USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lives of the eminent dead and biographical notices of prominent living citizens of Montgomery County, Pa. > Part 17
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A law having been passed to revise the Constitution, Mr. Steri- gere was nominated as delegate, elected, and took quite an active part in the debates of that body. He never hesitated at the ex- tremest doctrines of what was then regarded as national Democracy. This was the period, it may be added, when proslavery pretensions and Northern subserviency were inaugurated. Pennsylvania Hall, in Philadelphia, had just been burned by a mob in the endeavor to extirpate the Abolitionists, the story having been started that "white and black persons were seen coming from the hall in Sixth street, arm in arm, during a meeting of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society." Mr. Sterigere and others in the convention, desiring to testify their abhorrence of abolitionism, and to please national leaders of both parties, proposed to make progress in the direction the nation was then drifting by inhibiting by constitutional law negro suffrage, which up to that time had existed in Pennsylvania to a. limited extent. It was customary when colored men were free- holders to assess and allow them to vote. Mr. Sterigere therefore: moved that the word "white" be inserted in the new instrument,
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which motion, after much debate and opposition, finally prevailed. "This unjust offering to slavery and the spirit of caste was a part of our elementary law for a quarter of a century, and only removed at the last convention, advocated by George N. Corson, Esq., of our county, who then owned and occupied the identical law office Mr. Sterigere held at the time the "white" clause was inserted. This may be set down as historical retribution.
About this time there was a contest prosecuted before the Senate for the seat held by Thomas S. Bell, Esq., of Chester, by Nathaniel Brooke, also of that county, the latter securing his seat after long delay. The claim grew out of a clerical error made in our county in the Trappe district, by which Bell wrongfully received the cer- tificate of election. The Herald' and Free Press charged Mr. Steri- gere with being privy to the corrupt return in such language that Mr. S. commenced suit for libel, and it was a long time in the courts. Finally the two Whig associates overruled the President Judge upon some question of law or fact, and the trial came to no- thing.
In 1839 Mr. Sterigere was again taken up for State Senator, and elected in a district composed of Chester, Delaware, and Mont- gomery. As the new Constitution had reduced the term from four to three years, Senators had to draw lots for the long or short term. Mr. Sterigere drew the short period, going out at the expiration of one year. Accordingly in 1840, the next year, he was again put up by the Democracy, but defeated before the people by Abraham Brower, a Whig. Before the next Senatorial election in 1843, Mr. Sterigere had enough influence at Harrisburg to get our county de- tached and made a Senatorial district of itself, and that fall he was of course nominated and elected for three years, which he served out to the satisfaction of his party friends at least. In 1846 Mr. Sterigere closed his Senatorial career, although he had been nomi- nated for the place the third time, being now defeated by George Richards, of Pottstown. This was the last occasion of his coming before the people for a public office at the polls, though the very year he died (1852) he was a candidate for Senator before the county convention, but beaten by John C. Smith, of Pottstown, who was himself defeated before the people by Benjamin Frick, of Limerick. Thus Mr. Sterigere was twice elected Senator, serving four years as such, was thrice defeated for the office before the people, and once failed of a nomination as just stated.
During his term in the Senate, however, he wielded a wide influ-
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ence, and while giving Shunk's administration a reasonable support, was all the time especially laboring to promote Mr. Buchanan's national interests.
In 1847 he was really though not nominally chairman of the com- mittee on resolutions at the preparatory county meeting, and they were moderately and carefully drawn, calculated to pave the way for the advancement of his friend, Mr. Buchanan, to the Presidency. In that also he was disappointed, for Cass instead of Buchanan was nominated the following year. That autumn Governor Shunk was re-elected, but early the next year resigned, and soon after died, making a vacancy in the Gubernatorial office to be filled at the next ensuing election. This emergency created a lively competition among our Democratic statesmen for the succession. Hon. Morris Longstreth, who had moved into our county from Philadelphia, and obtained the office of Associate Judge, and afterwards Canal Com- missioner, had pressed himself forward as a prominent candidate. Hon. Jacob Fry, Jr., also had some pretensions. Mr. Sterigere set himself vigorously at work to checkmate Longstreth, whom he con- sidered a sort of interloper, or what in modern phrase is called " a carpet-bagger."
