The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2, Part 23

Author: Robson, Charles. 4n; Galaxy Publishing Company. 4n
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Philadelphia : Galaxy Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 894


USA > Pennsylvania > The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 23


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CCAULEY, JAMES ANDREW, D. D., Presi- dent of Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, was born, October 7th, 1822, in Cecil county, Mary- land, of mixed English and Scotch ancestry. The proper preparation having been given him in the schools of Baltimore, he entered Dickinson College, and received his academic degree from that institu- tion, in 1847. Teaching occupied him the two following years, when, in IS50, he was received into the Baltimore Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was appointed Principal of the Wesleyan Female In- stitute, located at Staunton, Virginia. For four years he was occupied with the duties which- there devolved upon him, performing them in a highly acceptable manner to those interested ; at the expiration of that term he left the institute to devote himself to regular pastoral labor. He was appointed to the City Station, Baltimore, and later to the Wesleyan Chapel, Washington. While in this latter city he was made presiding Elder of the Washington Dis- trict, and in the third year of this eldership was elected a Delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which met at Brooklyn, in May, 1872. By this body he was appointed a Delegate to visit, in 1874, the English and Irish Wesleyan Conference. During the year 1872, upon the resignation of the Rev. R. L. Dathiell, D. D., he was called to the Presidency of the College of which he is alumnus, and in that position has met with deserved success, being popular with the students, and pos- sessed of that administrative tact, which, while it holds


LBRIGHT, IION. CHARLES, Lawyer, Manti- facturer, and Legislator, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, December 13th, 1830. Ile is a son of Solomon Albright, and springs from one of the oldest families in that portion of the State. He attended a school at Strasburg, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he was prepared for college, and entered the Sophomore Class at Dickinson, in 1848. Having graduated in June, 1851, he engaged in the study of the law with Robert L. Johnston, of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to and engaged in prac- tice there, in December, 1852. Ile carly enlisted under the Anti-Slavery banner, and went to Kansas, in 1854, to take an active part in the struggle between the Pro-Slavery and Anti-Slavery parties in that Territory. Having re- turned to Pennsylvania, in 1856, he settled in Mauch Chunk, where he resumed the practice of his profession. Ile became a leading spirit in the Republican party, and, in IS60, was a delegate to the National Republican Con- vention which nominated Lincoln. He took an active interest in the campaign which followed; and became a member of the Clay Battalion, in February, 1861, and with it not only guarded the public buildings at Washington, but organized for the defence of the President. He took an active part in raising troops in response to the call of the President, and was obliged by business engagements to decline the proffer of a commission in the army, .in 1861 ; but, in August, 1862, he accepted the commission of Major of the 132d Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, which took an honorable part in the battle of Antietam the following month, and received a marked commendation from General McClellan in his official report. He was immediately afterward commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel, and having assumed command of his regiment was made a Colonel, February 22d, 1863, and assigned to the command of the 3d Brigade, 3d Division, 2d Corps, which he commanded until after the battle of Chancellorsville. Having been mustered out with his regiment of nine months men, he accepted the appointment of Commanding Officer of Camp Mühlenburg, at Reading, where he organized troops for the emergency incident to Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania. He was sent to Philadelphia, in July of the same year, to assist in enforcing the draft. He became Colonel of the 202d Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, in September, 1864, and was shortly afterwards given the command of the forces guarding the Orange, Alexandria, and Manassas Gap Railroads, and the defences of Washington from the


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depredations of the rebel Moshy. In recognition of his [ Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter of the Commonwealth. lle was a man of high scholarly attainments, of a genial temperament, ready conversational powers, and was greatly beloved and respected by a very wide circle of friends. A few weeks previous to his death, his only child, a Sur- geon in the United States Army, died in Washington, which event, doubtless, hastened the father's deccase. Ile had retired to his study for the purpose of writing, as was his habit in the evening, and was found thercin early the next morning, lifeless on the floor. He died December 14th, 1865. lle was married, about 1819, to Ann, daughter of the late John B. Satterthwaite, of New York city.


