USA > Pennsylvania > Juniata County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 52
USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 52
USA > Pennsylvania > Snyder County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 52
USA > Pennsylvania > Union County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 52
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 52
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
JOHN A. STERRETT was deputy attorney- general from February, 1828, to Sept., 1828. JOHN WYETH was deputy attorney-general from September, 1828, to 1830.
ISAAC SLENKER was born in the upper part of Union County in 1800, in Gregg township, and died at his residence in New Berlin, April 17, 1873, in the seventy-third year of his age. He studied law with James F. Linn, at Lewis- burgh, and was the senior of the long line of students who came from his office. He was admitted to the bar May 13, 1828. Judge Chapman remarked that he had passed the best examination had before him in five years. IIe settled in New Berlin, getting into a full tide of practice, and coming into conflict with such men as James Merrill, John Lashells and Ebenezer Greenough. He imposed upon him- self that severe course of legal training which he himself said, laid the foundation of the dis- case of which he died. His mind acted slowly and, as he expressed it, " What these men had at their finger-ends he had to work half the night to obtain." He was the son of a farmer, worked his way, taught school and paid his tuition with money afterwards earned in his profession. He was appointed deputy attorney- general in 1830, and held the office until 1835. In 1831 he was elected to the State Senate, his term expiring in 1838, and upon retiring, re- sumed his practice with energy and success. In 1861 he was a candidate for president judge of the judicial districtagainst Judge Woods, and although the district was Republican, it took the soldiers' vote to defeat him.
In 1862 he was nominated by the Democratic party, and elected auditor-general. He went into the office with the determination to become acquainted with its details, that nothing should pass his hand that he had not knowledge of. Some one came down from the hill one day, and said, " That there was an old man up at the hill, who was determined to know everything; he'll break himself down." It was so. Relief from toil brought some physical relief; but finally he had to yield to the disease of an over-wrought brain.
He was a large, finely-formed man, of ap- parent great physical strength, of quiet, refined, unobtrusive manners, pleasant and genial, and before he went away his soul was tried in the furnace of domestic affliction. He survived the loss of his whole family, except his wife and little granddaughter. His son James, a bright and intelligent young man, had only gained his manhood and started in his father's profession, when he died of consumption. Mr. Slenker was an elder in the Presbyterian con- gregation from its early commencement in 1843. He had so retentive a memory that the Psalms and the hymns of the Hymnal he could readily repeat. He gave largely and liberally to all worthy objects, was very kind to the poor, and in his day and generation did the work his hand found diligently. ITis memory is fresh and green among his contemporaries, while his works go on down with the enlarging cycles.
SAMUEL WEIRICK was deputy attorney gen- eral from 1836 to 1839.
ROBERT B. BARBER was deputy attorney- general from 1839, and from 1846 to 1848 ; was born on the 3d of February, 1812, at White Springs, Union County. He was a son of Samuel Barber and Mary Vanvalzah, descend- ant of Dr. Robert Vanvalzah, of Buffalo Cross- Roads. The genealogy of the Barber family is given in the annals of Limestone township. Robert B. attended the Mifflinburg Academy, then taught by Nathaniel Todd, in 1832, and graduated at Jefferson College in 1835; read law and was admitted to the bar, and settled in New Berlin to the practice in 1838. The same year he was married to Miss Jane M. Foster, a daughter of John Foster, of Centre County.
1205
UNION COUNTY.
Ile was appointed deputy attorney-general in 1539, and again in 1846, holding the office until 1818. Ile shortly afterwards retired to his farm, near the place of his birth, where he has lived ever since. His children are Benjamin Newton, Charles Wilson, John Foster, Hannah and Jane Foster, who is married to James W. Whitley. He is a gentleman of cultured liter- ary attaininents, and has been quite prominent as a Democratic politician, though he has not held office other than the above. He has been a ruling elder in the Buffalo Presbyterian Church for many years.
JOHN PORTER was appointed in 1842, and read law with James F. Linn.
