USA > Pennsylvania > Portraits of the heads of state departments and portraits and sketches of members of the legislature of Pennsylvania, 1893-1894 > Part 14
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147
House of Representatives.
JOHN T. MCCORMICK, of Centre county, was born at Nittany Hall, Walker township, January 23, 1849. His father was a cooper by trade, but relinquished this business and became a farmer, purchasing a farm and tilling it himself. Mr. McCormick, senior, re- moved to Furguson township, near State College, Centre county, where his farm was located and young McCormick was sent to the common schools and passed through the regular course of studies then in existence, and at their completion he was proffered a scholarship at the State College, but it was refused, as Mr. McCormick preferred to engage in active business.
The McCormick ancestry are of Irish extraction, but came to America many ECO PHILA years ago. The subject of this sketch has always been engaged in farming, owning at the present time a valuable tract of seventy-five acres in Centre county, which is under excellent cultivation. He has always been a Democrat, and has been on many occasions honored by his party with official position. He has been school director ; was for three successive terms elected as triennial as- sessor for his township; has been elected to the position of overseer of the poor, and in 1891 was elected a delegate to the Democratic State Convention. He was elected one of the members of the House in 1890, receiving a majority of over 1,200 votes over his highest opponent, and for the present term he was re-nomi- nated by practically the unanimous vote of the county convention and re-elected . by a largely increased vote over his previous election. He has presented a bill to the present Legislature making an appropriation for the support of "The State College," and is greatly interested in its successful passage; besides he takes great interest in all measures pertaining to the agricultural welfare of the state. He takes an active part in all the party contests of his county, and especially so in the party contests of his own township, in which his farm is located, and devotes much of his time and personal attention to the public schools of his portion of the state. Mr. McCormick does not participate in the debates of the present session except upon questions in which he has an interest, and he is especially watchful in all matters that affect the agricultural welfare of his constituents. In apportion- ing to him the work of the House, he has been assigned to the committees on Agri- culture, Library, Judicial Apportionment and to Pensions and Gratuities.
148
House of Representatives.
JAMES SCHOFIELD was born near Belfast, Ireland, March 20, 1848, and resides at Bellefonte. His parents came to Ireland with William of Orange and took part in the rebellion of 1798. His grandfather, Jacob Schofield, was one of the prime movers and leaders in the organization of the yoemanry of Ireland. At the age of six years Mr. Schofield was sent to school but left after six years and began learning the trade of a harness-maker in Belfast, where he was soon recognized as one of the most aptest and most competent working- men. Being of a lively disposition, frank and honest, he soon became a par- ticular favorite among the men. Hear- ing much of the advantages to be liad in America, he bade adieu to old Ire- land on April 27, 1867, and left for this country from the city of Londonderry, arriving in New York on May 10. After wandering about for some time he went to Birmingham, Huntington county, where he secured employment in the lead mines for over a year. This gave Mr. Schofield his start in life. Having earned a little money he located in Bellefonte in the spring of 1868 and worked at his trade as a harness-maker. Two years later he returned to New York, where lie secured employment in a harness shop. Bellefonte seemed to be a more desira- ble location, and one year later he returned to the town and began on a small scale the manufacture of harness supplies, in which business he has been engaged ever since. Like his ancestors, he always was prominent in politics, and shortly · after his location in Bellefonte was elected to the school board for three years. He was then elected for three successive terms as overseer of the poor, but resigned this office June 20, 1891, to pay a visit to his mother country. After spending some time in Ireland he returned and, November 8, 1892, was elected to the House of Representatives over one of the best citizens of the county by a majority of 959. In the House he has been a creditable Representative and succeeded in having the bill to elect tax collectors in boroughs and townships for three years passed. He was popular in the Legislature as a Representative Irishman ; was ready to per- form his public duties and crack a joke with his fellow-members.
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149
House of Representatives.
