USA > Pennsylvania > Portraits of the heads of state departments and portraits and sketches of members of the legislature of Pennsylvania, 1893-1894 > Part 19
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House of Representatives.
graduated therefrom on March 15, 1882. J OHN K. REINOEHL, Lebanon county, is a native of that county, having been born in the city of Lebanon August 3, 1858. He passed through the public schools of his native city, and after he had attended a course in the high school of his native city he prepared himself for a collegiate course at Swatara Institute, Jonestown, Leba- non county. At the completion of his preparatory course he entered Muhlen- burg College, at Allentown, Lehigh county, in 1875, from which college he was graduated in 1879. Returning to Lebanon he studied medicine with Dr. George P. Lineaweaver, a prominent and successful practitioner of medicine, and after he had finished his studies he attended a further course in the medical department of the University of Penn- sylvania, in Philadelphia, and was He then returned to Lebanon and at once began the practice of medicine and has built up a successful and lucrative practice. He follows his profession at the present time, and had conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M. by Muhlenberg College in 1882. He was a member of the National Guard of Pennsylvania from 1878 to 1883, and receiving an honorable discharge when his enlistment expired, occupied the position of coroner's physician in Lebanon county from 1883 to 1885 and 1889 to 1891. In 1885, 1886, 1890 and 1891 he was a member of the Board of Health of Lebanon county, and he has been secretary of the Board of United States Examining Sur- geons for Pensions since 1889, which position he resigned when elected to the Legislature. Dr. Reinoehil is an active Republican and possesses the confidence of his party in Lebanon county and of his political associates in the Legislature. In 1892 he was nominated for and elected to the House from Lebanon county. He has been assigned to the following committees: Manufactures. Federal Relations, Health and Sanitation, Municipal Corporations and Public Buildings.
205
House of Representatives.
M ILTON NEITZ BERNHARD was born on June 7, 1846, near the bor- ongh of Macungie, Lehigh county. His ancestors came from the Province of Alsace and settled in Berks county, near Reading. about 1748. His father was a custom tailor near the borough of Ma- cungie. Mr. Bernhard was educated in the public schools of his native county, in the various academies located there and was also the pupil of a private tu- tor in Allentown. In speaking of this he said, "I received my first lessons in Latin from a Low Dutchman and learned more Low Dutch than Latin." After his school days were over he became a teacher and taught in the public schools of the city of Allentown for twelve years, having charge of the Second and LEVYTYM CO PHU AL Third ward grammar schools. After- wards moved to New York, but the love of old Pennsylvania in general, and of Lehigh county in particular, brought him back to Allentown in the year 1885. He is not a politician, in the general sense in which that word is used, and was only induced to become a candidate for the Legislature at the solicitation of friends. In 1890 he was elected to the House by a handsome majority on the Democratic ticket. In 1892 he was elected for a second term, receiving more votes both for the nomination and election than any man on the ticket. He was appointed by the Speaker a member of the Committee on Municipal Corporations, City Passenger Railways and Corporations. He intro- duced the bill requiring that telegraph operators on any railroad in Pennsylvania shall be at least twenty years of age before they are allowed to handle train orders. This was negatived in committee and afterwards, through the efforts of Mr. Bern- hard, was put on the calendar and passed finally after a hard fight.
Also an act granting an appropriation to St. Luke's Hospital, Bethlehem, the first appropriation from the state for which was procured by him at the last session.
The act of 1869 provided that a surviving partner should not testify. Under the act of 1887 the courts have held that the heirs and legatees of such surviving part- ners might testify. Mr. Bernhard introduced a bill providing that their mouths shall be closed as well as that of the surviving partner, which was considered a very just and necessary piece of legislation. Mr. Bernhard takes a great interest in all legislation affecting the public schools, in which he was so long a teacher, as well as that which in any way affects his section of the commonwealth. He is a genial, companionable man and an interesting speaker. He can always be found in his seat when the House is in session.
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House of Representatives.
