USA > Pennsylvania > Portraits of the heads of state departments and portraits and sketches of members of the legislature of Pennsylvania, 1893-1894 > Part 21
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227
House of Representatives.
GEORGE C. HOLLENBACH was born November 7, 1849, in Potts- grove township, Montgomery county, Pa. His father died about six months afterward. He worked on a farm and attended the public school until the age of thirteen, after which he began boat- ing on the canal, which he followed for six years, when he entered the employ of the Philadelphia and Reading Rail- road Company as lineman until the age of twenty-four. For two years he fol- lowed huckstering and then began farm- ing. In 1876 he entered the mercantile, together with the Agricultural Imple- ment and real estate business, farming and fruit raising at Sanatoga, Pa., in which he is still engaged. He had been postmaster at Sanatoga, Pa., for the past seventeen years, which position he re- signed on December 31, 1892. He is a director in the Citizens' National Bank of Pottstown, Pa., and of the American Protective Association of Reading, Pa. He is at present auditor of the township in which he lives and also a member of the Royal Arcanum and the Odd Fellows Lodge. He is a member of the Immanuel Luthern church of Pottstown, Pa., and has been a constant member of the Sanatoga Union Sunday school for the past seventeen years. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1892. He was married in 1872, and has two sons, who are engaged in business with him.
He is a member of the Committee on Agriculture, Banks, Counties and Town- ships, Fish and Game and Labor and Industry, in all of which he took an active part. He also displayed much interest in the revision of the road laws. He introduced bills for the extinguishment of dower laws, and to make an appropria- tion to the Pottstown hospital.
228
House of Representatives.
AUSTIN L. TAGGART, better known throughout Pennsylvania as "Far- mer" Taggart, was born in Tamaqua, Schuylkill county, November 21, 1836, and is now in the full vigor of a hearty manhood. His father was a merchant and lumber dealer, and back of him is a long line of ancestors who came to Pennsylvania in 1740 and helped to make np the sturdy land of early set- tlers who believed in independence of thought and action. Mr. Taggart's great-grandfather was a revolutionary soldier and was killed in battle. In 1850 Mr. Taggart's father moved to Montgomery county, when the young man was educated at public and private schools. At an early age he began work as a surveyor, and ran the lines and * made the maps for a number of counties in Michigan, at the time a growing territory. Returning to Norristown he engaged in the mercantile business, and leaving that began farming on a tract of land three miles from Valley Forge. He is one of the best-known farmers in the country because he has always cared for the interests of the farmer. He declined all offices except that of assessor, nntil 1886 when the Republicans insisted on naming him for the Legislature. This nomination he accepted with reluctance, but after his election he entered upon his legislative duties heartily and earnestly. He was re-elected in 1888, 1890 and 1892, and in that time had charge of the im- portant Granger tax bills prepared and endorsed by the State Grange Patrons of Husbandry, for which he made a gallant fight. He was on many important com- mittees, chairman of some because of his recognized ability in certain directions, and is now serving on the Committees on Railroads, Public Buildings, Accounts. Mr. Taggart was a member of the Twentieth Pennsylvania cavalry regiment dur- ing the war, serving in the emergency attendant upon Lee's raid, and doing duty along the Potomac river. He has been a member of the Grange since 1874, serving as master and overseer, and is a member of the legislative committee of the State Grange. Personally Mr. Taggart is a most companionable gentleman, and is fully worthy of the popular esteem in which be is held. He is a deep thinker, does not act on impulse, but when he has made up his mind concerning the just position to take, he adheres to it no matter what the opposition. On the floor of the House he says what he has to say tersely and ably, and in argument is convincing. Mr. Taggart is married and lives with his wife and four of their eight children on the old farm.
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229
House of Representatives.