JOSEPH G. WEST was born in East Pikeland township, Chester county, Pa., May 22, 1834. His early life was spent on the farm of his father, David West, from which he attended the pub- lic school until he was seventeen years of age, when he was sent to Strodie's Seminary, near Lenape, Chester county. Here he pursued his studies for one term, and the following year he at- tended Oakdale Seminary at Pughtown, Chester county, at which institution he continued his studies for two years. The following year, after completing his studies at Oakdale Seminary, was spent in teaching in the public school at Jonestown, Lebanon county, Pa. The avocation of teaching being dis- tasteful to Mr. West, he turned his at- tention to the study of medicine with Dr. Morris Tussell, of Chester Springs, Chester county, and commenced to attend lectures at the University of Pennsyl- vania in the fall of 1857, from which institution he was graduated in the month of March, 1860. The next September he began the practice of medicine at Kem- blesville, Chester county, and continued it at the same place until he turned it over to his son, Dr. F. B. West, in 1887. He has always been an unswerving Re- publican, but was held in such esteem by the citizens of his township that he was continually re-elected to the office of school director for a term of fifteen years, although the district is strongly Democratic. In 1890 he was nominated and elected a member of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania from his county, and was re-elected in 1892 to the same office. After relinquishiing the practice of medicine and his drug business to his son in 1887, he removed to his farm, which is beautifully situated on the outskirts of the village of Kemblesville, where he resides.
150
House of Representatives.
D AVID HOOPES BRANSON, one of the Representatives in the House from Chester county, was born in Mill- town, East Goshen township, Chester county, Pa., August 31, 1827. He was educated in the subscription schools of that day and Strode's Academy. He taught school several years, was a clerk in the office of recorder of deeds dur- ing the term of Edward Hibbard, is a farmer and dealer in fancy stock and has for many years been closely identified with agricultural interests. He has also been prominently connected with the management of the Chester County and Oxford Agricultural societies and is now first vice president of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society. His record for growing large crops and raising fine fancy stock is not surpassed in the state. The once mammoth oxen, known as the "Chester County Mammoth Roans," and the famous bullock, "General Grant," were raised and fed on his farm in Brandywine township, Chester county. He has grown 127 2-3 bushels of shelled corn to the acre, and last year his highest yield was 120 bushels and ten pounds to the acre, specimens of which have been shipped to the World's Fair for competition with the cereals of this and other states. In 1882 he shipped through the United States consul to London ninety barrels of selected corn especially for seed to test the possibilities of the foreign climate for growing Pennsylvania corn. Mr. Branson was elected to the House of Representatives from Chester county in 1891 and 1893 without opposition from his district. During the session of 1893 he introduced among others bills to reduce the legal standard of a bushel of potatoes to fifty-six pounds and to appropriate $100,000 for the purpose of purchasing grounds by the state on which to erect build- ings for the conducting of annual exhibitions of the State Agricultural Society and other agricultural organizations. Mr. Branson served on the Committees of Ap- propriations, Agriculture, Counties and Townships, Centennial Affairs and Library, and in 1891 on Agriculture and various other important committees. In view of his long and successful connection with farming and live stock raising he has been assigned a position in the Agricultural Department at the World's Fair by Director General George B. Davis, chief of that department at Chicago.
151
House of Representatives.
D. SMITH TALBOT, of Chester county, has taken a leading posi- tion in the Legislature since he first be- came a member at the session of 1889. He was born in Honeybrook township November 19, 1841. He is a son of Calob P. and Elizabeth Buchanan Talbot. Mr. Talbot's father was a soldier in the war of 1812 and his ancestry took an active part with the colonist in the revolu- tionary war against Great Britain. In the war of the late rebellion five of the Talbot boys were in the Northern army at the same time, two of whom lost their lives in the struggle for right against wrong. He was reared upon a farm. He comes from a family that is a landmark in Chester county and which has produced a number of distinguished LEVYTYPE CO PHILA. men. Having obtained an rudimintory education in the public schools, Mr. Talbot was sent consecutively to the academies at Morgantown, Waynesburg and Parkersburg. Having completed his education, Mr. Talbot passed an examination for a school teacher's certificate and for eight years taught in the public schools of Chester county. During the Lee invasion of Pennsylvania Mr. Talbot enlisted in the Forty-second Pennsylvania regiment for the three month's service. After his discharge from the army he became a student at law and on April 16, 1870, he was admitted to the bar of Chester county and subsequently to the bars of Delaware, Mifflin and Schuylkill counties, in which he had clients. Mr. Talbot comes from a race of politicians and early identified himself with the Republican party. He has repeatedly been a delegate to county conventions and in 1885 was a senatorial delegate to the State convention. In 1887 he was elected by the borough council the solicitor for the borough of West Chester. In 1892 he was nominated for State Senator to fill a vacancy, but was defeated through the apathy of the Republican voters of the county. He was first elected to the Legislature in 1889 and has served continuously since. In the session of 1891 Mr. Talbot was named as chair- man of the Committee on Elections, which committee was one of the most important, politically, of the session. Mr. Talbot is the author of a number of important measures in the Legislature and is universally regarded as one of the strong men of the House.