M ICHAEL J. LENNON, of Lehigh county, was born at Laury's sta- tion, Pa., in the county he in part rep- resents, May 30, 1860. He was educated in the public and private schools of North and South Whitehall township until his sixteenth year, when he en- tered the office of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company at Catasauqua to learn telegraphy. His tutor was William H. Mealy, now the general superintend- ent of the Mexican National Railway Company, located at Laredo, Texas, under whose watchful eye the subject of this sketch progressed rapidly and in due time graduated as a full fledged telegraph operator and entered the ser- vice of the railroad company at once. He was located at various offices along the entire system and transferred from YTYPE CO Full one division to another until he was recognized as one of the most trust- worthy operators on the line, having served in all of the important offices. In 1884 he was promoted to the position of train dispatcher in the office of the late H. Stanley Goodwin, the general superintendent, which position he filled creditably for six years. In 1890 he was placed in charge of the new Schuylkill and Lehigh Valley branch running to Pottsville, which position he held up to the time of his election to the Legislature; the very complimentary vote he received along the line of the railroad was a testimonial of the esteem in which he was held by his asso- ciates in the service with whom he was associated continuously for a period of over sixteen years. Has resided in Allentown since 1885, where he has served his dis- trict for three years as school director and has twice been re-elected to city councils. As a councilman he was progressive and the author of several reforms in the municipal government, served as a member of the Finance Committee and Board of Appeals. He was chairman of the Highway and Railroad committees. He re- signed as member of council when elected to the Legislature. He is a member of the Allentown board of trade and several other bodies. In the House of Repre- sentatives he served on the Education, Public Health and Pensions and Gratuities committees and introduced a bill asking for $10,000 for the support and mainte- nance of a public hospital in Allentown ..
207
House of Representatives.
JOSEPH C. RUPP, one of the three Democratic representatives from Le- high county, was born in Upper Me- cungie township, Lehigh county, March 19, 1848. He began his education in the common schools of his native town- ship and finished it in the Keystone State Normal School at Kutztown, gradu- ating in 1870, after three years' connec- tion with the institution. He taught school fourteen years in the township of his birth. After retiring from his pro- fession he purchased a farm, and has worked on it since when not otherwise engaged. He has held the positions of assessor and school director in his township, and in 1883 was nominated by the Democrats of Lehigh county for recorder of deeds and elected by an over- whelming majority. In 1892 his party showed its appreciation of his worth by selecting him as one of the candidates for the Legislature, and the people of the county ratified its action by giving him nearly 2,800 majority. He has always been held in high esteem by the political organization with which he is identified, and has repeatedly been a delegate to county conventions. In the House he served on the Committees on Legislative Apportionment, Constitutional Reform and Geological Survey. Mr. Rupp's father was a member of the House in 1856 and 1857 from the county which his son now represents, and served as brigadier gen- eral of the militia of Pennsylvania from 1849 to 1859. Mr. Rupp's ancestors were from Switzerland.
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House of Representatives.
W ILLIAM HALL BRODHEAD W38 born in the Seventh ward of Phila- delphia in 1857. In 1873 removed with his family to Mauch Chunk and from that place into the Wyoming Valley region. Since that time has been en- gaged about the mines in various ca- pacities. He is a direct descendant of Captain Daniel Brodhead, of the British army, who came to this country in 1664 for the purpose of protecting British in- terests in the Dutch settlement, and settled on the Hudson river. Two of the Captain's grandsons came over into Pennsylvania, and one of them, Daniel Brodhead, who died in 1754, is now buried in the Moravian cemetery at Bethlehem. His son, Daniel Brodhead, was on Washington's staff, and the first LEVYTYRÉ LO PHILA surveyor general of Pennsylvania. So it will be seen that the subject of this sketch comes from good old revolutionary ancestry. He received his education in the public schools of Philadelphia. Had never held any political office before moving to Wilkes-Barre in 1890, though had taken a lively interest in politics. Six month after moving to the above mentioned city lie was delegate to the Lu- zerne County convention. In 1892 he was elected to the Legislature on the Demo- cratic ticket and ran 350 votes ahead of President Cleveland in his district. He was put on the Committee on Military Affairs, Corporations, Judiciary, Local and Retrenchment and Reform. He introduced a bill creating a Mining institution for the purpose of educating young men in the several branches of mining, to bet- ter fit them to become foremen and fire bosses ; also a bill for the purification and improvement of the water supply in the Wyoming Valley; also a bill providing for the repeal of an act which requires the tax collector of Wilkes-Barre to be ap- pointed, and providing that the office shall become an elective one, to be filled by the votes of the people and bill providing that the funeral expenses of paupers shall be paid by the county, instead as now by the poor district in which such in- digent person had a residence. Mr. Brodhead takes a very active interest in the National guard and is now the senior captain of the Ninth regiment. He and his boys did service at Homestead last fall for five weeks. As will be seen by the number and character of the bills he has presented, he takes a lively interest in affairs affecting his constituents, and attends well to the duties devolving upon him as a member.