Accordingly, pending the Governor's election in 1848, Mr. Steri- gere secured, by a public meeting of Democratic citizens at Potts- town on the 31st of July, a popular nomination for himself to suc- ceed Johnston, who, as President of the Senate, was acting Gover- nor. It is not certainly known, however, whether Mr. Sterigere's chief motive in this was a serious move for the Governorship him- self, or merely to create a diversion against Longstreth, but the first is more probable, for he was a man of unbounded ambition. There was then much plotting and counterplotting among these Demo- cratic politicians, and it so happened (as in Mr. Sterigere's case when first nominated to Congress) both Sterigere and Fry were pushed aside when the convention met, and Morris Longstreth taken up, but finally defeated by William F. Johnston by two hundred and ninety-nine votes. There were ill natured persons who did not hesitate to say that Mr. Sterigere was glad of the result.
In 1849 Mr. Sterigere seemed to have fallen from the lead of his party, as his name does not appear in the proceedings at either of the annual convocations. The same remark applies the following year, though he was again chairman of the county committee. Having failed in present Gubernatorial aspirations himself, his only desire now was to promote the hopes of his life-long friend, James
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Buchanan, for the Presidency, and through him secure a national office. Accordingly, though failing in health, he continued to partly edit and control the Register in that interest, and when the national convention was called to meet in Baltimore in 1852, hav- ing been elected a delegate from our district, and leaving his bed, sick and feeble, attended the great convocation over the "Union just saved " by the Compromise bill, confidently hoping to see his friend chosen, and assist in the result. At that time Mr. Sterigere was so ill and helpless that he had for some time previously em - ployed a trusty man, named John Williams, as nurse, and when he started for Baltimore was accompanied by an intimate friend and also by a young colored man as servant to provide for his comfort and welfare. In this patriotic hope Mr. S. was also disappointed, as the claims of "Pennsylvania's favorite son" were overlooked, and Franklin Pierce chosen in his stead. From the occurrence of this event till his death the following fall, his health never rallied, and he did not live to see his friend chosen, as he was, at the next trial in 1856. Had he so survived he would undoubtedly have been either a Cabinet officer or chosen for a foreign mission. But we have anticipated.
Some of Mr. Sterigere's most valuable service to the public was performed at home after the conclusion of his Congressional career and during his time in the Senate, when, like some ancient kings of whom we read in history, he went at work " to build us a city." Scarcely any words of ours can do justice to Mr. Sterigere's labors and public spirit in this matter; for after he was elected to the Town Council of Norristown in 1836 he worked " in season and ont of season," and without compensation, too, except curses and misrepresentation from many who did not at all appreciate his efforts in the way of town improvements.
A commission consisting of Alan W. Corson, Evan Jones, Henry Scheetz and George Richards had previously been appointed by act of Assembly, with full power "to lay out, widen, vacate, ex- tend, and improve the streets and lanes of Norristown." They performed their duty, aided by an engineer, Mr. Gill. The com- missioners recommended the widening of Lafayette and Penn streets, which were formerly called Brick and Court-House alleys, and con- siderable excavations on Penn and Airy streets, with the necessary setting back of stables and fences, had to be done. The Town Council enacted that these improvements should be made, and pro- perty owners were required to conform to the new regulation. Now
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began a contest between fossil citizens and improvement men, and Mr. Sterigere was just the leader to head the latter. He was hon- est and unselfish, so far as private gain was concerned, arbitrary and self-willed in an eminent degree, and therefore just the man for rough knocks and a long fight. As phrenologists say, he had a large " bump of order," and a nice perception of symmetry, clean- liness, and beauty, being always remarkably neat and becoming in his own attire. Hence he must have seen in imagination the beau- tiful town we are now enjoying as the reward of his labors.
