USA > Pennsylvania > Portraits of the heads of state departments and portraits and sketches of members of the legislature of Pennsylvania, 1893-1894 > Part 16
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169
House of Representatives.
W ARD R. BLISS was born in Lew- isburg, Union county, Pa., on De- cember 15, 1855, and is of New England descent. In 1874 he graduated from the University at Lewisburg (now Buck- nell University), in which his father was professor of Greek and Latin. The same year he removed to the city of Chester, Delaware county. He taught school while reading law and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1878. Since 1881 he has published a weekly legal journal, of which five volumes have been published in book form under the title of "The Delaware County Reports." He has also published a "Digest of the Local Laws of Delaware County." Since 1882 he has edited and published the Dela- ware County Republican, the oldest news- LEVYTYPE CO PHILA paper in the county. In 1887 he was chairman of the Republican County Committee and in 1888 was elected the first time to the Legislature. He was re- elected in 1890 and 1892. In the present House he is chairman of the Committee on Judiciary Local and a member of the Committees on Municipal Corporations, Health and Sanitation, Printing and Congressional Apportionment. During the last two sessions his efforts in the Legislature have been devoted chiefly to the passage of a new quarantine bill for the port of Philadelphia, to secure better pro- tection to the people of the State and to compel the removal of the present Laza- retto out of Delaware county, where it has become a serious menace to the health of the people.
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170
House of Representatives.
T HOMAS HENRY GARVIN, one of the Delaware county members of the House, was born in Philadelphia, ·October 23, 1857. While in that city he attended the public schools and a business college. At the age of sixteen his family removed to Sharon Hill, Delaware county, where he has resided ever since. The elder Garvin and his son are partners in the retail coal busi- ness in Philadelphia, and the latter is also in the real estate business in Dela- ware county. He is one of the incorpo- rators and general manager of the Sha- ron Hill Real Estate Company. He has served in the councils of his borough and also been twice elected burgess of the place, filling the position in 1891 and 1892. He was nominated to the Legislature after a spirited contest and elected by a large majority. Mr. Gar- vin comes from the district from which Representative Garrett was elected a mem- ber of the House. He was on the committees on Railroads, Legislative Apportion- ment, Fish and Game, Pensions and Gratuities and Compare Bills. Mr. Garvin has established a reputation for attentive and intelligent work in committee, and few members had a tighter hold on the friendship of his fellow Legislators.
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171
House of Representatives.
G EORGE E. HEYBURN was born at Chadd's Ford, Birmingham town- ship. Delaware county, Pa., February 21. 1846. His father, who was born in 1801, on the farm the son now owns, was married to the daughter of Edward Brinton, who took part in the battle of Brandywine and whose father was among the early settlers who came from England and located in Birmingham township. Mr. Heyburn was the youngest of twelve children, eight girls and four boys. All his brothers are dead, one of whom died in the army. Mr. Heyburn obtained his education in the public schools of his county. He was apprenticed to learn the carpenter- . ing trade at sixteen years of age but after serving one year entered Maple- wood Institute at Concordville, under the instruction of Prof. Shortlidge, and after two terms in the institution finished his course of study at Chester Valley Academy at Coatesville, under Prof. Jonathan Taylor, graduating fourth in a class of twenty-five. He then returned to his home and engaged in farming, which oc- cupation he has followed since. In 1869 he married Sarah A., daughter of Robert Smith, formerly of Darby. He is a member of the Brandywine Baptist Church and has served fifteen years as superintendent of the Sunday-school connected with the congregation. He has been identified with the schools of his district for twelve years and served over eleven years as treasurer. He was elected president of the Delaware County Directors Association when organized and still retains the posi- tion. In 1890 he was a candidate for the House and received the support of eighty delegates in the convention held in that year. In 1892 he received the nomina- tion for member of the Legislature and was elected by a large majority. He has earned a good reputation as a speaker in Christian bodies and was earnestly urged in consequence by a number of clergymen who heard some of his addresses to enter the ministry. Mr. Heyburn served on the Committees on Agriculture, Counties and Townships, Labor and Industry and Pensions and Gratuities, and is a mem- ber of Winomo Tribe of Red Men No. 75, Legion of Red Cross and Knights of Honor.
172
House of Representatives.