152
House of Representatives.
D ANIEL FOULKE MOORE, of Phœ- nixville, was born July 24, 1841, in Upper Merion township, Montgomery county. Mr. Moore's father is a leading citizen and agriculturist of Montgomery county, where the ancestors of his mother, Phoebe Foulke Moore, located in 1698, being a part of the Welsh Quaker colony that settled in South- eastern Pennsylvania at that time. The early life of Mr. Moore was spent upon his father's farm, following the usual agricultural pursuits and attending public schools in the winter. Subse- quently in 1856 one term was spent at private school in West Chester. The balance of his educational opportuni- ties were had at Gwynedd boarding school, where he spent three winters. Having learned the art of telegraphy, Mr. Moore, in the spring of 1862, entered the employ of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company as an extra op- erator. He was stationed at Reading, Harrisburg and other important points, filling the position also of train dispatcher and otherwise proving his ability in these important and responsible positions.
Mr. Moore enlisted August, 1862, in company E, One hundred and Twenty-eighth regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers, for nine months. He was afterward assigned to the First brigade, First division of the Twelfth army corps, and participated with his regiment in the battles of Antietam and Chancellorsville. He was honorably discharged May, 1863, at the expiration of his enlistment. A few weeks later he re-enlisted " for the emergency " during the Gettysburg campaign, serving nearly four months in the Thirty-first regiment of that line. He decided to again re- enlist for the balance of the war, but at the earnest solicitation of General Super- intendent Nichols, of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, he aban- doned his plans and re-entered the employ of that company. Mr. Moore was sta- tioned at Phoenixville in November, 1863, as train dispatcher, which position he retained until 1870, when he became a partner in the firm of Caswell & Moore in the stove, tin and roofing business, in which he is still engaged. He has been chosen burgess of Phoenixville, which is largely Democratic politically, a distinc- tion that but few Republicans have enjoyed the past quarter of a century.
During the period of reorganization of the National Guard after the close of the rebellion Mr. Moore was appointed Assistant Adjutant General on the staff of General J. R. Dobson, commanding the then Tenth division, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He has always been an enthusiastic Republican. He is a birthright member of the Society of Friends. He was elected a member of the House of Representatives in November, 1892, from the Northern district of Chester county, receiving the highest vote cast for any candidate on the Republican legis- lative ticket. He is a member of the committees on Accounts, Bureau of Statistics, Library, Insurance and Education. Mr. Moore has introduced a number of bills and is actively interested in the Agnew local option measure, the bill to abolish capital punishment, civil service reform, Phoenixville hospital bill and all educa- tional and reform measures before the General Assembly.
153
House of Representatives.