Armed with the law and his own strong will, he ordered citizens to remove their nuisances from the street and to conform to the statute. The excavations about the court house were dubbed " Sterigere's canals," but heedless of opposition he pushed the work till the " stable" or " cow" alleys began to look like streets, as seen at present. There were piazzas also built over the sidewalk at most of the hotels, and high walls on the line separating streets and foot- walks. These were removed under protest by the owners, or by Council, and streets and walks leveled, curbed and paved nearly as they now are. A few other influential men, such as W. H. Sling- luff and Adam Slemmer, President of Council, sustained him and co-operated, but the brunt of the battle rested on Mr. Sterigere. Towards the last of these improvements he got himself appointed one of the regulators, and many grades were adjusted by him to meet the common design. Almost any time Mr. Sterigere could be seen on the street taking ranges or making levels with his com- pass, for he plied his surveying instruments, with a laboring assist- ant (gratuitously, so far as he was concerned), just because he de- sired things "exactly right." He was always on the lead. Another influential member of Council used to say that unless Mr. S. was bell-wether he would not go in the flock. Sometimes Mr. S. did actually do some arbitrary and most unwarranted things, such as twice changing the grade of Middle alley* to accommodate a friend in the shedding of waste water away from his premises. Thus for about ten years, from 1836, when he was first put in Council, he was the ruling spirit of the borough authority. Towards the close of his dynasty he would often give people volunteer "orders" to remove some nuisance at their front door, or to conform to ordi- nance, with the air of an autocrat, and was often thought needlessly captious and precise, thus getting himself many enemies. He did,
*There was an assertion current about that time that Mr. Sterigere first had that ave- Due made a public highway by act of Assembly, then repealed the act, and afterwards had it made public again by another act.
.
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indeed, during his town rule, do many things in politics, as also in prosecuting his practice in the courts, from which a man less reso- lute and unscrupulous would have shrunk. His motives, however, must be judged by the rule of success pursued in conformity with law, for in business it is not supposed he acknowledged the obliga- tion of any higher rule than the law of the land.
But now, after the lapse of a quarter of a century, it must be re- corded to his credit that much we value about Norristown is the re- sult of his judgment, perseverance, and pluck. Mr. Sterigere de- serves in this, therefore, to be set down by the historian as a genu- ine reformer and public benefactor.
It only remains now to record Mr. Sterigere's private life and describe more accurately his moral and mental characteristics. As before stated, he was a man of marked peculiarities; not of rough exterior, but a very beau in air, countenance and personal appear- ance. He was courtly to ladies, and on rare occasions gallanted them to public assemblies, but was never drawn into matrimonial entanglements. He lived and died an honest bachelor.
We never heard his personal purity called in question, and though he had been much in public employment, thrown in the way of temptations of all kinds, yet his chastity and sobriety were never impeached by any one. Whether he had been disappointed in an early love, like his life-long friend, Mr. Buchanan, must ever re- main a secret; but that he had a soft spot in his heart toward the sex was manifested in the pleasure he used to take in romping with little girls. Nothing gave him more enjoyment than purchasing and bestowing upon them tickets to shows, fairs, and the like, or taking a crowd of them there himself; and when the ladies of the town succeeded in getting Mr. Sterigere to a fair his pocket-book had to make atonement for lack of service to the sex on other occasions. Though constantly alive to the increase of his fortune, he always gave to objects of public charity and religion, being generally the most liberal subscriber to all such contributions. He owned con- siderable real estate and some stocks. It is related of him that at one time, many years ago, when a defaulting officer swamped the Norristown railroad, he owned one hundred and fifty shares of that stock, which, as he was liable for debts and repairs of the road, he offered to sell to Isaac Thomas, of Upper Dublin, for twelve and a half cents a share, without finding a buyer.
For a long series of years Mr. Sterigere was counsel for Dr. Sam- uel Hiester, of Chester county, in contesting a will settlement in the
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Common Pleas of our county, and finally became plaintiff himself against his former client; involving matters that remained unsettled at the time of his death. He had also been executor or adminis- trator of Conrad Emrich, of Upper Dublin, as early as 1839, and held as trustee the sum of $664 for the rebuilding of Puff's Reformed Church, which was paid over with interest by his administrators. It was long a cherished purpose of Mr. Sterigere to rebuild that church himself, in the cemetery of which his father and other rela- tives were interred.
While his health was very feeble for many months before his de- mise, yet he braced himself against the idea of dying. He still grew worse, however, and passed away in the early morn after elec- tion night, October 13th, 1852, in the 59th year of his age. The cause of his death was cancer of the stomach. He died intestate, and is buried in Puff's church-yard beside his father and mother, and above his remains is a plain shaft or obelisk, erected, it is pre- sumed, by the surviving sisters, on which is chiseled a circular wreath, having within the word " Brother," and beneath "Steri- gere."
He was visited once during his final sickness by his personal and political friend, James Buchanan, and the latter was also in attend- ance at the funeral. Notwithstanding the saying, "Politicians have no hearts," persons standing before Sterigere's bier testify that Mr. B. dropped genuine tears over the corpse of his life-long adherent.