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'HARLES I. BAKER, of Montgom- ery, was born in Narriton township, October 3, 1852, and is a member of one of the oldest and best known families in Eastern Pennsylvania. He was edu- cated in the township schools and at the Tremont Seminary, Norristown. After working on a farm and serving an ap- prenticeship at the carpentering trade he entered the mercantile business, in which he is still engaged, with a nat- ural inclination for politics. He has lived in the city of Norristown since 1870. He has for a number of years represented the ward in which he lives in the Democratic standing committee, and was for two terms secretary of this organization. He was chairman of the Democratic Borough Executive commit- tee of Norristown during 1892-3, and for two years has been one of the fore- most members of the executive committee of the Democratic societies of Pennsyl- vania. In 1884 he represented Montgomery county at the State Democratic con- vention which met at Harrisburg, and was chairman of the delegation from that county. Two years subsequent he was nominated for the Legislature by the Democrats of Montgomery county, but, with the remainder of the ticket, he was defeated by a few votes. In the fall of 1890 he was again honored by his party with the nomination for the Legislature, was elected and served through the ses- sion of 1891. His services as a legislator brought him into prominence with the . people and so satisfactorily were they regarded in the estimation of his constituents that in 1892 he was renominated. After a most vigorous contest he was the only Democratic candidate for the Legislature elected in that campaign from Mont- gomery county, his majority being twenty out of a poll of 27,104 votes, defeating Austin L. Taggart.
Mr. Baker was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives on Janu- ary 2, 1893. Mr. Taggart at once filed a notice ot contest, alleging that fifty-nine students of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, a Catholic institution located at Over- brook, Montgomery county, had illegally cast their votes for Mr. Baker. The contestant claimed that these students had no residence within the meaning of the law to entitle them to vote in Montgomery county. After hearing their testi- mony the Republican members of the House Elections committee, who consti- tuted a majority, reported against the legality of Mr. Baker's election. The Demo- cratic members of the committee filed a minority report, declaring Mr. Baker's election legal, and maintaining the right of the theologians to vote. On April 18, 1893, the House, by a partisan vote, adopted the majority report, thus depriving him of his seat, to which he claims he was legally elected by the people of his na- tive county.
230
House of Representatives.
JOHN K. GERINGER, of Danville,
Montour county, was born August 2, 1852, in the county which he has twice had the honor of representing in the House of Representatives. He was edu- cated in the public schools. For several years he was engaged in the hotel busi- ness until about six years ago, since which time he has been dealing very extensively in lumber. He is a Jack- sonian Democrat and a tireless worker for the cause of his party. He has served a number of times as delegate to county and State Democratic conven- tions. He was for a long time a mem- ber of council at his home and is now serving his second term as water con- missioner, a position he is qualified in every way to fill with credit to himself and his constituents.
Mr. Geringer was elected a member of the House of Representatives in 1891 and in 1892 was re-elected by the largest majority ever given any candidate in Montour, which is of itself abundant proof of his popularity and the high esteem in which he is held by the people of that section. He is a member of the Committees on Elections, Insurance, Judicial Ap- portionment and Coal and Iron. The most important bill introduced by him was one which provides for an appropriation of $150,000 to the Danville State Lunatic Hospital. The bill will undoubtedly become a law. His ancestors on his father's side were Moravians and were among the most respected residents of Northampton county. His mother's maiden name was Angeline Smith. Her parents resided in the adjoining county, Lehigh, and were well known and respected by the people in that locality. Mr. Geringer is married and has three children-William C., Laura K. and Nellie.
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231
House of Representatives.
L. J. BROUGHAL, of Northampton · county, was born January 22, 1856, in South Bethlehem, the Gibralter of Democracy of that county. He received his education in the public schools of his native borough, was a general favor- ite among his class-mates, and gradu- ated at the early age of thirteen years. After he had mastered his studies he entered the employ of the Bethlehem Iron Company, and by rapid advances and careful attention to the duties that his work demanded of him was pro- moted in the company's employ until he became the boss roller in charge of the merchant mill rolls, which position he has held for many years. When twenty-one years of age he was elected assessor of his borough and he also held LEVYTYRE CO.PHILA the position of borough councilman, which position he resigned to accept his election as one of the Representatives from his county in the Legislature. He was a delegate from his county to the Democratic State convention in 1884 and again in 1891. He has always taken very great interest in the campaigns of his party and is an active politician in the borough where he resides as well as in the county at large. The interests of his constituents are carefully guarded by Mr. Broughal. He is a member of the Committees on Iron and Coal, Congressional Apportionment and City Passenger Railways. He presented and took a keen in- terest in the bill for an appropriation of $10,000 to St. Luke's Hospital of South Bethlehem. In 1888 he was one of the organizers of the South Bethlehem National Bank and since that time has been a member of the board of directors of the bank.
