USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical > Part 114
USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical > Part 114
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He was admitted to practice May 3, 1826, and his private docket shows him to have been successful from the start. He had a very large acquaintance in "the Upper End," was able to speak German, and otherwise possessed many qualifications then valued and essential to practice with profit. The celebrated Me Elhenny murder case, in which he saved his client from the gallows, gave him a marked prominence.
. He was also attorney for various officers of the county, turnpike companies, etc.
He was elected to the Legislature in 1833-34, and again for the session of 1834-35. During this time . he was the coadjutor of Thaddeus Stevens in his great conflict against the powers of darkness and ignorance for the establishment of the common-school system of 1834. The friendship of Ayres and Stevens
In 130, William Ayres was elected to the Town Council, and the circumstance proved a fortunate one
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
for Harrisburg. He at once brought his great ener- gies to bear on a project for the introduction of Sus- quehanna water into the borough. The idea seemed so premature that it was deemed faneiful and imprac- tieable. Nevertheless, he alone was the mean- of its accomplishment, which he did by borrowing funds from the United States Bank, of which he was then a director. Harrisburg received water in seven | months' time from breaking ground, and this despite of much opposition from the old fogies.
1
His directorship in the United States Bank tat Philadelphia) was at the invitation of the famous Nicholas Biddle, who presented him with stock and had him elected ; having selected him as "a country gentleman to complete the board of directors."
Harrisburg, and having obtained an act of incorpora- tion he went vigorously to work, as was always his way, and Harrisburg was lighted with gas.
The incorporation of the Pennsylvania Railroad, about 1846, was a project in which he was much in- terested, and he gave his time and services on the " Hill" gratuitously.
By this time there was not a man in Central Penn- sylvania more widely known for his spirit, energy, and capacity in matters of public improvement. As a result, he was engaged by the citizens of Hunting- don to lead a project in their coal region,-the Hunt- ingdon and Broad Top Railroad. After securing the necessary legislation, he was elected president Jan. 10, 1853. Ile was obliged to spend so much of his
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WILLIAM AYRES.
Having thus embarked in public enterprise, even | time at Huntingdon that he could only give the road to the great sacrifice of his legal practice, he next ; a good start; but he left its completion to others. sought to obtain a free bridge over the river, but he , He relinquished his position with honor, the com- could not obtain sufficient aid in subscriptions to buy pany voluntarily presenting him two thousand dollars in cash and stock. out the old company. He was mainly instrumental in getting up the then new prison to replace the old jail.
He was an active supporter of Gen. Harrison for President ; and the Harrison letters, still preserved. show that William Ayres was his confidential friend at the capital of Pennsylvania. He had been also the advocate of Governor Ritner, whose confidential correspondence is also preserved.
The successful introduction of water encouraged him to attempt the formation of a gas company at
He immediately took up a more convenient enter- prise, the Harrisburg and Hamburg Railroad, a rival line to the Lebanon Valley Railroad. He became president of the company, obtained subscriptions, and had the route surveyed, with the intention of begin- aing active operations in the spring of 1856. The winter of 1855-56 was devoted to office work by the engineer- at Jone-town.
But William Ayres' iron constitution was erumb- ling by the insidious action of heart-disease. He was
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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY.
unable to give his own active duty or instill his own energy into others, and the railroad languished just when it should have progressed.
Mr. Ayres died, after some months' illness, May 26, 1856. His fellow-citizens united with his associates of the bar in attesting the loss of one in whom the capital of Pennsylvania found her most enterprising and energetic citizen, ever ready to labor and sacri- fice for the public good. and one who, having many opportunities to have made himself rich, could never be tempted or bribed, proved unflinchingly honest, and died poor. *
MAJ. JOEL BAILEY.
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Joel Bailey, son of Joseph an.I Lydia Bailey, was born Sept. 26, 1789, in Penn's Manor, Bucks Co., Pa. He learned the trade of a blacksmith, but late in life became a contractor on the public works. He came to Harrisburg shortly after his majority. He was first lieutenant of Capt. R. M. Crain's company in the war of 1812-14, and for many years subsequent was brigade inspector and a prominent military officer. In 1821 he was appointed one of the commissioners to fix the site of the seat of justice of Juniata County, and for a number of years was keeper of the State arsenal at Harrisburg. He was burgess of the bor- ough in 1832, and served several terms as a member of Council. Maj. Bailey was a very active politician. an influential citizen, and a high-toned and upright gentleman, who had the respect and esteem of all who knew him. He died at Harrisburg on the 16th of October, 1845. He married, March 10, 1814, Elizabeth Seidle, of Berks County, who died Aug. 14, 1875, aged eighty-three years.
