USA > Pennsylvania > Portraits of the heads of state departments and portraits and sketches of members of the legislature of Pennsylvania, 1893-1894 > Part 15
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158
House of Representatives.
A NDREW LUCIUS FRITZ, of Bloom- burg, was born in Sugarloaf town- ship, Columbia county, Pa. His an- cestors lived on Chestnut street, Phila- delphia, during the revolutionary war. They took an active part in the scenes incident to that time. His great-grand- father, Philip Fritz, moved with his grandfather to Columbia county about 1795, where he purchased a large tract of land. Philip Fritz was the first school teacher and justice of the peace in the northern part of the county, and according to history he was "a great scholar and local public character of more than ordinary influence." Rep- resentative Fritz's father, Jesse Fritz, was a farmer, and purchased and lived on the "old homestead," where he died two years ago, having filled the office of justice of the peace a number of years until his death. The subject of this sketch at the age of seven began to work on his father's farm. In the summer for a number of years he worked on the farm and went to school in winter. He received an academical education at the New Columbia and Orangeville Academies and the Bloomsburg State Normal School. He has always been a laborious student. He began teaching when about sixteen years of age, and followed that profession six years. He studied law with ex-United States Senator C. R. Buckalew, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1878. In November of the same year he located at Scranton, and was admitted to practice as an attorney of the Lackawanna county courts. In a short time he removed to Bloomsburg, where he has since lived and practiced law. Mr. Fritz has a large practice in Columbia and adjoining counties, and has been admitted to practice in the supreme court. He has been receiver of taxes, town auditor, solicitor of the Bloomsburg poor district, and counsel for a number of munici- palities, and he was secretary of town council for a number of years until he re- signed. He was appointed by three sheriff's in succession as deputy, and had charge of the sheriff's office of Columbia county in the absence of the sheriff until his other business compelled him to give up the position. Through these positions and by his kind and obliging disposition he made many friends and became well acquainted with the people of the county. In 1884 he was elected to the House of Representatives, receiving the highest vote on the Democratic ticket. In 1886 he was re-nominated without opposition and was elected, running ahead of his ticket at the general election. In 1892 he was elected a third time as a member of the House, an honor awarded to but few in his county. During his three terms in the Legislature he served on the Judiciary General and other important com- mittees. In 1891 Mr. Fritz was elected a delegate to the proposed constitutional convention from the Senatorial district, composed of the counties of Columbia, Montour, Lycoming and Sullivan, by the largest vote in the district. He has taken an active part in the business interests of his county and is interested in several new enterprises. Mr. Fritz has always been a Democrat, has taken an active part in politics and has been a delegate to several county and state conven- tions. He is married and has two small children, both boys.
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159
House of Representatives.
E EDWARD MARVIN TEWKSBURY, of Columbia county, was born Sep- tember 10, 1837, in Brooklyn, Susque- hanna county, Pa., on a farm. His father, Reuben Tewksbury, was a na- tive of Vermont, and his mother, Mar- tha Corey, was from Rhode Island. The Tewksbury's are of English ances- try. D'Aubigne places "John Tewks- bury, a leather merchant of London, with the martyrs of A. D. 1528, and as early as A. D. 1512, being in possession of a manuscript copy of the Bible." The Tewksbury family early settled in Mas- sachusetts, intermarrying with the Sar- geants, Winthrops and Worthings, of early collonial and revolutionary times. Until the age of fifteen Representative Tewksbury attended the public schools of the township where he was born. He then took a three years' course of in- struction at Harford University (old Franklin Academy of Susquehanna county), receiving the "certificate of scholarship," then granted by the faculty. He be- gan teaching public school near Millersburg in Dauphin county, Pa., when eighteen years of age, teaching more or less each year for nearly twenty years, part of the time in connection with farming. In 1860 he met with an accident, resulting in permanent physical disability, which incapacitated him for the more active duties of life. He is emphatically a farmer, living on the farm, yet interested in other pursuits of a mercantile character. He has filled a number of local offices in his county and was a delegate to the Democratic convention in Allentown in 1883. He was elected to the house in 1890 and 1892, each time by a commanding ma- jority. As a candidate the last named year he had no opposition. In the Legis- lature he served on several of the most important committees. Among others he introduced bills to require seats to be furnished females employed in factories, to prohibit the issuing of free passes and discrimination in freights, to fix railroad fare at two cents a mile, for the introduction of free text books in the schools, to prohibit the employment of children under twelve years of age who have not at- tended school twelve weeks in a year, for the distribution of the State appropria- tion according to the number of months taught in the several districts, for a gen- eral borough law, for a commission to locate the forts of Pennsylvania prior to 1783 and for the exemption of forest lands connected with farms from taxation. Since 1856 Mr. Tewksbury has been actively working for the triumph of his party, believing that the best interests of the State and Nation demanded its success. He has devoted the best efforts of his life to the common school cause of Pennsylvania, as he thinks. "Education is the Hand-maid of Religion." His family in their church relations are Methodists and he is a communicant in this church. He early entered the grange field in the interest of the farmer and home-owner, and has always demanded for them equal rights before the law. The young people have always found in him a true friend, the unfortunate a man with an open, helping hand, his enemies one ready to forgive and his friends one who never forgot or forsook them.