GEORGE WASHINGTON GRAHAM was born in Lewisburgh, Pa., November 17, 1821; son of Alexander Graham and Maria Margaret Styker, daughter of Henry Styker. He graduated from Princeton College, studied law in the office of James F. Linn, and was admitted to the bar of Union County at December term, 1842. He commenced to practice at Lewis- burgh in an office where J. Beall has his shop, and served as deputy attorney-general from 1843 to 1816. On October 30, 1845, was married at Lewisburgh to Miss Eliza Budd, of Peekskill, Westchester County, N. Y. In 1846 Mr. Graham joined Nathan Mitchell in the manufacture of iron at the Berlin Furnace, taking up his residence there in 1847. The tariff of 1846 destroyed the business, and in 1848 the furnace and business was sold to Jared Irvin, and Mr. Graham returned to Lewisburgh, where he remained until 1850 when he went to Lafayette, Ind., remaining there three years; removed to Cincinnati, which was his residence until 1865 when he inoved to Stevenson, Ala., was admitted to the bar at Huntsville, and was appointed United States commissioner for the district. There being no one to take the iron-clad oath at Stevenson, he was appointed postmaster. The duties of this office were attended to by his son, Frank D., who served as deputy, being but sixteen years old, and filling the position for two years. Mr. Graham was highly esteemed ; his fine person, pleasant address and courteous manners won him friends, and General Brooke, register in
bankruptcy at Huntsville was enabled to give him a great deal of business, Ile secured a fine legal practice, was a strong Republican and delegate to a number of conventions. He was solicited to become a candidate for Con- gress, but his health was such that he declined. His death was unexpected, being sick but a few hours. He died at Stevenson, Ala., November 8, 1870, where his remains were interred. Mrs. Eliza Bndd Graham was born at Peekskill, February 17, 1824, fourth child of Joshua Budd, of Huguenot descent, immigrat- ing to England after the St. Bartholomew massa- cre, and Undril Budd came to America, settling on the Hudson at Budd's Manor. His wife was the daughter of Judge Stephen Crane, of New England descent and family fame.
The children of Mr. Graham were Frank Dorsey, born February 28, 1849, and Mary W., born March 15, 1851, and dying at Stevenson March 17, 1868. Frank D., after his post- mastership at Stevenson, was appointed clerk in General Burke's office of register in bankruptcy, at Huntsville. In 1869 he was made first postal clerk on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and was in the service gradually promoted until 1877, reaching the Pan-Handle road. While making the night run from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, August 7, 1878, they were run into by a freight train ; he was injured and died. He was married at Memphis, November 6, 1877, to Miss Lora B. Avery, who survived him but a short time, dying October 18, 1878. " Nor long did his love stay behind him."
DISTRICT ATTORNEYS (elected).
GEORGE HILL was the son of Daniel Hill, a farmer of Lycoming County, born August 3, 1821. His father died when he was six years old. He was apprenticed to the coach-making trade at MeEwensville, and, his term expiring when he was twenty-one, he went to New Berlin and worked at his trade; taught school, at- tended Mr. Sheddon's academy at MeEwens- ville; in 1845 began the study of law at Milton, under Governor Pollock, and finished, under Mr. Swineford, at New Berlin; admitted to the bar 18.18; located at Selin's Grove, where he remained nine years. From 1850 to
1206
JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
1853 was district attorney of Union County. He moved to Sunbury in 1858, where he sue- cessfully pursued his profession. He was mar- ried twice; his first wife was Miss Martha Bielar, daughter of Samuel Bielar, of Cata- wissa, December 25, 1818, and had seven sons and two daughters, one of whom (J. Nevin Will) is an accomplished and able lawyer in Sunbury. His wife died June 2, 1871, and he was again married, to Miss Sne Kerlin, daughter of A. I. Kerlin, Middletown, Pa.
WILLIAM VAN GEZER was born in Orange County, N. Y. His mother married a second time and his step-father bound him as an apprentice to the tailoring trade. He read law with Daniel Mulvany, of the Norristown bar, and was married while living at Potts town. During the carly period of his life he developed a fine oratorical power, speaking at public assemblies at the age of seventeen or eighteen. He moved to New Berlin in 1846, and after ten years' residence, while yet district attorney, when the county was divided, and the county-seat was removed to Lewisburgh, he changed his residence to Lewisburgh, where he resided until his death, March 26, 1884, at the age of seventy-two. He was one of the most remarkable lawyers of his day. Judge Casey said that if Van Gezer would have pos sessed readiness to change front and adapt himself to the varying shape of testimony in the cause, he would not have had his equal in Pennsylvania. Ile remembered the name of a case, the book in which it was reported and the page. The writer turned to him suddenly, when he was just about to rise to argue a case, in the Supreme Court, and said "Van, where is it decided that suit is demand ? I hunted all night for it." He answered at once : "In Middleton vs. Boston Locomotive Works, 2 Casey, 257. And," he added, "you will not find it in the syllabus, but about the middle of the judge's opinion. And you will not find it al- luded to anywhere else in the Pennsylvania reports, except in 2 Watts & Serg." A ref- erence at onee verified his accuracy. Not only that. Where there was a long line of decisions upon a given point, however long and however the court swayed, he would begin at Dallas,
track it through to the last report, giving the mane of the case and the place where reported. He was eloquent and effective before a jury, abounding in invective, never coarse or indecent, but able to flay a man alive with the scalpel ; in passionate appeal, strong; in close, log- ical reasoning, able to trace any principle in its history. He never lost his temper in the trialof a cause, never interrupted the opposing counsel, however aggravating he might be, but never forgot to lay it to him when his time came. He thoroughly understood all the fine intricacies of real estate law. Sugden, -old Power's Sug- den, they used to call him,-said that he and Coke were the only men who understood real estate law outside of Fearne. Van Gezer was certainly a fourth. He was a good racon- teur. ITis social qualities were of a high order. His contemporaries will never forget the weeks of the Snyder County Court, when they all gathered into Cronimiller's office. Although hav- ing a wonderful power of narration and descrip- tion, his store of stories, singular to say were inever used before a jury, or in argument, nor in his speeches, political or otherwise, except perhaps in his temperance speeches. He was always ready to make an address upon any con- ceivable subject or occasion. He was a good vade mecum to the bar, and could always be relied upon to cite a case.