JOHN C. BARNITZ.
John Charles Barnitz, son of George Barnitz (1770 -1844) and Maria Catharine Spangler (1769-1824), was born Feb. 26. 1795, at York, Pa. His ancestors were early settlers in York, and among the more prominent in the business and political affairs of that section. John C. was educated in the schools of York, and learned the occupation of a brewer. In 1831 he removed with his family to Harrisburg, pur- chased the lot on the corner of Third and Locust Streets, whereon he built a brewery the same year, and which he managed for a long period. He died Jan. 31, 1872, at Harrisburg. He was an active and energetic citizen, and in the First Lutheran Church, with which he was connected many years, filled re- sponsible positions, and was organist until the burn- ing of the First Church building, and also of the German Lutheran Church. Mr. Barnitz married, Oct. 17, 1820, Elizabeth Kunkel, born May 9, 1799, at Harrisburg, where she died Jan. 19, 1850, daughter of Christian Kunkel and Elizabeth Weltzbover.
HENRY BEADER, SR.
Henry Beader, son of Peter and Susannah Beader, was born in 1763, in Paxtang township, Lancaster .
(now Danphin) Co., Pa. He received an education such as the schools of the period afforded, and was brought up on his father's farm until his seventeenth year. In 1779 he was in Capt. Rutherford's company which marched to Bedford County to protect the se :- tlers there from the Indians while gathering their crops. He learned the business of a brewer, in which he established himself at Harrisburg shortly after its founding. He became quite prominent in the affairs of the new town and county, and served as one of the commissioners of the county from 1792 to 1794, and from 1797 to 1799; was county treasurer from 1806 to 1800, and commissioned by Governor Snyder regis- ter and recorder of Dauphin County, an office he filled acceptably until his death, which occurred Aug. 13. 1816, at Harrisburg, aged fifty-three years. Mr. Beader married Margaretta Horter, daughter of Valentine Horter and Magdalena Reis (born 1768; died 1847), at Harrisburg, and with her husband there buried. Their children were Henry, died unmarried, a gentle- man who always took a deep interest in the prosperity of his native town; was a member of the Borough Council many years, a justice of the peace, and at the time of his death an alderman of the city ; Elizabeth, married John Jacob Miller ; Catharine, married, first, Nicholas B. Wood, second, Montgomery Kirk ; John Louis, d. s. p .; Mary Anna, married Thomas Cooch ; Peter, died unmarried ; and Susan, married, first, David Beisel, second, John Pricer.
CAPT. JAMES BEATTY.
Prior to the laying out of the town of Harrisburg came James Beatty and family, locating there. From the family record, in the possession of his descendants, we have this entry : "That my children may know the place of their nativity I, James Beatty, was born in the Kingdom of Ireland. and County of Down, Parish of Hillsborough and Townland of Ballykeel- Ednagonnel, in the year of our Lord 1746, and came to America in the year 1784. My wife, Ally Ann Irwin, was born in said kingdom, county and parish. and Townland of Tillynore, within two miles of Hills- borough, three of Lisburn, three miles of Dromore, and six miles of Bally-nahinch,1 and ten of Belfast, which last place we sailed from the 27th of June, 1,84." In the fall of this year he was settled at Har- risburg, and thus became one of its first inhabitants.
It may not be out of place in this connection to refer to the ancestors of James Beatty. After the battle of the Boyne there was a large influx of Scotch families into the north of Ireland. Among them was that of James Beatty, who located in the county of Down. The building he erected, known as " Syca- more Lodge," is yet standing, and has never been out of the occupancy of a James Beatty. It was here that the subject of our sketch was born. The first James Beatty was at the head of a very large
1 Means " Town of the Island."
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
family, some of whose descendants remain in the , county auditor. He was elected a burgess of the land of their nativity, but the greater portion are seattered over many States of the Federal Union. He was a Covenanter of the old school, and a prom- inent member of the Anahilt congregation, near which church repose the remains of himself and a portion of five or -ix generations following.
His son, William Beatty, was the father of Capt. James Beatty. He died at Ballykeel-Ednagonnell in February, 1754, and was buried in Anahilt glebe. " The grave," writes one of his descendants, "is cov- ered with a flat tombstone, and with the exception of the name nothing can be traced, owing to the wear and tear of the weather and the continual friction of passing feet. The central portion of the stone has been worn perfectly smooth." William Beatty mar- ried, in 1741, Mary McKee, and had i-sue.
