History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 33

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1390

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WILLIAM GAMBLE, who passed his closing years in York, left a name which will not soon be forgotten in China and Japan, in which countries he contributed so largely to the diffusion of western ideas. By "his two main inventions-the making of matrices of Chinese type by the electrotype process, and the Chinese * type case, as now generally in use, * he did a work that has hardly been equalled in the annals of missions or in the history of the development of the art of printing."

Mr. Gamble inherited the strength, persever- ance, ingenuity and practical business instincts of a race of Scotch-Irish ancestors. Through both parents he was descended from families which numbered many men of ability. His grandfather, the Rev. William Gamble, of Greenhill, Letterkenny, County Donegal. was one of the first covenanting ministers in the North of Ireland. He is described by the late J. B. Marcus, of Ballymoney, in his Synopsis of Church History, as "A dignified Christian gentleman, and eminent theologian." The Rev.

*"Rex Christus, an Outline Study of China," by Arthur Smith.

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Samuel Ferguson, in a recent sketch of his life, Roman Catholic family of Drogheda. She was says the following: "The family from which a woman of very high spirit, and is said to have killed the last wolf seen in that part of Ireland, by thrusting her hand wrapped in an apron down its throat. She also rescued her hus- band's cattle from a foraging party of King James, during the siege of Derry. Their son Francis married Rebecca Anderson, also a lady. of much strength of character. William Gamble sprang was one of the many families that fled from Scotland during the period of the persecution. Consequently they were of far different fiber from most of those 'planted' by James I, in Ulster. Originally their home was Saltcoats, Scotland, and as some of their ancestors bore arms in the siege of Derry, they must have been settled prior to 1688."1

The Rev. William Gamble, of Greenhill, was married to a lady of noble birth by the name of Errol. Their son, William, father of the William of whom we write, married Anne Dill, a daughter of John Dill, of Oak Bank, Ramelton, and his wife Anne (Scott) Dill. They had five children: William, whose work was in China; John Scott, who died at sea; Reverend Robert, of Woodbine, York county, Pa .; Alexander, of Sydney, Australia; and Anne Martha, late of Ramelton, County Done- gal, Ireland, a former missionary to Japan.

On the maternal side, Mr. Gamble was a scion of the Dill family, celebrated in Ulster for the many eminent Presbyterian divines of that name.2 Mr. Gamble was a descendant of David Dill,3 who before the siege of Derry resided in Fannet, near Magheradrummen Lake, where the wallstead of his house was recently to be seen. He married Catherine Sheridan, of a

Their sons, Marcus and John Dill, of Springfield, married sisters, Mary and Susan McClure, of a family "who lived near Convoy, and who have been distinguished in the per- sons of Sir Robert McClure, the Arctic ex- plorer, and of Admiral McClure, of the United States Navy."1 These two couples lived to- gether in the old manor house of Springfield, the walls of which were six feet thick and "so grouted that it was next to impossible to pen- etrate them."? All of the twelve Presbyterian divines so well known in Ireland were either the sons or the grandsons of these two "patri- archs of Springfield," as they were called.3 The most distinguished of these clergymen were three of the grandsons of John Dill of Spring- field, and were as follows: Rev. Richard Dill, of Dublin, who helped to found Magee Col- lege, Londonderry ; Rev. Edward Marcus Dill, M. D., of Clonkilty, the author of able con- troversial works against the Church of Rome; and the Rev. Samuel Marcus Dill, D. D., pro- fessor of Theology at Magee College.4

John Dill, of Oak Bank, the grandfather

I. "Brief Biographical Sketches of Some Irish Cove- nanting Ministers," by the Rev. Samuel Ferguson.

Mr. Thomas Gamble, Jr., of Savannah, Ga., in a recent book of genealogy says the following: "The family name of Gamble had its origin in the old Dan- ish-Saxon name of Gamel or Gamyl, of Northern Eng- land. The Gamels held considerable land in North- umbria, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, in the eleventh century, and are found opposing the conquest of Will- iam the Conqueror, being dispossessed by him of their holdings."

2. The Rev. W. T. Latimer, in his "Twelve Dills," says the following: "Almost every member of this family was celebrated for his reasoning powers. * * * The Dills were logicians, metaphysicians and theolog- ians. No doubt some of them, like the Rev. Edward Marcus Dill, were exceedingly eloquent, but it was by their quick perceptions and acute logical powers, more than by their eloquence, that they excelled most of the other ministers of the Synod of Ulster."