CHARLES LUHR was born in the town of Forcheim, near the Rhine, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, on Sep- tember 25, 1830. His father was born in 1800 and his mother in 1809 in the same place. The parents came to Amer- ica in 1846 and settled at St. Marys. Elk county, Pa., then a vast wilderness. At that point they conducted the hotel business nearly thirty years. On Mr. Luhr's paternal and maternal side, fur- ther back even than his great-grand parents, this business was followed by his ancestors. His father died in 1880, but his mother is enjoying good health at the ripe age of eighty-four. He re- ceived a thorough education in the old country, and emigrated to the United States one year previous to the de- . LEVYTYRE CA PHILA. parture of his parents. He was then only fifteen years of age. Shortly after arriving at New York he left for Baltimore, where he made his home for a year, and attended day and night school and attained his first education in the language of this country. In 1846 he joined his parents in the wilds of Elk county, where he assisted them in their business and taught school, earning his own livelihood. After he reached his majority he took an active part in politics, and was honored by being elected to various offices in the gift of the people of Elk county. He filled different positions in the borough of St. Marys, covering a period of twenty- five years, and also served as associate judge, county treasurer and auditor. In 1890 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives by 172 majority, and in 1892 he was re-elected by a majority of 632. At both sessions of the Legis- lature he served on the Ways and Means and other important Committees, and at the session of 1893 he was one of the members of the new Committee on Fish and Game. Mr. Luhr has been engaged in mercantile pursuits since 1858, and has raised a family of six children, four of whom are in business for themselves and two are living at home.
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173
House of Representatives.
H ENRY BUTTERFIELD, of Erie, was born in 1843 in Buffalo town- ship, Butler county, Pa. He was edu- cated in the public schools at Sharps- burg and at the Western University at Pittsburg. When a boy he removed to the city of Erie where he has since re- sided. He was appointed to a clerkship in the office of the prothonotary of Erie county when in his teens and was sub- sequently promoted to deputy prothono- tary. He was transcribing clerk of the House of Representatives in 1864 and 1865. The same year Governor Curtin appointed him clerk to the courts of Erie county to fill an unexpired term, and he was subsequently elected for the full term. While filling this office he read law and was admitted to the bar. Soon after he was appointed district at- torney to fill a vacancy. In 1873 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives from Erie county and he served in the session of 1874, at which session the city of Erie was made a separate legislative district. At the expiration of his term he was unanimously renomi- nated, but (to use his own language) was almost unanimously defeated by Hon. William Henry, a Democrat.
Mr. Butterfield was elected to the Senate in 1875 for the short term under the new constitution and was re-elected for a full term in 1876, serving until 1881. He continued in active practice of the law from his admission to the bar until 1892 when he was again elected to the House of Representatives, defeating his Democratic opponent by nearly 200 votes in a strong Democratic district. Mr. Butterfield takes a prominent part in the proceedings of the House. He is a member of the Committees on Judiciary General, Elections, Federal Relations and Manufactures, and chairman of the Committee on Public Grounds and Buildings, and reported the bill for improving the capitol and building a fire-proof state library and appropriating $625,000 for the same. A member of the special com- mittee to investigate the charges of corruption made against certain members of the House incident to the bill abolishing the public building commission of Phila- delphia. Mr. Butterfield is an earnest and eloquent talker, a ready debator and a valuable member of the House. Whatsoever his hand findeth good to do, he does with his might and thus generally succeeds. He is widely known and has legions of friends who predict for him a promising future. He was judge advocate with rank of major-in-staff of General Henry Huidekoper, National Guard of Pennsyl- vania from 1880 to 1884.
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174
House of Representatives.
