USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 72
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In 1886 he was unanimously renominated for the senate. G. W. Dela- mater was his opponent. Money flowed without stint from the pockets of his competitors, yet the senator ran ahead of his party ticket and his com- petitors fell behind Governor Beaver's vote. Since then the senator lias de- voted himself to the practice of his profession.
During his service in the senate he was one of Governor Pattison's trusted friends, and was on the best of terms with the whole administration. The only friction between the senator and Governor Pattison was concerning the appointment of Dr. E. E. Higbee as superintendent of public instruction. This was political and not personal. The senator led the Democratic forces in the attempt to defeat confirmation, but failed. His principal reason was too close relationship between Higbee and the Soldiers' Orphan Syndicate, and subsequent information has clearly shown the senator to be right.
He was the author of the bill to prevent the consolidation of parallel and competing pipe lines, and by his every vote sustained every move to enforce article seventeen of the constitution concerning railroads and canals. In 1885 he offered a bill to enforce this article of the constitution, drawn strictly under the twelfth section of the article, which is: "The general assembly shall
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enforce by appropriate legislation the provision of this article." The bill simply provided penalties for the violation of each section of the article; but it never got out of the committee. He offered an amendment to the constitu- tion, article five, section five, changing the population from forty thousand to sixty thousand to entitle a county to a separate judicial district.
In 1890 the senator took an active part in the renomination of Governor Pattison, and was a delegate to the Democratic state convention in Pattison's interest. He was largely instrumental in securing Pattison's re-election.
In 1892, 1894 and 1896 he was one of Hon. J. C. Sibley's staunchest sup- porters. He wrote several letters over his own signature, and many not signed, declaring that he was for Sibley and free silver coinage, because only by so doing could he be a Democrat as prescribed by the Chicago platform of 1892. and if he must follow Grover Cleveland's interpretation of that platform to be a Democrat, he was one no longer. He supported William J. Bryan in 1896 with unparalleled enthusiasm. When Bryan was in Erie, in August of that year, he opened the meeting at the Opera House with a speech that was ex- celled by none, and only equalled by that of Mr. Bryan himself.
Senator Humes declares he is now in politics only for the principle. He believes sincerely in the new Democracy as set forth in the Chicago platform of 1896, and he has but one question to ask legislative and executive candidates, and if they stand on that platform he will support them, for they represent his cause. The senator is a forcible speaker, and never uses notes.
He was a delegate to the Altoona convention in 1898, and was a warm supporter of George A. Jenks, who was there nominated for governor.
He was married to Delia E. Lowry, a daughter of Judge Thomas J. Lowry, of Conneautville, February 11, 1874. They have one child, a son, E. Lowry Humes, who is now a student at Allegheny College, and is study- ing law in his father's office.
Dr. Winters D. Hamaker, of Meadville, Pennsylvania, was born Septem- ber 21, 1859, at Schellsburg, Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where he spent his youth. His ancestors were of Revolutionary stock, three of his great-great- grandfathers having been in the Continental army. He is the son of the late A. P. Hamaker, a merchant, who died in 1875, and Sarah J. McVicker, daugh- ter of Duncan McVicker.
At the time of his father's death, Dr. Hamaker was but fifteen years of age, and for two years subsequently he assisted in the management of the business left by his father and prepared for college at a private school in his native town. At the age of seventeen he entered the last term of the fresh- man class of Washington and Jefferson College, at Washington, Pennsyl- . vania, graduating in the class of 1880. In 1883 this college gave him the degree of Master of Arts. Having read medicine for a year, he entered the
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medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in 1881 and graduated in 1884, fifth in a class of one hundred and five. On com- petitive examination he was elected resident physician to two hospitals in Phil- adelphia,-the Presbyterian and the University,-where he served for nearly, two years. On the completion of his terms in these hospitals he was offered the position of resident physician in the Orthopedic Hospital, Philadelphia, and was also offered a lucrative position as surgeon in the relief department of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Both of these positions he declined.