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160
House of Representatives.
R OBERT C. McMASTERS, of Craw- ford, was born near Adamsville, Crawford county, Pa., June 13, 1839. He is ason of John M. McMasters, one of the early settlers of western Crawford, who entered the primitive forests in his early life and lived to see them "blossom as the rose," dying at the age of eighty-seven years. Young Mc- Masters was educated in the common schools, at the Hartshorn Academy and Jamestown Seminary. He taught school during the winters of 1860 and 1861. August 16, 1862, Mr. MeMasters enlisted in company H, One hundred and Forty-fifth regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers. His regiment was recruited by Colonel H. L. Brown, of Erie, and began active service at Antietam. Its next engagement was at Fredericksburg, where it suffered severely. Mr. McMas- ters was captured at Chancellorsville by the Confederates and taken to Libby prison. He was released on parole and returned to the Union lines, but not in time to participate in the battle of Gettysburg. From the time of his release until the close of the war Mr. McMasters participated in all the battles in which the Army of the Potomac took part until the close of the conflict at Appomattox. During the siege at Petersburg Mr. McMasters had command of companies H and G. At the close of the war he was mustered out of service and soon after entered the mercantile business at Adamsville, Pa, where he has lived ever since. In con- nection with his mercantile business he has been engaged in farming the past few years. Mr. McMasters is a director in the First National Bank of Greenville, Pa., and the secretary of Rocky Glen Cemetery. He was a member of the State Dem- ocratic Convention of 1892 and was postmaster at Adamsville from 1868 to 1872. He was a candidate for Assemblyman in the fall of 1893 and received the largest vote of any candidate on either ticket. He is a member of the House Committees on Banks, Military, Public Health and Sanitation and Vice and Immorality. Mr. McMasters championed the cause of the advocates of the co-operative bank bill and the measure to distribute the State appropriation to the common schools, pro- posing a radical change in the manner of the distribution of the appropriations.
161
House of Representatives.
W ILLIAM HENRY ANDREWS, of Crawford county, ex-chairman of the Republican State committee, was born in Youngsville, Warren county, Pa., January 14, 1842. His paternal ancestor fought under the banner of William the Conqueror, and was knighted for gallantry and meritorious services at the battle of Hastings, October 14, 1066. In after years his descendants maintained the reputation of their pro- genitor, and the family name will be found among England's truest patriots and bravest defenders for many cen- turies. On his mother's side Mr. An- drews is of Puritan descent, the first of his maternal ancestors in this country, dating his advent to America back to the earliest settlement made by the Pil- grims in Massachusetts. A great-grand- father on his mother's side of the family served in the Continental army during the revolution under Montgomery at the storming of Quebec; was with General Gates at the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, and with Washington at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. An- other ancestor served under Washington throughout the entire struggle for inde- pendence. In the war of the rebellion also the family name was well represented among the defenders of the Union. His father, Dr. Jeremiah Andrews, was born in Mitchelltown, Ireland, educated in Dublin and emigrated to this country when twenty-five years of age. He was recognized as a skillful practitioner, and pos- sessed to a remarkable degree the esteem and confidence of the community in which he lived. Dr. Andrews' wife, the mother of W. H. Andrews, was a daughter of Dr. Noah Weld, a member of one of the oldest families and one of the best known and most respected citizens of Warren county.
After obtaining such rudimentary education as the public schools of his time and section afforded, W. H. Andrews early in life entered upon a mercantile ca- reer, and up to the year 1880 was largely engaged in mercantile pursuits, part of the time in Cincinnati, O., and subsequently at Meadville and Titusville, Pa.
