USA > Pennsylvania > Portraits of the heads of state departments and portraits and sketches of members of the legislature of Pennsylvania, 1893-1894 > Part 3
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The Senate. .
J JOHN PETER SHINDEL GOBIN,
President pro tempore of the Sen- ate, representing the Lebanon (the Seventeenth) Senatorial district, was born at Sunbury, January 26, 1837, Samuel Gobin, father of the General, was the best wagon builder in Sunbury. The General's mother, Susan Shindel, was the daughter of Rev. John Peter Shindel, a . noted Intheran divine of Sunbury. . There he attended public school, ex-State Senator S. R. Peale having been his last preceptor. He learned the printer's trade in the office of the Sunbury American and then
trudged to Philadelphia, where he started the Star of Youth, an organ of the Junior Sons of America. The ven- ture being meteorie he trudged back to Sunbury, tanght school, studied law with General John K. Clement and M. L. Shindel, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. As first lientenant of company F, Eleventh Pennsylvania volunteers, he went into the civil war at its outbreak. He became captain of company C, Forty-seventh Pennsylvania, and was judge advocate general of the Department of the South. He was promoted to major for gallantry and efficiency at the battles of Sabine Cross Roads and Pleasant Hill. In July, 1864, his regiment was with Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, and, as a full-fledged colonel, young Gobin commanded the gallant Forty-seventh at Cedar Creek. During a portion of this battle he commanded the entire brigade. He served throughout the war, was brevetted brigadier general and appointed provost judge at Charleston. He declined the United States district judgeship for the southern district of Florida, tendered him by General Grant. Ever since then he has resided in Lebanon, where he is at the head of the bar. He assisted in or- ganizing the Grand Army of the Republic, and in 1886 was elected Grand Com- mander. As delegate, orator or officer of " the boys " he has ever been admired and beloved. He has served as trustee of the Soldiers and Sailors' Home at Erie, a commissioner of the Soldiers' Orphans Schools, and a commissioner of the Gettysburg Monument Association. At the transfer of the Pennsylvania monu- ments at Gettysburg to the Governor, General Gobin delivered the oration. He is an active member of the Loyal Legion and the Sons of the Revolution. In 1879 he became Grand Commander of the Knights Templars of Pennsylvania ; in 1880, Grand Captain General of the Grand Encampment of the United States ; in 1883, Grand Generalissimo ; in 1886, Deputy Grand Commander, and at the Washing- ton Conclave, Grand Master of the United States. In Odd Fellowship he is a Past Grand Patriarch of the State. He has always been a staunch Republican, and cast his first ballot for Lincoln. He has been a State Senator continuously since 1884, serving on the Judiciary General, Military, the Elections, Appropriations and other important committees. He has never worn any master's collar. In 1871 he recruited the Coleman Guards at Lebanon. In 1874 he was elected Colonel of " the dandy Eighth " National Guard. On June 1, 1885, Governor Pattison appointed him Brigadier General of the Third Brigade, which position lie yet fills. He originated the massing and encampment of state troops at Mt. Gretna in 1885. From comparative obseurity he has risen to eminence and honor as citizen. soldier and statesman.
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The Senate.
E EDWARD H. LAUBACH, who rep- resents the Eighteenth district, was born September 1, 1852, in what is now the town of Northampton, North- ampton county, Pa. He is a descendant of German ancestry, the first of that name in this country, Christian Laubach, leaving the palatinate of Germany, embarking on the ship Queen Eliz- abeth at Rotterdam and landing at Philadelphia September 16, 1738. He settled in what is now Saucon township on lands of the Penn heirs. The family has since become numerous and occupy a prominent place in the political, busi- ness and professional circles of North- ampton and adjoining counties. Sen- ator Laubach, after receiving such edu- cation as the common schools then af- HEIKETYRK CO PHILA. forded, attended the Allentown Sem- inary and Military Institute (now Muh- lenberg College) from 1862 to 1864. He attended Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., during the years 1867, 1868 and 1869. The death of his father, who was extensively engaged in mercantile and milling business, and the reluctance of the appointed executors to assume the management thereof, compelled him to re- linquish further pursuits of his studies and devote his energies to the development of the estate. Besides giving close attention to the welfare of the estate, he is.con- nected with a number of corporate interests in the capacity of manager or officer. With the exception of director of schools in his native township. he never held any political office until elected, in November, 1890, to represent the Eighteenth dis- trict, composed of the county of Northampton, in the Pennsylvania Senate. While not holding office other than the above mentioned, he has given years of service to his party, being just of age when elected a member of the Northamp- ton Democratic county committee. which place he has held continuously since, with the exception of two years. He has been a member of the Democratic State Committee many years and often been delegate to state conventions, in which has several times been chairman of committees. He is at present, and has been several years, chairman of the Democratic County Committee of his county. Was elected to the Senate in 1889 by nearly 4,000 majority. During the session of 1893 he was placed upon the following committees : Railroads, Education, Insurance, Congressional Apportionment, etc. Among the bills presented by him during the present session are : Granting electric railways the right to carry merchandise ; amending the marriage license laws so as to permit licenses to be granted in the county in which either of the contracting parties may reside ; preventing fraudulent practices by corporations relative to issues of stock and the furnishing of supplies ; granting railways, other than steam, the power and privilege of steam railway companies, and to facilitate travel on street railways by permitting cars running upon one railway to be run upon and over the tracks of other railways.