A few months after the death of his father, James Beatty, his wife and children came to America. He became the purchaser of a number of lots in the town of Harrisburg, some of which remain in pos- session of his descendants. He became quite prom- inent in his adopted home, and held several official positions under the borough charter. He died on the . Council, and took a deep interest in the prosperity of Ist of December, 1794, at the age of forty-eight, com- paratively a young man. He was buried in the Pres- byterian graveyard, of which church he held mem- bership.
Capt. Beatty married, in 1768. Alice Ann Irwin, daughter of Gawin Irwin and Mary Breretou, of Tullynore. She died in Harrisburg, June, 1805.
In personal appearance Capt. Beatty was about five feet eight inches, thick et, florid complexion, dark hair, and blue eyes. He was an active and energetic business man, and his death was a great loss to the young town.
GEORGE BEATTY.
George Beatty, youngest son of James Beatty and Alice Ann Irwin, was boru in the Townland of Bally- keel-EInagonnell, county Down, Ireland, Jan. 4, 1781. His father emigrated to America in the sum- mer of 1784, locating at Harrisburg the same year. The elder Beatty dying in 1794, the son, after re- ceiving a regular school education, learned the watch- and clock-making with his brother-in-law, Samuel Hill, whose eloeks are more or less celebrated to this day. In 1808, Mr. Beatty established himself in busi- ness, which he continued uninterruptedly for up- wards of forty years. He was an ingenious mechan- ician, and constructed several clocks of peculiar and rare invention. In 1814 he was orderly sergeant of Capt. Thomas Walker's company, the Harrisburg Volunteers, which marched to the defense of the city of Baltimore. Mr. Beatty in early life took a promi- nent part in local affairs, and as a consequence way frequently solicited to become a candidate for office, but he almost invariably declined. He nevertheless served a term as director of the poor, and also as
borough, and was a member of the Town Couneil sev- eral years, and while serving in the latter capacity, was one of the prime movers in the efforts to supply the borough with water Had his suggestions, how- ever, been carried out, the water-works and reservoir would have been located above the present city limits. Mr. Beatty retired from a successful business life about 1850. He died at Harrisburg on the 10th of March, 1862, aged eighty-one years, and is interred in the Harrisburg cemetery. He was an active, en- terprising, and an upright Christian gentleman.
WILLIAM BELL.
William Bell was born at Jaysburg, Pa., in 1790. His education was limited, and was in early life, - owing to the accidental death of his father by drown- ing, apprentieed to the trade of a carpenter. Ile came to Harrisburg during the erection of the capitol, and was employed by Mr. Hills until its completion. He carried on the business until 1829. when he estab- lished a grocery, which he conducted until his death. He served frequently as a member of the Borough his adopted home. He died at Harrisburg, on the 20th of May. 1847, aged fifty-seven years. Mr. Bell . married in 1819, Elizabeth Hutman, daughter of Matthias and Catharine Hutman, born in 1792: died Feb. 28, 1868, at Harrisburg. Their children were. Catharine, George, William, Maria (married Edward Curzon), Ann, and Elizabeth.
GEORGE BERGNER.
George Bergner was a native of the village of Neun- kirchen, a few miles distant from the free city of Bremen, in the kingdom of Hanover, where he was born on the 6th of June, 1818. He came to America at the age of twelve years, and reaching Readin, Pa , he apprenticed himself to Engelman, a printer and a well-known almanac-maker. with whom he served his time. In 1834 he came to Harrisburg, and worked as a compositor on the different German new -- papers and journals. In 1838 he was sent by the ex- eentive committee of the anti-Masonic party to som- erset, Pa., to publish a German campaign paper, and during the Harrison campaign was sent on a similar service to New Bloomfield, Perry Co. In 1841 he purchased the Vaterland Waechter of his former en- ployer, Mr. Ehrenfried. During the Know-Nothing campaign of 1854 he published the american, in op- po-ition to the tenets of that then dominant party. The following year he purchased the Telegraph, which be soon established on a successful and permanent basis. From 1857 to his death he was the publisher of the Legislative Recor.l. In 1861, Mr. Bergner wu- appointed by President Lincoln postmaster at Har- risburg. fle was removed by President John-en in 1866, but upon the election of President Grant he wa- reappointed to the position, au office he held at he
30
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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY.
time of his death. During the Rebellion his pen and his purse were at the service of the Union, while he himself went ont as a private soldier in the First Regiment Pennsylvania Militia, during the invasion of the State in 1862. Mr. Bergner's life wa- an active one, and yet, apart from his own business affairs and official position, much of his time was given to the publie. For many years he was one of the inspectors of the Dauphin County prison, was a trustee of the State Lunatic Asyhun. vice-president of the Pennsyl- vania Agricultural Society, bank director, ete. His business career was a very successful one. He died at Harrisburg, after a very brief illness, Aug. 5, 1874, aged fifty-six years.