C CHARLES MUNROE WHEELER one of the two members of the House, , representing Erie county outside of Erie City, was born January 29, 1826, at New Ipswich, Hillsboro' county, New Hampshire. His father was a stage line proprietor and farmer in that state. His ancestors came to this country from Scotland. His grandfather served as captain of the Continental army, and his father was for several years a mem- ber of the New Hampshire Legislature, and represented his constituents in the convention called to revise the constitu- tion of that state. Mr. Wheeler, of Erie, attended the public schools of New Hampshire and supplemented his early educational training by serving one term in a New England Academy. Subse- quently he was lieutenant of a rifle company in his native state. He has followed farming and lumbering, and has acquired a reputation in business as one of the most substantial citizens of his adopted county. He removed to Le Beouff, Erie county, when a young man, in 1852, and has since resided within its bound- aries. In 1854 he was married to Sarah J. Clark, of Middlesex county, Massa- chusetts. He was a school director in his township for seven years in succession, and has been honored with other minor positions of trust by his party, of which he has always been an ardent member. In 1890 he was elected to the House by a majority of over 1,900, which particularly attested his popularity, as Erie county that year gave a small majority for Pattison for Governor. He led his Republican colleague for the same office over five hundred votes. In 1892 he was re-elected by a decisive majority. In 1891 he served on the committees of Agriculture, Education, Constitutional Reform, Judiciary Local and Vice and Immorality, and in 1893 on the Appropriations, Ways and Means, Mines and Mining, Judiciary. Local and Retrenchment and Reform Committees. At this session he introduced a general bridge bill and one to repeal a bridge law applying to Erie county. Mr. Wheeler's principal occupation is farming, and he owns a large tract of agricultural land in the vicinity of his residence, which he devotes largely to dairy purposes, and is also the possessor, in conjunction with Congressman Culbertson, of a wheat farm in Northern Minnessota. While Mr. Wheeler does not participate much in the debates of the House he scans legislation very closely and votes as his conscience dictates.
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175
House of Representatives.
J. ROSS RAYMOND, one of the three representatives from Erie county, was born in Greenfield township, in the same county, October 19, 1842. The, schools in the vicinity in which he lived afforded him all the education he re- ceived. When nineteen years old his patriotic ardor swung him into the Union army, in which he did valiant service as one of its soldiers. He en- listed in the fall of 1861 and served three years and five months. He par- ticipated in the battles of Charleston and Cedar Creek, Va., after which he was taken a prisoner and kept in con- finement until after the battle of All- tietanı in Libby and Belle Isle prisons, when he was paroled with the last squad that left Richmond in the fall of 1862. He was captured on the Rappahannock river while attached to the provost guard under General Pope, who was then retreating from the enemy with his army. Mr. Raymond also took part in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Sub- sequently his command was transferred to the west, and he participated in the battles of Wahatchie, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge and Ringgold Gap. He also had the distinction of taking part in Sherman's march to the sea, during which he fought at Resaca, Dallas and Peach Tree Creek, and was in all the en- gagements of the campaign to July 20. At the last named place he lost a leg on July 20, 1864, and in its place he now carries a wooden one. Since his return from the war he has been engaged in the mercantile and hotel business in addition to auctioneering for the past twenty years. He resides at North East, Erie county, where he has filled a number of offices. He has represented the Republican party, of which he is a consistent and active member, at Congressional and other conventions. His father, who was born in Boston, was of French descent, and his mother was born in New York state. Mr. Raymond served on the committees on Congressional Apportionment, Retrenchiment and Reform, Vice and Immorality and Counties and Townships, and gave close attention to important bills considered, and was not slow to point out defects and suggest either necessary modifications or negative action when to him it seemed that such a course was justified.
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176
House of Representatives.
LEVY TYPE LO PHOLA.
M ICHAEL P. KANE, of Fayette, was born near Cadis, Harrison county, O., on the 27th day of October, 1854. At an early age he, with his parents, came to Pennsylvania, locating in Fay- ette county, where he has since resided, with the exception of three years, from 1876 to '79, which were spent in Clarion and Mckean counties. Mr. Kane at- tended the public schools until fourteen years of age, after which he went to work in the bituminous coal fields, now popularly known as the Connellsville coke region. He has witnessed the growth of coke manufacturing from what may be truly termed an experi- ment until it has developed into one of the greatest of the many mighty indus- tries for which Pennsylvania is famous, providing employment for many thou- sand workmen.
In 1886 Mr. Kane aided in organizing the miners and coke workers of the Con- nellsville district, since which time he has been an earnest and energetic advocate of the rights of the working classes to organize for mutual benefit and protection. In the early part of 1887 he attended, as delegate, the first labor legislative conven- tion ever held in Pennsylvania. In the same year he was a delegate to the gen- eral assembly of the Knights of Labor, which met in Minneapolis, Minn. He was chairman of the Connellsville Miners' Wage Scale committee for a number of years.