3. According to Mr. Latimer a John Dill was set- tled in Fannet between Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle, as early as 1665. The family, however, is of Dutch origin. Mr. Latimer in his "Twelve Dills" gives his reasons for believing the Dills to be descendants of one John Van Dale, of Brabant, who received a grant of denization in Fannet in 1605.

I. "The Twelve Dills," by Rev. W. T. Latimer.

2. "Autobiography of a Country Parson," by James Reid Dill, M. A.

3. Many of the sons and grandsons of the brothers of Springfield entered the medical profession. Dr. John Dill of Brighton, formerly surgeon of the East India Company, was a son of Marcus Dill of Spring- field. Marcus Dill had also a grandson, Richard, who settled at Brighton as a medical practitioner, and mar- ried Miss Wale, daughter of Gen. Wale and niece of Archbishop Whately. Dr. Marcus Dill, of Ballykelly, and formerly surgeon in the Royal Navy, was a son of John Dill, of Springfield; and Dr. Francis Dill, the first Colonial Surgeon at Hong Kong, China, was a grandson of John Dill, of Springfield. This is signi- ficant in view of the fact that for a long time Mr. Gam- ble's inclinations wavered between medicine and the ministry. He finally took up the study of medicine, but not until his work in China was finished.

4. Samuel Marcus Dill, while on a mission to Amer- ica in 1859, received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Princeton College. The following year he was made moderator of the General Assembly of Ireland.

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of William Gamble, was also a son of John Dill, the Bible House, with which he was connected of Springfield, and his wife, Susan McClure. until called to the work to which he practically devoted his life. Most of his leisure he spent in study, his ambition at this time being to ob- tain a college training. He even contemplated entering the ministry ; and being unable for the lack of money to buy the books he needed, he copied out the whole of "Hodge's Systematic Theology" by hand. He has been described as "one of the cleverest of the name, full of wit and humor."1 He was married to Anne Scott, daughter of Alexander Scott, of Rosreagh (later called Oak Bank), and Anne (Park) Scott.2 Their daughter, Anne Dill, became the wife of William Gamble (secundus), and the mother of William Gam- ble, of York.

William Gamble, the eldest of five chil- dren, was born in Ramelton, County Donegal, in 1830. His mother dying when he was nine years old, he and his brothers and sisters were taken to the Oak Bank, the home of his grand- parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Dill. This little old stone house was built by Alexander Scott from some of the stones still remaining from the ancient castle of Ramelton, long since dis- appeared. The Rev. James Reid Dill thus de- scribes the place in his "Autobiography of a Country Parson" : "We were invited to spend a summer in Uncle John's Oak Bank, Ramelton. The Oak Bank was one of the most delightful spots, commanding a view of Lough Swilly on the east, with a forest of grand old oaks on the west, and the beautiful River Lanyan flowing in front." The house is still standing on the lough, though much changed. But half a doz- ven of the oaks are still left.

It was in this beautiful spot that Mr. Gam- ble spent his boyhood. He was carefully edu- cated in the Classical School of Ramelton, where he developed a particular proficiency in mathematics. Financial reverses, however, coming at the age of nineteen, he and his broth- ers were forced to emigrate to America. He first attempted to settle in New York, but not finding congenial employment there he went to Philadelphia, where he was taken into the large bookbinding firm of Altemus & Co., to learn the business of gilding and stamping book covers. Having thoroughly mastered this business, he returned to New York, to accept a position in

When the position in which he afterward so distinguished himself was offered him, he was extremely reluctant to accept. It was so en- tirely different from the plans he had made for himself, and he was so modest in regard to his own powers, that it took much persuasion on the part of his friends to make him see his fit- ness for so responsible a task. Of this work we can give no better idea than that contained in the memorial sketch by his friend and co- worker, the Rev. John Wherry, which was read at Mr. Gamble's funeral, and printed in the York Daily of May 22, 1886. We quote all but the opening lines, the substance of which is given above :