many services and deeds of gallantry, among which were Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the latter especially mentioned in the report of General French, he was ap- pointed Brevet Brigadier-General of Volunteers, in March, 1865. After the surrender of Richmond, he was assigned to the command of the Lehigh Military District. Having been mustered out, in August, 1865, he resumed his prac- tice at Mauch Chunk. Upon the organization of the Second National Bank, at Mauch Chunk, in 1863, he be- came its President, and so continues. He had engaged in the manufacture of mining machinery in 1858, and having continued it alone until 1863, he then associated with him William 11. Stroh, under the firm name of Albright & Stroh, who still opcrate the works well known as the Mauch Chunk Iron Works. He was again a Delegate to the National Republican Convention, in Philadelphia, in 1872; and, in 1873, was elected to the Forty-third Congress, where he has proved an energetic and indefatigable worker, devoting himself assiduously to the labors devoly- ing upon him. Ile is one of the three Congressmen at large from Pennsylvania, and received the highest number of votes polled for any Congressman at his election. Ile is public spirited and earnest in the projection of every useful enterprise. Firm in his convictions, he is a gener- ous opponent and esteemed for his uniform courtesy and sterling integrity.


UCACIIET, REV. HENRY WILLIAM, M. D., D. D., Clergyman, was a native of Charleston, South Carolina, where he was born in the year 1786. At an early age he came to Philadelphia, where he received his education, and having selected medicine as a profession, devoted his at- tention to that science; and subsequent to his graduation practised for some years in New York city. Believing, how- ever, that this was not exactly his sphere, he studied divinity, was ordained to the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1825, became Rector of St. Peter's Church, Salem, Massachusetts, and afterwards, of a parish in Norfolk, Vir- ginia. In 1834, after the death of Rev. Dr. Montgomery, he was invited to minister to the congregation of St. Stephen's, Philadelphia, which he accepted, and there con- tinued for the remainder of his life, a period of nearly a third of a century ; fulfilling the duties entirely, until during the last three years of his settlement, when he was pro- vided with an assistant. For many years he was the Secre- tary of the Diocesan Convention of the State, and several times represented the diocese in the General Convention of the Church. He was also for several years Rector of the " Burd Orphan Asylum," an institution which owes its origin to his suggestions, and his subsequent untiring exer- tions. Ile was prominently identified with the Masonic order, and filled the office of Grand Chaplain, in both the


ODD, GENERAL LEMUEL, Lawyer and Soldier, was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, July 29th, 1817, his parents, Isaac and Elizabeth Todd, being residents of the same town. After receiving his academic degree from Dickinson College, Carlisle, he entered the office of General Samuel Alexan- der, of that town, to read law. Admitted to the bar, August, 1841, he formed a partnership with his preceptor, and practised with him as long as he lived. After his death, he continued to conduct the business alone, until 1854, when he was elected a member of the Thirty-fourth Congress. Educated a Democrat, he acted with that party until that year, when he separated from it on the Nebraska issues, and has subsequently voted uniformly with the Union and Republican party. On his return from the National Legislature, he resumed his professional practice, in which he had always distinguished himself by careful research and acute analytical powers. The needs of his country, however, at the outbreak of the Civil War, led him to forego all the advantages of civil life ; and he at once, early in 1861, raised a company of soldiers and went into the army as Major of the Ist Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Reserve Corps. With this command he served throughout the seven days' battle on the Peninsula before Richmond, and continuously until after the second battle of Bull Run. At this time, much against his inclination, continued ill health compelled him to resign his command and seck restoration of his impaired constitution at the North. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, he again took part in the national struggle, in organizing the nine months drafted men of the Eastern Military District of Pennsylvania, serving as Inspector-General of the State on the staff of Governor Curtin, and acting as Commissioner to determine the quota of Pennsylvania in the successive drafts ordered by the General Government. At the close of the war he again returned to his practice, which he prosecuted with unabated vigor and success, until 1873, when he was elected Congressman at large from the State of Pennsylvania, which office he is now holding. His oratory is rapid, pungent, and popular, and as an extem-


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poraneous "stump" speaker, he has few superiors in the | in years, he was released from active service and spent the State. The only office he holds in any corporation is that remainder of his life in the society of his children and friends at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he died March 25th, 1873, in the house of his son-in-law, Dr. Mahon. of the Presidency of the Carlisle Gas and Water Works, which he has occupied for many years. He was married, in 1849, to Sarah A. Wilson, and has two sons,