Mr. Sterigere was a man of enlarged public spirit and of genuine Democratic instincts. An instance may be cited. Some years be- fore his death, and previous to relinquishing borough affairs, he ob- served our Potter's Field, which had been bought many years before by the county, lying waste. At once he resolved that it should be nicely graded and enclosed, though it only contained the graves of a few outcasts. This he did. It is now falling into ruin again for want of another John B. Sterigere.
He was also a man born to command; of unbounded ambition, and withal of such patriotism and elevated motive, that, making al- lowance for his violent partisanship, he was competent to fill any public office in the land. He loved to rule, but mainly for the good of others. He sought the honor of commanding men, but as much for their good as his own.
His estate, which amounted to nearly $60,000, was divided among his heirs at law, Benjamin F. Hancock and Adam Slemmer, Esqs., being the administrators.
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COL. EDWIN SCHALL.
Undoubtedly Mr. Sterigere belonged to that robust Reformed German stock which emigrated to America about the middle of the last century in quest of religious freedom. Without being a pro- fessor of religion himself, he was doubtless a believer in some sense, for he occasionally attended divine service either at the Re- formed or Presbyterian churches, and rented and paid for a pew in each for many years, up to the time of his death. Without being a religious man, therefore, Mr. Sterigere was puritanical in most of his instincts and habits. It is doubtful, indeed, if he ever danced or played. With him life was too real and time too precious for any such amusements. He had no aptitude for jokes or hilarity, and rarely laughed, being very like Shakspeare's " lean and hungry Cassius," of whom he says,
" Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort As if he mocked himself, and scorned his spirit That could be moved to smile at anything."
In person John B. Sterigere was medium height and build, grace- ful in form and motion, dark hair, dark-florid complexion, and but for his sternness of countenance would have been regarded as good looking. He appeared much younger than he really was.
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COLONEL EDWIN SCHALL .*
His ambition was of that noble kind which aims to excel in whatever it undertakes, and to acquire a power over the hearts of men by promoting their happiness and win- ning their affections .- Sparks' Washington.
Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Schall was the twin brother of Colo- nel Edward Schall, almost equally distinguished as a soldier, and now a practicing attorney at our bar. They are the sons of Gen- eral William and Caroline Trexler Schall, whose biography appears elsewhere in this volume. It is a military family, General Schall being for many years Brigade Inspector of the district. Conse- quently, on the breaking out of the rebellion, no less than five bro- thers, Reuben, Edwin, Edward, David, and Calvin, volunteered to fight for the Union. Most of them, however, had previously been members of the several volunteer companies of the town.
*The name, being German, is pronounced as though spelled "Shawl," the "a" having the broad German sound of that language-"aw."
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COL. EDWIN SCHALL.
Edwin, the subject of this biography, was born at Schall's Iron Works (now called Green Lane), Marlborough township, Mont- gomery county, February 15th, 1835.
General Schall removing to Norristown in 1848, Edwin, then a small boy, was placed in Elmwood Institute, at West Norristown, then under the charge of Rev. J. R. Kooken, where he gained the elementary branches of a good education. He remained here till near his majority, when he entered the military academy at Nor- wich, Vermont, and afterwards Pembroke, Brandywine Springs, and finally Bristol, where he graduated. He then entered the law office of B. Markley Boyer, Esq., but, without continuing there, went to the law school at Poughkeepsie, New York, where, after staying a season, he was transferred to the Ohio Law School, at which he graduated and was admitted to practice. From there he went to Iowa and opened an office, but not finding things to his taste re- turned home, and after a while was entered as an attorney at our bar. He had hardly got into practice when the disorganization of parties, consequent upon the pressure of the slavery question upon old platforms, and the rise of the American party, to which he was attached, drew him into politics.
A short time previously the National Defender had been estab- lished to promote the Native-American sentiment, and advocate the claims of Bell and Everett to the Presidency. This paper, started to arrest the drift of the Whigs towards the Republican party, was placed in the hands of the twin brothers Edwin and Edward Schall, who conducted it with fair ability till the conclusion of the political campaign and the breaking out of the rebellion. At this time, or shortly before, he was nominated and elected Burgess of Norris- town two years in succession, a post which he filled acceptably to the people.