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The Senate.
W ILLIAM PRESTON SNYDER, of the Nineteenth district, is a na- tive of Chester county. He was born in East Vincent township October 7, 1851, and received his education in the com- mon schools of his native township and his early training on a farm. Later in life he attended the Millersville State Normal School and Ursinus College. He tanght school during the winters of 1868 and 1869. After a course of study he graduated as a physician, in March, 1873, from the medical department of aaz the University of Pennsylvania. He returned to Chester county (Spring City), where he now resides, and began the practice of medicine and continued as a practitioner until 1886, when he accepted the position of medical examiner for the Relief Department of the Pennsylvania Railrad Company, which position he held for nearly two years, from February, 1886, until December, 1887. He was appointed and served as postmaster of Spring City from October, 1883, until Angust, 1885. He has always taken a lively interest in the politics of his party, the Republican, and was an active worker in all of its campaigns. In November, 1887, he was nominated for prothonotary of his county, was elected by a large majority and served in that office until January, 1891. The year preceding his relinquishment of the office he was made the chairman of the County Republican Committee, January, 1890. At the county primaries (in the fall, 1890, while serv- ยท ing as prothonotary), he was nominated for member of the lower house of the Leg- islature and was elected at the fall election, during the Delamater campaign. When nominated he resigned the office of chairman of the county committee but gave his full attention to the work of the campaign. He was a delegate from Chester county to the Republican State Convention in 1878, which nominated General Henry M. Hoyt for Governor of the state, and he was also a delegate to the state convention that nominated General James A. Beaver for Governor in 1882. Mr. Snyder, when a member of the House of Representatives, was assigned to membership on Committees of Congressional Apportionment, Library. Public Buildings, Municipal Corporations and to Counties and Townships. At the gen- eral election in the fall of 1892, Mr. Snyder was promoted to the higher branch of the Legislature after a very warm contest for the nomination. In the session of the Legislature of 1893 Senator Snyder was appointed chairman of the Committee on Health and Sanitation, and a member of the Committees on Agriculture, Con- gressional Apportionment, Insurance and Finance.
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The Senate.
M ICHAEL E. MCDONALD, the bright and able young Senator from the Twentieth district, was born at Hawley, Wayne county, September 26, 1858. In 1863 he removed to Dunmore, Lackawanna county, where he has since resided. Senator McDonald was edu- cated in the common schools of Lack- awanna county and at Wyoming Semi- nary, Luzerne county. He read law
with Hon. Lemuel Amerman, of Scranton, and was admitted to the Lackawanna county bar in October, 1883, and has since been engaged in the successful practice of his profes- sion. Mr. McDonald is a Democrat of the sterling kind, and has always taken an active interest in politics, with an eye single to the right of the people. He has served creditably as auditor, school director and borough solicitor, and was a member of the House of Representatives during the sessions of 1887 and 1889, representing nis district both when it was the Fourth and Eighth of Lacka- awanna county. Mr. McDonald's course as a legislator so pleased his constituents that they, in November, 1890, honored him by sending him to the Senate, and his popularity with his people is shown by the fact that he is the first Democrat to hold the position since the Senatorial district was created in 1873. As a Senator, Mr. McDonald has always shown the industry and perseverance that have done so much to secure for him the confidence of those whom he has represented in any capacity. Much of his attention has been given to municipal and mining legisla- tion, and of the latter he pays particular attention to that affecting the anthracite regions. When anything concerning the miners is np before the Senate, Mr. McDonald always takes a prominent part in the discussion, and his vote is always cast for measures looking to the betterment of the miners' condition. Regarding municipal legislation, Senator McDonald believes in giving cities the largest amount of latitude consistent with the rights of the people and the state at large. Legislation tha' affects his home district receives special attention from Senator McDonald, and his vote on such legislation is recorded every time for the benefit of his community. Borough legislation is also watched closely by the Senator, and he loses no opportunity to go on record on the right side. Mr. McDonald is on some of the most important of the Senate committees-the Judiciary General, Mines and Mining, Appropriations and Corporations. He is popular with his associates, [and when he puts a request before the Senate as a " personal favor," it is always granted]. Senator McDonald recently joined the Noble Order of Bene- dicts.