In 1886 Dr. Hamaker settled in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he at once secured a large practice, both medical and surgical. Sinee coming to this city he has been one of the surgeons of the Meadville Hospital, where he lias performed most of his operations, which have included many eases of am- putation,-hernia, ovarian tumors, hysterotomy, cystotomy, stone, nephrot- omy, appendicitis, trephining, colotomy and operations for gallstones. He is a member of the Crawford County Medical Society, of which he has been president ; of the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania ; of the Amer- ican Medical Association and of the Pathological Society of Philadelphia. For several years he has been a member of the State Society's Committee on Increase of Membership and Clinical Teaching. In 1895 he was appointed a member of the Board of Medical Examiners of Pennsylvania by Governor Daniel H. Hastings, was reappointed in 1896 for a three-year term, and in 1899 he was reappointed by Governor William A. Stone for a three-year term.
His mother, Mrs. Sarah J. Hamaker, and his sister, Miss Ida R. Ham- aker, a graduate of the Washington Female Seminary, Pennsylvania, are living in Washington, D. C. In 1887 he married Miss Lizzie G. Townsend. who was born May 12, 1861, a daughter of Rev. D. W. Townsend, D. D., pas- tor for thirty years of the Unity Presbyterian Church, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. To Dr. and Mrs. Hamaker have been born three sons and one daughter, of whom two sons are living,-Charles Townsend and Edward McVicker, born August 19, 1888, and June 9, 1890, respectively.
To preserve it for those who come after, the following family record is added :
(1) John Hubrecht Hamaker and Adam Hamaker, two brothers, canie to America in 1740, sailing from Rotterdam, Holland, on the ship Elizabeth. They settled in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, and their descendants are liv- ing widely scattered over eastern and central Pennsylvania and the western states. Nearly all of these descendants spell the name Hammaker. Adam Ham- aker, born in 1717 and died in 1784, was the father of Adam, a member of the "Flying Camp" of Pennsylvania, during the Revolutionary war. The latter's son, Samuel, educated at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, married Annie Overdear, a relative of the Leiters of Leitersburg, Maryland, and was the father of Adam Hamaker,-born 1799. died 1831 .- who built what is now
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known as Diffendall's Mills, near Cavetown, Maryland, and who, becoming involved in this enterprise and dying at the early age of thirty-one, left his widow and three children-Simon LeCron, Elizabeth and A. P .- without means. The youngest son, A. P. Hamaker-born 1831, died 1875-was two days old at the time of his father's death, and at the age of eight years went to live with a farmer named George Winters, who became a second father to him. He was commissioned justice of the peace during the term of Gov- ernor Hartranft.
(2) Mons. LeCron emigrated from Alsace-Lorraine France, probably at the beginning of the French revolution, going first to Poland. Thence he emigrated to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. His son, Simon LeCron, born 1765 and died 1814, was married to Elizabeth Flory and was the father of Mary M. LeCron,-born 1799 and died 1876-who married Adam Hamaker and was the mother of A. P. Hamaker.
(3) Captain Duncan McVicker-born 1739 and died 1818-was born in Scotland. He went to the north of Ireland and thence at the age of eighteen emigrated to the province of New Jersey. He served through the Revolu- tionary war, being at first a lieutenant and afterward a captain in the Second New Jersey Line. He married Miss Laurie. He is buried at Schellsburg, Pennsylvania. His son, Alexander,-born 1773 and died 1832,-who was justice of the peace by appointment of Governor Hiester, was the father of Duncan McVicker,-born 1799 and died 1879 .- who was appointed justice of the peace by Governor Johnson. Sarah J.,-born in 1837,-the daughter of Duncan McVicker, became the wife of A. P. Hamaker in 1857.
(4) John Taylor,-born 1717 and died 1811,-born in Ireland of Scotch-Irish parentage, and his wife, Mary, were the parents of Jane Taylor, -born 1774 and died 1834,-the wife of Alexander McVicker. John Taylor died in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1811, aged ninety-four.
(5) Peter Minnich-born 1702-came from Germany in 1737 and set- tled in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. His son Michael was born in 1737 i11 Tulpehocken township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Ile lived in Berks county and served in the Revolutionary war as lieutenant in Captain Null's company of Colonel Laurence Greenawald's battalion. His son, George Min- nich, served in the war of 1812, and died in 1816. George Minnich's youngest daughter, Salome,-born 1814 and died 1876,-married Duncan McVicker in 1836. She changed her name to Sarah because of the dislike of her husband to the name of Salome.
(6) Mons. Frank, according to family tradition, was a French naval officer and came to America on the ship Victoire at the time she brought the Marquis de La Fayette to this country the first time. His daugliter Salome married George Minnich.
