History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 8

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

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At the port of Philadelphia, from the ship "Neptune," John Mason, captain, Sept. 24, 1751, landed a German immigrant, by name David Meisenhelder-erroneously given as David Maisheller. As to his birth and ante- cedents the lapse of time has left no trace. He wended his way westward to Lancaster county, Pa., and undoubtedly settled in that locality. The records of Trinity Lutheran Church, Lan- caster city, show that to him and his wife Mar- garetha, née Fischer, was born a son, Aug. 14, 1752; a second son was born Nov. 3, 1753, and a third, April 8, 1756. The second son, baptized Johann David Meisenhelder, was the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. During the war of the Revolution he lived in Mount Joy township, Lancaster county, and, in the year 1776 was enrolled therein as a free- man, and taxed fifteen shillings. In the latter part of the eighteenth century he moved to York county, and settled in Dover township, building a log dwelling-house, one and one-half stories high, and a stone barn, on the north side of Fox run, and about one-fourth of a mile west of the Bull road. Here he lived and pros- pered, and his increasing landed possessions required the erection of additional buildings.

A stone dwelling-house, a large stone barn, and a stone chopping-mill were built in 1818, on the low ground nearer the creek. He died in 1819, and the ancestral acres, at one time said to have been four hundred, passed into the hands of his sons John and Samuel. He left a large family-not an unusual thing in those early days. One son, Jacob, was the paternal grandfather, and Anna Maria Neumann, daughter of George Neumann, was the paternal grandmother, of Dr. Edmund W. Meisen- helder.

Edmund Washington Meisenhelder was born Feb. 22, 1843, in the village of Dover, York Co., Pa., in a log dwelling of the earlier days, which he can still distinctly recall. His father was Dr. Samuel Meisenhelder, a son of Jacob Meisenhelder, a lineal descendant of the immigrant of 1751. For many years Dr. Sam- uel Meisenhelder was a practitioner of medi- cine in East Berlin, Adams Co., Pa. He died in 1883, respected and honored by all who knew him.

The mother of the subject of this sketch was Josephine Sarah Meisenhelder, née Lewis, the daughter and oldest child of Dr. Robert Lewis and Mary (Moore) Lewis. Dr. Robert Lewis was a lineal descendant of that Ellis- Lewis who came over to America in 1708, from the North of Ireland. The stock was of Quaker faith, primarily Welsh, but the family migrated to Ireland at the close of the Seven- teenth century. Dr. Robert Lewis was an emi- nent and successful physician; a man of pro- found convictions ; an unswerving advocate of human rights, and an active agent in the man- agement of that "Underground Railroad," which, in the days of intense slavery agitation, long before the Civil war-through the dark- ness of the night and through agencies un- known-speeded the fleeing slave from bond- age to freedom. Because of his activity, and practical sympathy for the slave, a reward was offered for his apprehension and conviction.

From the earliest days Edmund W. Meisen- helder manifested an intense love of learning. He distinctly recalls how, as a mere child, prone upon the floor, in front of the fire upon the hearth, by its flickering glare, he pored over his juvenile books. As the years rolled on his devotion to books increased, and the longing for the acquisition of knowledge was intensi- fied. Through the common schools of the State, from grade to grade, he passed, until in the summer of 1859 he entered the preparatory

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

department of Pennsylvania College, at Gettys- burg; was admitted to the Freshman class, in the fall of 1860, and divided the Freshman prize, for highest scholarship, with two of his classmates. In the Junior year he took the Hassler gold medal for proficiency in Latin language, literature, and composition, and in the ensuing (Senior) year was graduated at the head of his class.

