USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume II > Part 32
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No feature of his life is better illustrative of the general esteem in which he was held than his having been the trusted employé of General Reed in his early life, and his selection, in later years, as the partner, counselor and companion of William L. Scott. Each of these great financiers and master minds in their day trusted and confided in Captain Richards. It was a confidence never betrayed and a relationship dissolved only by death.
JOHN I. ROGERS.
ROM several points of view the military history of the last score of years and the political story of the same period are closely united. In the profes- sion of law, military jurisprudence has more than once entered into immediate consideration, and those statutes bearing directly upon this relation have often been modi- fied and rewritten until they have practically reached perfection. Most active in this connection has been Colonel John I. Rogers, whose complete knowledge of military matters and details of the law has made him one of the State's best exponents of military jurisprudence.
JOHN IGNATIUS ROGERS was born in Philadelphia in 1844, of parents who were well known in their community for excellent and honorable qualities. His early education was received in the public schools and at the Central High School, from which he graduated. He then entered the Law Department of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, from which he also graduated, afterwards entering the law offices of Charles Ingersoll. In 1865 he was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar, within a short time attaining a lucrative practice. His attention was particularly attracted towards corporation and real estate law; on these branches of jurispru- dence becoming an acknowledged expert. When the Building Asso- ciation League of Philadelphia was organized, its officers recognized in Colonel John I. Rogers the most able man for its legal direc- tion, and they chose him for its chief counsellor. In this office he has conducted all its important litigation, and the recent legis- lation on this important subject owes its initiation and successful administration chiefly to him.
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Colonel Rogers is a man of high public spirit and he has had a large military experience, which began with his membership in the famous First City Troop of Philadelphia, the oldest Ameri- can military corps in continuous service, having been organized in 1774. During the Pittsburg riots he took part as a member of the troop. In recognition of his literary taste he was also selected as the poet of the Corps and wrote for them an original ode in honor of its centennial celebration, in 1874.
On the election of Governor Pattison, Colonel Rogers was appointed to the important office of Judge Advocate-General of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, with the rank of Colonel. One of the most useful improvements inaugurated by him was the organization of the Bureau of Military Justice. He made a com- plete study of American and European military law, and thereby added greatly to his legal reputation. He was made a member of the Military Board convened for the recodification of the many acts of Assembly relating to military affairs, and in this capacity rendered very important service. In fact his labors in this direc- tion bore fruit in the act of 1887, by which a new military code was adopted. This is one of the best constructed pieces of legal composition on the statute books and among the clearest and most concise. He formulated all the writs, processes, records and other forms now used by Court Martials in Pennsylvania, and introduced the novel and now universally commended feature of service of Court Martial process by sheriffs and constables. Numerous other military and legal matters received his attention with the same ex- cellent results. In consequence, Colonel Rogers is considered to-day the best authority on military law in the State, and through- out military circles elsewhere his writings on the subject are highly esteemed.
As a striking instance of his acknowledged standing in mar- tial law and the fields of jurisprudence affected thereby stands the fact that Governor Beaver, though differing in politics, reappointed Colonel Rogers to the office which he had held under Governor Pattison in spite of the strong partisan pressure which was brought to bear upon him in favor of other candidates. Aside from this
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office Colonel Rogers has held no other of a public nature except- ing once, in 1869, when he was elected a member of the Pennsyl- vania House of Representatives. His services to the cause of his constituents in this body were highly appreciated, and he was nominated for the State Senate, for which he made a strong but unsuccessful contest. He was one of the founders of the Demo- cratic Committee of Thirty-one that in 1881 co-operated so effec- tively with the Committee of One Hundred in the election of Mayor King and Receiver of Taxes Hunter.