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The Senate.
CLARENCE W. KLINE, who repre- sents the Twenty-first district, was born near Jerseytown, Columbia county, Pa., on October 25, 1852. He is de- scended from Daniel Kline, who emi- grated from Germany to America and settled at Germantown, Pa., in 1741. His son was a soldier in the revolution. The grandfather of the Senator served in the war of 1812, and his father went out with the Columbia Guards in the Mexican war as a sergeant and returned as first lieutenant and brevet captain. Senator Kline was educated in the com- mon schools of Lancaster county. At the early age of fourteen years lie re- turned to his native county and applied for a school in Anthony township, Mon- tour county. He passed a successful examination and was appointed to teach the Derry school. In 1869 he went to
Luzerne county and two years later was appointed principal of the Jeanesville school and began to read law. He was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law at Hazleton June 1, 1877, and has been practicing there since. Has been delegate to Republican state conventions in 1876 and 1878. Has been member of school board and town council of Hazleton and has frequently been chairman and secretary of the Fourth legislative district committee of Luzerne county. He was nominated by the Republicans of the Twenty-first Senatorial district, his opponent being J. Ridgway Wright, of Wilkesbarre, a popular Democrat, and while Grover Cleveland carried this Senatorial district by over 1,500 majority, Mr. Kline was elected by a majority of 67. Mr. Kline is chairman of Public Printing Committee and member of the Committees on Judiciary General, Judiciary Local, Legislative Apportionment, New Counties and Compare bills. He has introduced bills pro- viding for the inspection of inland steamboats ; for the erection of new counties out of two old counties ; for county controllers in counties containing over 135,000 population ; limiting indictments in criminal prosecutions ; amending county officers' salaries in counties containing over 150,000 population ; for payment of fees to district attorneys ; for the burial of indigent persons and payment by county, and other important measures.
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The Senate.
W TILLIAM M. RAPSHER, who rep- resents the Twenty-second Sena- torial district, consisting of Carbon, Monroe and Pike counties, was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, April 23, 1843. His father was a laborer and resided in Carbon county at the date of his death, when the sub- ject of this sketch was nine years of age. The early education of Mr. Rap- sher was obtained in the common schools of his native county and later at Albion College. Michigan, but before he had completed his studies the war for the suppression of the rebellion broke out, and at the age of eighteen years young Rapsher enlisted in com- pany E, Sixth regiment Michigan vol- unteers, for three years, as a private, and participated with his regiment in all of the principal battles of the army of the Department of the Gulf. At the expiration of his term of enlistment, and while still in the field at Port Hudson, Louisania, he re-enlisted and served for one year and four months longer, or until the close of the war. After the war Mr. Rapsher returned to his native state and engaged in the calling of school teacher, and taught in the public schools of Carbon county for four years and meanwhile studied law with the law firm of Messrs. Albright & Bertolette at Mauch Chunk, Carbon county, where he had concluded to reside. In 1871, having completed his law studies, he was admitted to practice before the Carbon county conrts and at once acquired a lucrative practice. Mr. Rapsher has, since attaining his majority, taken great interest in politics, and has at different times served his party in the positions of school director and councilman, and was elected district attorney of Carbon county in 1886. In 1877 he was elected and served as one of the repre- sentatives from Carbon county in the lower house of the Legislature. He subse- quently resumed his practice of the law in his adopted county, and in 1887, in the Democratic State Convention of that year, was strongly urged for a place on the State Supreme Court bench. Mr. Rapsher has decided literary tastes and is a writer of much force. He contributes frequently to the columns of the North American Review and many other of the standard monthlies of the day, and his articles on the legal, political and social questions of the hour are readable and instructive. In the fall election of 1890 Mr. Rapsher was elected Senator, and is serving the last two years of his four years' term. Senator Rapsher does not generally take nmch part in discussion in the Senate, but when occasion demands shows himself to be a ready and convincing debater. He took a prominent part in sustaining the Governor in the extraordinary session of the Senate convened in October, 1891. On committee work he has been assigned to the Elections, Judi- cial Apportionment, Legislative Apportionment, Judiciary Local, Judiciary Special, Public Printing and Retrenchment and Reform committees.