REV. WILLIAM BERTRAM.
William Bertram, of respectable parentage, was born Feb. 2, 1074, in the city of Edinburgh, Seot- land. He received his education in the university of his native place, studied for the ministry, and was lieen-ed by the Presbytery of Bangor, Ireland. who gave him " ample testimonials of his ordination, min- isterial qualification-, and regular Christian conver-a- tion." He married, abont 1706, Elizabeth Gille-pie, and their children were John and Elizabeth. During one of those periodical political excitements in the FREDERICK BOAS. British Isles the son disappeared, and his parents, Frederick Boas, son of Rev. William Boas, was born at Reading, Pa .. July 3, 1785. His parents were emigrants from Germany and came over with the Muhlenbergs. Frederick learned the trade of a eop- persmith and tin-plate worker at Reading, but com- menced business for himself at Kutztown. He came to Harrisburg in 1511, where he carried on his trade successfully. He was an enterprising citizen, and although quiet and unobtrusive, a representative man in the community. He died at Harrisburg June 13, 1317, aged thirty-one years. Mr. Boas married, May 17, 1811, Elizabeth, daughter of David Krause and Regina Orth, of Lebanon, who survived her husband many years, leaving two chiklren, Frederick Krause and Elmina (Mrs. William Jennings). under the impression he had come to America, they determined. if po -- ible, to a-certain his whereabouts, and came to Pennsylvania about the year 1730; but failing in their search they decided to remain in this country, and the following year we find him unani- mously received by Donegal Presbytery, which he joined. At the same time George Renick presented him an invitation to settle at Paxtang and Derry, which he accepted. He was installed Nov. 17. 1732, 'at the meeting-house on Swatara. The congregation then appointed representatives. "On this side, Thomas Forster, George Reniek, William Cunningham, and Thomas Mayes : on the other side, Rowland Cham- ber-, Hugh Black, Robert Campbell. John Willson, William Will-on, James Quigley, William McCord, and John Sloan." They executed to Bertram the JACOB BOAS. right and title to the "Indian town tract." situated in Hanover township, on the north side of the Swa- tara, containing three hundred and fifty acres. On the settlement of Rev. Bertram the congregation in Swatara took the name of Derry, and the upper eon- gregation, on Spring Creek, was styled Paxtang. In 1735, Mr. Bertram complained of the "intolerable burden" he was under with the two congregations, and Sept. 13, 1736, he was released from the care of Paxtang. The Rev. William Bertram died ou the 2d of May, 1746, aged seventy-two, and his remains are interred in Derry Church graveyard, his wife dying prior thereto. He was a faithful minister of the go -- pel. It may be stated that through his marriage AARON BOMBAUGH. with Mix. Gillespie his descendants became heirs to - Aaron Bombangh, son of Abraham Bombangh an 1 a handsome estate in Edinburgh. Efforts were made . Catharine Reehm, was born Feb. 12, 1603, at Harris-
to secure this, but the difficulties inherent upon proving descent, we pre-ume, have been the means of keeping the rightful parties from enjoying this patri- mony.
SAMUEL S. BIGLER.
Samuel Smith Bigler, son of John Bigler, was born in 1815, in Harrisburg, Pa. His educational advan- tages were limited to the schools of the borough and the printing-office. He learned the art in the estab- lishment of Jacob Babb, who then published the Morgenrothe, a newspaper with which he subsequently became identified as part proprietor and editor. Later in life he established himself in the lumber business, in which he was quite successful. He was a gentleman of energy and great force of character. In private life he was sociable, generons-hearted, and of agreeable manners. Well informed, he took a keen interest in public affairs, and withal conserva- tive in his views of measures and men. He died at Harrisburg on the 16th of June, 1880, aged sixty-five years. Mr. Bigler married Sarah Ann Finley Laird, daughter of Andrew Finley Laird and Mary chrom, who with five children survive.
