USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lives of the eminent dead and biographical notices of prominent living citizens of Montgomery County, Pa. > Part 15
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Samuel M. Hamill, the second surviving son of Robert and Isa- bella Hamill, having prepared for college with Dr. George Junkin, at Germantown and Easton, was graduated with honor at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1834, and entered the ministry of the Presbyterian church. He was licensed by the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, and ordained by the Presbytery of New Brunswick. He accepted an appointment as instructor of Latin and Greek lan- guages in the male High School at Lawrenceville, New Jersey, im- mediately after his graduation from college, and a few years later became Principal of the institution, which position he has filled with marked success for many years. His enthusiasm for youth, equable temperament, ripe scholarship, ability as a teacher, earnest christian character, together with an unusual executive ability, form a remarkable combination of qualities that peculiarly adapted him for this position. Few have been so successful and industrious in training youth to be patriotic, useful and good men. And hundreds throughout this and other lands are living witnesses of his power as a teacher and his excellence as a christian. He still acts as chap- lain of the institution over which he has so long presided. He has often been called to deliver public addresses, and has written many articles on education and other subjects for publication, the result of his experience and observation at home and abroad.
He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Rutger's Col- lege, New Jersey, and also from Hanover College, Indiana. For many years he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the theological seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, and Vice President. Now he is President of the New Jersey Historical Society, and by
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ROBERT HAMILL.
appointment of the Supreme Court of that Commonwealth one of the managers of the State Asylum for the Insane at Trenton.
He married Matilda, only daughter of Richard M. Green, Esq., of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and has four children living-two sons, educated at Princeton College, and two daughters.
Robert Hamill, the youngest son of Robert Hamill, Sr., was pre- pared for college at Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and graduated at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1839. He pursued his theo- logical course also at Princeton, New Jersey, and was for some years a teacher in the High School at Lawrenceville. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New York, and ordained to the work of the ministry by the Presbytery of Huntingdon, Pennsyl- vania. He has been settled for many years as pastor at Lemont, in Penn's Valley, Centre county, Pennsylvania. He lias been Mod- erator of the Synod of Philadelphia, and subsequently of the Synod of Harrisburg. For a number of years he has also been a trustee of Lafayette College and a director of the theological seminary at Princeton, New Jersey. He is widely known in central Pennsyl- vania as an able and popular preacher. By his marriage to Mar- garet, daughter of John Lyon, Esq., late of Pittsburg, he has six children, who are in a course of education. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him also by the trustees of the college of New Jersey at Princeton. He has had repeated pressing invita- tions to other fields of labor, but has clung to his home among the mountains of his native State, where his labors have been greatly blessed and his influence for good extensively felt.
[NOTE .- In the foregoing sketch of the Hamill family, on page 150, eleventh line, the word "took" should be "takes," and the last four lines on page 152 should read: "For many years he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the theological semi nary at Princeton, New Jersey, and Vice President, now President, of the New Jersey Historical Society," etc.]
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HON. DAVID KRAUSE, LL.D.
HON. DAVID KRAUSE, LL.D.
Ifis moral qualities were in perfect harmony with those of his intellect. Duty was the ruling principle of his conduct .- Spark's Washington.
David Krause was the youngest son of David and Regina Krause, of Lebanon, Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, and was born in that town November 2d, 1800. . His father was a farmer, who enjoyed the honorable record of having been a Captain through the Revolutionary war, and Colonel and Paymaster during the war of 1812. He had also been a member of the State Legislature while the sessions were held in Philadelphia, and finally was an Associate Judge of his native county. His mother's father had also been an officer in the Revolutionary army.
Being thus distinguished by his ancestry, young David did not fancy the business of his father; so, after acquiring the rudiments in the common schools of the time as he grew to- ward manhood, he obtained further instruction from Rev. Mr. Ernst, Lutheran minister of Lebanon, under whom he was fitted to enter upon some higher career than that of a farmer, for which his father had designed him. When approaching ma- jority he conceived the idea of going to West Point, and wrote a letter to John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, and proba- bly also through the friendly offices of Mr. Buchanan, obtained a commission to that effect. Owing to the opposition of his parents, however, he was prevented from accepting it, and was sent, instead, to the law office of Hon. Jonathan Walker, United States District Judge at Pittsburg, where, in due time, in com- pany with the Judge's son, the late Hon. Robert J. Walker, he was admitted to the bar.
