clan of McClean (or McLean) who were supporters of the Stuarts, sought a home near Glenairm, in the county of Antrim, Ire- land, and with others soon afterward immi- grated to southern Pennsylvania. Among them was Archibald McClean, who in 1738 located in the Marsh Creek district of York County, near what is now Gettysburg. He Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg. Dr. Morris was the founder of Trinity English Lutheran Church, Baltimore, Maryland; librarian of Peabody Institute, Baltimore, in 1860-5: pastor of the Third English Luth- eran Church, Baltimore, in 1864-73; and pastor at Lutherville, Md. He lectured on natural history in Pennsylvania College for nearly half a century; lectured in Smithso- nian Institution, Washington, D. C. He was secretary of the general synod in 1839, and president of the same body in 1843 and 1883, and president of the first Lutheran Church diet in Philadelphia in 1877. He was trustee of Pennsylvania College, and director of the Theological Seminary for many years. With his brother he founded Lutherville Seminary for ladies. In science he devoted himself specially to entomology and microscopy. He was elected to mem- bership in many scientific societies in this country and abroad, and was chairman of the entomological section of the American association for the advancement of science. He was president of the Maryland Bible Society and the Maryland Historical So- ciety. In 1846 he traveled in Europe ex- tensively and the same year aided in estab- lishing the Evangelical alliance at London. He founded the Lutheran Observer in 1831, and was its editor until 1833. He has writ- ten many addresses, review and magazine articles, scientific papers, and translated many works from the German into English. He died October 10, 1895.

soon became a prominent surveyor in the Province of Pennsylvania, assisted in estab- lishing the "Middle Point" between Cape Henlopen and the Chesapeake, and in lo- cating the great "tangent line" through the peninsula and in tracing the well known "arc of the circle" around New Castle, Delaware. This was during the years 1762 and 1763. As a surveyor he was chief associate of the celebrated mathe- maticians, Mason and Dixon. In running the famous line which bears their names, four of his brothers were also employed in assisting to establish the line to the top of the eastern range of the Alleghany Mountains. On June 8, 1767, Mason and Dixon and Archibald McClean began to continue the survey from the top of the mountain accom- panied by a delegation of friendly Indians as an escort, against the savages. On the 14th of June they reached the top of the "Great Alleghany," where fourteen more friendly Indians joined them as interpreters. At this time there were thirty assistant survey- ors, fifteen axmen, and a number of Indians. They continued westward 240 miles from Delaware to "Dunker Creek," as marked on their map. This was thirty-six miles east of the western limit of the present Mason and Dixon line. The balance was run in 1782 and 1784. Archibald McClean in 1776 was chosen a member of the General As- sembly of Pennsylvania. He was an ardent patriot and in 1777 became chairman of the Committee of Observation and Safety for MATTHEW STANLEY QUAY, Uni- ted States Senator, was born in the York County, during the Revolution. He served as prothonotary and register and re- Presbyterian parsonage of Dillsburg, York corder of York County from 1777-1786. At County. Pennsylvania, September 30, 1833. his death his remains were buried in the He was the son of Rev. Anderson Quay, for historic old Marsh Creek burying ground, nine years pastor of the Monaghan Presby-

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Matthew J. Dway

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terian Church, and a lineal descendant from one of the earliest Scotch-Irish families who settled in Chester County. When he was six years old, his parents moved to the town of Beaver, Pennsylvania, where his father was pastor of a Presbyterian Church for several years. After obtaining a good preparatory education, he entered Jefferson College. While in this institution, he ex- celled in the study of ancient and modern classics and was graduated in 1850, at the age of seventeen years. He studied law at Beaver and was admitted to the bar in 1854. Two years later, he was elected prothono- tary for Beaver County and was re-elected in 1859. At the opening of the Civil War, he enlisted as a lieutenant in the Tenth Pennsylvania Reserves. In 1862, when the president called for men to serve for nine months, Lieutenant Quay was promoted to the rank of colonel and commanded the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, which served in the Army of the Potomac. In the battle of Fredericksburg during the winter of 1862, he led his regi- ment in the attack upon Mary's Heights, displaying unusual courage and daring. After his retirement from the army, Colonel Quay was made military state agent at Washington, and later served as private secretary to Governor Curtin, of Pennsyl- vania, which position he filled until 1865. During the Confederate invasion of Penn- sylvania in 1863, he was chief of transpor- tation and telegraphs, when the govern- ment took charge of the railroad and tele- graph lines in Pennsylvania.