Jacob Boas, brother of the preceding and son of the Rev. William Boas, was born at Reading. Pa., in 1780. He was brought up to mercantile pursnit- and eame to Harrisburg in 1805, where he established himself in business. Ile served as a member of the Borough Council, and was commissioned by Governor Snyder, Feb. 6, 1809, prothonotary and clerk of the Courts of Quarter Sessions, and died while in office, on the 5th of October, Is15. Mr. Boas married Sarah, daughter of Jacob Dick, of Reading. They had five -ons, William D., Jacob D., John, Augustns F., and Daniel D.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
burg, Pa. He was educated at the private schools of the town, and at the old Academy. He was placed early in youth to the trade of a hatter with Jacob Shoemaker, of Harrisburg, and at his majority went to Philadelphia for instructions as a finisher, and while there became a member of the " Association of Journeymen Hatters," being entered March 2, 1824. He returned to his native town and established him- self in business, which he followed several years, until he was obliged to relinquish it, owing to impaired health, which had been affected by the dyes used in coloring the felt. He then assumed charge of his father's extensive limestone quarry, conducting that business with marked success. Like hi- father and grandfather before him, Mr. Bombaugh took a promi- nent part in municipal affairs, and frequently served in the Borough Council. From 1838 to 1844 he served as treasurer of the county of Dauphin, a position he filled ethiciently and acceptably. He was one of the first advocates for the establishment of a lunatic hos- pital by the State for the insane poor of the common- wealth, and greatly aided Miss Dix in her efforts to secure State assistance for the inauguration of those noble charities which have so distinguished Penn- sylvania. He was one of the first trustees of the institution located at Harrisburg. Having several farms near the city, the latter years of hi- life were passed in their management. He died at Harrisburg on the 13th of December, IS77, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. He was an early Abolitionist. as the anti-slavery men were denominated, a decided anti- Mason in the days of that crusade, and with well-de- fined and positive convictions was ready to encounter any amount of obloquy in their defense. During the Rebellion he devoted his time and means to the care and comfort of the Pennsylvania soldiers in camp and hospital. He was the last survivor of the Unita- rian Society established by the Rev. Mr. Kay, and which, from successive deaths and lack of fresh ac- cessions, melted away many years since.
Mr. Bombaugh was twice married,-first, on May 3, 1827, to Mira Lloyd, daughter of Joseph Lloyd, an attorney-at-law, of Philadelphia, born there in 1809. and died Jau. 1, 1853, at Harrisburg, and their chil- dren were Dr. Charles Carroll, now of Baltimore, Md .; Lavinia, married Gilliard Dock, of Harrisburg; Alexander, d. s. p .; Catharine, married Junius B. Kaufman, a lawyer, of Lancaster, Pa. ; and Julia, married Dr. Grafton, of Baltimore. Of these only Dr. C. C. Bombaugh and Mrs. Kaufman are living. Mr. Bombaugh married, secondly, Julia Duncan, of Dunean's Island, who survives.
ABRAHAM BOMBAUGH.
Abraham Bombaugh, son of Conrad Bombaugh and Esther Zell, was born in 1770 in Paxtany town-hip, Lancaster (now Dauphin) Co., Pa. He received a fair German education, and entered mercantile life. subsequently, however, turning his attention to farm- .
ing. His father, being a man of considerable inthi- ence in the young town, gave Abraham prominence, and being a gentleman of energy and activity, apart from his business tact, he was not long in winning his way to popular favor. As early as lans he was a member of the Town Council, and for a period of twenty-five years thereafter held a position therein. In 1809 he was chief burgess of the borough, and later on in life, from 1>2% to 1881, elected to the same office. He was one of the county commissioners from 1$32 to Is35, and for one or two terms was a director of the poor. Mr. Bombaugh died April 29, 1844, at Ilarris- burg. He married, March 18, 1802, Catharine Reehm, born July 14, 1770, died March 22, 1:55. They had Aaron, married Mira Lloyd, of Philadelphia ; Catha- rine, d. s. p. ; and Sarah, married David Hummel.
CONRAD BOMBAUGH.
Conrad Bombaugh, son of George Bombaugh, was born at Middletown. Pa., about 1750. He was a mill- wright by profession, and established the first mill at Standing Stone, now Huntingdon. About the com- mencement of the Revolution he located at High-pire. and when the county of Dauphin was organized, in 1785, we find him a resident of the new town, Ile was a prominent citizen of Harri-burg, was the senior burgess of the borough during the Whiskey Insurrec- tion, and signed the address to Gen. Washington on passing through Harrisburg westward. He died in April, 1821, aged seventy-one; married Catharine Zell, and they had one child. Abraham.
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