Having thus qualified himself for the business of life, he re- turned to Lebanon, opened an office, and commenced practice.
Shortly after, the Gubernatorial election of 1823 coming on, he took an active part in the canvass in favor of his distin- guished fellow-townsman, John Andrew Shulze, who had just been nominated. After his election the Governor chose Mr. Krause as private secretary, he serving him in this capacity for several years.
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HON. DAVID KRAUSE, LL.D.
In 1825, having been found to wield a ready pen, he became associated with Simon Cameron, then State printer, as editor and reporter for the Pennsylvania Intelligencer, the Democratic organ of the administration, they doing all the English State printing, and employing a large number of hands. He con- tinued to fill these positions till the election of President Jack- son, in 1828, when he sold out his interest to his partner, and returned to practice again.
It should have been stated before that on the arrival of Gen- eral Lafayette in Philadelphia, late in 1824, Governor Shulze, his secretary, and a cavalcade, went down to that city to invite the nation's guest to Harrisburg. Arriving at Norristown on Saturday evening, they laid over as the guests of Hon. Philip S. Markley, who was then one of our most prominent citizens, till Monday, when they proceeded on their mission, and in due time the General came to Harrisburg.
About the beginning of January, 1829, Frederick Smith, be- ing Attorney General, appointed Mr. Krause his deputy for Dauphin county, which position he held about a year, until Governor Wolf took the chair of State, when he was super_ ceded, and he returned again to practice.
In 1835 he was nominated to the lower house of Assembly for Dauphin county, on the Whig ticket, and elected. During the ensuing session (1835-36) he voted to recharter the United States Bank as a State institution. This session was also dis- tinguished for the widening of the free school system and an enlargement of public improvements then in progress. All of these measures had Mr. Krause's earnest support. From the close of his one year's legislative service till the nomination of David R. Porter for Governor, in 1838, he was practicing his profession and taking little interest in politics. He espoused the cause of Porter, however, who was " the best abused man in the State," and on his triumphant election Mr. Krause took editorial charge of the State Journal in the support of his ad- ministration. In the meantime he practiced law in Harrisburg till January, 1845, when, just at the close of the Governor's term, there occurred a vacancy on the bench of Montgomery and Bucks counties through the transference of Judge Burn-
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HON. DAVID KRAUSE, LL.D.
side to the Supreme Court. This post, unasked, was tendered' to Mr. Krause, but before his acceptance could be certified Governor Shunk came into office and confirmed the appoint- ment, though solicited by Krause's enemies to withhold it .. Judge Krause accepted the position, took his seat September 17th, 1845, and continued to occupy the bench of our district acceptably, residing in Norristown, till the expiration of the term (1851), when the elective judiciary, under the Constitu- tion of 1838, was to go into effect. Prominent men of both parties tendered him the nomination before the people for the post, but being opposed on principle to an elective judiciary,. Judge Krause positively declined, preferring to return to prac- tice, which he did till the time of his death in June, 1871.
As a legislator and judge the subject of our notice was al- ways distinguished for a bold and fearless discharge of what. he regarded as right; and it may be recorded to his credit that: not many of his rulings were reversed by the Supreme Court. Among the members of the latter Judges Gibson and Rogers. were his intimate friends. Whether as a legislator, judge, or citizen, he was a man of positive convictions, and did what he: thought his duty; hence in his early political life he was often cast athwart party movements, thus seeming to lack political consistency.
Having thus given a rapid and imperfect sketch of Judge- Krause as a public man, it only remains to fill out the remain -- ing incidents of his private life and those of his family.
As his name indicates he was German in genealogy, his; family coming from Prussia. German, in fact, was his vernacu- lar, as his accent proved as long as he lived. In September,. 1825, he was married to Catharine Orr, a lady of much cul -. ture, who had long resided in Philadelphia. Their children. still living are: Mary, intermarried with Dr. Mahlon Preston,. of Norristown; Frederica, wife of Dr. H. O. Witman, of Har- risburg; Anne; David, now Captain of the Fourteenth In -. fantry, who was during the rebellion appointed to a command: by Hon. Simon Cameron, then Secretary of War; William, the youngest, who was also appointed by Secretary Cameron, ever the fast friend of the family, to a cadetship at West Point. He
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HON. DAVID KRAUSE, LL.D.
subsequently graduated with honor, and is now serving as a Lieutenant in the Third Infantry in the West.