During the year 1880 he was elected chairman of the Republican committee of Crawford county, a position he held for three successive terms, and in which his efficiency and aptitude for politics were demonstrated. He was again unani- mously elected in 1886. Early in his political career he developed those charac- teristics which served to elevate him to the chairmanship of his party in Pennsyl- vania. He served with credit to himself and advantage to his party as first as- sistant secretary to the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania during the years 1887-88, and so ably did he discharge the duties to which he was assigned that his work obtained such hearty recognition at the hands of the old party leaders, who were so favorably impressed by his qualities for work and organiza- tion and his practical common sense that he was made chairman of the State com- mittee in 1888, and was unanimously re-elected in 1889 and again in 1890.
Always a stalwart Republican and ever loyal to his associates under all condi- tions and every circumstance, Mr. Andrews is regarded with admiration by his friends and by those whom he opposes as an honorable and able antagonist.
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162
House of Representatives.
W R. McGILL, of Crawford county, . was born in Woodcock township, February 1, 1835. He was educated in the common schools and brought up on a farm. He served three years as deputy sheriff of Crawford county, and for the last fourteen years has been en- gaged in the lumber business, stock raising and general farming.
163
House of Representatives.
SAMUEL MCCUNE WHERRY was born Jannary 5, 1840, near Ship- pensburg, Pa. He went through the schools of his native county and, in 1860, at the age of twenty years, grad- uated at Princeton College with one of the highest honors of his class. He then returned to his native county and studied law with the Hon. Frederick Watts, of Carlisle. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1872 and 1873, and took an active part in the formation of the fundamental law of our commonwealth. For a num- ber of years The owned and edited the Carlisle Volunteer. In 1886 he was elected a member of the House of Rep- resentatives and served during the ses- sions of 1887 and 1889. In 1890 he was elected for a third term, an honor never LEVYTYPE CA PHILA before conferred upon a Representative of his county. He was a member of the State Revenue Commision of 1887 by ap- pointment of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and a member of the same commission during the year 1889 by election of the House. At the session of 1889 he was the Democratic nominee for Speaker. In 1892 he was elected to the House of Representatives for the fourth time and was made chairman of the Democratic caucus of the House. His legislative experience makes him an inval- uable member. In the session of 1893 he was placed upon the most important committees of the House-Ways and Means, Judiciary General, and also upon the Committee on Appropriations and Manufactures. His best work in the House has been in advancing and perfecting important bills. He never introduces a bill if he can find a suitable man to do it for him. His anti-discrimination bill is con- sidered by far the most just one ever offered in the House, and he is confident it will some day become a law, as will also his measure to secure uniformity in divorce legislation. He has introduced a civil service measure, which extends the civil service rules of the United States to the State and municipal governments of Pennsylvania, which he thinks bound to become a law. His bill regulating the sinking fund. passed at the session of 1891, has worked like a charm. After the decision of the House in the contested election case of Higby rs. Andrews, he in- troduced and had passed a law requiring every elector to cast his ballot within the territorial limits of the district in which he is domiciled. The effect of this bill will be to prevent such contests in the future and save to the State thousands of dollars. There are few if any men in the House whose influence upon legisla- tion is more potent for good than that of Mr. Wherry. He is an indefatigable worker. He scans legislation more closely, perhaps, than any other member. A defect in a bill, constitutional or otherwise, is quickly detected by him, and the suggestion of amendment comes in such friendly spirit that it is always adopted. He is a good fighter, too, and if he deems a bill an unjust measure, be its author ยท friend or foe, he fearlessly states to the House his objections to it and does all in his power to strike it down. He is a forcible speaker and what he says he says . well. His occupation, he will tell you, is not that of a lawyer, editor or politi- cian, but a farmer for revenne only.
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House of Representatives.