(7) Isaac Townsend,-born 1763 and died 1837,-according to one
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account, is said to have come from Chester county, Pennsylvania, and accord- ing to another from England. He settled on the Kiskeminitas river in Arm- strong county about 1800, where he engaged in farming and the manufacture of salt. His son John,-born 1786 and died 1869,-married Elizabeth Shoe- maker and was the father of Rev. Daniel W. Townsend, D. D. Dr. Townsend is a Presbyterian clergyman and has been pastor at Parnassus, Pennsylvania, Alliance, Ohio, and for the past thirty years of the Unity Church, Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by his alma mater, Washington and Jefferson College. The Townsends were originally Quakers and said to have descended from Robert Townsend, of England, whose wife was Elizabeth Richards.
(8) Matthias King married Christine, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hartzell (nec Ritter), and his daughter Rachel became the wife of Isaac Townsend.
(9) Andrew Kier, a native of Ireland, emigrated to western Penn- sylvania, Armstrong county, about 1785. His son David was born Septem- ber 25, 1766, at Balimony. County Antrim, Ireland. David Kier's wife was Elizabeth Bush,-born 1765. One of their sons, James Kier, of Elder's Ridge, Pennsylvania, was the father of Elizabeth M. Kier, the wife of Rev. Daniel W. Townsend, D. D.
(10) John Gray, of Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, married Mrs. Margaret Finley (ncc Thorn). Their daughter Hannah,-born 1800 and died 1864-married James Kier.
Luther Gates is one of the old and honored citizens of Beaver township, Crawford county, and for the past thirty-three years his home has been on the farm which he still owns and cultivates. He has always been a good and patriotic citizen, in times of peace and war alike, and has taken an active and interested part in public affairs bearing upon the welfare of this community. His influence is not small in local matters. and from time to time he has been called upon to serve in minor offices of trust. In politics he is a stalwart Republican, but is not an office-seeker. During a period of three years he represented this county in the state board of agriculture, and to everything bearing upon the subject of farming he gives intelligent consideration.
Calvin Gates, whose birth occurred in Herkimer county, New York, was the father of the subject of this sketch. He was reared upon a farm and in his young manhood removed to Chautauqua county, New York. There he was married and there engaged in agricultural pursuits up to 1836, when he became one of the early residents of Beaver township, Crawford county, Penn- sylvania. At that time there was not a rod of graded road or a bridge in the township, and he was one of the first to institute improvements. He took up two hundred acres of land on the present site of Beaver Center and continued
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to improve and cultivate this property until shortly before his death, at the age of eighty years. For years he occupied various township offices, and among his neighbors was looked up to as an authority on disputed questions. He was a Republican, and was a devoted member of the Christian church. His father, Luther Gates, was a native of Newport, Rhode Island, and grew to man's estate there. Later he was married in Rensselaer county, New York. He was a hero of two wars, and though he was a mere lad when the Revolu- tionary war came on,-perhaps fourteen years of age,-he culisted as a drum- mer-boy and served for the entire seven years of the conflict. He was a witness of General Israel Putnam's famous ride on horseback down the stone steps at Horseneck, in Connecticut. During the war of 1812 he acted in the capacity of a drum-major. Death claimed him when he was about sixty-five years of age. His father, Joseph, was a native of New Eng- land, as is believed, and was of English extraction.
The mother of the subject of this article bore the maiden name of Caro- line Hubbard. She was born in East Bloomfield, New York, and removed to Pomfret township, Chautauqua county, same state, when she was young. Her father, Jonathan Hubbard, was a farmer and was one of the strict old "blue" Presbyterians of his generation. He never failed to go to church, some five miles away, taking his whole family with him, the journey being made with an ox team. In 1836 they removed to this county and settled near Conneautville. Mrs. Gates began teaching in district schools when she was seventeen years of age and was thuis occupied up to the date of her marriage. Subsequent to that event she began housekeeping on a farm near Dunkirk, New York, and remained there several years. Though now past eighty-eight years. she is quite active, reads a great deal and possesses all hier faculties. She has always been a faithful member of the Christian church.