In person Judge Krause was about the medium height, but lightly built, his whole exterior indicating a man in whom the intellectual and moral predominated over the animal and sel- fish. Few men had more suavity and winning manners or a 'kinder heart. Early in life he had entered the communion of the Reformed church, and continued a member while he lived. His early friendship with General Simon Cameron, his first ¡partner, continued during his whole life, and the latter was in attendance at his funeral. One chapter of his life remains to ibe recorded. It has been stated that he was of Revolutionary 'lineage. Accordingly, when the rebellion broke out in 1861, there was no voice more bold or outspoken than his in denun- ciation of the secessionists who had drawn the sword for the propagation of slavery.
When Lee invaded our border in 1862, about the time of the battle of Antietam, he marched in the ranks to near Sharps- Iburg with a company hastily organized to assist in repelling 'the enemy, serving two weeks. Again, in 1863, when Gover- nor Curtin called for " emergency men" to aid in driving back the invaders, he and a few more concerted a Sunday meeting . at the court house in Norristown, and his voice with others "was heard calling " To arms!" And when two companies were ·organized the next day, the old Judge's name, though in his sixty-third year, was booked as a private in Company I, Forty- third Regiment, in which the writer also served with him six weeks guarding mills on the Potomac. During this emer- ·gency call of Governor Curtin he performed every duty per- taining to the common soldier, kept up with "the boys" on the march, and was mustered out at Harrisburg with the regi- ment.
In 1862 the Republicans of our county were so impressed with Judge Krause's earnest loyalty that they nominated him for Congress, and he stumped the district in hearty defence of the Union cause, but the period being one of doubt and uncer- tainty as to the final issue of the war, he was not elected.
It only remains to say that being thus patriotic and unself-
158
DANIEL H. MULVANY, ESQ.
ish, and having often endorsed for friends to his hurt, he did not accumulate wealth. Shortly after coming to Norristown, however, he bought the "Whitby" house, on an eminence west of the town, which some years after he sold, and erected a cot- tage near the court house, where he died June 13th, 1871, in the seventy-second year of his age, universally respected. He was buried in Montgomery Cemetery. His consort survived him about four years.
The following resolution on his demise was unanimously adopted by the bar, accompanied by numerous feeling re- marks:
Resolved, That in mourning the decease of this eminent member of our profession, we desire to record our sense of the virtues which adorned his character; that we esteemed him as a public-spirited and useful citizen ; a man of kindly and generous impulses, ever ready to give aid in furtherance of benevolent works; whose genial nature and amiability of character endeared him to every circle into which he entered; and that we will ever remember him as an hon- est legislator, an upright judge, an able, conscientious lawyer, with- out guile, and without reproach.
DANIEL H. MULVANY, EsQ.
And, breathing high ambition through his soul, Set science, wisdom, glory in his view -.- Thomson.
Daniel H. Mulvany, a distinguished member of the Mont- gomery county bar, and the son of Thomas and Mary Mul- vany, of Upper Merion township, was born November 12th, 1809. His mother was a Hitner. His paternal ancestry came from Ireland. Martha Davis, daughter of Arthur Davis, Esq., of Coot Hill, County Caven, a woman of great beauty and fine intellectual endowments, was his grandmother. She was in- termarried with P. Mulvany, Esq. Daniel H. Mulvany re- ceived his early education under the care of Alan W. Corson and others. At the age of seventeen he went to Reading, where his scholastic course was continued for two years, at the expiration of which time he became a student in the law office of A. L. King, Esq., of that place, remaining there one
159
DANIEL H. MULVANY, ESQ.
year. He returned to Montgomery county in 1829, and con- tinued his legal studies with Hon. Philip Kendall, with whom he remained two years. He was admitted to the Montgomery county bar April 11th, 1831. Soon after his admission he be- came associated with the late Hon. John Freedley, who was then enjoying a very extensive practice. This arrangement continued until near the time of the election of Governor Rit- ner, when his Attorney General appointed Mr. Mulvany the deputy for Montgomery county, which position he successfully filled until the election of Porter, who appointed G. Rodman Fox to supercede him.
