USA > Pennsylvania > Portraits of the heads of state departments and portraits and sketches of members of the legislature of Pennsylvania, 1893-1894 > Part 6
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51
The Senate.
JAMES S. FRUIT. Senator from the Forty-seventh district, composed of the counties of Mercer and Lawrence, was born in Jefferson township. in the first-named county, on October 17, 1849. His father emigrated at an early age from eastern Pennsylvania and settled on the farm in Mercer county whereon Mr. Fruit was born. He was educated in the common schools, and at the age of fourteen left the farm and became a clerk in a store at Clarksville. He afterwards attended the Edinboro State Normal School. He followed mercan- tile pursnits at Wheatland and Hub- bard, Ohio, and then embarked in the hardware business at Sharon, Mercer county, where he soon built up a large trade, which he still continues.
LEVY TYFE CO. FHILA Senator Fruit cast his first vote for the Republican party, and has always been active in local and state politics. In 1884 he was a delegate to the Republi- can State Convention, and in 1886 was elected to the House of Representatives. Taking at once a prominent part in legislative matters, and especially in the in- portant work of the Appropriations Committee, he made so favorable a record that lis constitutents, breaking a hitherto almost invariable rule, re-elected him in 1888 and 1890. In the session of 1891 he was made chairman of the Appropri- ations Committee. In that year an attempt was made to increase the state ap- propriations for commom schools. As reported from committee, the General . Appropriation bill increased the annual grant to the schools from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. Mr. Fruit's knowledge of the state's finances, obtained through his labors on the Appropriation Committee, satisfied him that an even greater increase could safely be made, and he offered an amendment in the House raising the sum to $5,000,000 per annum, and succeeded in having his proposition adopted. No measure more popular with the general public was ever placed on the statute books, and Mr. Fruit's efforts in its behalf added to his strength with his con- stituents. In addition to this measure the several appropriation bills coming be- fore his committee were so carefully and prudently considered that, for the first time, possibly, in the history of the Legislature, every one favorably reported passed both Houses.
In 1892 Mr. Fruit was nominated for Senator by the Republicans of Mercer county, and subsequently by the district conference. The strongest Democrat in the district, a man with a brilliant war record and who had once carried the Re- publican county of Lawrence, was pitted against him for election, but Mr. Fruit came off victor with a handsome majority. He is chairman of the Library Com- mittee and a member of the Appropriations, Congressional Apportionment, Con- stitutional Retorm and Public Health and Sanitation Committees. Senator Fruit's previous experience in the House stands him in good stead in his new sphere of duty, and from the first he has taken an active part in the business of the Senate.
52
The Senate.
W TILLIAM REID CRAWFORD, who represents the Venango-Warren district in the State Senate, was born in Perry township, Armstrong county, Pa., on June 28, 1827. His parents, Eben- ezer and Janette Crawford, were early settlers in northwestern Pennsylvania and reared a large family. Alexander Grant, his maternal grandfather, built the first stone house in Lancaster county, afterwards removed to Butler county and finally located in Armstrong county, where he died sixty years ago. William R. was brought up at the old homestead and received such education as the schools in the neighborhood could be- stow. He followed farming until 1854, when, with four of his brothers, he went to California and spent some time in the gold mines. Upon his return he de- LEVYTYEF CO PHILA cided to remove to the southern part of Venango county and occupied a farm in Scrubgrass township. Members of this branch'of the Crawfords have been prominent residents of that section from the very beginning of its history. After living in Scrubgrass eight years Mr. Crawford, who had been a successful agriculturist, removed to Franklin, the county seat of Venango, in March of 1865, and engaged actively in the production of petroleum. He operated quite extensively in different portions of the oil regions for over twenty years, enjoying a high reputation for enterprise and integrity. So great was his popularity that he was elected twice to the council, served three times as mayor and was long president of the school board of Franklin. In November, 1887, he was elected sheriff of Venango county by a heavy majority, although pitted against the strongest candidate the Democratic party could have selected. At the end of his term as sheriff, an office which he filled with signal ability and skill, he was chosen State Senator from the Forty-eighth district, the position he now holds. His public career has been distinguished by untiring fidelity to the interests of the people and uncompromising hostility to whatever he believed to be opposed to the general welfare. In committee work he has been especially efficient, always punctual in his attendance and never in sympathy with anything that savored of corruption or jobbery. While a zealous Republican in politics, he has gained the esteem of all parties by his love of fairness, his admirable devotion to justice and his unswerving adhesion to manly principle. Mr. Crawford was married May 15, 1851, to Jane, daughter of Thomas and Isabella (Craig) Kerr, a pioneer family of Serubgrass township, where Mrs. Crawford was born. Seven children were the fruits of this union. Four of these survive-Zelia E., wife of John E. Gill, superintendent of the Galena Oil Works at Franklin ; Jessie Benton, wife of Robert McCalmont, attorney, Franklin ; John K., attorney, and Jennie June. In person Senator Crawford is tall and slender and looks much younger than his real age. Genial in manner, generous to a fault, the friend of humanity and benefactor to the poor, no man stands better in the estimation of the masses or more deserving of their confidence and respect.