"At this time a competent layman was wanted to take charge of the infant press that the Presbyterian mission had established at Ningpo. Mr. Gamble's intelligence, education, energy, practical business capacity, robust health, all crowned with strong Christian prin- ciples, marked him as the man for the place, and he was unanimously chosen by the board, and after some months' study of electrotyping, at that time a new art, was sent out about the year 1858. On his arrival at Ningpo, it became his ambition to make the small and compara- tively inefficient establishment he found there the most potent factor possible in the enlight- enment and evangelization of China. To do this it soon became necessary to remove it to Shang- hai, which, after its opening as a port, began to absorb the trade of Ningpo and other ports, and to become, as it now is, the great commer- cial metropolis of Eastern Asia. Here it re- mains, and here it flourishes to-day. With com- modious buildings and ample appliances it soon became the leading publishing house of the East; and, were this all he had accomplished, his career would have been called a success. But this was only the preliminary condition of his real work. To explain clearly in the brief space allotted to me to an audience unfamiliar with the Chinese language what this was is

"The Autobiography of a Country Parson," by I. James Reid Dill, M. A.

2. Anne Park (wife of Alexander Scott, of Ros- reagh) was the daughter of Nathan Park and Anne Wood, a niece and ward of the Earl of Belmont. This family intermarried with the Shaftsbury and Enniskil- len families. The Parks were an important county family in the North of Ireland at that time, holding large possessions in County Donegal.

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difficult; but I hope at least to give an in- telligible idea of it. It must be remembered that Chinese writing is not alphabetic but ideo- graphic, that words cannot be compounded of letters, and that, in printing, each word must have its own individual, solid, metallic type. Thus instead of twenty-six capitals, twenty-six Roman letters, ten numerals and the few punc- tuation marks and other signs which make up an English font, and which will suffice to print all the words in the dictionary, the ten thou- sand words in common use in Chinese require, except for a modification of the system, which eases the matter somewhat, ten thousand dis- tinct individual kinds of type, requiring ten thousand matrices to cast. To maks them was the problem Mr. Gamble set himself to solve. By the old method the character was cut out of a solid block of steel, and this as a punch, when hardened, was driven into a piece of cop- per, which, properly adjusted to the typecast- ing machine, became the matrix for that char- acter. But the cutting out of steel of ten thou- sand different punches, some of them most com- plicated, involved such prodigious labor, pa- tience and expense, as to become practically an impossibility. Mr. Gamble, studying the prob- lem, conceived the idea of cutting the characters on ends of oblong blocks of boxwood, taking from these, when set up, like pages of type, wax impressions on presses made for this purpose, transferring these impressions, properly cov- ered with plumbago, to an electro-typing bat- tery, backing up the copper plates thus produced with type metal, sawing the plates into squares, each containing a character, and fastening these into blocks made most ingeniously out of grooved bars, thus producing, except the cut- ting on boxwood of each character, a simple Chinese art, matrices by the hundreds instead of singly. These matrices, thus made, not only cost but a fraction of the expense and time of those made by the old method, but were much superior in form and accuracy. This in- vention, for so it must be called, though not patented, revolutionized the making of Chinese type. The next difficulty Mr. Gamble had to meet was to arrange these cheaply produced ten thousand kinds of types in cases so as to be readily accessible by the hand of the com- positor. As a preliminary he employed compe- tent native Chinese scholars to index not only all the different characters in the thirteen

Chinese classics and the Bible, as translated by Dr. Culbertson, his colleague, but to count the number of times each occurred. Bookkeepers who know what it is to post accounts can judge of the labor of making so many entries in a ledger as there are words in the Bible (I do not mean kinds of words), and thirteen books besides. It took three industrious men a whole year to accomplish this preliminary work. On the relative frequency of characters thus as- certained, besides regulating the number of each kind of type to a font, he arranged the size and position of the boxes in the type-cases, which were in the shape of a hopper, with the compositor in the vortex, relegating to draw- ers or cases on the walls characters that were only called for perhaps a few time in a whole book. The labor and loss of time thus spared to the compositor can only be appreciated by one who has personally seen the old style and the new. I may add that Mr. Gamble pub- lished a list of these characters, thus indexed and counted, with the number of times found, which is one of the curiosities of literature; and also that on the basis of the relative fre- quency of characters thus laboriously obtained Dr. Martin, now of the University of Pekin, prepared a text-book for beginners in Chinese, both native and foreign. These great projects having been successfully accomplished, Mr. Gamble's next work was to construct by his new processes a font of Chinese types, which, while perfectly legible, were to be but of the size known to printers as small pica-smaller than hitherto had been practical. His object was two-fold-first to be able to print the Bible in a conveniently small and inexpensive form for general circulation ; and second, to be able to align Chinese and Roman types in the dictionaries, grammars, and scientific books he was constantly called on to publish. This, after several years' labor, was successfully accom- plished, and admirably answered both purposes. I cannot show you Dr. Williams' large Chinese- English dictionary, which, though not printed by Mr. Gamble, was printed soon after his de- parture from China on the type he had made. but I hold in my hand a copy of the Bible printed by himself from this font, which, from cover to cover, binding and all, is in the most important sense his workmanship. This done, to make practical reference Bibles in Chinese, he produced a small font of legible types but