232
House of Representatives.
C. B. ZULICK, of Northampton county, was born June 30, 1836, in Easton, and received a common school education. At the completion of his school days he entered the book and music store of his father, Anthony Zulick, in Easton. In 1858 he asso- ciated himself with his father under the name of A. Zulick & Son, and carried on the same business under the firm name until 1870, when the elder Zulick died and the subject of this sketch suc- ceeded to the business, which he con- tinued until 1876. Since that time he has been sales agent for anthracite and bituminous coal operators. Mr. Zulick is a Democrat and has been actively as- sociated in all of his party's political work for ahnost forty years, and has been a member of the Democratic County Committee for over one-half of this time. He has served as treasurer of the Easton City Democratic Executive Committee for four years. He has been a State Bank Assessor of this state for two years, and in 1892 he was elected one of the Representatives from Northampton county to the House. Mr. Zulick is one of a family of six brothers who have been active and successful business men. Colonel Thomas C. Zulick, the eldest brother, was for a number of years connected with the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Valley railroad before and after its connection with the Philadelphia and Reading rail- road, and was the general superintendent of the Canal company over which the shipments of coal from Schuylkill Haven (then the principal point of departure of coal from the Schuylkill region for the Sea Board and other points of distribution) was made. Another brother was the Hon. C. Meyer Zulick, at one time Governor of Arizona. Mr. Zulick at the session of 1893 was assigned to the Committees of Federal Relations, Constitutional Reform and Counties and Townships.
233
House of Representatives.
W ILLIAM HENRY WOODRING, of Northampton county, was born December 7, 1854, in Upper Nazareth township of the same county. His father taught school for thirty-five years and served one term as eounty commis- sioner, from 1874 to 1877. Representa- tive Woodring attended the common schools of his county until he was four- teen years old, when he began clerking in a mereantile house, continuing until 1874. He then took a course in East- man's National Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, from which he graduated. He again connected him- self with the mereantile business and remained in it until 1878, when he en- tered Lafayette College at Easton, Pa. In 1881, after three years' schooling in that institution, he read law and was admitted to the Northampton county bar in 1885. In 1888 he entered the mercantile business and prosecuted it and stoek farming since that time in connection with the practice of the law. Mr. Woodring was a member of the National Guard from 1874 to 1879, and partici- pated in the fight directed against the rioters at Reading in 1877, resulting in the death of a number of people. He was then a member of the Easton Grays, with which organization he was connected for five years. He was elected to the first political office when the Democrats of Northampton county chose him to represent them in part in the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. He served on the Committees of Judiciary General, Corporations, Ways and Means and Elections, and made himself useful on all of them.
234
House of Representatives.
PETER JOSEPH CRISTE, one of the two Representatives from Nortli- umberland county, was born at Summit, Cambria county, Pa., on October 11, 1836. In the public schools he received the rudiments of an education, and be- ing of a studious turn of mind he sup- plemented this by a course of study and reading in the seclusion of his home. He learned the trade of a carpenter while yet a boy, and in the summer he plied the jack-plane and in the winter the birch. During three terms lie tauglit school and had the reputation of being an excellent disciplinarian. He was elected school director and justice of the peace in the borough of Loretto, in his native county, in the year 1860. Mr. Criste, with his family, moved to Northumber- land county and settled at the beauti- ful town of Milton on the Susquehanna in the year 1865. Here he was elected justice of the peace and served for a third term. He was auditor of his township for twelve years, and his audits were mod- els of neatness and accuracy. After learning the carpenter trade, and becoming a practical builder, he studied architecture and became as successful in that busi- ness as he had been in others. He has been for many years a familiar figure in the Democratic County conventions of Northumberland county. In 1890 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives by a majority of 749, a very creditable majority inasmuch as the county that two years before had been swept into the Republican column. In 1892 he received about the same majority. In the session of 1893 he was placed on the Committees of Accounts, Public Health and Sanitation, Fish and Game, Labor and Industry, and Ways and Means. It was Mr. Criste who introduced in the House the resolution creating the Game and Fish Committee, and had lie been in political accord with the Speaker, would doubtless have been its chairman. He had charge of the bill for the protection of game in the House, conceded on all sides to be the best bill of the kind ever before our Legislature.