164
GEORGE MORRIS ECKELS, born April 29, 1857 in Mechanicsburg, Cumberland county, Pa. His father was a farmer and cooper. His ancestors were of Scotch-Irish descent. His great- grandfather when a child was brought to the United States by his father who settled in Western Pennsylvania, with his family, consisting of wife and four- teen children. None of his ancestors possessed means beyond the earnings of their labor. In their religious views they held to the Presbyterian faith. In politics they were invariably Democrats. Mr. Eckels received his education in the public schools of his native town from 1863 to 1873. In the latter year he en- tered a drug store at his home to learn the business. In January, 1877, he en- tered a drug store in Philadelphia and the same year became a student at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, where he graduated in the spring of 1879. He then returned to Mechanicsburg and formed a partnership with his younger brother, they having purchased the drug store in which both had served as clerks. They still continue as partners in the same business. In 1883 he was elected tran- scribing clerk of the House of Representatives and served during the regular and extra sessions of the Legislature ot that year. In the fall of 1883 he became a student in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania and gradu- ated from that institution in May, 1885. Since that time he has practiced his pro- fession in his native town in connection with his drug business. In 1884 Mr. Eckels was elected a delegate from Cumberland county to the Democratic State Conven- tion by a vote of sixty-five out of sixty-six votes. The same year he was elected alternate delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago. In 1890 he was elected a member of the House by a majority of about 700 and was re-elected in 1892 by an increased majority of over 200. Both times he was a candidate he carried his own native town, Mechanicsburg, which is largely Republican, the first time by a majority of 112, and the second time by 123. He served on the following committees : Centennial Affairs, Pensions and Gratuities, Insurance and Public Health and Sanitation. Mr. Eckels is quiet and unassuming, an active, earnest worker in the hall of the House and in committee room. He is always present at his post of duty and ever attentive to the interests of his constituents. He does not pose as a speaker, but when occasion requires says what he has to say clearly, tersely and forcibly.
165
House of Representatives.
G EORGE KUNKEL, the representa- tive of the First district of Dauphin county, is a native of Harrisburg. He was educated in the Gause and Seiler Academies of Harrisburg, and graduated in 1876 from Franklin and Marshal Col- lege, at Lancaster, the second honor man of his class, delivering the Frank- lin oration. Judge Simonton became his tutor in the law. He was admitted to the bar of Dauphin county two years after his graduation from college, and forthwith entered upon the practice of his profession. Success at once demon- strated his fitness for his calling. From the lower courts he went into the su- preme court with a number of remark- able cases and met with exceptional success, displaying a comprehensive knowledge of the law and an extraordi- mary faculty for concise and forcible reasoning. In 1885, after one of the most exciting contests ever had in the county, he was made the candidate for district attorney by the Republican party, and was elected by a handsome majority. His administration of the office exceeded the expectations of his friends, and won for him high commendations from his fellow- members of the bar. In 1888 he was unanimously re-nominated and re-elected by the unprecedented majority of 3,700, receiving 1,600 majority in the city of Har- risburg, his home.
As district attorney Mr. Kunkel proved himself a genius in arranging and dis- patching business, thus saving great and unnecessary expense to the county. In him the people found a fearless, wise and able champion to prosecute their cases. In his conduct of criminal cases his arguments showed him to be a master in mar- shaling facts and powerful and convincing in the presentation of the salient points of a case to a jury. In the administration of his office he increased the number of his friends by his courtesy and impartiality, making no distinction of persons or political affiliations. Mr. Kunkel is one of the leaders of the Dauphin county bar. He is popular not only with the young element, but command's the profound re- spect of all who are his seniors at the bar. He has won the confidence of the people generally without regard to party.
Mr. Kunkel was elected to the Legislature in 1892, defeating his Democratic opponent by over 700 votes, although having been nominated but a few days be- fore the election. He at once took an active interest in the affairs of the House, and is one of the most popular members of that body. His colleagues have even not been slow to recognize his ability as a lawyer and legislator, and his advice is daily sought by them on matters pertaining to legislation. He is a member of the committees on Judiciary General, Legislative Apportionment, City Passenger Railways, and Constitutional Reform. He was a member of the sub-committee to draft a legislative apportionment bill, and was also selected by Chairman Walton, of the Judiciary General Committee, to formulate an Anti-Pinkerton bill out of the five measures of this kind referred to the committee.
166
House of Representatives.
M ARTIN LANDIS HERSHEY is
one of the genial, good-natured members of the House. He represents the Second district of Dauphin county, and was born April 1, 1857, at Derry, Dauphin county, almost within the shadow of the famous old Derry Pres- byterian church, where in ancient times the good man who attended services took his wife with him and listened to the sermon while he kept a lookout for Indians, who made repeated attacks on the old church. Dr. Hershey's father was a farmer, as was his father before him, and all were Pennsylvania born, living in the same locality for over seventy years. The young man was educated in the common schools and at the Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pa., and then taught school in his native town for four years, achieving much success as an educator. His greatest wish was to study medicine and he chose as his preceptor Dr. W. C. Baker, of Hummelstown, Pa., and as his Alma Mater the famous old Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, graduating in 1883 with honors. He at once began the practice of medicine in Derry, and in a short time won fame as a practitioner throughout the lower end of Dauphin county. His many friends in 1890 presented his name to the Dauphin county Republican convention for member of the House of Representatives from the Second district, and was honored by nomination and election. He was an active legislator from the start, and so well did he serve his people that he was accorded a re-election in 1893 by the splendid majority of over 2,700, leading all of the other candidates.