In the summer of 1863, during that invasion of Pennsylvania which culminated in the battle of Gettysburg, he enlisted in Company A, 26th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia. This com- pany was largely made up of students from the college and seminary, and was the first to re- spond to Governor Curtin's "Emergency call." In the summer of 1864, after his graduation, he enlisted in Company D, 210th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was sent to the front with his regiment. As regimental quartermaster sergeant, and later on as second lieutenant of Company D, he took part in Grant's final campaign in front of Petersburg, and was present at the surrender of Lee's worn and wasted battalions. With the close of the war he was honorably discharged, and, once more a simple citizen, took up the study of that profession the practice of which has been his life-work. After a full course, supplemented by two summer courses, he was graduated from Jefferson Medical College in the spring of 1868. Since that time lie has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession, until the spring of 1871 with his father, and since, in York, Pa. In all the years which have elapsed since he entered upon his professional career he has been active, energetic, and unselfish in the dis- charge of its varied duties. This conscientious devotion to his work has characterized his en- tire life, and has brought to him large responsi- bilities, leaving little time indeed for rest, and the cultivation of other fields of effort which he loves, and for which he has a natural aptitude. Into his life-work he has steadily endeavored to infuse all the good that can come from the close association of the thoughtful mind, the feeling heart, and the helping hand. In the broadest, noblest sense, in the medical profes- sion, what men do for others, for humanity, not for self, erects a monument more beautiful than chiseled marble, more enduring than brass or granite shaft-a monument wreathed with the sweetest flowers of love and gratitude.

On Dec. 22, 1870, Dr. Edmund W. Meis- enhelder was united in marriage to Miss Maria

Elizabeth Baughman, daughter of Jacob B. Baughman and Lydia (Swartz) Baughman, of Baughmansville, York Co., Pa. To this marriage have been born four children : Rob- ert L., a Lutheran minister in charge of a mission church at Harrisburg, Pa .; Edmund W., a graduate of Johns Hopkins Medical School, now associated with him in practice ; Samuel B., a law student at Harvard, and Mary E., a student at Smith College, North- ampton, Massachusetts.

In faith, like his paternal ancestry, Dr. Meisenhelder is a Lutheran, but absolutely de- void of sectarian bias, and inclined to the widest liberality of thought consistent with the car- dinal principles of the Christian religion. In politics he is a Republican of the most inde- pendent type, believing that the good citizen- law-abiding, public-spirited, patriotic, and con- scientious-is, far and away, the superior of the servile partisan. As becomes a soldier of the war for the preservation of the Union, as befits one who lias coursing through his veins the blood of a Revolutionary ancestry, he scorns to own a boss, or to be a boss in turn- to thus besmirch and belittle the glorious herit- age "bequeathed from bleeding sire to son." Mellowed by the observation and experience of years, he has gathered wisdom from their les- sons, and recognizes, in all its cogency, the broad fact that the country is far above party, and that no one party enjoys a monopoly of pa- triotism, or political righteousness or of politi- cal corruption. With the courage of his convic- tions, and fearless in the advocacy of the Right, he is a firm and unflinching friend of every progressive agency, and of every reform which is intended for the betterment of the race. It is a far greater honor-a far nobler am- bition-to serve under the spotless banner of the Right, than to lead the forces of ex- pediency, or Wrong.

For Right is Right, as God is God, And Right the day must win; To doubt would be disloyalty, To falter would be sin.

HOWARD E. YOUNG, president of the J. S. Young Company, Baltimore, Md., and of J. S. Young & Co., Limited, Hanover and Shrewsbury, Pa., is one of the leading manu- facturers of the day in York county and the city of Baltimore. He was born at Hanover, York Co., Pa., April 20, 1856, and is a son of the late John S. Young, who during a pros-

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BIOGRAPHICAL

perous business career was successful also in building up the interests of Hanover, and became prominent and influential both in his native town and in Baltimore.