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the fourth part of the size of small pica. Con- jointly with these great works he undertook to perfect all existing fonts of Chinese types, and made new sets of matrices by his own pro- cesses, which are now carefully preserved in fire-proof safes in our press at Shanghai. This also was a work of years, but done once was done forever. I might also mention Manchu, and especially Japanese fonts, the latter of which cost him much thought, many experi- ments and no small correspondence with mis- sionaries in Japan, the beautiful result of which is seen in Dr. Hepburn's Japanese-English dictionary, also printed at our press simulta- neously with Dr. Williams'. He also undertook to make electro-type plates of the chief standard Christian books published by the Press, to les- sen expenses and facilitate rapidity of produc- tion. He had the satisfaction, and it was a very great one to him, of producing, before he left Shanghai, from such plates a beautiful edition of the New Testament, which he could afford to sell, bound in the Chinese manner, in paper stitched with silk, for five cents a copy. In like manner he produced a cheap popular edition of the celebrated Mr. Burns' transla- tion into Chinese of the Pilgrim's Progress. If it be remembered that while he was exe- cuting these laborious projects with the as- sistance of other hands, which had only be- come skilled ont of the crudest material by his own years of patient teaching, he was at the same time directing and looking after, to the minutest particulars, a printing establish- ment that poured out annually nearly 30,000,- 000 pages of Christian and other literature, the indomitable courage and energy of the man can begin to be appreciated. This involved the selection and oversight of forty or fifty work- people, inspection of their work and pay rolls, purchase of materials in other ports and Eu- rope and America, innumerable accounts, an extensive banking and shipping business, and a correspondence that extended to every port and mission station almost in China, as well as to England, America, Australia, the Sandwich Islands and Japan. Only perfect system, per- fect control of his forces, and untiring in- dustry, could have enabled him to accomplish so many, so varied and so difficult tasks. And in the meantime was growing without his wish a type foundry rivalling the Press in the extent of its operations, supplying. as it did, the World

with Chinese types. There are fonts made by himself, or from his matrices, in various parts of China, Japan, England, France, and the United States. From the 'Mei Hua Shu Kuan,' as it is known over China, at the east gate of Shanghai, have sprung many Chinese printing establishments, some Governmental, some mis- sionary, some newspaper, some private, through which our friend, though dead, is still effectually assisting in the intellectual and re- ligious awakening of that Empire. This was his life work, so far as it was peculiar. In it he had found his sphere, and was peerless. It is safe to predict that for a century to come not a Bible, a Christian or scientific book printed from movable Chinese types in that Empire or in Japan, but will bear the impress of Mr. Gamble's hand. And yet, such was his modesty, that I doubt if even his most intimate friends had any adequate conception of what he had done. It was as a rule only incidentally that he spoke of his work. This sketch would not be complete without a few words about his religious life as I saw it in Shanghai. His workmen were native Chinese, and most of them were at first heathen. For their instruc- tion in the doctrines and duties of Christianity he was always anxious, and made constant pro- vision. In this he was assisted by his col- leagues, a native preacher who is now the pastor of the separate church that embraces the workmen at the Press, and by his native foreman, a devout Christian man, and most trusted friend. He attached himself to the Union Church at Shanghai, and was seldom absent from its services or from the weekly prayer meetings and other meetings of the mis- sion. But he took special interest in a class of young men, English, Germans and Swedes, whom he gathered together at Shanghai, and met each Sabbath at his own house for the study of some Scripture lesson and prayer. Every branch of the work of his own mission received his careful thought, and, burdened as he was by his own tasks, he still found time to advise, help and encourage his colleagues in all their work. He took special interest in the founding of the China Inland Mission, under J. Hudson Taylor, the special object of which was to place missionaries in the interior and in every province, and when the ship 'Lam- mermuir' brought the first dozen missionaries of that society to China he received them into