United States Senator by almost a unani- mons vote from the State Legislature. Im- mediately after entering the Senate he be- came one of the strongest advocates of pro- tective tariff in that legislative body and was successful in securing the passage of measures of special interest and value to the great manufacturing state of Pennsylvania. Senator Quay served as a member of the Republican National Committee and during the presidential campaign of 1888 was chairman of that organization with head- quarters in New York City. It was while serving in this position that he displayed remarkable ability in organizing the forces of the Republican party. The presidential campaign that year was one of the most stubborn contests in American history. It has generally been claimed that it was through the ability of the chairman of the Republican National Committee that se- cured the election of Benjamin Harison as president of the United States. In 1893, he was re-elected to the United States Senate and served until 1899. In January of that year he was defeated for re-election by a deadlock in the State Legislature which lasted for several months. Immedi- ately after the adjournment of the legis- lature he was appointed United States Senator by Governor Stone, of Pennsyl- vania. The question of the legality of the appointment was contested before the United States Senate and called forth a de- bate in which the ablest men of that body participated. When the question came before the Senate for final decision, his ap- pointment was not recognized by a majority of one vote against him. Owing to his popularity with the Democratic senators, a number of them voted in his favor. For a period of nearly two years, Pennsylvania had only one United States Senator. On

After the close of the war, he returned to Beaver County, which he represented in the legislature from 1865 to 1867. His ability was soon recognized and he became a leader in the House of Representatives. From 1873 to 1878, he was Secretary of the Com- monwealth: recorder of the city of Phila- the day of his rejection by the Senate, he was nominated to succeed himself by the Republican State Convention of Pennsyl- vania and re-elected United States Senator, January 15, 1901, and took his seat two days later. delphia and chairman of the Republican State Committee, 1878-1879; Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1879-1882; delegate at large to Republican National Convention of 1872-1876 and 1880; elected state treas- urer in 1885. Colonel Quay at this period Senator Quay was never distinguished for his ability as a public speaker, but he was well versed on questions of the day, was strong in argument and exerted an influence in the United States Senate excelled by very in his life became a leader in the public af- fairs of Pennsylvania. He was a man of brilliant intellect and commanding presence and one of the most resourceful men in American politics. In 1887, he was elected few men of his day. He will always be

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

ranked as one of the greatest political this body gave him a reputation which, with his fame as an orator and lawyer, secured his election to the United States Senate, in April, 1794, for the unexpired term, ending March 3. 1797, of Albert Gallatin, the leaders in American history. At his home at Beaver, Pennsylvania, he owned a large private library and was familiar with the contents of nearly every volume it con- tained. He owned a large mansion in the great financier, who had been thrown city of Washington, a private residence in ont because he had not been for nine Florida and one in Lancaster County. He years a citizen, as required by the con- died at his home in Beaver, after a long ill- stitution. ness, 1904.

JAMES ROSS, orator and statesman, for nine years United States Senator from Pennsylvania, was born in Peach Bottom Township, July 12, 1762. He was the son of George Ross, one of the early Scotch- Irish settlers in the lower end of York County, and the stone dwelling house in which the future United States Senator was born, stands a few hundred yards north of the borough of Delta. In his boyhood, James Ross attended a classical school con- nected with Slate Ridge Presbyterian Church, of which his parents were members. During his early manhood, there was a mi- gration from the southern part of York County to western Pennsylvania, where a large number of Scotch-Irish people had taken up lands. At the age of seventeen, James Ross, in company with friends, moved to Washington County, where he be- came a student in the famous classical school at Canonsburg, under the direction of Rev. John McMillan, who became the founder of Washington and Jefferson Col- lege. After a successful experience as a student, he was appointed a teacher in Latin, and continued in that work until 1782, when he entered upon the study of law at Philadelphia, where he was admitted to the bar in 1784. He then returned to west- ern Pennsylvania and settled in Washington County, where he began his professional career. He soon won distinction as a lawyer, conducted an extensive practice throughout all the counties of western Pennsylvania, and his reputation extended beyond the limits of his native state. In 1795, he removed to Pittsburg, then a small village, and during the next fifty years he was widely known as the ablest counsellor and advocate in western Penn- sylvania.