Colonel Rogers' admirable qualities and his long record of public service marked him as a man in every way fitted to repre- sent Democracy at the polls, and, in 1882, the nomination for Register of Wills was mentioned for him, but he declined to be a candidate. Instead he wrote a letter designating an independent Republican as the prominent reform nominee for the post. That was Walter E. Rex, and he had Colonel Rogers' every endorse- ment, the letter which the latter wrote having in it the true ring of reform and non-partisan judgment. Colonel Rogers is an able writer and eloquent orator, an effective dramatic reader and a scholar of high attainments. In fact in many fields he has demon- strated himself a possessor of rare mental qualities and intellectual equilibrium, which makes him one of the foremost men of his city. He was one of the founders of the Catholic Club, of Philadelphia; is a member of the Historical Society, the Clover Club, the Penn Club, the Art Club and a large number of similar prominent organizations. On June 20, 1876, Colonel Rogers was married to Miss Elizabeth H. Henkles, daughter of John A. Henkles, of Ger- mantown. He has a happy family of four boys and one girl.
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GEORGE W. RYON.
0 NE of the Keystone State's most thoroughly pro- gressive citizens, and a man who combines with rare business tact and executive ability a thorough knowledge of the law, is George W. Ryon, Presi- dent of the Shamokin Banking Company, and a prominent lawyer in that busy mining centre, who has done much in these capacities to advance the business interests of his city.
GEORGE W. RYON was born at Elkland, Tioga County, April 30, 1839, and was the oldest son of George L. and Hannah (Ham- mond) Ryon, the latter a descendant of a Connecticut family that early settled in Pennsylvania. His great-grandfathers, on both sides of the ancestral house, were soldiers in the Continental Army, and served throughout the Revolution, one of them attaining the rank of Colonel and Commissary of Subsistence in General Wayne's division. John Ryon, Jr., the grandfather of our subject, and a son of one of the soldiers, moved from the Wyoming Valley, in which, for half of a century, his family had been well known and influential, and, settling in Elkland, immediately rose to prominence in public affairs. He was the Democratic State Senator from the Tioga and Bradford district for eleven years, and for fifteen years filled with honor and dignity the office of Associate Judge of Tioga County. While in the Senate he introduced a resolution, which was passed by both houses, favoring the election of Andrew Jackson to the Presidency. About seventy years ago he was made the Superintendent of the Pennsylvania Canal; and his name and title, under the date of 1829, cut in the stone of the canal lock at the western end of Shamokin Dam, opposite Sunbury, may still be read.
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When George was ten years old his parents went from Elk- land to Lawrenceville, in the same county. The boy grew up to manhood on his father's farm. He received his education in the Lawrenceville Academy, the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, Lima, New York, and at a commercial college in Rochester. Upon his graduation he was employed as a Civil Engineer by the Kenosha, Rockford and Rock Island Railroad, and had his headquarters at Rockford, Illinois, for a year. At the end of that time, in 1859, he went to Tamaqua, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, where he entered the office of his uncle, Judge James Ryon, and began the study of law. Two years later, September 10, 1861, he passed a creditable examination and was admitted to the bar at Pottsville, and soon afterward returned to Lawrenceville to take up actively the practice of his profession. He located at Shamokin in 1869, where he rapidly built up the successful practice that he now enjoys. He has always been among the foremost of the men who were working to advance the social and material interests of that city, and his efforts in that direction have been recognized by his fellow-citizens in numerous tenders of public appointment and by office in many of the important enterprises of that region. He drew the charter and was the first President of the Shamokin Banking Company, a position that he still holds; he was one of the corporators of the Shamokin Gas Light Company, of which he has been Treasurer since 1874; one of the promotors of the Shamokin Manufacturing Company, of which he is a Director ; and he is also a stockholder in the City Water Company. He has been Borough Solicitor for several terms, and in office or out has exerted himself indefatigably in the line of progress and pub- lic improvement. Mr. Ryon is, as were his forefathers, an unswerving Democrat, and has always taken a keen interest in the triumph of Democratic measures and principles. In 1876 he was a delegate to the St. Louis Convention that chose Tilden and Hendricks as the candidates of the Democratic party, and was also a delegate to the two State conventions that nominated for the Governorship Heister Clymer and Judge Pershing. His party witnessed its appreciation of his work in its councils and his
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prominence at the bar by nominating him, in 1881, for the seat of Presiding Judge of Northumberland County. He was defeated, but his defeat was almost as flattering as a victory, for out of a poll of 12,000 votes his opponent had a majority of only 219. Governor Pattison, in October, 1891, appointed Mr. Ryon one of the Commissioners of Public Charities, and he has served the Board from that time with an energy and thoughtfulness that have won him the esteem of his fellow members. He was re-ap- pointed for a term of five years, in November, 1896, by Governor Hastings.