Mr. Young obtained his preparatory edu- cation in a private school at Hanover and a private school at Ithaca, N. Y. In order to fit himself thoroughly for the active duties of life, he then took a business course in the city of Philadelphia, and upon leaving school en- tered into business with his father, in 1873 becoming a member of the firm of J. S. Young & Co. In 1876, upon the incorporation of the J. S. Young Company, he was made secre- tary of the company. At this time the J. S. Young Company owned a large establishment for the manufacture of bark extracts and flavine at Hanover, and a similar establish- ment at Shrewsbury Station, York Co., Pa. In 1883 they founded an extensive business at Boston and Elliott streets, Baltimore, in the manufacture of licorice and sumac extracts, erecting a mill, which is one of the largest in the country. The product of the various mills is distributed all over the United States, Eng- land and Germany. They are manufacturers of Greek and Spanish licorice paste. The licorice root used in the mills of the company is obtained in Russia and Turkey in Europe, and brought to Baltimore in ship loads. The business is conducted on an extensive scale, a branch office being maintained at Nos. 130- 132 Pearl street, New York.

From the very beginning of his association with the J. S. Young Company Mr. Howard E. Young was active and influential in the transaction of all their affairs. At his father's death, in 1899, he became president of the J. S. Young Company, of Baltimore, and of J. S. Young & Co., of Hanover, and has since di- rected their steadily increasing business.

Like his father, Mr. Young has always been deeply solicitous for the material growth and development of his native town of Han- over apart from his merely personal interest in projects affecting his business. He was one of the prime movers in the organization of the Hanover Cordage Company, in 1890, and the president of that concern until it was sold to the National Cordage Company. He was president of the Hanover Telephone Company, which he and others organized in 1894, and which developed into a growing and prosper- ous corporation. When the Consumers' Water Company of Hanover was organized in

1895, for the purpose of increasing the water supply of the town, he became treasurer; this company later bought out the original com- pany, acquiring its charter, franchises and plant, which were consolidated with their own. Mr. Young was a director of the Baltimore & Harrisburg branch of the Western Maryland railroad from 1891 to 1906, was its president from 1901 to 1906, and is now a director of the Maryland & Pennsylvania railroad. He is also a director of the Mercantile Trust & De- posit Company, of Baltimore, Maryland.

In political faith Mr. Young is a Repub- lican, but he takes no very active part in such matters, and has never held office with the ex- ception of that of member of the school board, to which position he was elected in 1885; he served two terms as president of that board.

Mr. Young was married in 1878 to Martha, daughter of Edward H. Etzler, a prominent grain merchant of Hanover and Baltimore. To them have been born three children, Edward E., John S. and Mary C.

Edward E. Young, the eldest son of How- ard E. Young, was educated at a private school at Ithaca, N. Y., and at the age of nineteen became associated with the business of the J. S. Young Company at Hanover and Balti- more, succeeding his father as secretary and treasurer. His interest in and remarkable capacity for business became evident at once, and he was untiring in his efforts in everything he attempted, to do, displaying traits which qualified him for high responsibilities. He was personally popular with all his associates, and was highly esteemed by everyone who knew him. After a prosperous career of only four years, he died at Baltimore, Md., Feb. 17, 1902. John S. Young, the second son of How- ard E. Young, obtained his education in the public schools of Hanover, and a private school at Ithaca, N. Y. At the death of his brother, Edward, he took his position in the business of the J. S. Young Company, of which he has been both secretary and treasurer since 1902. Mary C. Young, the only daughter, was edu- cated in the public schools and at The Castle, an educational institution for young ladies at Tarrytown, New York.

The family residence, one of the hand- somest houses in Hanover, is on Carlisle street, being located on the same piece of ground bought by Mr. Young's great-grand- father, William Young, March 30, 1795, and which was his place of residence until his

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

death, in 1850. This property has continued affairs of that enterprising city. He is a mem- in the family until the present time.

JOHN M. YOUNG, attorney-at-law and director and treasurer of the Williamsport Iron & Nail Company, was born at Middle- town, Ohio, Aug. 30, 1845, son of William and Eliza (Mumma) Young. His father, William Young, a grandson of Charles Young, who settled in the vicinity of Hanover in 1746, was born at Hanover Jan. II, 1803.