ONTGOMERY, JOIIN B., Rear Admiral United States Navy, was born, November 17th, 1794, in Monmouth county, New Jersey. Ile was ap- pointed Midshipman . from that State, June 4th, 1812, shortly previous to the declaration of war against Great Britain. The next ycar but one he was present in that capacity on board the flag ship " Niagara " with Commodore Perry, at the victory of Lake Erie, September, 1814. ITis commission as Lieutenant is dated April Ist, 1818, and that of Commander, December 19th, 1839. In these years he saw a large share of sea service, and was present with Commodore Decatur against Algiers, which so triumphantly vindicated the power of our flag against the Corsairs of the Mediterranean. The Naval Rendezvous at Boston was placed under his charge in 1840, and in the years 1845-48, he was Commander of the Sloop-of-War " Portsmouth " in the Pacific squadron. While with this latter command, the War with Mexico was declared, and he had the distinction of being the first officer who planted the American flag on the California coast. The "Portsmouth " was in the Bay of San Francisco, when he received orders to take possession of the country. Within twenty-four hours he had the Stars and Stripes fly- ing at San Francisco, Bodiga, Sonora, Sutter's Fort, on the Sacramento and at San José. In honor of this exploit the principal business street of San Francisco bears the name " Montgomery Street." Another incident occurring at this time testified to his firmness and skill, While maintaining the blockade of the coast, a question of jurisdiction arose with some officers of the British Navy, which, for a time, threatened to become serious. So skilfully, however, did he reconcile the controversy, that he not only received the warm approbation of his own government, but was the recipient of a letter of thanks from Lord Palmerston, with the autograph of the Queen, for having conclusively settled a difficult point in international law. When, at the commence- ment of the civil war, there was much disaffection in the navy, he did not hesitate a moment to declare in favor of the government, and called together the officers and men of the whole Pacific squadron, then under his command, and secured from them a unanimous adherence to the same righteous cause. In the following year, 1862, he was in command of the Boston Navy Yard, and of that at Wash- ing, 1864-5. He was commissioned Commodore July 16th, 1862, and Rear Admiral July 25th, 1866. The two following years he commanded the Naval Station at Sack- ett's Harbor, New York, after which, being well advanced


ISTER, WILLIAM, Treasurer of the North Pennsylvania Railroad Company, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 4th, 1804. IIe is the son of John Wister, a prominent dry goods merchant and importer, whose place of business was on Market street, east of Fourth ; the latter was the grandson of John Wister, who came to Philadelphia from Heidelberg, early in the eighteenth cen- tury, and bought land and entered into business and carried it on successfully in the same place; and on his mother's side, William was the great-grandson of Owen Jones, the first Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. His mother was a native of New Jersey, and a grand- daughter of Jeremiah Langhorne, an estimable and public- spirited citizen of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, a man of immense wealth, and the owner of Langhorne Park. William Wister was educated in the public schools of Ger- mantown; and when he had arrived at man's estate en- gaged in the manufacture of Woollen Goods, near German- town, in connection with his brother-in-law, Thomas R. Fisher, the firm being known as Wister & Fisher. Ile continued in this business for several years, when he dis- poscd of his interest in the establishment, and subsequently purchased a Calico Print Works, near Germantown, and remained for a number of years its proprietor ; when, find- ing that a longer connection with his manufacturing goods would not be congenial to his tastes, he disposed of his mills, In 1853, he was elected Treasurer of the North Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and this position he has ever since retained. He is also largely interested in Iron manufactures, being a stockholder in several companies, and President of the Duncannon Iron Company. Ile is a Director of the Hand in Hand Insurance Company, and also the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society. Although he has been frequently urged by his fellow-citizens to accept of some public office at their hands, and especially solicited to be nominated for Congress, he has-with the exception of a few minor offices of no pecuniary profit-steadily re- fused to allow his name to be used in this connection, pre- ferring to remain in private life. Although his years pre- vented him from serving in the field during the War of the Rebellion, yet he contributed freely of his means in the support of the National Government, and his donations to the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, for the relief of the sick, wounded, and suffering soldiers, were liberal and well timed. But in one respect, especially, he contributed to the welfare of the Union cause, for all his sons, six in number, were in the field at one and the same time. Ilis


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eldest son, William Rotch, when mustered out of the service, had attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel ; Langhorne came home with the title of General prefixed to his name; Francis was a Captain in the Regular Army, and a Colonel in one of the Union League regiments of Phila- delphia, and served during the war, but has since resigned his commission ; Joncs and Rodman were likewise in the field ; and John was connected with General Couch's staff at Harrisburg, looking after the movements of the rebel General Longstreet, in Cumberland valley and vicinity, and reporting them to headquarters. If his age prevented his own presence in the field, he was ably represented by his sons; and he must feel proud of the thought that, at the time the nation's very existence was imperilled, all his sons risked their lives to succor and aid it: if not a warrior himself, he was the father of warriors. He was married, in 1826, to Sarah Logan, a daughter of William L. Fisher, a prominent and successful woollen manufac- turer of Germantown, and the founder of the Duncannon Iron Company, who was also a grandson of James Logan, the founder of the Loganian Library, and William Penn's confidential secretary and most intimate friend, and a man of great learning and note in the carly days of the Province of Pennsylvania.