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53
The Senate.
D AVID B. McCREARY, of the
Forty-ninth district, was born on February 27, 1826, in Millcreek township, Erie county, Pa., of Scotch- Irish parentage. His father was a farmer, who emigrated from Lancaster county, Pa., to Erie county in 1800. His mother, whose maiden name was Lydia Swan, came from Dauphin county about the same time. Gen- eral McCreary was educated in the common schools, Erie Academy and Washington College, at Washington, l'a., attending the last-named institution during the years 1848 and 1849. For some years he followed school teaclı- ing in Erie county and in Kentucky. Later on he studied law, was admitted to the bar and has since been a prac- ticing attorney. At the beginning of the War of the Rebellion he went out as first lieutenant of the Erie regiment, three months' troops. Afterwards he en- listed in the One Hundred and Forty-fifth regiment Pennsylvania volunteers, for three years' service, entering as lieutenant-colonel. He was promoted to colonel, and when mustered ont was brevetted brigdier general for gallant service. General McCreary was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1866 and 1867. Adjutant General of Pennsylvania 1867 to 1870. Again elected a member of the Legislature in 1870. Elected State Senator from Erie county in 1888 and re-elected 1892. He was a delegate to the Republican State Convention in 1882, which nominated General James A. Beaver for Governor. He has been a trustee of Dixmont Asylum for the Insane, on behalf of the state, for six years, and is a state trustee of Edin- boro Normal School. General McCreary was chairman of the General Judiciary Committee during the session of 1891, and was again assigned this important chairmanship for the session of 1893. He is also a member of the Special Judi- ciary, Insurance, Mines and Mining, Congressional Apportionment and Millitary Affairs Committees. He introduced during the Columbian session several bills relative to judicial procedure, among them relating to secret marriages ; extend- ing jurisdiction in cases of divorce ; submitting certain cases of fact in equity cases to the jury, and relative to the appointment of master in equity cases.
54
The Senate.
SAMUEL JAMES LOGAN, of Craw- ford county (the Fiftieth and last Senatorial district), was born in south Shenango township of the county he represents, in 1838. His father was a farmer and stock raiser, and came of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His forefathers emigrated to this country from County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1792, settled in Craw- ford county in 1798, and took part in the war of 1812. Young Logan was educated in the common schools and spent three years in the Hartstown Academy. Since then he has been mainly engaged in agricultural pursuits and at present resides on a farm. He has been elected to all the township offices, including that of justice of the peace: He was a delegate to the Dem- ocratie State Convention at Lancaster in 1875 and that at Erie in 1876. He was chosen to the House of Representatives in 1874, and served in the sessions of 1875 and 1876. He was then a member of several important committees. Mr. Logan was elected to the State Senate in 1890 by a majority of 777 over W. H. Andrews, then chairman of the Republican State Committee. The county of Crawford had formerly given 2,200 Republican majority. Senator Logan is a member of the Committees on Appropriations, Finance, Agriculture, Constitutional Reform, Banks, Public Printing, Public Buildings and Retrench- ment and Reform. Mr. Logan is author of a large number of important measures which have been under consideration during the present session. Among them is a bill for the erection of election houses in townships, boroughs and wards, and for the re-establishing of lost and uncertain boundary lines. A proposition that has created wide discussion is one for the establishment of co-operative banking institutions. This idea has found an earnest and able champion in Senator Logan. He is also author of bills changing the plan of electing members of the State Board of Agriculture, for a new method of distributing the state appropriation to the public schools, reimbursing Titusville for damages caused by the flood of 1892, and making appropriations to various Crawford county institutions. While a member of the House in 1875 and 1876, he secured the enactment of laws for water-troughs on public highways and for the bonding of sheriff's graded according to the population of the counties. This was the first session under the new Con- stitution.