In 1797 he was again elected to succeed himself. To Senator Ross un- doubtedly belongs the chief credit of the peaceful ending of the Whiskey Insurrec- tion. On July 17, 1794, General Neville, the chief excise officer, was attacked, and his house and other property were destroyed. At a tumultuous meeting of the people at Washington, Pennsylvania, a rally of armed men was called, to be held on August I, at Braddock's Field. Ross, in a powerful speech, alone opposed the will of an excited populace. He was told that he had that day destroyed all chances of future political pre- ferment, but, nothing daunted, he attended the Braddock's Field meeting and also that of the delegates from western Pennsylvania and Virginia, at Parkinson's Ferry. By his personal appeals and arguments a party was formed, which, if not very numerous, in- cluded many citizens of note, several of whom had been active on the other side. While he was at Parkinson's Ferry a mes- senger from the capital brought Senator Ross the information that he had been ap- pointed by Washington the chief of a com- mission to quell the insurrection. Senator Ross more than prepared the way for his colleagues, and the insurrection was virtu- ally at an end before they joined him. Sen- ator Ross had been for several years inti- mate with General Washington, being con- sulted as counsel, and now, at the Presi- dent's request, became his attorney in fact for the sole management of his large estates in western Pennsylvania. While still in the senate, he was nominated, in 1799, by the Federalist party for the office of governor of the state. The nomination was esteemed to be equivalent to an election, but Senator Ross refused to canvass the state in his own behalf and was defeated. At the next elec- tion Ross was again nominated and was again unsuccessful. The same disposition to defend the right, regardless of personal consequences, that had induced him, as a

In 1789 he was elected a member of the convention to frame a new constitution for the state. The ability that he displayed in boy at Dr. McMillan's school, to volunteer

JAMES ROSS

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against marauding Indians, that had sepa- 'burg a possibility, was due to Senator James rated him from friends and neighbors dur- Ross. ing the Whiskey Insurrection, that in the He acquired a large amount of property in the city of Pittsburg. Ross Street, in that city, and Ross Township, in Allegheny County, are named in his honor. He died at Pittsburg, November 27, 1847. senate had urged war against Spain to pro- tect the mouths of the Mississippi for the use of the west, induced him to befriend the cause of a party of friendless negro slaves who had escaped from their masters and REV. LUCAS RAUS, son of Lucas and Justina Raus, was born in May, 1723. His native city was Hermanstadt, the capital of Transylvania, which formerly was an- nexed to Hungary, but now belongs to Austria. The family to which he belonged had produced many eminent divines in Hungary, and among them were his own father, and his maternal grandfather. found refuge in Philadelphia. Impassioned oratory gained the case. The "Port Folio," published in Philadelphia in 1816, says that Senator Ross received the thanks of the Abolition society ; but the generous act di- minished his popularity. In 1808, for the third time, he was nominated for governor, and was again unsuccessful. With this election the power of the Federalists in Lucas Raus spent the first twenty years Pennsylvania was broken, and with it the of his life in the city of his birth. There he pursued his studies under the direction

political life of James Ross came to an end. He declined to connect himself with the of his father, preparing himself for the pul- other parties ; only as a Federalist would he hold public office. pit. Hermanstadt being mostly a Catholic city, Lucas was induced to visit the insti- James Ross is sometimes mentioned as the most eloquent orator in the United States Senate before the days of Daniel Webster. All through his career he was an ardent Federalist, but if any measure, ad- vanced by the opposing party, was neces- sary to promote the public good and the general welfare of the nation, he would sup- port it with uncompromising fidelity. In 1802, he made a speech in the United States Senate which induced President Jefferson to send James Monroe a special envoy to France in order that citizens of the western states might have free entrance to the Mis- sissippi River. If this right were not ob- tainable Senator Ross advocated a declara- tion of war against Spain, the original owner of the region west of the Mississippi. Meantime, this territory was transferred to France from whom Robert R. Livingston, of New York, then minister to France, and James Monroe, special envoy, in 1803, ne- gotiated the purchase of the entire territory of Louisiana, a large region of country west of the Mississippi, for the sum of $15,000,- 000. In 1817, James Ross presided at a meeting in honor of James Monroe, then a guest of the city of Pittsburg. While ad- dressing a large audience, President Monroe tutions of other places, in order to complete his studies. Accordingly he left the pa- ternal mansion in 1743, and proceeded to Presburg, the capital of Hungary. At this place he continued four years in the prose- cution of his studies, when in May, 1747, he removed to Leipsic, in upper Saxony. In the year 1749 he removed from Leipsic to Yena, the place which, on the 14th of October, 1806, witnessed the triumph of the French over the Prussian army. At Yena he resided only a few months, for he had now completed his studies, and was, by traveling, adding the polish of the polite world to the erudition of the scholar. His intention was now to visit Holland and then to return directly to the residence of his father. He. proceeded to Amsterdam, where at the time there was a general spirit of migration to America. Much that was inviting was said of this part of the world, and emigrants from various parts were sail- ing weekly from that city. Lucas Raus caught some of the feeling which then pre- vailed; and as a good opportunity offered itself, he determined to cross the Atlantic, spend a few months in this country, which was represented as the land of promise, and then, returning to Europe, commence the made the statement that the credit of the labors of his holy calling. Accordingly in purchase of Louisiana and the free naviga- the year 1750, he'sailed from Amsterdam, and arrived at Philadelphia. tion of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, which made the future greatness of Pitts- In a few years after his arrival in that