As known, the Bell and Everett campaign, to which the Defender was committed, resulted in nothing, and Lincoln was triumphantly elected through the division of the opposition. The winter of 1860-I will long be remembered on account of the fearful mutter- ings of the coming storm. The Hotspurs of the South proceeded to prepare the public mind of their section for open revolt, or se- cession, as they called it. It was an interim of dubious discussion. The Democratic and American masses held that the South had well defined grievances demanding redress, but they stood aghast at the remedy being organized at Montgomery, Alabama, under the name of the " Confederate States of America."
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COL. EDWIN SCHALL.
To show how "peace at any price," or opposition to "fratri- cidal war," prevailed at this time among the then ruling party in this county, we append a resolution adopted by a meeting at Trappe. in February, as follows:
3. Resolved, That we are unanimously opposed to the so-called doctrine of coercion, and pledge ourselves to oppose any measure that is calculated to bring the people of one section into deadly conflict with those of any other section, believing that by compro- mise and conciliation only the present national troubles can be set- tled.
And yet when the news reached Norristown on the 12th of April that Fort Sumter had been bombarded, and on the 15th, when the President issued his proclamation calling for seventy-five thou- sand men to defend the Union, a meeting was hastily called at Odd Fellows' Hall, and thousands thronged there bearing effigies of Jeff Davis and other representative traitors with ropes about their necks. At this meeting Burgess Edwin Schall was called to pre- side, and a long array of Vice Presidents occupied the platform. The meeting was addressed by Judges Smyser and Krause, Hon. Owen Jones, B. M. Boyer, Charles Hunsicker, E. A. Banks, and George N. Corson, Esqs. James Boyd and Harvey Shaw, Esqs., respectively, offered their checks for $200 and $100 to assist the or- ganization of the military for defence. At once Colonel Hartranft, as commander of the previously existing Fourth Regiment Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, with the following companies, offered themselves for the national defence. Our home organizations were numbered, and had previously been designated, as follows :
Company A,* Wayne Artillerists-Captain, William J. Bolton; First Lieutenant, Joseph K. Bolton; Second Lieutenant, William Ensley.
Company B, Norris City Rifles-Captain, Robert E. Taylor ; First Lieutenant, Thomas Magee; Second Lieutenant, Matthew R. McClennan.
Company C, of Pottstown-Captain, J. R. Brooke; First Lieu- tenant, W. M. Hobart; Second Lieutenant, Joseph Umsted.
Company D, National Artillerists-Captain, Reuben T. Schall; First Lieutenant, Charles Hansell; Second Lieutenant, David Schall.
Company E, Keystone Rifles-Captain, George Amey; First Lieutenant, Richard T. Stewart; Second Lieutenant, J. P. Butler.
*Previously commanded by Captain William R. Lesher, who had just resigned.
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COL. EDWIN SCHALL.
Company I, National Artillerists-Captain, William Allebaugh ; First Lieutenant, Lewis Ramsey ; Second Lieutenant, Charles McGlathery.
Company K, hastily recruited and formed partly of material from Company B, Norris City Rifles-Captain, Walter H. Cooke; First Lieutenant, Henry K. Weand; Second Lieutenant, C. Y. Fisher.
These seven companies, with Colonel Hartranft at their head, left Norristown and Pottstown on the 19th for Harrisburg. Here they were joined by Company F, Captain Dunn, of Media, Dela- ware county, and Company G, Captain Chamberlain, of Lewisburg, fully equipped, and organized on the 20th as the Fourth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. The staff officers of the regiment were as follows: Colonel, John F. Hartranft; Lieutenant Colonel, Ed- ward Schall; Major, Edwin Schall; Quartermaster, William H. Yerkes; Surgeon, James B. Dunlap. The next day it left for Havre-de-Grace, its first rendezvous. After remaining a few days it was ordered to Annapolis, and thence to Washington and Alex- andria. During all this time the regiment was becoming proficient in company and regimental drill. After many delays General Scott, on Thursday, the 18th of July, ordered McDowell to advance from Centreville upon Manassas Junction, where the rebels were en- trenched. The enlistment of the Fourth Regiment, of which Ed- win Schall was Major, expiring the next day, Friday, the 19th, it was not ordered forward, but to the rear to be mustered out, and General McDowell, in dismissing them, signed an order dated July 20th, complimenting them by saying: "The services of this regi- ment have been so important, its good conduct so general, its pa- tience under privations so constant, its state of efficiency so good, that the departure of the regiment at this time can only be con- sidered an important loss to the army."
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