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Officers of the Senate.
E 'DWIN WILSON SMILEY was born in Franklin, Venango county, Pa., September 12, 1846, and is the third son and fifth child of John H. and Nancy Smiley, grandson of Thomas Smiley, a pioneer in the settlement of Venango county, and a soldier of the war of 1812. His ancestors were of Scotch-Irish de- scent, and came to this country and settled in central Pennsylvania as early as 1730. He was educated in the com- mon schools and in the old Franklin Academy, from which he graduated in his fourteenth year, and in the fall of 1859 entered the Citizen printing office at Franklin as an apprentice. Since that time, with the exception of three years, he has been connected with the newspaper. as apprentice, compositor, foreman, editor and publisher. In 1863, on the first day of July, he enlisted in company E, Fifty-eighth regiment Pennsylvania State troops, Colonel George H. Bemus commanding, for a period of three months, and served in the Department of the Monongahela, composed of the States of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Vir- ginia, until regularly mustered out of the service with the regiment. On April 1, 1869, he was engaged by a company owning the Republican at Tionesta, Forest county, to edit and publish that paper, which he did successfully. On April 1, 1870, he returned to Franklin, purchased the Citizen newspaper and job printing establishment and has edited that paper since that date. As the editor of a Re- publican partisan newspaper it was a natural result that Mr. Smiley should be greatly interested in politics, and he has taken an active part in every political campaign during the last twenty years, being distinguished as a "stalwart " Re- publican because of his devotion to the principles of his party and the vigorous efforts put forth by him for the success of its candidates. In 1872 he was elected. a delegate to the Republican State Convention, and was also elected delegate in the years 1873, 1874, 1876 and 1879. In 1876 he served as delegate to the Repub- lican National Convention at Cincinnati. He was elected chairman of the Repub- lican committee of Venango county in 1875, and served in that capacity, almost continuously, for nine terms. In 1888 he was nominated, after a vigorous contest, by a large majority, as the choice of the Republicans of Venango county for Con- gress in the Twenty-seventh district, composed of the counties of Cameron, Mc- Kean, Venango and Warren, but failed to win the nomination in the district. In 1876 he was elected Reading Clerk of the State Senate and held that position until 1881. In 1883 he was elected Journal Clerk of the Senate and performed the duties of that office until 1891, when he was elected Chief Clerk and re-elected in 1893. In May, 1886, E. W. Smiley and Mary Jane, daughter of James and Nancy Kilgore, were united in marriage. They have three children, John How- ard, Ralph Allen and Jessie Gertrude. Mr. Smiley is distinguished as a parlia- mentarian, and recognized as an authority on all matters pertaining to legislation. As a newspaper writer he is logical and forcible, especially on political subjects. His untiring industry and devotion to duty, together with his conceded ability, commend him to public favor, as is attested by his long-continued service in the Senate of Pennsylvania.
56
Officers of the Senate.
J JAMES MONROE CARSON was born
in North Beaver township, Lawrence county, Pa., Nov. 11, 1857. His father, William Carson, and his mother, whose maiden name was Prudence Calvin, were of Scotch-Irish descent and both natives of Lrawence county. His paternal great- grandfather was a native of Ireland, but coming to America prior to the beginning of the war of the Revolution, he espoused the cause of the colonists and served with them as a soldier in their struggles for nationality and in- dependence. After peace was declared he married Rachel Wilson, of the State of Delaware, and located in Virginia, where he remained until 1799, when he settled within the limits of the present county of Lawrence. His ma- ternal ancestors emigrated from Scot- land at the close of the eighteenth cen- tury and settled in Western Pennsylvania. The subject of this sketch removed with his parents, in November, 1868, to Marion township, Butler county, Pa., and spent his youth on his father's farm. He received his education in the public schools and from private tutors. In 1873 he entered the office of the Butler Eagle as an apprentice to the printing trade, serving the full novitiate term of three years ; afterwards worked at his trade in Sharon and Sandy Lake. In 1881 he purchased an interest in the Butler Eagle, on which paper he learned his trade, and entered into partnership with Mr. Eli D. Robinson, with whom he has since been associated in the conduct of the paper and its business. Mr. Carson is a Republican and has always taken an active interest in the success of the princi- ples and candidates of his party ; was secretary of the Republican County Com- mittee in the Presidential campaign of 1888, and has served on other important party committees and conferences. He received the unanimous endorsement of his county for State Senator in 1892, but Armstrong county being entitled to the district nomination under the system of rotation observed by the counties com- posing the district, the nomination was conceded to Armstrong county's candidate without a contest. Mr. Carson was elected Reading Clerk of the Senate of Penn- sylvania in 1891, serving during the regular and extraordinary sessions of that year, and was re-elected in 1893 for the term of two years. He was married in 1882 to Miss Letitia Donaldson, and three little daughters grace their home, viz : Luella, Bessie Prudence and Bertha May. Mr. Carson as a newspaper editor and publisher combines vigor and terseness as a writer with good business ability. As Reading Clerk of the Senate he has performed the important duties of the position to the entire satisfaction of that body, his reading being rapid and at the same time distinctly audible in all parts of the Senate Chamber. He is an ear- nest, conscientious worker, and his genial, courteous manner has made him a favorite with all those with whom he has come in contact.