Luther Gates was born April 5, 1834, in Pomfret township, Chautauqua county, and was but two years old when his parents brought him to this town- ship. He received a good education, supplementing his common-school course by a short term at the Grand River Institute, Austinburg, Ohio, after which he taught for one term in this county. He did not like this vocation, however, and for the next four years followed carpentering. Then he purchased a farm in this township, at Beaver Center, and in 1866 came to his present home- stead.
In 1861 he responded to his country's call, and enlisted in the Second Pennsylvania Cavalry, for three years' service. He remained at his post of duty for the entire time, and participated in many of the most important campaigns of the war. Among others, he fought in the battle of Gettysburg and the second battle of Bull Run; was with Grant in the Wilderness and took part in the famous siege of Petersburg. At Bull Run he was injured by the falling of a horse upon him. Since the war he has been a member of the
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State Police and Home Guards, of Ohio and Pennsylvania, and is a charter member of Springboro Post, No. 346, G. A. R., of Springboro, Crawford county. He and his wife were very active in the organization of Harmony Grange in their township and they are both workers in the Christian church, with whose interests they are prominently identified.
In 1854 Mr. Gates married Miss Mary West of Beaver Center, Craw- ford county, Pennsylvania. They have three children, namely : Ida, wife of M. B. Malloy; Florence, Mrs. Frank A. Boyce, and Ernest A., who is still at home on the farm. Mrs. Gates is a daughter of Matthew West, a native of Rensselaer county, New York. He came to this state about 1836, settling in Erie county, and in 1853 he became a resident of this township. Here he dwelt, engaged in farming until 1891, when he removed to Clark Corners, Ohio, where he is still living, in his ninety-third year. His father, William West, was born in 1761, in Rhode Island, was a soldier in the Revolution, and died in Rensselaer county, New York, in 1835. His father, Francis West, was a fisherman on the New England coast, his home being at Newport. He was of English lineage and held a commission as justice under the king.
Morris Bailey, M. D .- The medical history of Dr. Bailey is given under the head of "Doctors of Medicine," of Titusville. He was born at Middle- town, Connecticut, September 1, 1818, the son of Colonel Richard B. and Hannah ( Higby) Bailey, the seventh born of eight children. He has been married three times, his first wife bearing him two children, Emma L., now the wife of Daniel Wilhelm, of Franklin, Pennsylvania, and Howard, who died in Titusville several years ago. Dr. Bailey has practiced medicine in Titusville nearly thirty-four years. He has always seemed to possess unusual keenness of perception in the diagnosis of disease. He is now past eighty years of age; but he stands erect, walks briskly with an elastic step and visits his patients with apparently as much promptness as ever. He has always seemed to love his professional work. He was a kind husband, and has been an affectionate and indulgent father. He is a very generous man, and every year he dis- tributes widely his charities.
Peter Titus Witherop was born in Venango county, June 18, 1831, the son of Robert and Jane ( Ridgway) Witherop, and the second born of five chil - dren. He was the great-grandson of Peter Titus, for whom he was named. His father was a river man, either rafting lumber or steamboating. He died in 1843 at Lake Pepin on the Mississippi. He had moved from Venango county to Iowa in 1837. After his death his widow came back to Hydetown, and died about 1890. The subject of this sketch was brought up to work, and was employed seven years at Hydetown in lumbering. In 1852 he went to California, where he stayed six years, engaged principally in mining. He
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came home in 1858, and after Drake's discovery, he engaged in oil production. Hle owned one-third of the Crossley well, the second well struck after the Drake. The Crossley well was historic. An account of it is given elsewhere in this work. Peter Titus was interested in producing until 1880. Since then he has looked after his other investments. Soon after Titusville became a city he was Chief of Police two years. He has been a director of the Second National Bank many years. He owns the Witherop block on the northwest corner of Central avenue and Washington street, the Queen City block, on the southeast corner of Washington and Spring, a new brick house, between Washington and Main, and several other buildings. He has lived in Titusville since 1860. He married Olivia, the daughter of William Barns- dall, who has borne him one son, John Willis Witherop, now a resident of Spokane, Washington. Mr. Witherop has served as member of the city coun- cils. He is a self-made inan, and for a period of forty years he has been very successful in business.