235
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House of Representatives.
ISAIAH JACOB RENN was born in Lower Augusta township, North- umberland county, on May 30, 1842. Like his father before him, Mr. Renn follows the occupation of farming. The uneventful life of the farmer boy has been his, though he belongs to a family of politicians, and has varied the mo- notony of farm life with the excitement of politics. He has represented his party in county convention, held the office of overseer of the poor, auditor and justice of the peace in his native * township. He was holding the latter office when the people called him up higher and made liim their representa- tive. Other branches of the family claim they can prove their descent from Sir Christopher Aren, the great archi- tect, but Mr. Renn cares little for pedi- LEVYTYPE CARMINE gree, and values a man for what he shows himself to be. He received his early education in the public schools of his native county, and has ever been quiet and industrious in his tastes. His advice in political matters is highly regarded by his associates. In 1890 he was elected to the House of Representatives by 769 majority over a popular competitor. Old Northumberland, before this, had been very close politically, and was carried for the first time in its history in a Presi- dentian election by Benjamin Harrison in 1888. Through the influence of suchi conservative Democrats as Mr. Renn the county is now safely anchored in the Democratic column. In 1892 Mr. Renn was again elected by about the same ma- jority he receivedfin 1890. At the session of 1893 he was placed on the Commit- tee¿on Agriculture, Federal Relations, Iron and Coal, and Public Buildings. He belongs to what is known as the "rural combine," and in a quiet way makes hris influence felt among his associates.
236
House of Representatives.
JOSEPH W. BUCKWALTER, who represents Perry county in the House, was born in Wallace township, Chester county, February 22, 1850, his father of German and his mother of Scotch descent. In 1852 his family moved to Juniata township, Perry county. He obtained his education in the common schools of his adopted township and in the Bloomfield and Landisburg Academies. After he had completed his education he taught school five terms in the winter and de- voted his time in the summer to farm- ing. For several years lie kept a gen- eral store at Newport. Eleven years of liis life were taken up as a commercial traveler, during which time he also supervised a farm which he owns in LEVYTYPE CO PHILA. Miller township, Perry county, where lie now resides. He was secretary of the school board in his township until he was elected a member of the Legisla- ture, when he resigned the position. He also served as census enumerator for two districts in his county. He has repeatedly represented the Republican party in local conventions. His popularity was shown in the big run he made when a can- didate for the Legislature. Perry county is very close, politically, but he emerged from his contest with a majority of 362, which greatly exceeded that obtained by any other man on the Republican ticket. Mr. Buckwalter has not figured much in the discussions of the House, but he has attended to all his legislative duties with fidelity. He served on the following committees : Agriculture, Education, Elections, Fish and Game and Railroads.
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237
House of Representatives.
JOHN A. KIPP was born in Greene township, Pike county, Pa., on the 22d day of February, A. D., 1849. He 4 is the fifth son of a family of twelve children, attended a common school of his neighborhood up to the age of fourteen and worked on a farm and lum- ber woods for his father until he became twenty-one years of age. After arriving at his majority, he started out in pur- suit of an education by earning his own way as the opportunity offered. At the age of twenty-two he entered the State Normal school at Mansfield, Tioga county, Pa., where he continued during the winter term for three successive years, then changing to the State Nor- mal school at Millersville, Lancaster county, where he spent three terms of school. He then began the profession of teaching, taught at Sylvania, Tioga county, at Mountain House, Monroe county, at Kipptown and Sugarhill, where he first attended school in Pike county, and at Newfoundland, Wayne county, Pa. He was married to Adelia C. Wolfe, of South Sterling, Wayne county, Pa., in 1875. He was elected county superin- tendent of the schools of Pike county in May, 1878, and was re-elected to that po- sition four times and served until November 30, 1892, when he resigned to take his seat in the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, to which position he had been elected in November, 1892. He entered the study of law at the age of thirty-six years in the office of Hon. D. M. Van Auken at Milford, Pa., and was admitted to practice in his native county at the age of forty. Has twice filled the office of chief burgess of Milford borough, twice served as Democratic chairman of his county and served on the following committees in the House of Representatives : Judi- ciary General, Public Buildings, Legislative Apportionment. Mr. Kipp took an active interest in the game and fish bill before the House.