During his official term a very remarkable case occurred. Six young railroad surveyors or engineers, some of them sons of wealthy and influential families in Philadelphia, were indicted for murder. George M. Dallas and other distinguished coun- sel were employed for the defence. It was a trial of intense nterest to the whole community. Mr. Mulvany felt his great responsibility as counsel for the prosecution, and, though a very young man, conducted his case so ably as not only to have the approbation of the Attorney General of the Commonwealth but also the commendation of the opposite counsel.
While holding this office he became extensively known, and had a large practice in the Court of Common Pleas. In 1837 he married Julia, daughter of Dr. Joseph Leedom, of Plymouth, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. She still survives him, and is living at Elmwood, the family mansion, in West Norris- town. They had four children, all daughters: Eleanor, who died in childhood; Emma Louisa, intermarried with Dr. John C. Spear, Surgeon in the United States Navy; Julia Leedom. the third daughter, intermarried with Valentine H. Stone, United States Army, who, with her husband, died of yellow- fever in 1867 at Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, Florida, while he was in command of that post; Bertha Conover, the young- est daughter, died in Savannah, Georgia, in 1874, whither she had gone for her health.
Mr. Mulvany had fine intellectual endowments, a quick perception of the ideal and elegant, which at once gave him rank as a leading advocate at the bar. His temperament was
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DANIEL H. MULVANY, ESQ.
fine; naturally gentle, but earnest; his self-control remarkable! It is said that during the forty years of his legal life he was never in any forensic tilt betrayed into discourtesy to an oppo- nent, but was ever the gentleman. In addressing a jury there was always a classic refinement of manner, a clearness of logic, a persuasiveness of tone, which took the listener over to his view of the cause. His candor, perspicuity, gentleness of enun- ciation, and elegance of diction, procured for him the sobriquet of the " silver-tongued."
He was an accomplished scholar, a reader of not only law but literature. In every department of law he was con- sidered safe authority. His literary taste and aptitude for ele- gant composition were so well known that on most public oc- casions he was made chairman of committee on resolutions, drafting such papers with great skill and judgment and to pub- lic acceptance. Though well calculated to serve the people in a public position, he never sought preferment at their hands, and frequently declined proposals of that kind, preferring the practice of his profession, of which he was very fond. To the young members of the bar he was ever ready to lend a help- ing hand. Though not an office-seeking politician, he was ready on all occasions to serve his party, the old line Whigs, with his influence or to speak on great occasions. He was, however, run for Congress in 1836, and again in 1856 and de- feated by Owen Jones. He was always decidedly anti-slavery in his instincts. When the rebellion broke out, being a strong Republican and denouncer of the rebels, he took an active part in raising and equipping a company of cavalry, of which he was elected and commissioned Captain. Accordingly, in the summer of 1862, when the State was invaded by General Lee, he felt it his duty, although well advanced in years and not in robust health, to respond to the call of the Governor, and marched to the border with his company, doing good service a few weeks while the danger by invasion existed.
Mr. Mulvany died of acute pneumonia May 18th, 1873. He is buried in Montgomery Cemetery.
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HON. JACOB S. YOST.
HON. JACOB S. YOST.
A man of ideas, of will and of talent, a gentleman by birth, a Democrat from con- viction .- Parton.
Jacob S. Yost, the son of John and Anna Maria Senewell Yost, was born in Pottsgrove township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, July 29th, 1801, on the Yost farm, which has been in the possession of his ancestors and of himself and family for one hundred and ten years. He was descended from an old German stock, who emigrated from the Rhine to this country a century and a half ago.
Jacob S. Yost had a large, active brain, which gave him a desire for more education than he could procure in his native place. Accordingly after the death of his parents (his father dying July 13th, 1819, and his mother September 3d, 1822) he went to the old Fourth Street Academy in Philadelphia, where he studied the higher branches of mathematics and surveying, and prepared himself by a course of study for an active busi- ness life. He was married in 1826 to Ann M. Childe, of Potts- town, by whom he had four children, Anna Maria, Thomas W., Jacob A., and Annie R. The latter three still survive. The sons reside in Philadelphia, and the daughter, who is mar- ried to George H. Gillet, lives at New Lebanon Springs, New York.