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The Senate.
BENJAMIN B. MITCHELL was born on a farm in Tioga county, Pa., January 14. 1839. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, and a son of Richard Mitchell, who was among the first settlers of Tioga county. He was educated in the schools of his county, Lewisburg Uni- versity and Bryant and Stratton's Busi- ness College, Buffalo, N. Y. In 1860 he established a drug and book store in Troy, Pa., and though a stranger and without any practical experience, suc- ceeded in building up a prosperous busi- ness. In August, 1861, he helped recruit and organize the first cavalry company in the county, was chosen first lieuten- ant and with his company joined the Eleventh Pennsylvania cavalry. In 1862 Lieutenant Mitchell was promoted LEVYTYPE CO. PHILA to captain and took an active part in the campaigns and battles of the war until October, 1864, when he was offered a major's commission, but having already served over three years for which he enlisted and being broken in health, he de- clined further promotion, left the service and returned to Troy, and as soon as his health permitted resumed mercantile business. On May 29, 1865, he married Ellen E. Pomeroy, only daughter of Samuel W. Pomeroy, of Troy. In 1884, with others, he engaged in the live stock business in South Dakota and later the com- pany was incorporated as the Keystone Land and Cattle Company. Captain Mitchell was chosen secretery and treasurer of the company and has continued to look after their large business interests, both at home and in the west, to the present time. His. principal business in the future, however, will be that of a banker, having associated with Mr. S. W. Pomeroy under the firm name of Pomeroy & Mitchell, successors to the old and reliable banking house of Pomeroy Bros. For many years he has taken an active interest in politics and public mat- ters generally. He has served as justice of the peace at Troy by appointment and by election. He has been a member of the borough council, elerk of the borough and an active member for many years of the board of edneation of which he is now secretary. He was a member of the House from 1882 to 1884, and elected to State Senate November, 1892. Senator Mitchell is a member of the following committees : Agriculture, Banks, Congressional Apportionment, Education, Fi- nance, Insurance, Mines and Mining (chairman), Pensions and Gratuities.
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The Senate.
G RANT HERRING was born May 19, 1862, at Centreville, Columbia county, Pa. His parents moved to Shenandoah, Schuylkill county, in 1864, where his father, Grorge A. Herring, was engaged as a coal operator. He afterwards served as treasurer of Schuyl- kill county for one term. In 1876 he moved to Bloomsburg and filled the position of treasurer of Columbia county for one term, from 1887 to 1890. Sena- tor Herring attended the public schools at Shenandoah and afterwards prepared for college at the Bloomsburg State Nor- mal School. He entered Lafayette Col- lege at Easton, Pa., in the classical course, September, 1879, and graduated June, 1883. He took the first prize in the junior oratorical contest in his junior LEVY TYPE CO PHILA year, 18:2. After leaving college he began the study of law, and was ad- mitted to practice in the courts of Columbia county, February 2, 1885, and' has since been engaged in active practice of his profession. He was elected to the Senate of Pennsylvania, November, 1890, by 5,600 majority, in the Twenty-fourth district, composed of the counties of Columbia, Lycoming, Sullivan and Montour. At the extra session, in 1891, he was made chairman of the committee to confer with counsel for State Treasurer Boyer and Auditor General McCamant as to the proofs, admissions, etc., relating to that investigation, being the first Democratic chairman of a committee in that body for many years. This appointment was a great compliment to Mr. Herring, as he was the youngest member in the Senate. At the Democratic State Convention, which met at Harrisburg in 1892, he was elected a delegate-at-large to the Chicago Democratic Convention, and there offered a resolution instructing the chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation to cast its vote as a unit for Grover Cleveland, so long as he might remain in the field. At the session of 1893 he served on the following committees : Judicial Ap- portionment, Federal Relations, Judiciary General, Judiciary Special, Mines and Mining and Railroads. He was particularly interested in a bill which he intro- duced seeking to place Pennsylvania in line with nearly all the states in the Union as to the closing of the polls. It provided that the voting should cease at 4 p. m. The Committee on Elections had the bill in its possession for a long time without taking any action on the proposed legislation, and finally reported it with negative recommendation. Senator Herring then moved to place the bill on the calendar, but his proposition was defeated. although several Republican Senators voted with him because they thought he was entitled to have the measure con- sidered on its merits by the Senate.