For many years past he has been a Trustee of the First Presbyterian Church of Shamokin, and for the larger part of that time has been Chairman of the Board. During the construction of the present handsome edifice he served as a member of the building committee, and contributed much of his time and means to it. He has exhibited a like earnestness in the other church work. Mr. Ryon, on April 29, 1869, married Miss Phebe Hunt- zinger, daughter of the late William Huntzinger, of Schuylkill Haven. They have three children, William H., Lewis and Bessie.
JOHN W. RYON.
NE of a notable family of Pennsylvanians-a family which traces its genealogy back to patriot fore- fathers in colonial days-Hon. JOHN W. RYON stands for all that is manly, vigorous and truly representative of citizenship of the Keystone State. He is a native of Tioga County, born at Elkland on March 4, 1825. His father, John Ryon, born at Wyoming, Luzerne County, shortly after the close of the Revolutionary War, and his mother, Susannah Tubbs, were both children of men who had served with honor in the Continental Army. The father moved to Tioga County, in 1811, and settled on a farm on which a large part of the flourishing borough of Elkland is now built. He enjoyed the esteem of his fellow citizens, and between 1823 and 1830 served five years as Representative in the State Legislature and three years as State Senator. He was then appointed Superintendent of Canals, and in that capacity directed the construction of the State canal from Shamokin to Williamsport. He resigned the office to accept a seat on the judicial bench of Tioga County, on which he served ten years. It was with such a parental example that John W. Ryon, his son, started his career. The boy spent his youth on the Elkland farm, receiving the foundation of his education in the common schools near home. He continued his education at the Millville Academy, Orleans County, New York, and at the Wellsboro Academy, Tioga County. His father's career, and the general professional bent of the family, naturally made the young student look upon the bar as offering the brightest opportunities for his ambition. He was accepted by Hon. John C. Knox, who was a life-long friend of his father, as his law student, and began
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the study of his profession under that eminent lawyer, in his office at Wellsboro. Mr. Knox, before his pupil's studies had fitted him for the Bar, was elected to the State Legislature, and the latter found another preceptor in Hon. James Lowrey. He was admitted in December, 1846, to the Tioga County Bar, and opened an office in Lawrenceville. His practice prospered, and before long his reputation had widened greatly. His father's popularity through- out that part of the State had much to do with the young lawyer's rise, perhaps; but the character of his legal victories, and the difficulty of some of his achievements, showed plainly that the larger part of his success was to be credited solely to his own efforts and ability. Four years after his admission to the bar, being only twenty-five years old, he was elected District Attorney of Tioga County, and served two terms in that office. The force- fulness of his work at the bar, and the thoroughness of his legal knowledge, displayed in the discharge of the District Attorney's duties, greatly increased his later private practice. In 1863, how- ever, he voluntarily denied himself the comfortable competence that was assured him in Tioga County practice, feeling that the busier and richer centre of the Schuylkill coal region, Pottsville, offered a field of far better promise. He speedily became one of the most successful practitioners at the Schuylkill County bar, and was noted throughout the entire State for his ability in both civil and criminal cases. His name was connected oftenest with suits involving large real estate or coal-land interests.
During the war Mr. Ryon was an indefatigable worker for the Union cause, assisting in the organization of Company A of the famous "Bucktail " regiment. It was largely through his efforts, too, that the State Legislature passed a bill authorizing the organi- zation of a reserve corps of 15,000 men. Governor Curtin appointed Mr. Ryon Paymaster, with the rank of Major-a position he held until the corps was mustered out of service and paid off. Mr. Ryon was always, and is still, a Democrat; but his political faith, even in the time when the bitterest division was made on the lines of politics, did not for a moment affect his allegiance to his country's interests, which he placed, without hesitation, as his first duty.