JAMES B. HAMLIN was born February 25, 1828, in Warren County, Pa. His parents were James and Rachel Hamlin, who had also three other children,-the Rev. Benjamin B. Hamlin, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, (now presiding elder of the Harrisburg dis- trict), Fannie E. and William L. Hamlin. He was educated at the public schools, with a brief term at the Mifflinburg Academy. He studied law with the Hon. George F. Miller in 1853, and was admitted to the bar at the May term of 1855. One of the committee of his examiners who spoke of his death, when it was announced in court, said " that he never was on any com- mittee where there was better evidence ex- hibited of the student being well grounded, having an intelligent perception of the clemen- tary principles of our profession." He was elected district attorney at December term,
L
1207
UNION COUNTY.
1856, and died at Baltimore, at the house of his brother, the Rev. B. B. Hamlin, on the 2d day of February, 1860, in the thirty-second year of his age. His lungs were his weakness, and he was always bright and hopeful. His five years of practice had shown great competency, ard the members of the bar were much attached to him. Ife was buried, one wet, stormy day, in the hill side grave-yard, at Salona, in Clinton County, but his body was afterwards removed to Cedar Cemetery. A tree, planted by a member of the bar at his grave, was trans- planted with the removal, and has grown a great flourishing tree in these last twenty-six years.
ALFRED HIAYES, Esq., son of Thomas Hayes, was born July 17, 1837, entered the academy and was graduated from the University of Lewisburgh August 15, 1855. His progress at school was so rapid that he was withdrawn for awhile. Very shortly afterward he entered as a clerk in the Lewisburgh Savings Institution, and remained there nine months. He entered the law office of George F. Miller, and spent the session of 1857 at Harvard Law School, and in 1858 went to Philadelphia, entered the office of John C. Bullitt, and was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia May 12, 1860, and in Union County, May 19, 1860. He was elected district attorney in 1862, and held four successive terms, until 1876; in his fifth term he was elected member of the House of Rep- resentatives of Pennsylvania, in 1877 and 1878. The temperament of Mr. Hayes, with his thorough and careful education, and his training in the bank and Bullit's office, con- spired to make him a thorough, efficient and careful lawyer. Of very cautious disposition, reticent, he became especially fitted for cases where there were matters of account and in equity. IIe came to be regarded as a standing master in Chancery. Beside his exemplary life, his conscientious upright- ness and impartiality, begotten of his integrity and cantions mode of dealing with all matters that came under his cognizance, gave him a standing and a weight in his profession in the community. While in the Legislature he gained a place of great regard. In the House,
so mierons and so noisy, the fact that when he rose to speak he had their attention at once, showed that he was there a man of mark.
Ile was elected an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Lewisburgh, February 28, 1871, following a life so pure, so consistent, that he readily mingles with the world-his religion like a gentleman's dress. He might well be given Sir Humphrey Gilbert's device-Mars and Mercury united by a cross, with the motto, " Quid Non." He was married to Mary M., a daughter of William Vanvalzah, of Buffalo Cross Roads, and has a family of five children. Ilis oldest son, Charles Harold Hayes, entered at the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1880, graduated in 1884, and was at once ordered to the "Hartford," flagship of the Pacific squadron.