Early in life William Young moved to Mid- dletown, Ohio, where he carried on an ex- tensive business, which he continued for a period of forty years. He was one of the rep- resentative men of the town and county with which he was so long identified. His wife died at Middletown Feb. 4, 1848. In 1863 William Young retired from business and re- turned to his native town of Hanover, where he died Aug. 30, 1889, at the advanced age of eighty-six years. He had a vivid recollection of many events and incidents relating to the early history of Hanover, and recalled them with eager interest and greatest accuracy. Will- iam and Eliza (Mumma) Young had five chil- dren, three of whom died in infancy. Mary R., their daughter, married William A. Schreyer, of Milton, Pa., Dec. 12, 1861. She died June 22, 1876, and her husband died Dec. 15, 1903. They had six children, of whom two died in infancy; Maria E. married W. R. Kramer, now living in Williamsport, Pa .; Rebecca Y. is living in Milton; John Y. married Carrie H. Smith, of Washington, D. C., has two chil- dren, and lives in Milton; Harry H. married Bertha Datesman, of West Milton, has two children, and lives in Milton.

ber of the Board of Trade, Brandon Park Commission, and director of the First National Bank of Williamsport. Mr. Young showed his patriotism during the Civil war by enlist- ing three times in the Union army, in 1862, 1863 and 1864. He received an honorable discharge each time, and is a member of Reno Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of Will- iamsport.

Mr. Young was married at Gettysburg in 1868 to Carrie Van Patten, who was born in Washington in 1848. She is a descendant on her father's side from Charles Frederic Van Patten, one of the founders of Schenectady, N. Y., and of Charles Hansen Toll, a member from New York to the Continental Congress, in which he served for thirteen years. On her mother's side she is a direct descendant of John Harper, who in 1681 came from England with William Penn (in the ship "Welcome"), and settled in Frankfort, now a part of Phila- delphia. John M. and Carrie (Van Patten) Young have eight children: William, born in Topeka, Kans., now practicing law in New York City, and a member of the New York Legislature; Edwin P., born in Middletown, Ohio, now a practicing lawyer in Pittsburg; John Paul, born in Middletown, Ohio, now general manager of the Youngstown (Ohio) Car Works, and married to Margaret K. Oliver, of Pittsburg; Charles Van Patten, born in Middletown, now professor at Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., and married to Eleanor Mahaffey, of Williamsport, Pa .; George H., born in York, now superintendent and assistant treasurer of the Williamsport Iron & Nail Company, married to Alice D. Holland, of New York City; Mary, born in Middletown, and Carrie Van Patten and Ruth Van Patten, born in York. All the sons and the daughter Carrie graduated at Cornell Uni- versity. Mary was graduated at Wellesley, Mass., and in Germany. Ruth graduated at the Williamsport high school, finished at Wellesley, and is married to Carl G. Allen, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

John M. Young obtained his preparatory education in the schools of his native town and at Hanover. He then entered Pennsyl- vania College, at Gettysburg, and was gradu- ated from that institution in 1865. He read law in the office of Judge David Wills, of Gettysburg, and completed his legal studies at Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the Bar at Gettysburg in 1868, and began the practice of law in Kansas, and continued to follow that profession at Middletown, Ohio, and in York, Pa., until 1883. Becoming in- HENRY C. SMYSER. The successful commercial career of Henry C. Smyser illus- trates the advantages that are afforded in the aggressive State of Pennsylvania for men of integrity and courage, who have a capacity for terested in the manufacturing business, he moved to Williamsport, Pa., where he resides. Since 1884 he has been treasurer and director of the Williamsport Iron & Nail Company, and is prominently identified with the public business and are willing to strike hard blows.

BIOGRAPHICAL

Mr. Smyser was born July 12, 1844, in York, and nothing from the time of his removal is where he has made his home ever since.