HENRY N. HESS, M. D., member of the House from Clarion county, was born in Maysville, that county, July 13, 1854. His father, who was a miller, was born in Dauphin and his mother in Schuylkill county. Both were of German parentage. In 1828 they emigrated west and settled at Newmaysville. Dr. Hess' father carried on the milling business for many years, and in 1840 his first mill was destroyed by flood and in 1860 another by storm. Representative Hess was taught in the district schools and the Corsica and West Millersville Acad- emies. He was engaged in the profes- sion of school teaching for six years. In 1882 he graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore. He has practiced medicine at Fryburg, Clarion county, for eleven years, and impunta served as school director for three years, was secretary of the board one year and treasurer two years. He was a delegate to the State convention at Scranton which nominated Robert E. Pattison for Gov- ernor. He was elected to the House from Clarion county in 1890 and 1892 by ma- jorities of 1,384 and 1,250 respectively. At the session of 1891 he strenuously op- posed the medical examiners bill and received the credit of having defeated it from the State Medical Association. At that session he served on the committees of Judiciary, Local and Public Health and Sanitation, and at the session of 1893 on the Appropriation, Banks and Banking, and Public Health and Sanitation Com- mittees. Class legislation has invariably found in Representative Hess an uncom- promising foe. He was appointed on the sub-committee of the committee on Ap- propriations, which visited the flooded districts of Oil City and Titusville, and the hospitals at Meadville and Brookville, to ascertain the merit of claims for appro- priations. He introduced a bill to appropriate $75,000 to the State Normal school of the Thirteenth district. Dr. Hess has passed all chairs in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in 1890 attended the sessions of the Grand Lodge at Pittsburg.
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154
House of Representatives.
HENRY CYPHERT is one of the two Democratic representatives from Clarion county. He was born Septem- ber 8, 1836, and, like his father, has de- voted much of his time to agricultural pursuits. His paternal grandfather was raised in Berks county, removed to Westmoreland county at an early stage of his life, and while yet a young man took up his residence in Clarion county. He settled in a woodland country and cleared a farm. Subsequently lie built a furnace, but the venture proved a failure and involved him in much debt, and in 1861 he died a poor man. Mr. Cyphert's father was of German and his mother of Irish origin. The son was born [ in Limestone township, Clarion county. He was educated in the pub- lic schools of that county and at a nor- mal school at Callensburg, taught by John McGonagle. What success he has had has been due to his industry and energy, as he was very poor when a boy. The occupations he has followed are farming, raising and dealing in live stock and teaching school. He was township auditor and overseer of the poor and has been tax collector for seventeen years. He was also postmaster at Kingsville, Clarion county, for six years, and attended the Democratic State Convention of 1885 at Harrisburg as a delegate. At the election at which he was chosen a member of the House, he led all the other candidates in the number of votes received. He is a member of the executive committee of the Pennsylvania State Grange, and has taken great interest in the success of the Patrons of Husbandry. To him was intrusted the introduction in the House of the bill to provide a new method of electing members of the State Board of Agri- culture, by having them chosen from the various agricultural societies, granges and kindred organizations. During the session of the Legislature of 1893 hun- dreds of petitions were received from granges in Pennsylvania, asking for the pro- posed change in the interests of a larger representation on the board of the agri- cultural interests of the State. Mr. Cyphert also introduced a bill to allow con- stables compensation for visiting licensed hotels under the Brooks' law. As a member of the lower branch of the assembly he served on these committees : Bureau of Statistics, Counties and Townships and Iron and Coal.
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155
House of Representatives.
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J OHN K. GORMAN, who is serving his first term in the Legislature as a member from Clearfield county, was born in New Washington, in that county, July 27, 1862. His parents, who were of Scotch-Irish descent (both of whom are dead), lived on a farm in Burnside township, where Mr. Gorman was raised and in due time was sent to common schools. Afterwards he went to the Normal school in New Washington and prepared himself as a teacher and for four years taught in the public schools of his native county. He entered the State Normal school in Clarion, Clarion county, and from that institution grad- nated in 1889. When his school days were ended he was appointed deputy sheriff of Clearfield county, under Sheriff E. L. McCloskey, and in that capacity served until 1891. In the meantime he read law and was admitted to the bar of Clearfield county and is now a practicing attorney in the town of Clearfield. Mr. Gorman is very active in the politics of his county, and for the years 1890 and 1891 was the secretary to the Democratic County Committee. He was also a National Guardsman and for three years was member of company D, in the Fifteenth regiment. He was elected to the Legis- lature from his county by a handsome majority and in the House is serving on the following committees : Judiciary Local, Mines and Mining and Military. The new mine ventilation law was introduced by Mr. Gorman and passed both House and Senate without a dissenting vote, notwithstanding the fact that this same bill failed in the Legislature of 1891.
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156
House of Representatives.