ANDREW A. LEISER .- Jacob Leiser, the grandfather, was born at York, Pa., October 1, 1779, and his wife, Mary Leiser, was born near the same place December 3, 1780. When a young man he removed to Milton, afterwards to Kelly township, Union County, and died on his mansion farm, a mile west of West Milton, May 26, 1862, in his eighty-third year. Mary, his wife, died May 13, 1855, in her seventy-fifth year.
William Leiser, M.D., the father, was born in Kelly township, October 25, 1821; entered the Pennsylvania College, at Gettysburg Pa .; graduated Doctor of Medicine by the Medical Department of Pennsylvania College, Philadel- [ phia, Pa., in 1848. He located at New Colum- bia, Union County, and shortly after removed to Lewisburgh, where he continuously resided and practiced his profession until his death, April 21, 1877, in his fifty-seventh year. The surname is from the maternal side. Andreas Albrecht was born April 2, 1718, at Zella, in Thuringia ; married November 18, 1766, at Bethlehem, Pa., to Elizabeth Orth. He died at Lititz, Pa., April 19, 1802, in his eighty-fifth year, and is buried in the Moravian Cemetery, grave No. 190. He was a gun-maker by trade. His wife was born August 4, 1739, in Lebanon County, Pa .; died June 1, 1830, at Lititz, in her ninety-first year. Her parents were Balthesar Orth and Ann Catherine Roemer.
1208
JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
John Henry Albright was born at Lititz, August 5, 1772; married, March 27, 1795, to Anna Barbara Hubley, born March 21, 1773, at Lancaster, Pa .; died February 25, 1830, in her fifty-seventh year. He died at Nazareth, to which place he removed in 1816, on January 27, 18-45, in his seventy-third year. He engaged in merchandising, and was also a carpenter and gunsmith. He was the next youngest brother of Andrew Albright, mentioned in the annals of the valley as once sheriff, member of Assembly, as-
sociate judge, and died Senator-elect. John Henry's son, Andrew Albright, was born at Ship- pensburg, Pa., March 28, 1802; married to Agnes Dunn. In 1830 he built a mill in Moore township, near Nazareth, Northampton County, Pa., and died there February 23, 1837, in his thirty-fifth year. His wife was a daughter of James Dunn, a Scotch-Irishman, and Esther Williams. She died at Warrior's Run, August 29, 1849 ; buried at Warrior's Run Church.
Maria Louisa Albright was born at Naza- reth, March 11, 1827; educated at the Moravian Seminary at Nazareth ; removed to Delaware township with her mother; was married to Dr. William Leiser, May, 1849, and died in Lewis- burgh, November 12, 1881, in her fifty-fifth year.
Andrew Albright Leiser, the descendant, was born at Lewisburgh July 17, 1850; prepared for college in the public schools of the town, and at the Academy of the University, entering the college-with the " First Prize," given for the best prepara- tion for entrance-in September, 1865, and went through the full curriculum, and gra- duated in July, 1869, taking an oration of the first class, and having the valedictory, which is the highest honor. The rest of the year 1869 was spent as "second master" in Ren- wood Boarding School for Boys, New Brighton, Pa., and he began the year 1870 as instructor in the Academy of the University at Lewisburgh, and at the end of the year took charge of the Classical Preparatory Department in the same, during the absence of the principal, Freeman Loomis, in Europe (remaining there 1870-71). He then commenced the study of law with the Hon. George F. Miller, and was admitted May
term, 1874. In September, 1876, upon the resignation of the llon. Alfred Hayes, the district attorney, he was appointed district attorney, by Judge Bucher, for the balance of Mr llayes' term. In November, 1876, he was elected to the same office, and hell it for the term of three years ; elected a Republican, but there was no opposing candidate. While in college he was a member of one of the secret literary societies (4 K "), and had the honor of presiding at the Grand Arch Council of that fraternity, convened at Philadelphia in July, 1876 ; possibly the largest gathering of the sort in the history of the order. April 17, 1877, at Bethlehem, Pa., he was married to Miss Susan Matilda Brickenstein, daughter of John Chris- toph Brickenstein and Ann Sophia. His chil- dren are Andrew Albright Leiser, Jr., born at Lewisburgh, Pa., February 6, 1879, and Marie Leiser, born at the same place February 14, 1883. In May, 1881, he entered in partner- ship with the Hon. Charles L. Wolfe and Dale Wilson, under the style of Wolfe, Leiser & Wil- son. Wilson removed to Philadelphia in Octo- ber, 1882, and the partnership is now Wolfe & Leiser. He is a Republican, of the independ- ent type, and is a member of the church of his fathers-the Lutheran. We have of him a rare combination of that cross of blood which has brought Pennsylvania to the fore-German and Scotch-Irish.