Mr. Kane was elected a member of the Legislature of '91 and re-elected to the session of '92 by the largest vote ever given a Fayette county representative. Re- alizing the grave injustice done Pennsylvanians and taxpayers in permitting sub- jects of foreign governments to enjoy the privileges of state institutions and the protection of its laws without exacting a cent in return for these blessings and knowing that thousands of these immigrants take advantage of this defect in the revenue system by remaining non-citizens, thereby enjoying immunity from tax- ation, he introduced a bill providing that all unnaturalized male persons twenty- one years of age or over, who reside or are employed within this commonwealth, shall be required to obtain a license annually for which such non-citizen shall pay three dollars, the underlying principle being that all who share our blessings should, in justice, bear a portion of our burdens. Mr. Kane made a gallant fight for the passage of this bill, encountering bitter opposition, but secured its pas- sage in the House.
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177
House of Representatives.
C HARLES H. BROOKS, who, in part. represents Fayette county in the House, was born at Springfield, Fayette county, October 19, 1859. He attended the common schools of his county and several Normal schools in Westmore- land until he was sixteen years old. At that age he began teaching and fol- lowed the occupation, in addition to dealing in live stock, until he was sent to the Legislature. He was appointed United States storekeeper and gauger under President Cleveland's previous administration in the Twenty-first dis- trict, which was afterwards consolidated with the Twenty-third. This position he filled most acceptably. He also served one term as school director in Springfield. In 1892 he was honored with an election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, on which place he has reflected much credit. He has performed his duties as a legislator with fidelity and ability, attending the committees on which he served regularly and giving legislation submitted to them careful consideration. He was on the Legislative Apportionment. Retrenchment and Reform and Labor and Industry committees. He introduced a bill to secure uniformity of text books and to re- quire the State to furnish them to pupils free of cost; one of the bills from whichi the anti-Pinkerton act was constructed by the Judiciary General Committee, and the bill to appropriate $50,000 to build a monument to the memory of Washington at Fort Necessity, where the Father of his Country encamped during the revolu- tionary war. Mr. Brooks' text book bill was negatived, after which he contrib- uted his influence to the passage of Mr. Farr's bills relative to uniformity of text books and to require children between eight and twelve years old to be sent to school at least sixteen consecutive weeks in each year.
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178
House of Representatives.
RUSSELL THORNTON, of Fay- · ette county, was born near Browns- ville, of the same county, June 6, 1843. His father followed the occupation of farmer, and his ancestors on the pater- nal side were from England, and those on the maternal side from Ireland. His great-grandfather, Thornton, had a re- markable history, having lived in three centuries. He was born in 1698 and died in 1801, making his age one hun- dred and three years. Representative Thornton received his education in the common schools of Fayette county and in Dunlap's Creek Academy, and West Liberty Academy and Morgantown Academy, West Virginia. He was going to the latter institution when the war broke out, which put an end LEVYTYPE CO PHILA to the academy because of the fact that a large majority of the students were of Southern birth and entered the Confederate army. When Mr. Thornton had completed his education he prosecuted farming and stock raising in his native county. Subsequently he was married to Miss Julia Barnett, of Pittsburg, in 1867, and settled in that city where he engaged in the flour, feed and commission business. His family consisted of himself, wife and two children. In 1874 he was elected to represent one of the strongest Republican districts in Pittsburg in the House as a Democrat, and he served in the sessions of 1875 and 1876, the Legislature then meeting every year. In 1880 he returned to Fayette county and re-occupied the Thornton farm, which has been in possession of the Thornton family for over a hundred years. From 1883 to 1888 he was proprietor of a hotel at Uniontown. Since that time he has lived privately. In 1892 the Democrats of Fayette county elected him to the House, in which he served on the Commit- tees on Corporations, Military, Judiciary Local and Public Buildings. Among other bills he introduced was one to give rapid transit companies, other than steam railroad companies the right of eminent domain. He was a member of the special committee which investigated the charges that the state printing was not being conducted according to the requirements of the law. Mr. Thornton has been a devoted follower of the Democratic party since he polled his first vote, and shows no sign of deviating from the political path in which he has so long been walking. As a member of the House he was not only industrious and watchful of legisla- tion, but won the esteem of all with whom he came in contact.
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179
House of Representatives.