ARKER, WILLIAM, Oil Operator, was born at Parker's Landing, Venango county, Pennsylva- nia, May 23d, 1823. IIis parents were John W. Parker and Margaret (Perry) Parker, a native of the county. Ile attended the log school-houses of his birth-place and the surrounding country, working on the farm during the vacations and whenever his services were required. In 1848, he engaged in the lumbering trade, interesting himself also in enterprises con- nected therewith. He was thus successfully occupied until 1860. Leaving Parker's Landing in the spring of that year, he moved to Oil City; when he arrived there, three houses and one small hotel constituted the sum total of its buildings and structures. Judging, however, that the region would ultimately develop into a well-populated and pros- perous town, and become the centre of a thriving commerce, he interested himself in land and oil enterprises and opera- tions, and, in the latter, became producer as well as dealer. Success crowning his able efforts, he associated with him in partnership W. Thompson, and thereafter prosecuted busi- ness under the firm-name of Parker & Thompson. This connection, inaugurated in 1861, has continued to the present time, and as an oil-producing and oil-operating establishment, the concern is one of the largest in the oil regions, and possesses a wide-spread reputation for stability, reliability and solid prosperity. Through the financial panics and crises which have agitated the country since 1861, the partners passed untouched, having, by the exer. i and decision.


cise of prompt precautionary measures suggested by a con- sciousness of approaching danger, been able to meet all demands, and sustain their credit and honor. William Parker is a Director in the Oil City Savings Bank, and was one of its first organizers in 1863. While always declining to enter the lists as a candidate for political honor or office, and unwilling to involve himself in the warfare of public partisanship, he inclines in opinion to Republican princi- ples, and supports that party in its measures and move- ments. Ile was married July 4th, 1850, to Bell M. Pollock, a former resident of Jefferson county, Ohio.


OWE, JOHN, Farmer and Surveyor-General, was born October 4th, 1814, in Greencastle, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, his father having been a native of Ireland, a Protestant, from the county of West Meath, and one of the carly settlers of Franklin county. No sooner had he com- pleted his education than, although not yet to his legal majority, he commenced to take an active part in local politics. The Democrats sent him as a delegate to their county convention before he was of age, and this body in turn selected him as a delegate to the State convention with instructions to nominate Martin Van Buren for the Presidency. In 1840, when twenty-five years of age, he was elected Justice of the Peace at the first election for that office under the new Constitution. Four years later, he was Democratic nominee for the General Assembly, and, though unsuccessful at that time, was the representative of his party in the State Legislature in 1851, and again in 1852. In the exciting year of 1856, when the Presidential campaign which elected James Buchanan was in process of organization, he was nominated as Surveyor General, the second place upon the State ticket, as his party believed his popularity would carry great weight throughout the State. Ilis election followed, and at the expiration of his term, in 1859, he was unanimously chosen for re-election, although it was well known that he was a warm adherent of Stephen A. Douglass. That year, however, the Demo- cratic party failed to carry the State. At the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion, he took firm ground with the Government, and, in the fall of 1861, he was elected on the Republican ticket to the State Legislature, and was chosen Speaker of the House. Since then he has acted constantly with this party, and has taken a prominent posi- tion in its more recent contests, In the fall of 1872, he was presented to the Republican Convention of Franklin county for Congress, and his nomination was strongly urged by many of the delegates, but failed to be carried. In his business, as well as his political relations, he has always been characterized by integrity of purpose, candor,