C HARLES SYLVESTER KING, one of the members from Clearfield county, was born April 17, 1848, in the town of Petitcodiac, Westmoreland county, New Brunswick, Canada. His ancestors on his father's side were Irish and his mother's parents were Scotch, having been reared so near the Ameri- can line that it was not difficult for him to acquire a considerable knowledge of Americans and American institutions ; and the more he learned of them the more he was led to love and admire the United States government. The great love of freedom was so strong in him that at the age of nineteen years Mr. King determined to become a citizen of the United States, and in 1878 he en- tered the State of Maine in which he remained for two years, at the end of which time he concluded to visit Penn- sylvania, arriving in Philipsburg, Centre county, March 5, 1869, and in a short time he secured employment with a lumber company doing business in Clearfield county. He at once took advantage of our naturalization laws and became a citi- zen of this commonwealth and has remained a resident of that county ever since. Connecting himself with the Democratic party, he has always been a strong advocate of the principles of that party, believing that the perpetuity of our government de- pends on those principles. Mr. King has held several minor offices in his county, having served as school director for a number of years, and was elected judge of elections in the borough of Brisbin, which is largely Republican. He was elected to the Legislature by a large majority notwithstanding there was a most deter- mined effort made to compass his defeat. On the opening of the session he was ap- pointed on the following committees : Constitutional Reform, Federal Relations and Centennial Affairs. He has been in faithful attendance at every session of the House, and while he has engaged but little in debate he has been studious and observing, and by his genial manners has made many friends in both parties. He introduced a bill for the improvement of roads and also a bill requiring owners of property in Clearfield county to fence the same. He is a man of the people and will neglect no opportunity presented to work for their interests.
157
House of Representatives.
JAMES C. QUIGGLE, who was born at Lock Haven, December 29, 1851, is the son of the late Hon. James W. Quiggle, and his mother is a sister of Judge C. A. Mayer. In 1856 his par- ents removed to Philadelphia from Clin- ton county, and three years afterward he accompanied them to Antwerp, Bel- gium. His father was United States consul at that port, and the son made his home there for two years and a half and attended French and German schools. In November, 1861, he re- turned to Philadelphia with his parents and applied himself to further study in the schools of that city and a commer- cial college. He had intended connect- ing himself with the profession of the law and had been regularly entered as a LEVY TYPE CO. PHILA. student in the common pleas court of Philadelphia, but imperfect vision com- pelled him to abandon his purpose. In October, 1871, before he had attained the age of twenty years, he was tendered and accepted on personal and not political grounds, the office of United States consular agent at Cornwall, Canada, which he resigned March 10, 1872. From 1873 to 1876 he was engaged in Wayne township, Clinton county, in agricultural and lumbering pursuits. In the latter year he held an important position in the office of the chief secretary of the United States Centennial Commission at Philadelphia. After having filled several offices in his township, he, in 1887, accepted the post of United States consul at Port Stanley and St. Thomas, Canada, to which he had been appointed by President Cleveland in August 31, 1887, and entered upon his duties October 22, he was superseded for political reasons by President Harrison in February, 1890, as was shown by the fact that Mr. Quiggle received special commendation from the Department of State for the satisfactory and economical administration of his office. Before his return from Canada he was re-elected justice of the peace for Wayne township for five years, but having been elected to the House in November, 1890, he surrendered the office after having attended to its duties for six months. In the Legislature of 1891 he was a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, Federal Relations, Manu- factures and Bureau of Statistics. In 1892 he was re-elected by a largely increased majority, his vote exceeding that received by his Republican opponent, A. D. Meloy, 736. At the present session he is a member of the Committee on Appro- priations, Federal Relations, Elections and Printing. Mr. Quiggle has been promi- nent in the politics of his county, and in 1883 was chosen a delegate to the Demo- cratic State Convention. For five years he was a member of the Clinton County Democratic Committee and in 1884 served as its secretary. Mr. Quiggle was mar- ried at Lock Haven by Rev. Joseph Nesbitt to Miss Ella L. Quiggle, daughter of ex-county commissioner Jacob Quiggle, a distant relative, February 23, 1882.
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