209
House of Representatives.
JOHN CRAWFORD HARVEY was born at Harveyville, Luzerne county, Pa., on May 6, 1860. He is the eldest son of the late A. N. Harvey, who was well known throughout that part of the state. His mother, who is still living, was the daughter of the late Dr. John S. Crawford, of Williams- port, Pa., one of the most prominent physicians in Northern Pennsylvania, and whose tragic death shocked the whole city and threw a large commu- nity into sudden grief. His father was a very successful business man, having large and varied interests, being par- ticularly engaged as a merchant, farmer, stock raiser, flour and feed mill and. Inmbering. The Harvey family came originally from Connecticut and was LEVYTYPE LA PHILA one of the pioneer families in the Wy- oming Valley, some of the members be- ing engaged in the battle of Wyoming in 1778 at the time of the terrible massacre. They have always been prominent in this community, both in business and socially. Mr. Harvey was educated in the district schools, and in June, 1880, graduated with honors from Dickinson Seminary at Williamsport, taking the de- gree of Bachelor of Science. After the completion of his school life he returned to his home, engaging in active business with his father as partner. In 1882 and 1884 he made extensive tours through the west and northwest, and after his return accepted a position of responsibility with the Pennsylvania railroad at Camden, N. J., and afterward transferred to Jersey City. In February, 1889, he was compelled to resign from the service of the company on account of broken health. Locating at Duluth, Minn., in November, 1889, he engaged in real estate business. The bracing winter of that region was wonderful in restoring health and strength. On account of the sudden death of his father in October, 1890, he was compelled to give up his business venture in the northwest and return home to take charge of the varied interests of his father's estate. The village of Har- veyville was directly in the path of the terrible cyclone of 1890 and the destruc- tion was probably greater here than at any other point. Mr. Harvey has always been active in political circles and years before he cast his first vote was busy in furthering the interests of the Republican party. He was a delegate to the State convention in 1891 and is always present at the county convention proceedings. In the contest which resulted in electing Mr. Harvey as Representative he received 2,849 votes as against 2,427 for his Democratic opponent and 425 for the Prohibi- tion candidate in the district at large, running ahead of the presidential vote. Mr. Harvey is a member of the following committees in this Legislature. viz : Agriculture, Library, Corporations, Municipal Corporations and Education, being chosen by the Speaker as secretary of the latter committee, a recognition that is not often bestowed on a new member for so important a committee. He has been a valuable member for his district and early earned the reputation as one of the most devoted of members to his work. He introduced bills relating to election of supervisors in townships; also a bill relating to fraudulent entries of trotting and pacing horses out of their proper classes ; also bill giving municipalities right to buy water from private companies and store the same, and bill regulating the bond given by municipal corporations in certain cases.
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210
House of Representatives.
D ANIEL J. REESE, of the Third dis- trict, Luzerne, was born December 7, 1857, at Mountain Ash, South Wales. He came to this country when very young and was edueated in the public schools of the counties of Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne. He also attended the Wyoming Seminary during a por- tion of the years 1877 and '78. For many years he has been employed in and about a coal mine, advancing from the position of a slate picker in the breaker to an expert miner. He has filled the offices of register, assessor of Plymouth borough, and has served sev- eral times on the election board in the district in which he resides. For two years he was a member of the Luzerne County Republican committee. In 1892 he was elected to the Legislature, and is a member of the House Committees on Elections. Legislative Apportionment, Mines and Mining, and Labor and In- dustry. He takes an active interest in legislation, especially to that pertaining to the section he represents, and the laboring man. These bills were introduced by Mr. Reese : Providing that miners shall appoint cheek-weighmen to see that they are properly credited for the amount of coal mined, and that 2,240 pounds shall constitute a ton; to exclude all impure and explosive oils as illuminants in coal mines; to amend an act so as to provide for an assistant district attorney in eoun- ties containing a population of 150,000 inhabitants; to enforce artiele fifty-first of the constitution, and increasing the salaries of certain county officers. For seven- teen years he has been elosely allied with labor unions, and during all this time he has been faithful in all his official acts. Mr. Reese has written a number of very beautiful poems which have been widely published. He is an intelligent, faith- ful and conscientious legislator and a eredit to his constituents.