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ARKE, GENERAL JOIIN G., United States Army, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, September 22d, 1827. Ile sprang from an old Chester county family, descended from the Scotch- Irish Presbyterians. He prepared for college with Samuel Crawford, of Philadelphia, and matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1843, where he continued until he entered the United States Military Academy, July Ist, 1845. Ile graduated July Ist, 1849, when he was promoted to Brevet Second Lieutenant Topographical Engineers, and assigned to duty as Assistant Topographical Engineer in determining the initial point of the boundary between Iowa and Minnesota. He was transferred to the Department of New Mexico in 1850, and, in 1851, became engaged in the survey of the Little Colo- rado river, etc. Ile was chosen Secretary of the Board for the Improvement of Lakes, Harbors, and Western Rivers, in 1852, and, in 1853, received the appointment of Assistant Topographical Engineer in the survey for the Pacific Railroad in California, and also had charge of the survey for the Pacific Railroad on the 32d parallel, as well as a second survey in Southern California and on the 32d parallel from the Pacific coast to the Rio Grande, 1854-56. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant Topo- graphical Engineers April 18th, 1854, and continued his survey duty until his appointment as Engineer Secretary of the Light-Hlouse Board, April 24th, 1856. Having been commissioned First Lieutenant, July Ist, 1856, he con- tinued the last-named duty until March 2d, 1857, when he became Chief Astronomer and Surveyor of the Northwest boundary between the United States and the British Pro- vinces, being determined by a joint commission from the two countries under the provisions of the Treaty of 1846. Upon the completion of the field work of this expedition, in the summer of 1861, he repaired to Washington to pre- pare the necessary maps and reports. Ilaving declined a Captaincy in the 13th United States Infantry, May 14th, 1861, he received a Captain's commission in the Corps of Topographical Engineers, September 9th, 1861. Ile was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers, November 23d, 1861, and ordered to report for duty to Brigadier General Stone, commanding at Poolsville, Maryland. But before he could comply, he was detailed as a member of a Gene- ral Court Martial sitting in Washington. Ile was relieved in December, 1861, and ordered to report to Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside, at Annapolis, by whom he was assigned to the command of the 3d Brigade of the Coast Division. The expedition sailed for North Carolina in January, 1862, and having taken Roanoke Island, Feb- ruary 8th, proceeded to Newbern in March. Ilaving landed on the right bank of the Neuse, the command drove the enemy from his entrenchments, March 14th, and en- tered Newbern. To his brigade was assigned the difficult task of the reduction of Fort Macon; and, after some delay, a lodgement was effected on Bogue Bank, whence


the invested fort was bombarded for eight hours, on April 25th, when the enemy surrendered. In recognition of his gallant and meritorious conduct in this action, he was made a Brevet Lieutenant Colonel United States Army, to date from April 26th, 1862, the day upon which the terms of surrender were arranged. lle then commanded a divi- sion under General Burnside, in North Carolina, until July, 1862, when he was ordered with his command to Newport News, Virginia. Having been commissioned Major General of Volunteers, July ISth, 1862, he was sent with his command to Fredericksburgh, Virginia, via Aquia creek, where he was soon afterward relieved of his com- mand and assigned to duty as Chief of Staff to General Burnside. After the evacuation of Fredericksburgh and Aquia creek, during the campaign of General Pope in Virginia, General Burnside took command of the Ist and 9th Corps for the Maryland campaign. General Parke . participated in the battles of South Mountain and Antietanı, as well as in the pursuit of the enemy to Warrenton, Vir- ginia, in October and November, 1862. General Burnside took command of the Army of the Potomac, November 7th, 1862, and General Parke was continued as his Chief of Staff until January 25th, 1863, when General Burnside was relieved by General Ilooker. General Parke was actively engaged in the battle of Fredericksburgh, and after General Burnside had been assigned to the command of the De- partment of the Ohio, he was sent to Fortress Monroe to conduct the two divisions of the 9th Army Corps, lying at Newport News, to Kentucky. Upon the completion of that duty, he was again retained at the department head- quarters as Chief of Staff. General Burnside having been ordered to reinforce General Grant, at Vicksburg, early in June, 1863, the 9th Army Corps was detailed for the mis- sion, and General Parke having been placed in command, assisted in the reduction of the besieged city. When Vicks- burg surrendered, July 4th, 1863, he was ordered to report with his command to General Sherman, by whom he was placed in command of the left wing of the army pursuing General Johnston to Jackson. After a vigorous investment of eight days, the enemy evacuated, July 16th, 1863, and General Parke again received a recognition of his gallant and meritorious services, in the capture of Jackson, by a commission as Brevet Colonel United States Army, to date from July 12th, 1863. Ile returned with his command to Ilaines' Bluff, on the Yazoo river, to await transports to re- convey his corps to Kentucky. Ilaving embarked them early in August, he proceeded to Camp Nelson, where he found less than one-half the effective strength he had taken to Mississippi. After a short recuperation, he proceeded to Knoxville, participating in the action at Blue Spring, October 10th and 11th, 1863. Reaching Knoxville, he again became Chief of Staff, and so continued until the raising of the siege, December 5th, 1863, when he was placed in command of the forces in the field. The troops having been ordered into winter-quarters about January




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