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In 1878 he was elected to Congress from the Pottsville dis- trict, and represented his constituents with fidelity, being one of the conspicuous figures of the House of Representatives. Had it not been for the peculiar state of politics in Schuylkill County, that gave rise to the Greenback party, he would certainly have succeeded himself. His position on the labor and many questions have been thus characteristically outlined by him during his canvass. He declares that "labor is best protected when the laboring man is free to make his own contracts; that all the laws which interfere with this right are hostile to the laboring man ; that the wages of labor should be fully protected, and that the proprietors of mines, manufactories, etc., should be required to insure their employés against damages; that capital and labor have a common interest; that capital should pay fair wages for an honest day's work, and wages should be paid in honest money; that paper money not redeemable in gold and silver is not money."
The demands of Mr. Ryon's practice have still left him time to interest himself in business enterprises. For many years he was a Director of the Pennsylvania National Bank, Pottsville, and for some years past has been its President. He is also a Director of the Pottsville Gas Company, the Pottsville Electric Illuminating Company, and the Schuylkill Real Estate, Title Insurance and Trust Company. His love of agriculture is indulged in the man- agement of a model farm of 400 acres, and he also owns a large and well equipped flouring mill at Elkland, his native town. He has been married twice. His first wife was Julia F. Pinkham, a daughter of the late Rev. Tobias Pinkham, of Maine, who was a well known Presbyterian minister. His second wife is Mary, daughter of the late Dennis Dougherty, of Pottsville. By his first wife he had two children, Frank J., of California, and Julia F., wife of Girard Hobart, of Colorado. The children by his second wife are John W. Ryon, Jr., of Elkland, and Robert, a promising youth of fourteen years.
Glas. Schäfer
CHARLES SCHÄFFER.
HE material advancements made in medical science during the past quarter of a century have engaged the services of some of the most profound students in the country, men who continue their investiga- tions all their lives. Of these Doctor Charles Schäffer, the subject of this biography, who, born in Philadelphia, has had his native city as the scene of his entire career, enjoys a reputation as one of the most progressive members of the medical fraternity.
CHARLES SCHÄFFER was born at 485 Arch Street, Philadelphia, on the 4th day of February, 1838, being the only child of Charles and Priscilla Morgan Schäffer, who were married on the 31st day of January, 1837. The house in which he was born was after- wards numbered 1125, and was the last house westward taken by the Reading Railroad Company when it erected its terminal. In 1844, Dr. Schäffer's family moved to its present residence, at 1309 Arch Street. His parents were well known people in Philadelphia, his father being a wholesale druggist and the son of Charles Schäffer, who, in his day, was a noted sugar refiner. In fact, back to the original American ancestors, who came to this country from Saxony, Germany, the men of the family were engaged in this business. On the maternal side, the ancestry is traced back to England, whence David Potts came in 1681, the wife arriv- ing in America with William Penn in 1682. Dr. Schäffer's mother's maiden name was Priscilla Morgan Potts, and she was the daughter of a well known merchant, Stacey Kirkbride Potts. The son, Charles, was educated at Edward Brown's School, on Locust Street, below Sixth, and at Dr. Gregory's, on Market Street,
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above Eleventh, completing his education with a private tutor. Determining to follow the profession of medicine, he entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in October, 1856, graduating from this institution on March 17, 1859. Since that time he has been one of the most active figures in medical affairs of Philadelphia, and deeply interested in all advances of the art of healing.
Dr. Schäffer's first step after graduating was to obtain the post of Contract Surgeon for a short time in the United States service at Chester Hospital. This was in July, 1863, after the Gettysburg battle, and he had the care of a number of rebel prisoners. On account of illness he resigned and was never able to rejoin the service, being broken down in health for many years. However, his indomitable energy enabled him to continue his studies, and, after several years, he became Attending Physician at Bedford Street Mission Hospital. He had the same position on the staff of the Mission Hospital and Dispensary from its opening, in January, 1875, to its close, in January, 1880. Owing to impaired health, never having been strong, he was not very active in private practice, but gave his chief attention to following out scientific investigations. After a severe illness, in 1895, he dis- continued all professional work as a practitioner, confining his chief interests, in addition to the practical one of the study and development of medicine, in the scientific fields of botany, geology, photography and microscopy. Dr. Schäffer's connection with the medical fraternity and his identification with its progress are indicated in his membership in the American Medical Association and the College of Physicians, of Philadelphia, of which latter he is a Fellow. He is a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, State and County Medical societies and the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Schäffer has always taken a vast interest in the development of practical philosophy, especially as connected with the modern discoveries in medicine. The larger portion of his time is now given to such work, and his interests are altogether in the line of scientific study. He is, in addition to his other import-
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ant society connections, a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, being also enrolled upon the Franklin Institute membership. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.