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57
Officers of the Senate.
LEVYTYPE CO. PHILA J AMES LAWRENCE BROWN, Jour- nal Clerk of the Senate during the session of 1893, succeeded in that posi- tion Hon. Anthony F. Bannon, elected a member of the Senate. He was born in Philadelphia on September 17, 1840. His father, who was a merchant, though himself a native of Philadelphia, was of Scottish descent, while his mother claimed England as the home of her ancestors. Until he was fifteen years old Mr. Brown attended the Ringgold Grammar School, Philadelphia, receiv- ing the instruction which completed his education at the Arcadian Institute, Orwigsburg. Becoming tired of school life he went into business with his father and gradually found himself be- ing drawn into politics. He was ap- pointed lieutenant of police of the Seventeenth district by Mayor Stokley and held that position until, on June 1, 1881, he was appointed magistrate of court No. 2 by Governor Hoyt to fill the vancany caused by the death of Henry Eberly. Mr. Brown's work on the bench was so satisfactory that at the expiration of the term for which he was appointed he was nominated by the Republican party and elected by a majority of 535 votes for the full term of five years. In 1887 he was re-elected by the largest majority of any magistrate in the city, it running close to 37,000. During his earlier life he filled the position of water purveyor of the First district to which he was appointed by chief engineer of the water department, William McFadden. He has always taken great interest in secret societies and their work and is well known in Philadelphia as a member of such organizations, among them being the Melita lodge No. 295 of the order of Masons, Knights of Birmingham No. 1, Spring Garden lodge A. O. U. M. and Corinthian lodge No. 9, Order of Sparta. Mr. Brown is also a member of the Union Republican club. He is very quiet, unostentatious in his manner but a genial, courteous member of the Senate force and a hard worker. On June 21, 1858, Mr. Brown married Susannah Newsom and is the father of seven children, four of whom are living.
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58
Officers of the Senate.
H ERMAN P. MILLER, Senate Libra- rian, was born on his grandfather's farm in Fairview township, York coun- ty, Pa., Dec. 15, 1863. When two years of age his parents removed to Harris- burg. His education, which was limited, owing to the early death of his father, was received in the public schools of his adopted city. His political career began in 1876, when, at the request of Hon. J. D. Cameron, he was appointed to succeed an elder brother as a page in the Senate of Pennsylvania. Mr. Miller was reappointed each succeed- ing session until 1879, when he was taken into the office of the Senate Librarian, J. C. Delaney, as an assist- ant. He continued in this position until July 1, 1890, when, upon the LEVVIVRE LO FAILA resignation of Mr. Delaney, he was ap- pointed Librarian by the late Hon. Rus- sell Errett, then Chief Clerk. At the opening of the session of 1891 he was re- appointed by Chief Clerk E. W. Smiley for the term of two years, and again ap- pointed January, 1893. Since 1887 he has annually assisted the compiler, Thomas B. Cochran, in the compilation of "Smull's Hand Book."
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59
Officers of the Senate.