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238
House of Representatives.
0 WEN G. METZGER, Representa- tive from Potter county, was born in Hebron township, Potter county, February 22, 1853. At an early age he removed to Coudersport, Pa., where he now resides. He was graduated in the graded schools of that borough, after which he embarked in the lumbering business in a modest way. In 1880 he formed a co-partnership with James White, under the firm name of White & Metzger, manufacturers of hard wood lumber, at West Branch, remaining in that town about four years when they removed to Galeton and finally, in 1892, made their headquarters at Coudersport, Pa., where they are conducting a suc- cessful wholesale hardwood lumber business. Mr. Metzger is one of the most prominent business men of Potter county and his success is due entirely to hiis strict integrity, honest dealings, perseverance and attention to and knowl- edge of the details of his business. In July, 1892, in company with a party of seven prominent men of Potter county, a tract, embracing thirty thousand acres, was purchased and active work is being done toward clearing and settling the land. In 1890 Mr. Metzger was unanimously nominated for a Representative, and although the county gives a uniform Republican majority of six hundred he was defeated by only twenty majority. In 1892 he was again unanimously nom- inated and elected by a majority of one hundred and one while President Harri- son had about 700 majority over Cleveland. On December 24, 1874, Mr. Metzger was married to Miss Phobe R. Magee, of Coudersport, and four children, two boys and two girls, have blessed the union. Mr. Metzger was a member of the Committees on City Passenger Railways and on Labor and Industry and to Compare Bills in the Legislature of 1893. He was also one of the two Democrats on the special Committee on Elections, selected to investigate the Higby-Andrews contest, and signed the minority report, which declared Mr. Higby entitled to the seat given to Mr. Andrews. He introduced bills for the repeal of the prohibitory liquor law in Potter county, in response to the demands of a majority of the voters of that county, and also bills to repeal the act prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors in Coudersport and to remove the tax on cattle. His anti-prohibition bills were negatived in committee, and he made an effort to have the one applying to Potter county placed on the calendar, but owing to the drawing of party lines he was un- able to accomplish his purpose.
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239
House of Representatives.
J JOHN J. COYLE was born at Mill Creek, Norwegian township, Schuyl- kill county, on the 10th day of Novem- ber, 1863. His father was a miner. in the coal mines of that region, and John, like all other boys raised in the anthracite coal regions, commenced his career as a slate picker in the coal breaker. When there was an opportu- nity he went to the public schools, and being of a bright mind, made rapid progress as a boy, so that at the age of fifteen years he was granted a certificate, and at sixteen commenced to teach in the public schools of Mahanoy township. After having taught there for four years he went to Luzerne county and became a teacher in one of the schools in Foster township, a few miles northeast of Hazleton, where he served for three years. Returning again to Mahanoy City, in Schuylkill county, he started in the insurance business and had not long been in it when he was appointed by Governor Beaver a justice of the peace of the First ward. The following year he was elected to the same office after a bitter contest, by a majority of 23, notwithstanding the fact that the ward usually gave a Democratic majority of more than 150. Mr. Coyle has always been an active Republican in Schuylkill county and regarded as one of its leaders, his voice being heard in every council that had for its object the good of his party. He was nomi- nated by the Republicans of his Senatorial district in 1891 as a delegate to the pro- posed Constitutional Convention, and was elected, but the holding of the conven- tion was defeated by the voice of the people. Mr. Coyle is very popular with his people, having been elected to the Legislature by a majority of 204 votes in a dis- trict that gave Cleveland, the Democratic nominee for President, a majority of 751, and besides Mr. Coyle had running against him an Independent Republican candi- date, who got 457 votes in the same district. He presented in the House the reso- Intion asking for the appointment of five members of the House and three of the Senate, whose duties it will be to discover, if possible, the cause of the many ac- cidents occurring in the coal mines of the commonwealth and report to the next Legislature what they think would be sufficient to remedy it. He is also the author of the judge's salary bill, and a bill appropriating money out of the state funds for the payment of borough and township school superintendents. Mr. Coyle is serving on the following committees, viz : Insurance, Elections, Coal and Iron, City Passenger Railway and Municipal Corporations. He is the secretary of the latter committee, an honor which is rarely conferred on a new member.
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