Mr. Yost, as his father and grandfather, was bred a farmer, and remained in that occupation many years, becoming in due time the owner of the old family homestead. His intelligence and activity soon brought him prominently before the people, and his kindly disposition and genial manners made him a favorite with his party. Accordingly the Democratic party took him up in 1836 and elected him, with Henry Longaker and Samuel E. Leech, to the Assembly. To this post he was re-elected three times. During this period occurred what was called " the buckshot war," which originated in the charge by Stevens and the leaders of Ritner's administration that " Porter had been elected by fraud," and suggesting that " the election be treated as a nullity." It was also proposed that Whigs should go to Harrisburg armed with guns loaded with " buck-
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HON. JACOB S. YOST.
shot" to prevent Porter's inauguration. This, however, was only the vaporings of a few heated partisans. Still, in history, it has attained the dignity-or indignity-of "a war."
Closing his service in the State Legislature in 1839, he was taken up in 1842 to succeed Hon. Joseph Fornance in Con- gress, and took his seat March 4th, 1843. To this post he was re-elected in 1844.
Having lost his wife some years before, Mr. Yost while at Washington formed the acquaintance of Mary A. Harrington, of Troy, New York, whom he married on December 26th, 1844. At the close of his second Congressional term he re- turned to the family mansion at Pottstown with his accom- plished lady, who was intelligent, pious, and capable of assist- ing him in all his business affairs, public or private.
Mr. Yost during and after his Congressional service con- tinued an active promoter of all the measures of his party. On the accession of Mr. Buchanan to the Presidency he was ap- pointed in 1857 United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which office he held till the breaking out of the rebellion in 1861.
Mr. Yost's last tour of public duty was rendered conspicu- ous by the contested slave cases from Lancaster county and their return to their owners. From this time Mr. Y. partially retired from public life, only representing his district, when called upon, in its county and State conventions, where, through his great tact and many personal friends, he often secured the success of particular candidates.
Mr. Yost early in life had connected himself with the Ger- man Reformed church, it being the denomination of his an- cestry. He withdrew from it in 1849, however, to unite with the Presbyterian, of which church the second Mrs. Yost was a member. With a few others, Mr. Yost, in that year, joined and organized the first Presbyterian church of Pottstown, be- coming its first ruling elder. Religiously inclined by nature, he now became a very devoted member of the church and active in promoting its work. He was a man of wide informa- tion, clear judgment, a judicious manager of business, and do- mestic in all his ways, regarding home as the most attractive
163.
ROBERT T. POTTS.
spot in the world. He had large business operations on hand at the time of his death, and was the owner of very valuable property, but the revulsion that began in 1873 has greatly diminished his estate. He died at his residence in Pottstown, in the full hope of redemption by the blood of Christ, March 7th, 1872, aged 71 years. His excellent widow still survives him, and occupies the family mansion.
ROBERT T. POTTS.
So fades a summer cloud away, So sinks the gale when storms are o'er, So gently shuts the eye of day, So dies the wave along the shore .- Barbauld.
Robert Towner Potts, son of Zebulon and Martha Potts, was: born at the Potts homestead, Plymouth township, January 11th, 1790. His father was the first Sheriff of Montgomery county after its organization, and was re-elected for the years 1785-6.
Robert T. Potts' brothers and sisters were: Joseph, Wil- liam, Daniel, Ann, Alice, Esther, and Martha. William still lives at an advanced age with his son-in-law, Evan D. Jones, at Con- shohocken. Robert T. Potts married Mrs. Elizabeth McCalla Weaver, the daughter of Daniel Hitner, Sr., of Marble Hall .. She was a young widow, the mother of two sons, Abraham and William Weaver. Robert T. and Elizabeth Potts had born to them the following children: Henry Clay, Ellen E.,. E. Channing, Martha T., and William W. The last is inter- married with Ella H., daughter of Dr. George W. and Abby Holstein, of Bridgeport; Henry C. died in 1851; Ellen E. was. intermarried with Robert Lewis Rutter; E. Channing is mar- ried to Caroline E., daughter of Abraham R. and Caroline E. Cox, of Norristown; Martha T. was intermarried with Dr. Charles Shafer, of Philadelphia, and died March 13th, 1878. E. Channing and Carrie Potts have buried a daughter, Caro- line E.
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