J OHN J. HAIGHT, of Forest, was born in Richmond township, Craw- ford county, Pa., June 3, 1838, and was educated in the public schools. When a boy he worked on his father's farm and subsequently taught school. He was afterward employed as a clerk in a store until 1860, when he began drilling oil wells by contract. He continued to operate for oil for himself and others until the fall of 1861 at which time he was drilling three wells at East Hick- ory, Forest county. He enlisted No- vember 9, 1861, as a private in company B, One hundred and Eleventh Pennsyl- vania volunteer infantry. He soon after joined his company at Erie and was promoted to first sergeant. Janu- ary 15, 1863, he was advanced to second lieutenant, February 10, 1863, to first lieutenant and June 24, 1865, to cap- tain. While first lieutenant Mr. Haight served as assistant inspector general of General Kane's brigade, Brigadier General Geary's division, Twelfth army corps. He also served a short time as commissary and at different times as adjutant of his regiment. He assisted Colonel Cobham, who commanded General Kane's brigade during the battle of Gettysburg, in establishing the line occupied by it and by his order took charge of the construction of that part of the works. He commanded company D during the Gettysburg campaign and company G during the greater parts of the campaign through Georgia. He was wounded at the battle of Wan- hatchie, Tennessee, October 29, 1863, and again at Grear's farm, near Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 21, 1864. Mr. Haight was mustered out, with his com- pany, June 19, 1865. Soon after he resumed operating for oil and has been in the business most of the time since. He drilled the well that opened up the Cooper oil field, July, 1882, and has since been actively engaged in operating for oil in Forest county, Mr. Haight served four years as justice of the peace at Pleasant- ville, Venango county, Pa .; also, as school director and road commissioner in Howe township, Forest county. He was elected to the Legislature in 1892. Mr. Haight is a member of the Committees on Military, Counties and Townships, Labor and Industry, Pensions and Gratuities and Accounts. He also served on the committee to consider the bill to establish a soldiers orphans' industrial school.
180
House of Representatives.
A BRAHAM H. STRICKLER was born in Antrim township, Franklin county, Pa., January 23, 1840, and his early boyhood was spent on the farm. He was the youngest of four sons of Joseph Strickler, who was intermarried with Mary Snively. His grandfather, Henry Strickler, moved from York county, Pa., near the Lancaster county line, at Columbia, in 1807, and settled near Greencastle, Franklin county, Pa. He was of German-Swiss descent. Mary Snively, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was an only daughter of Peter Snively, a descendant of John Jacob Schnebele (now Snively), who emigrated to this country from Switzerland in 1714 and settled also near Greencastle, Franklin county, Pa. Abraham H. "LEVYTYPE Ča PHILA Strickler was educated at the College of New Jersey, Princeton, where he was graduated in the class of 1863. He then studied medicine and attended medical lectures at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York city, where he was graduated in medicine and surgery in 1866. He commenced the practice of his profession at Mercersburg, Pa., where he remained five years. In 1871 he located in Waynesboro, in the same county, where he has lived ever since, actively and prominently engaged in the practice of medicine. During the war of the rebel- lion he served as cadet in the medical department of the Union army, and while yet an under-graduate in medicine he performed the duties of assistant surgeon at Lincoln hospital. Washington, D. C. He was married in 1870 to Miss Clara Anna . Besore, of Wayneshoro, Franklin county, Pa. He is a member of the Medical So- ciety of Franklin county, and has served as its president. He is also a member of the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, and of the American Medical As- sociation. He has served as president and as treasurer of the public school board of his district, and is a member of the boards of directors of the manufacturing companies of Frick Company and the American Manufacturing Company of Waynesboro, Pa. He is a member and treasurer of the trustees of the Enoch Brown Memorial Association of Franklin county ; is engaged in agriculture and horticulture; is active in public affairs in his county, and has had in the past fre- quent overtures to accept political honors, to which he never consented until the fall of 1892, when he accepted the nomination given him by the Republican county convention as candidate for the House, and was elected a member of that body. As a legislator he has been active and vigilant, and has given important legislation the most careful attention. He took an active part in the passage of the act establishing a medical council and state boards of medical examiners and licensers, and is a member of the Committees on Public Health and Sanitation, of Pensions and Gratuities, of Manufactures and of Congressional Apportionment. He is a member of the Reformed church. In politics he has always been an ar- dent Republican.
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