In looking over the records of the Smyser family we find that Mathias Smyser was born in the village of Rugelbach, belonging to the Parish Lustenan, about six miles west of Dunkelsbuhl, in Germany, Feb. 17, 1715. Dunkelsbuhl is a considerable town within a few miles of the boundary of the kingdom of Bavaria. Rugelbach is situated within a few miles of the boundary which divides that king- dom from that of Bavaria. Dunkelsbuhl is nearly in a straight line between Stuttgart and Nuremberg, about seventy-five miles from the former and about sixty miles W. S. W. from the latter.

The parents of Mathias Smyser were Mar- tin and Anna Barbara Smyser. Of the early history of Mathias or his father, Martin, little is known at this day, further than that Martin was a respectable farmer and member of the Lutheran Church, within the above named par- ish, and that his son Mathias, with his brother, George, and sister, Margaretta, emigrated to America about 1732, or probably at an earlier period. Mathias, it seems, first settled in the neighborhood of Kreutz Creek, York county, where he followed the weaving business, soon afterward taking up a large body of land in the neighborhood of what is now called Spring Forge, in the same county. It is said that, an- xious to get neighbors, Mathias made presents of several farms from his own tract to such as agreed to improve and live on them. Whether his brother, George, was one of those who re- ceived a plantation from him on the same terms mentioned is not certainly known, but it is known that the two brothers were neighbors at the above named place, and it is said that Ma- thias, after some years' residence there, find- ing that he had parted with the best portion of his land, sold out and purchased a tract of about four hundred or five hundred acres from a Mr. Henthorn, about three miles west of York, to which he removed May 3, 1745. On this farm he continued to reside until his death, in 1778.

George Smyser, brother of Mathias, pur- chased a farm somewhere between York and York Haven, where he resided several years, and then, not being pleased with the quality of his land, he sold it and removed to the back- woods, as the west and southwest country was then called, probably to some part of Virginia,

definitely known of him. There are, however, Smysers residing in the neighborhood of Louis- ville, Ky., and it is thought that they are de- scendants of George Smyser, the brother of Mathias.

Mathias Smyser left to survive him three sons and six daughters: Michael, Jacob and Mathias; Dorothy, Sabina, Rosanna, Eliza- beth, Anna Maria and Susanna. Michael Smy- ser, the eldest, was born in 1740 and died in 1810; Jacob was born in 1742 and died in 1794; Mathias, born in 1744, died in 1829; Anna Maria, the next to the youngest daughter, was born in 1757 and died in 1833; Susanna, the youngest, born in 1760, died in 1840; and the ages of the other daughters are not at pres- ent known.

Michael Smyser, eldest son of Mathias, was long and extensively known as a respectable farmer and tavern-keeper, the owner of a well- cultivated farm of about two hundred acres, which was cut from a portion of his father's farm, and, although not favored with a liberal education, was known as a man of discrimi- nating mind and sound judgment. He was early associated with the leading Revolutionary patriots of the country, and marched to the battlefield as captain of a company in Col. M. Swope's regiment, and was one of those who were taken prisoner at Fort Washington, on the Hudson, near New York, on Nov. 16, 1776. He became colonel of his regiment, and the sword carried by him in the War of Independ- ence may now be seen in the York County His- torical Society rooms. In 1778 he was elected one of the members of the House of Repre- sentatives in the State Legislature for York County, and from that time until 1790 he was seven times chosen to serve in that capacity. In 1790 and 1794 he was elected to the State Sen- ate, serving until 1798.

Jacob Smyser, the second son of Mathias, was also a respectable farmer and for some years a justice of the peace. In 1789 he was elected to the House of Representatives, and a few years afterward died at the age of fifty- one years.

Mathias Smyser, the youngest of the three sons, resided at the mansion home of his fath- er, where he quietly pursued the useful occu- pation of an agriculturist, laboring with his own hands for many years, and maintaining

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

in the course of a long life the well-earned rep- utation of an honest man, of the strictest in- tegrity. In the Revolutionary war he was also in the service for some time, not as a soldier, but as a teamster, conducting a baggage wag- on, and was throughout a zealous advocate of the Whig cause. He lived to be over eighty- four years old, a greater age, by several years, than any of his brothers or sisters attained.