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his own home, and entertained them until they were able to make arrangements for their abode in the interior. His hospitality to the members of the mission, and indeed to all men, was 1111- bounded. He lived to see this society the largest by all odds in China, able to send out seventy new missionaries, I believe, in one year. When his work in Shanghai was done he made a tour of the mission ports and stations

The history of the family bearing the name in China, and after several years' labor in of Hugentugler can be traced back to the year Japan, where he went at the request of a Japanese prince, to teach type founding and printing, he returned to this country. With the desire for knowledge, especially of a scientific kind, which always characterized him, he entered the Sheffield Institute at New Haven, where, in recognition of his services to China and Japan, Yale College conferred on him the honorary title of Master of Arts. He then entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, and continued his medical studies at Paris, re- siding afterward successively at Geneva, Lon- don and Edinburgh, whence he returned to this country, and settled in York. His life here, as you know, was quiet and uneventful. His true work had been done in China. There his name will be. gratefully remembered. There his in- fluence through the mighty engine of the press will be felt for all generations. Of our per- sonal relations I cannot now speak. Suffice it to say, that thrown together for five years in a heathen land, intimately associated in our work, for mine in a sense supplemented his, we formed mutual attachments which death has not power to dissolve."

Mr. Gamble was married Sept. 1, 1874, in Philadelphia, to Miss Phinie Miller, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Miller. Immediately upon their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Gamble went to Europe, where they remained seven years. Wishing, however, to have their children brought up in America, they returned to this country in the spring of 1881 and came to York in the summer of that year. Mr. Gamble built a home on the corner of Duke street and Cottage Place, but did not live many years to enjoy it. He caught a violent cold in May, 1886, and died on the 18th of that month. He is buried at Prospect Hill cemetery. His chil- dren are as follows: Rev. William Miller Gamble, Anna Dill Gamble and Samuel Gamble.

EPHRAIM SMYSER HUGENTUGLER has since 1901 been the efficient assistant post- master of York, and for twenty years prior to that time was connected with the York Dis- patch. Mr. Hugentugler is a descendant, on both sides, of old and honorable families, the Smysers receiving fuller consideration else- where.

1710, at which date the original emigrant came to America from Hesse-Darmstadt. From 1710 no trace can be found of the name until in 1750, when the birth of Abraham Hugen- tugler, the great-great-grandfather of Ephraim S., occurred. Four daughters and two sons were born to him. In 1794 one of the sons, the great-grandfather of Ephraim, married Miss. Christina Ortman. Ten children, seven sons- and three daughters, were born to this union. One of the sons. Samuel Hugentugler, the grandfather of Ephraim S., was born in 1813. He was united in marriage to Miss Rebecca Madden, and of this union were born four children, three sons and one daughter. Of this family Ephraim M. Hugentugler,born in 1838, married Mary A. Smyser, and their family numbered eight children, seven of whom are living, Rebecca having died when only six years of age. The living are: Ephraim S., assistant postmaster of York; Luther S., wholesale cigar dealer of Columbus. Ohio; Harry S., a chairmaker of York; and Estella. Abbie S., Grace and Mary, living at home. The father, Ephraim M. Hugentugler, an honored resident of York, is a retired mer- chant. For many years he was one of the able business men of that place and through honest dealing and thorough business methods ac- quired a competency, by which he was able to retire in his advancing age.

Ephraim Smyser Hugentugler was born in Columbia, Lancaster county, May 31, 1869. When he was ten years of age his parents took up their residence in York. Here, at the York high school, he received his education. Soon after leaving school he became a carrier for the York Dispatch. Afterward entering the office of that paper as an apprentice, he was ad- vanced until he became one of the most ef- ficient printers in the office. On Nov. 1, 1901. he was appointed assistant postmaster of York.

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History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 33

Author: Prowell, George R. Publication date: 1907 Publisher: J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1390

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1390