DAVID HENRY GETZ, born October 31, 1844, in Lancaster County, was the son of William Getz and Fanny (Groff) Getz. His ancestors, paternal and maternal, came to this country nearly two hundred years ago, and were, on his father's side, among the earliest in Union County. IIe went to the Lebanon Valley In- stitute at Annville. His father moved to Union County in 1862, and David II. enlisted in Com- pany H (Captain Linn), Fifty-first Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, in February, 1861, which regiment, being in the Ninth Corps, joined the Army of the Potomac on the 6th of May, 1864, and, beginning at the Wilderness, he participated in every march, fight, victory and hardship of the corps until the triumph in the surrender of Petersburg. Discharged on the 27th of July, 1865, the same fall he
54
1200
UNION COUNTY.
entered the senior academie at the University of Lewisburgh, and continued there through the freshman year. Ile read law first in the office of Judge Bucher, in 1872; afterwards in the office of the HIon. C. S. Wolfe, and taught school in the mean time. He was admitted to the bar December 21, 1875; was elected dis- triet attorney in the fall of 1879, held the office for three years, and has since continued in his profession. He was married November 20, 1884.
JOHN FORSTER DUNCAN, EsQ. James Duncan, the grandfather, came to Lewisburgh in 1773, and built a cabin in connection with William McMurray. Owing to the Indian troubles, they returned to York County in the year 1782, and afterwards went to Fredericksburg, Va. Having had some disagreement with his father, he wrapped his clothes in a handker- chief, had one of his brothers row him across the Rappahannock, walked to Lewis- burgh and worked there as a laborer. His father allowed him to sell the tract of land he had, taking to himself all over fifty dollars. With the balance he went to Northumber- land, bought a stock of goods such as he could carry on horseback, and went to Aaronsburgh, in 1790. In 1800 he was the first sheriff of Centre County, built Elk Mills in 1817, and rebuilt Spring Mills in 1822, and, taking John Forster into partnership, Duncan & Forster became a well-known mercantile firm. retired from business in 18-10, and died October 14, 1845, at the age of ninety-five. W. Cook Duncan, the father, was married to Mary Jane, a danghter of John Forster, of Centre Mills, Centre County, who died December 16, 1878, at Lewisburgh, at the age of fifty-two. He was a member of the legislature, 1860, from Centre County, and removed to Lewisburgh September 3, 1863.
John F. Duncan was born at Millheim September 26, 1853; was gradnated from the University of Lewisburgh in 1875; read Law with Hon, George F. Miller, and was achinitted to the bar May 19, 1878, after which he spent a year at Harvard Law School. He was mar- ried, June 25, 1881, at Hastings, Minn., to Miss Clara L. Gardner, daughter of Stephen
Gardner. In connection with his profession, he established himself in the insurance business, and built up an active and extensive agency. Hle was elected district attorney in November 1882, and re-elected November 3, 1885. With a liberal education, a strong and persistent dis- position, a clear head and remarkably well- poised intellect, as well as erect and dignified carriage, his many engagements in his insur- ance business and active participation in manufacturing enterprise, being a stockholder in the nail-mill, has not prevented him from pursuing his profession in a steady, self-reliant way, that has enabled him to stand fairly and firmly in it. He has entire self-control, and in the negotiation and transaction of his pro- fessional business no ebullition of temper mars the steady and courteous management of it.
He was a stanch Republican : in the campaign of 1882, during the height of the independent movement he was the only one cleeted.
THE BAR.
CHARLES MAUS came from Northumberland County ; was admitted among the first who opened the court February 14, 1814, and open- ed an office in Mifflinburg. He had been admitted to the bar of Northumberland County at April term, 1800. There was then con- siderable rivalry between places to secure the location of the county-seat. The residents of Longstown (afterward New Berlin), employed Maus, and promised to give him a lot and to build him a good brick house if he succeeded in getting the county-seat at New Berlin. He went to Harrisburg and had the bill shaped, and the county-scat was located there, under the name of New Berlin. But, like so many of those kind of promises, the object attained, the promise is forgotten. There was no lot con- veyed, no house built. Maus moved to New Berlin in 1815, when the county-seat was located ; removed to Sunbury June 21, 1816, then to Mahoning township, Columbia County. In the year 1822 he returned to New Berlin, and died May 7, 1830, and his remains were interred in the cemetery above New Berlin.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.