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

city, he changed his views as to his future that body until 1831, when he was suc- residence; for although youthful affection ceeded by Henry Clay. At the expiration still bound him to Hermanstadt, which he of his term, Senator Rowan returned to the had not visited since he first left it in 1743, practice of his profession at Louisville, yet he determined to spend the remainder of his days in this country.

Soon after he decided to remain he com- menced his ministerial labors. Being in- vited to settle in Germantown he accepted the invitation, and preached in that place and its vicinity for three or four years, when he removed to York. He was mar- ried at Germantown, in 1753, to Sophia, daughter of George Gemling.

At York, Lucas Raus continued to reside until the time of his death, as the minister of the German Lutheran congregation in this place. In connection with the church at York, he presided over the spiritual con- cerns and occasionally preached to four or five congregations in the vicinity of the town. He died July 1I, 1788, in the sixty- fifth year of his age.

He was eminent as a scholar. Having devoted nearly all the first thirty years of his life to undisturbed and undivided study, he was not only a profound theologian but an accomplished scholar in the polite branches. Among the languages with which he was familiar were the German, the English, French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He was the father of twelve children, four of whom survived him, viz .: Margaret, Elizabeth, Catherine and John.

JOHN ROWAN, United States Senator from Kentucky, was born in Hopewell Township, near the Maryland line, in 1773. His father was one of the earliest Scotch immigrants to York County from the north of Ireland. He moved with his parents to Kentucky in his boyhood and obtained his education at Louisville. He became a member of the Kentucky Bar and practiced THADDEUS STEVENS, known as the "American Commoner," was a teacher in the York County Academy and a student at law in York. He was born in Danville, Vermont, April 4, 1792. His father was a shoemaker, who died of a bayonet wound in the attack on Oswego, while bravely de- fending his country during the war of 1812. His mother, whom he never wearied prais- ing, was a woman of strong natural sense and unconquerable resolution. In his his profession with success. In 1804, he was chosen Secretary of State for Ken- tucky, and elected a representative to the Tenth Congress, serving from January. 1809, to March, 1809. He was elected judge of the Court of Appeals in 1819. At this time in his career, Judge Rowan had risen to national prominence in public affairs. He had acquired a liberal educa- tion and was widely known as an orator. In 1825, he was elected by the Whig party youth, Thaddeus Stevens was one of the to the United States Senate, and served in

where he gained eminence as a lawyer. He continued to take an interest in public affairs and from 1848 to 1850, served as minister to Italy, being appointed to that high position by President Zachary Taylor. After returning from Europe, he spent the remainder of his life at his Kentucky home, and died July 13, 1853, at the advanced age of eighty years.

JAMES STEEL was born in Philadel- phia, about 1774. His father, James Steel, emigrated to Pennsylvania from Scotland prior to the Revolution, and with his brother, Thomas, settled at Philadelphia. Being a zealous patriot and possessed of ample means, he contributed largely to the struggling government; and when Philadel- phia fell into the hands of the British he removed to Harford County, Maryland, and purchased a tract of land. About the same time, Thomas obtained a warrant for the land later owned by McSparren, north of Slate Ridge, in York County. James Steel represented Harford County twice in the legislature of Maryland, and was one of three commissioners appointed to revise the state constitution. He was a man of liberal education and for many years was noted as an accomplished land surveyor in the lower end of York County; was em- ployed to locate and survey the lines of Peach Bottom Township, when it was erected from Fawn. He visited Kentucky in 1815, or thereabouts, and purchased 31,000 acres of land in the Green River Val- ley, 28,000 of which he sold soon after to a man named Morrison. He died in 1849, at the age of seventy-five years.

most diligent readers ever known in

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America, and at the age of fifteen he began ber of years, his familiar form was seen in to found a library in his native town.

He the court houses of York. Adams and graduated at Dartmouth College in .1815, Franklin Counties, always being employed in the most intricate cases. Subsequently as a lawyer, member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, a distinguished member of the Lancaster Bar, and the great American statesman and debater, his name and fame are familiar to every intelligent American citizen. He died at Lancaster in 1868.

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History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 85

Author: Prowell, George R. Publication date: 1907 Publisher: J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1372

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1372