Dr. Hershey's ability was recognized in the formation of the committees. He was made chairman of the Committee on Health and Sanitation, and is a member of the committees on Appropriations, Congressional Apportionment and Constitu- tional Reform, all of them important and containing the best minds of the House. The State Fish Commission this year placed in Dr. Hershey's hands for introduc- tion in the House the bill making an appropriation for the carrying on of the work of fish propagation.
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167
House of Representatives.
JOHN ADAM LAUDENSLAGER, of the Second district, Dauphin county, was born in Lykens township, Dauphin county, Pa., in 1850. When but six years old both parents died, and from that time he was nursed and cared for by relatives and kind friends. He attended the public schools of several towns, also the Berrysburg Seminary and Freeburg Academy. He began teaching in the public schools when he was eighteen years of age, but soon afterwards entered the mercantile business, in which he has since been successfully engaged. In 1880 he was elected justice of the peace of Union- town borough without opposition, and in 1888 was unanimously elected a tax collector in that borough. He was elected in 1890 as school director, but resigned when elected as Representative. Since 1882 he has been manager of a large co-operative store under the Pennsyl- vania State Grange Patrons of Husbandry. Mr. Laudenslager has for many years been one of the Republican leaders in Dauphin county, and in recognition of his faithful party service he was nominated in 1890 and elected a member of the House of Representatives. In 1892 he was re-nominated, with practically no opposition, and was elected by a large majority. He takes an active interest in all legislation, especially that pertaining to the farmer, and is a member of the Committee on Accounts, Geological Survey, Public Buildings and Centennial Affairs. Mr. Lau- denslager has attended as a delegate every Dauphin county Republican Conven- tion held in the past fifteen years. He is a member of the Patrons of Husbandry, Patriotic Order Sons of America, and Free and Accepted Masons. In 1872 he was married to Malinda Strohecker, of Lykens Valley. Their union has been blessed with two children.
168
House of Representatives.
SAMUEL S. PAGE, son of Daniel Page and Mary Page, was born July 24, 1856, in Paxtang township, Danphin county, Pa. He was educated in the Paxtang school and was raised a farmer. At the age of seventeen years he ap- prenticed himself to Peter Dunkel, of Oberlin, Pa., to learn the trade ot car- penter, at which he worked about seven years, three years of which time he carried on contracting. building a num- ber of houses, including a public school honse. At the age of twenty-three years he was elected a justice of the peace of Swatara township, which office he held for thirteen years. He has been also extensively and successfully en- gaged in the real estate business, with office in Steelton. In 1892 at the Re- publican County Convention he was unanimously chosen as the candidate of the Republican party for the office of member of the Second Legislative district of Danphin county and was elected by the unusual majority, 2,600. He was ap- pointed on the following standing committees by Speaker Thompson : Insurance, Compare Bills, Vice and Immorality, Congressional Apportionment, Fish and Game of which committee he was chosen secretary. He introduced bills during the session of 1893. Bills to prohibit the killing of wild turkey for a period of three years, to compensate school directors and to compel them to visit schools, to regulate borough council and to make an appropriation for the paying of the ex- pense of the electoral of the State of Pennsylvania, in 1888. He enlisted in the Governor's Troop of Harrisburg for three years, attended encampment at Mount Gretna. When twenty-two years old he was married to Elizabeth E. Brehm, of Hunnnelstown, daughter of Dr. Samuel Brehm. Their children are Anna Mary, Jennie Pearl, Artie Levan, Lenman Brehm, Edgar Silvestin and Faith G. His an- cestors George Page, came to this country in 1735, obtained a warrant from William Penn for 200 acres of land in Paxtang township, near Rutherford station, which land remains in possession of the Page family, George Page, great-great grand- father and Frederick Page, great-grandfather and Daniel Page grandfather and Daniel Page, father of Sanmel S. Page, died on this farm. George Page attended church at the Paxtang church, was connected with what was known at that time as the "Paxtang boys" commanded by Colonel Elder. Samnel S. Page has always been a Republican and never missed an election. He served on the county com- mittee for a number of years and was twice elected a delegate to the county con- vention. He is a director in the Citizen's Passenger Railway Company, one of the Dauphin County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, one of the oldest fire insurance companies of the state He has one brother, J. Frank Page, postmaster at Oberlin, and one sister, Mrs. J. P. Keim, of Philadelphia.
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