211
House of Representatives.
W ILLIAM R. JEFFREY, Represent- ative from the Fourth district of Luzerne county, was born October 12, 1857, at Slatington, Leliigh county, Pa. His father was a contractor for quarry- ing roofing slate, and his son, William, worked in the quarries for a number of years in summer and attended the pub- lic schools in winter. At the age of seventeen years young Jeffrey accom- panied his father to the Upper Lehigh coal mines in Luzerne county, in which he has worked ever since, except when serving his constituents in the Legisla- ture of Pennsylvania. He resides at Freeland, which is surrounded by coal mines. He has shown his popularity by being twice elected in a district which gives a natural Democratic ma- jority of between 700 and 800. In 1890 he was chosen to the House by a ma- jority of 217, and last fall by four. His seat was contested, but a Democratic court decided that he was legally entitled to a seat in the Legislature. Mr. Jef- frey is not only popular with his constituents of both political parties, but he is an honored member of the Knights of Labor, and has declined to accept a number of honorable positions in the order tendered him in recognition of his worth. He was master workman of local assembly of Knights of Labor No. 335, of Freeland. He was also district delegate of that order, president of the Freeland Patriotic Order of Sons of America, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Red Men and Junior American Mechanics. At the session of the Legislature of 1893 he was chairman of the committee of Bureau of Statistics and a member of the Appropriations, Coal and Iron, Judicial Apportionment and Vice and Immor- ality Committees. He was the first to introduce the bill having for its main ob- ject the creation of a new county out of parts of Luzerne and Schuylkill counties. Mr. Jeffrey has not been given to much talk on the floor of the House, but has demonstrated great capacity for committee work.
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House of Representatives.
LEVYTYPE CO. MALA
JOHN T. FLANNERY, of Pittston, who represents the Fifth district in Luzerne county, was born June 24, 1862, in the town in which he resides. His father was a laborer in the mines, and the son began work at an early date in a breaker and was employed about the mines until he was twenty-two years old. He availed himself of the limited opportunities he possessed to at- tend school and at a later period gradu- ated from the Wyoming Commereial College. He was elerk of the Pittston borough conncil from 18-5 to 1890 and at the head of the Pittston borough Democratie committee from 1888 to 1892. Two years ago he attended the Democratic State Convention as a dele- gate from his district. He enlisted in company C, of the Ninth regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania, April 12, 1881, but the company having been
. disbanded he was honorably discharged November 22, 1882. He re-enlisted in company H, Ninth regiment, May 28, 1883, and was elected captain of it Septem- ber 1, 1887, and re-elected September, 1892. This is Mr. Flannery's second term and at the session of 1893 he served on the Committees of Education, Insurance, Labor and Industry and Pensions and Gratuities. He was appointed a member of the committee entrusted with the preparation of resolutions on the death of James G. Blaine and delivered a most eloquent tribute to the public worth of the dis- tinguished statesman, regarded by many who listened to it as the most impressive , of any of the speeches delivered on that occasion. Mr. Flannery introduced bills increasing the term of burgess to three years, appropriating $25,000 to the Pittston hospital, to protect the revenues of the state by requiring insurance companies of other states and countries to do business in Pennsylvania throngh agents residing in this state, and to repeal the law relating to the examination of miners, passed in 1885, also bill appropriating $300,000 for the erection of an insane asylam within twenty miles of the city of Wilkes-Barre. Mr. Flannery is an insurance agent.
213
House of Representatives.