James Farel in 1849 came from Chautauqua county, New York, and settled south of Jerusalem Corners, taking up one hundred acres of land. On this property there are now thirty-five producing wells, all pumped by a single power. James Farel, the oldest son, owns the farm, but his brother, have an interest in it. The father died in 1862. He left three sons and a daughter, all now living. The sons are James, John and Nelson. The daughter, Sarah, is the wife of William B. Sterrett. Nelson lives in Titns- ville, and John lives at Westfield, New York, and is said to be the largest grape-grower in the state of New York. The Farel farm on Oil Creek was destined to become famous from the Noble well, which opened its gates in May, 1863, and made the Farel heirs and several others very wealthy. This well was a wonderful producer. Not until late years had the oil from any other single well sold for as much money as that from the Noble. An account of the well is found elsewhere on these pages.
Louis Kepler Hyde .- In every flourishing community there are certain men, who by their enterprise, straightforward business methods and public spirit maintain the prosperity and progressiveness of the place, and among such citizens of Titusville no one is more worthy than he whose name forms the heading of this brief tribute to his merit. His paternal grandfather came to this section of Pennsylvania from Lebanon, Connecticut, about 1820 and from that time to the present the Hydes have been representative citizens of the western part of the Keystone state. In 1633 William Hyde, the progenitor of this family in the United States, arrived on these shores from England, his native land. (See Chancellor Walworth's Genealogy of the Hyde Family.) The maternal great-grandfather of Louis Kepler Ilyde, a
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Mr. Kepler, came here from Wurtemberg, Germany, and was very highly educated, speaking six languages.
The parents of the subject of this outline are Charles and Elizabeth (Kepler) Hyde, the former widely and favorably known throughout this portion of the country as a merchant, lumber dealer, oil producer, etc., in addition to which varied enterprises he has been president of three national banks and president of the New Orleans & Northwestern Railway Company. As a financier and business man he has been remarkably successful, and the same qualities which have wrought out his prosperity seem to have been inherited, in a notable degree, by his son.
Louis Kepler Hyde, the last of the Hyde family name born in Hyde- town, Crawford county, is now in the prime of early manhood, his birth having occurred July 30, 1865. In 1867 his parents removed to Titusville, and from 1868 to September, 1887, he was a resident of Plainfield, New Jersey, to which attractive suburb of New York City his parents moved in 1868. Eleven years ago he returned to Titusville, where he has since made his home. He was given excellent educational advantages; from 1874 to 1879 he attended Charlier Institute, at No. 158 West Fifty-ninth street, New York; for the succeeding four years he was a student under the tutelage of Dr. Pingry, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and Mr. Leal, of Plain- field, same state, for three years and one year respectively. He then entered the academic department of Yale College, in New Haven, Connecticut, and in June, 1887, he was duly graduated at Yale. Many of the pleasant asso- ciations of his college days he keeps up through his club relationship, as he is identified with Chapter Phi (mother chapter) of the D. K. E. Society at Yale ; the Plainfield Yale Club ; the D. K. E. Club of New York; and the Uni- versity Athletic Club of New York. Besides, he belongs to the Prentiss Club, of Natchez, Mississippi; the Thistle Club and the Canadohta Club, both of Titusville; and the Tourilli Fish and Game Club of the Province of Quebec. Canada.
His happy school days finished, Louis Kepler Hyde settled down to the serious business of life, and in the fall after his graduation at college he as- sumed the duties of the vice-presidency of the Second National Bank of Titus- ville, and also became assistant cashier of the Hyde National Bank, of that city. In March, 1889, he was installed as cashier of the Second National Bank, and has ever since served in that capacity. In August, 1888, he be- came the junior member of the firm of Charles Hyde & Son, which firm of bankers succeeded the Hyde National Bank. In 1890 Louis Kepler Hyde was made vice-president of the New Orleans & Northwestern Railway Company ; the following year its president, and in 1892 was appointed receiver and gen- eral manager for the railroad. He continued to acceptably fill this responsi- ble position until March, 1898, when he was elected vice-president and gen-
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eral manager of the railroad, with headquarters at Titusville, and as such he is still acting.
In the multiplicity of his business cares he never neglects his duties as a citizen, and is one of the most active and interested members of the Titusville Relief Association and the Titusville Industrial Association, of the latter being one of the board of managers. He is also one of the trustees and treas- trer for the Titusville Tannery. In politics, he stanchly upholds the Republi- can party platform, believing in protection for American industries and sound money.
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