In 1862, Dr. Schäffer was married to Martha T., daughter of Robert T. Potts, of Swedeland, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and formerly a merchant in Philadelphia. She died in 1878, and, in 1882, Dr. Schäffer was married a second time, his wife being Ellen E. Zook, daughter of David Zook, of Port Kennedy, Mont- gomery County, Pennsylvania. She graduated in medicine from the Women's Medical College of Philadelphia in 1872, but upon her marriage relinquished the practice of her profession. She died in 1884, and, in 1889, he married Mary Townsend, daughter of Alfred Sharples, of West Chester, Pennsylvania. In spite of his impaired health, Dr. Schäffer is interested in the progress of medi- cine and has continued in active sympathy with its rapid advance.
FRANCIS SCHUMANN.
FTER having surmounted almost innumerable bar- riers and obstacles to success, Francis Schumann, who is widely known in the civil and mechanical engineering world for his vast knowledge and experience, has reached a place in the front rank of prominent men, and that he is self made is only an added mark to his credit.
FRANCIS SCHUMANN, the subject of this biography, was born in 1844, in Thuringia, Saxony. He was the son of Charles F. W. Schumann, Ph. D., LL.D., States Advocate, and of Henrietta Acker- man. In 1848 the family, for political reasons, emigrated to the United States. Mr. Schumann's ancestors on both sides were either soldiers, jurists or divines; his father having been a professional man of the old school who possessed a character of rigid integrity and high principles. The mother was the daughter of a State's officer, reared in Weimer, then the "Athens of Germany," and was a skilled artist and a woman whose ideas of caste were most severe. Nevertheless she had the faculty of adapting herself to all circumstances. Until his fourteenth year Francis Schumann's opportunities for obtaining a systematic education were but meagre, since his parents, in adjusting themselves to a new country, frequently found it necessary to change their place of residence. The vicissitudes and misfortunes that were the usual experience of families of the class to which his belonged naturally fell to the Schumanns during their first years in the United States, and Francis Schumann was able to attend school regularly only from his ninth to his eleventh year. The earliest years of his life were spent in Richmond, Virginia, Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts, and
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Myerstown, Pennsylvania. Later, he again removed to Richmond, where he obtained the rudiments of his education, among the rest a practical knowledge of the different branches of mechanics. Not until his fourteenth year did young Schumann have an opportunity to extend his education, and, at that time, he attended night school.
The distress of the family, augmented by the crisis of 1857, obliged Francis Schumann, then eleven years of age, to seek employment and to contribute his share to the family's support. After having filled several humble positions he became messenger boy and assistant operator in the only telegraph office of a Missis- sippi River town. When nearly fourteen years of age, he returned to Richmond, Virginia, and was regularly apprenticed at the foundry and machine business. When he was eighteen years old the Civil War broke out, and Mr. Schumann left Richmond by running the blockade, after having been confined in "Castle Godwin" for his loyalty to the Union. On his arrival at Washington he secured the appointment of Assistant Topographical Engineer, attached to the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, which post he held until the close of the war. After spending some time as a railroad engineer, Mr. Schumann entered the office of the Supervising Archi- tect of the Treasury Department, where he remained fourteen years, holding the position of Civil Engineer in the Department. During this period he published several works on engineering and was a member of the commission on heating and ventilating the Capitol Building. In 1880 he resigned his office as Civil Engi- neer of the Treasury Department to accept a position as superin- tendent and manager of a foundry and machine works at Trenton, New Jersey. Here he remained for about eight years and then resigned in order to organize the firm of Schumann & Lynch, at Philadelphia. Out of this grew the Tacony Iron and Metal Com- pany, of which he became President and General Manager, an office in which he continued until he entered upon his present duties in the American Wire Glass Company. Mr. Schumann also holds the office of Director of the Master Builders' Association; is a Director of the Engineers' Club of Philadelphia; Director of the Tacony Safe Deposit Saving Fund, Title and Trust Company; is a
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