The descendants of Mathias Smyser, the eldest, have become very numerous. His old- est son, Michael, left three sons and four daughters : Peter, Elizabeth, Sarah, Jacob, Mary, Michael and Susan. Jacob, his second son, left children : Henry, Jacob, Martin, John, Catherine, Daniel, Peter and Adam. Mathias, the third son, had seven children, viz. : Cath- erine, Polly, George, Jacob, Mathias, Philip and Henry. His eldest daughter, Dorothy, who married Peter Hoke, left eight children : Michael, Clorrissa, Catherine, Peter, Jacob, Sarah, Polly and George. Sabina mar- ried Jacob Swope and resided in Lan- caster county, where she left five sons, Jacob, George, Mathias, Emanuel and Frede- rick, and two daughters. Rosanna mar- ried George Maul and resided for some years in the town of York, and afterward removed to Virginia, with her husband, locat- ing between Noland's Ferry on the Potomac and Leesburg in Loudoun county, where she died about 1796 or 1797, leaving four daugh- ters and one son : Susan, Catherine, Polly, Peg- gy and Philip, Elizabeth, George and Daniel each having lived to the age of twenty years, and Peggy and Philip having died since 1856. Elizabethi married Leonard Eichelberger, and at the time of her death was residing near Dillsburg, York county. She left four sons, Jacob, Frederick, George and John, and foar daughters whose names are not known. Anna Maria, married Martin Ebers, and left : George, Martin, Daniel, Adam, Michael, Su- san, Helena and Anna Mary. Susan, the youngest daughter, married Philip Ebert, and left one son and four daughters to survive hr Henry, Elizabeth, Catherine, Lydia and Sarah. Her youngest son, Michael, who died about a year before his mother, had resided in St. Louis, Mo., where he had engaged as a mer- chant. Her second daughter, the wife of Henry Small, also died about two years previous to her death. Thus we have sixty-four grandsons and daughters of Mathias Smyser the elder,

nearly all of whom are now living and have or have had families.

In April, 1839, Mathias Smyser, the grand- son of Mathias, set out to make a tour through a part of Europe. He was then fifty-six years old and had spent his past life as a farmer in York county. The main object of his trip to Europe was to visit the birthplace of his grand- father. There was nothing in this country by which the place of his nativity could be traced except the inscription on his tombstone in the burying-ground of the Lutheran Church in the borough of York. Mr. Smyser sailed from New York for Havre, France, where he ar- rived in safety. From Havre he traveled through the interior of France to Geneva ; from Geneva his main route was to Lausanne, Berne, Basel, Freybergin, the Dukedom of Baden, Strasburg, Baden, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Kreil- sheim and then to Dunkelsbuhl, where he in- quired for Rugelbach, and found that he was within six miles of his destination. This is a small village inhabited by farmers, and in it- self is not interesting to a stranger, but to him who sought it as being the birthplace of his an- cestor it was a spot of intense interest. When the house was pointed out to him in which his grandfather had been born 124 years previous, still known by the name of Schmeisser's house, though its present occupants were of another name, when he beheld this time-worn, humble mansion, when he entered it and felt a con- sciousness of being within the same walls, prob- ably treading upon the same floor which, more than a century before, had been trodden by his grandfather, his gratification can hardly be im- agined by us, who have not experienced it. Mr. Smyser called upon the pastor of the parish, the Reverend Sieskind, and made known to him his desire to see his grandfath- er's name on the baptismal register. The rev- erend gentleman opened the ancient book, but through age and accident it had become much mutilated, and it took hours of patient search before the following interesting entry was found: "Mathias Schmeisser, born 17th day of February, 1715, son of Martin Schmeisser and his wife, Anna Barbara, was baptized," &c. This record agrees precisely with that on his tombstone in America. The minister next led Mr. Smyser to the church of the parish and pointed out to him the taufstein, assuring him that, according to the unvarying custom, be- fore that stone, and on that spot, his grand-

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History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 8

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