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The Senate.
ANTHONY F. BANNON, who repre- sents the Twenty-fifth district, was born at Blossburg, Tioga county, on October 13, 1847. His father, a coal miner, came from Ireland at the age of nine years. He was the only son of Anthony Bannon, a well-to-do farmer. His wife was the daughter of William Lonergan, a merchant, who emigrated from Ireland in 1836. Senator Bannon, the subject of this sketch, was educated in night schools and has been occupied in coal mining, farming, as a brakeman, clerk, merchant, coal dealer and oil producer. In the political field he was a member of the council of Blossburg in 1875 and of the council of Kendall Creek, Mckean county, in 1880. He was . elected coroner of Mckean county in 1880, chairman of . the Republican County Committee in 1883, sheriff in 1884, delegate to the Republican State Convention in 1885, a congressional con- feree in 1888 and 1890, the nominee of Mckean county for Senator in 1888, reading clerk of the session of the State Senate in 1889 and journal clerk at the session of 1891, and elected Senator in 1892. He was a member of the Senate Committees on Accounts (chairman), Appropriation, Judicial Apportionment, Public Printing and Constitutional Reformn. He introduced at this session the judicial apportion- ment bill; an act to repeal the assessment act of 1891 ; to amend the act relating to compensation of sheriff's for boarding prisoners; increasing the number of mine inspectors' reports ; extending to cities of the third class the right to establish in schools mechanical arts and kindred subjects. Mr. Bannon was born a Republi- can. His first vote was cast for W. H. Armstrong for Congress on the day he was twenty-one, October 13, 1868, and the following month voted for General Grant for President. He has been what is called a working Republican, always ready to give his time and means to the success of the ticket and every name on it, and his Republican constituents have shown their appreciation of his fidelity by repeatedly honoring him with responsible positions, which he filled with ability and to the satisfaction of his people.
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The Senate.
JAMES ROONEY, although a Demo- crat of the strictest kind, represents the Twenty-sixth district, composed of the strong Republican county of Susque- hanna and the close Democratic county of Wayne. He was born in Auburn township, Susquehanna county, Sep- tember 16, 1851, and was educated in the public schools. , He has devoted a large part of his life to farming, and for the past twelve years has been engaged in the wholesale baled hay trade. He has always exhibited great running qualities when nominated for office. Auburn, where he resides. consists of three election districts, which are all largely Republican, but as a candidate for poor director in these districts and four heavy Republican townships, he received at least 400 Republican votes LEVYTYPE CA PHILA and was elected to the office by an over- whelming majority. He held this position for three years. In 1890 he was elected to the State Senate by a majority of 522 votes, in a district which in presidential years casts a Republican majority of over 1,500. In that campaign he had for his opponent ex-Senator Lines, who had served in the Senate at the previous session. Mr. Rooney was one of the delegates to the Democratic State Convention from Sus- quehanna county which nominated for the supreme bench Judge McCollum, who was elevated to membership in this tribunal on account of the death of Judge Trunkey after Judge McCollum's nomination, necessitating the election of two judges. Mr. Rooney attended this convention at the personal request of his suc- cessful friend. During the session of 1893 Senator Rooney introduced a bill look- ing to the making and repairing of roads in townships and providing for the elec- tion of road commissioners and the appointment by them of roadmasters and the building of roads by contract ; to. prohibit constables from making returns to court unless they found violation of the law, and to repeal the registry act of 1891, which required two lists of voters to be prepared each year and consequently en- tails a large expense on the several counties without accomplishing any apparent beneficial results.
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