W C. RODGERS, Message Clerk of the Senate, was born at Corsica, Jefferson county, Pa., April 2, 1853. The rest of the story of his life is thus told by himself : "By the kind inter- vention of an All-Wise Providence I was thus saved the ignominy of being born on All Fool's Day. I was edu- cated in the common schools until the age of fifteen. At seventeen I was taken from the farm (where I had been bound out) to the academy at Elder's Ridge, Indiana county, to have the finishing touches placed upon an already magnificent education. I failed to place myself in touch with the faculty, how- ever, and the scheme was not success- ful. I was then bound out to the pro- prietors of the Brookville Republican for LEVYTYPE CA PHILA three years, but long before the time had expired the proprietors aforesaid were only too glad to let loose of me. I have been engaged in selling dry goods, notions, groceries, leasing lands for oil and gas purposes and building oil and gas lines ; I have also engaged (disastrously) in skating rinks, fruit trees, patent washing machines, chemical erasers, subscription books, silverware and albums on the installment plan ; sold pools and refereed prize-fights and boat races. Was not a soldier in the war of 1812 nor in the late serious unpleasantness with the southern states. I did not discover America, New Jersey or the Mississippi River. Was never elected to the United States Senate nor to the Legislature of Pennsyl- vania. I have never been elected or appointed to the offices of State or county treasurer, sheriff. prothonotary, commissioner, auditor or jury commissioner. I have never edited a newspaper, sold liquors by wholesale or been a vice-presi- dent of a Democratic County Convention. I have never been a director in any banking institution nor a secretary of a town council. I have never been nor never will be in the 'hands of my friends' with a nomination for office in the dim and misty distance." Tom Reed, when asked by one of his constituents, "What is a statesman ?" replied, "a politician who is dead." So I may some day be great without having to use a lead pencil in my own behalf.
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Officers of the Senate.
LEVYTYPE CO. PHILA J JOHN H. MYERS, the Sergeant-at- Arms of the Senate, was born in Bainbridge, Lancaster county, Decem- ber 27, 1859, and he has never changed his residence. He has actively parti- cipated in politics of that county ever since he attained his majority, and be- fore he had a vote took an interest in the lively political contests for which Lancaster county lias been noted. He received his education in the schools of Bainbridge. but when only fourteen years old dropped his studies and began clerking in stores, After a few years of this kind of work he entered the ticket and freight office of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company, whose agent was Winfield S. Smith, remaining in that service several years. He subse- quently traveled as a salesman for a Philadelphia firm. Finally he entered the bottling business, in which he has made a widely-extended reputation. He has one of the best establishments in the state, and the soft drinks he manufac- tures have won a popularity second to none in Pennsylvania. He has been en- gaged in the bottling business for thirteen years, and, outside of taking a little political spurt occasionally, he will likely adhere to it. Mr. Myers was Tran- scribing Clerk of the Senate at the regular and special sessions of 1891, and at the request of his numerous friends from Lancaster was selected Sergeant-at-Arms at this session. His present position, as well as that of Transcribing Clerk, he filled with ability. He has been a member of the Republican State Committee and has represented his party in minor positions of honor in Lancaster county.
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Officers of the Senate.
W H. DUNBAR, D. D., Chaplain of the Senate, of Lebanon, Pa., was born January 25, 1852, in North- ampton county, Pa. He is of Scotch ancestry on the father's side and of German on the mother's. His early years were spent in farm work and in attending the village school. He pri- vately prepared for college and after a full course graduated from Pennsylva- nia College, Gettysburg, in the class of 1871 and from the Theological Seminary of the General Synod of the Lutheran Church in 1874. He was admitted to the ministry in 1873 at Germantown, Pa., and received the degree of D. D. from his Alma Mater in 1892. He was pastor of St. Peter's Lutheran church, at Easton, Pa .. from 1874 to 1880, which congrega- tion he organized. He has been pastor of Zion Lutheran church at Lebanon, Pa., since 1880. His present congregation numbers nearly 600 members with a Sunday-school of nearly 800. He was president of the East Pennsylvania Synod of the Lutheran Church for three years, and has been elected a delegate to the General Synod several times and is a delegate-elect to the next convention of that Body to be held in Canton, Ohio, in May, 1893. He is President of the Board of Trustees and chairman of the Executive Committee of the Tressler Orphans' Home at Loysville, Pa. Is a member of the Lutheran Board of Publication at Philadel- phia, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Pennsylvania College at Gettys- burg. Rev. Dunbar is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Pennsyl- vania Chautauqua, and has been elected a member of the advisory council on Re- ligious Congresses of the World's Congress Auxiliary in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition, and a member of the Committee on a General Synod Lutheran Congress. He has been appointed to make one of the addresses at the Lutheran Congress and is one of the most eloquent preachers in the State. Mr. Dunbar was married in 1880 to Miss Jennie Chamberlain, of Easton, Pa.
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