THOMAS M. MOYLES, who is serv- ing his second term in the Legisla- ture, was born in Ireland, March 22, 1860. His parents came to this country when he was only a year old, leaving him behind in care of his grandparents, where he remained until 1873, when he came to this country to join his parents, who then lived in the Wyoming Valley. His first employment was slate picking in the Washington coal breaker at Ply- mouth, Luzerne county. After a resi- dence of two years in Plymouth his parents moved to Laurel Run, in an- other part of the same county. His parents died in 1877, leaving young Thomas at the head of a large family, and upon him devolved the duty of tak- ing care of five brothers and four sisters, LE VÝTYPE CO PHIC who were younger. He worked hard night and day, but at no time did he neglect his studies, and soon he was able to stand a successful examination before County Superintendent Coughlin, and was admitted as a teacher in the common schools of Laurel Run borough. He taught school for two terms, when he was elected assessor in Laurel Run borough, and in 1886, when the office of tax col- leetor became elective he was elected to that office. While holding the office of tax collector he attended the Wyoming Seminary for a term, so as to further ad- vance his education, and when through with his term was elected school director in the borough, which position he still holds. He was always a hard-working Democrat, taking the lead in everything in his section of the county that tended to enhance the interests of his party. He was the chairman of his representative district before he was nominated to his first term in the Legislature in 1891. He was also a delegate to the State convention held in the city of Harrisburg in 1891, in which R. E. Wright was nominated for Auditor General and A. L. Tilden for State Treasurer. Mr. Moyles is now engaged in the installment business with an office at Wilkes-Barre, and through him agencies are established in the several towns of the commonwealth. He is serving on the following standing committees of the House: City Passenger Railways, Municipal Corporations, Centennial Af- fairs and Insurance.
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House of Representatives.
W ALTER E. RITTER, of Lycoming, was born in Muncy Creek town- ship, Lycoming county, Pa., June 29, 1860. During his boyhood days he attended the country schools of his native township. At the age of sev- enteen he began teaching, following that occupation during the winter sea- son and attending the county Normal school at Muncy during the summer for a period of seven years. Mr. Ritter was for one year principal of the public schools of Hughesville and for three years principal of the public schools of South Williamsport. In 1881 he was graduated from the State Normal school at Lock Haven. He was a candidate for the office of county superintendent of public schools of Lycoming county in 1884, but was defeated. Shortly after- ward he was registered as a law student in the office of Cummings and Reilly, and was admitted to the bar in 1886. In 1888 Mr. Ritter was elected to the Legislature and was re-elected in 1890 and in 1892. He has several times been a member of the State Democratie Conventions and in the convention of 1×91, placed Robert E. Wright, of Allentown, in nomi- nation for the office of Auditor General. Mr. Ritter is one of the most active and energetic members of the lower branch of the Legislature. He is interested in any legislation which is for the good of the State and has always been a bold and fearless champion of the people's cause. At the organization of the session of 1893 he was made the nominee of the Democratic caucus for Speaker, an honor rarely accorded one so young in years. He takes an active part in the work of the standing committees of the House, being a member of the Committees on Judi- ciary General, Ways and Means, Railroads and Congressional Apportionment. Mr. Ritter is an eloquent and forcible speaker. His speech on the floor of the House in favor of the adoption of the minority report in the Higby-Andrews election was especially strong and convincing and called forth congratulations from prominent members of both parties.
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House of Representatives.
CHARLES BLANCHARD SEELY was born May 4, 1854, in Jersey Shore, Pa. He is the son of the late Colonel S. S. Seely, who was a well-known Democratic editor, and was educated in the public schools of his native town. At the age of twelve years he entered his father's printing office, where he learned the art of printing and has followed that vocation continuously, filling all the positions of newsboy, ap- prentice, compositor and foreman to that of editor and publisher creditably ; and to-day the Jersey Shore Herald is recog- nized as one of the best conducted weekly journals in the West Branch Valley. Mr. Seely is systematic and painstaking in all his business affairs and has exhibited a business tact that justly places him in the front ranks of the leading young men, not only in his native town, but of the state. His early life was one of hardship and self-denial which, no doubt, developed the habit of self-reliance and which, added to his irreproachable character, has contributed largely to his success. He has been active in politics, filling various positions,-secretary, county committee for three years, delegate to state and county conventions several times, mercantile appraiser in 1886 and served as one of a relief committee appointed at a public meeting after the disastrous flood of June 1, 1889, to solicit and distribute to the suffering victims nearly $50,000.
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