USA > Pennsylvania > The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 43
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self, with other Union men, in a local home-guard, when, in June, 1861, he was appointed Surgeon in the service, and proceeded to Cairo, Illinois, where he served in the hospitals until the close of the year, when he returned home. In 1864, his health failing, so that he was forced to relinquish the practice of his profession, he went to Car- roll Parish, Louisiana, where he took charge of, and man- aged, several large cotton plantations belonging to his brother-in-law, Judge Dent, near Lake Providence, and remained until the close of the year. In April, 1865, im- mediately after Lee's surrender, he was appointed a Special Agent of the Post-Office Department, and was sent to Rich- mond, Virginia, to re-establish and take charge of the post- office there. Ile did so, and continued in charge until he was appointed Postmaster, in December, 1865, and served in that capacity until March, 1869, at which date he had fully regained his health. While serving in this capacity, he was elected a Director of the Virginia Central Railroad (now known as the Chesapeake & Ohio), and, during his term of office, arrangements were effected with certain _ bankers in New York which enabled the road to be com- pleted to the Ohio river. Ile was appointed, in 1868, by General Schofield, commanding the District, a member of the Richmond City Council, and during his term of service he inaugurated the effort to establish a system of free schools, to succeed those established and supported by vari- ous Northern educational societies. In 1868 and 1869, he was Treasurer of the State Central Republican Committee. In 1868, he was tendered the nomination of the Republi- cans for Representative in Congress, but declined, and, in 1869, received the Republican vote in the State Legislature for United States Senator, but was defeated by Senator Johnston, the Conservative candidate. In 1868, he was a deiegate to the Republican National Convention, which nominated General Grant, at Chicago, but did not take his seat. Upon the accession of General Grant to the Presi- dency, he was appointed Marshal of the United States Courts for the District of Columbia, and was re-appointed in March, 1873. Ile has a family of eight children living, the eldest of whom is a Midshipman in the United States Navy.
ONTOOTII, EDWARD A., Lawyer, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 18th, 1837. After enjoying the educational advantages af- forded by the schools of his native city, he began the study of the law, under the direction of A. M. Watson, on February 26th, 1856, and was ad- mitted to the bar, December 7th, 1861. Ile engaged in the practice of his profession in Pittsburgh, but, having raised a company of volunteers, in 1862, was commissioned First Lieutenant and Adjutant of Company A, 155th Regi- ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, September 2d, 1862, and entered at once upon active military service. He took a
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distinguished part in the battles of South Mountain, Antie- | from no desire on the part of the people to dispense with tam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and all the minor engagements in which his regiment participated. In August, 1864, he was assigned to duty as Adjutant upon the staff of J. V. Bumford, Acting Assistant Provost-Mar- shal of the Western Division of Pennsylvania. This posi- tion he filled until he returned to his regiment and was commissioned Captain of Company A, 155th Regiment, May 15th, 1865. He was brevetted Major for " meritorious conduct at Gettysburg," and served with credit until mustered out, June 2d, 1865. Ile then resumed the practice of his profession in his native city, where he has since continued, and has won honorable distinction. In October, 1871, he was elected to the Select Council of the city of Pittsburgh, and as a member of that body made a pure and enviable record. Ile was also Junior Vice-Commander Grand Army of the Republic for Pennsylvania. He entered early into the political arena, and having identified himself with the
· Republican party, has taken an active interest in all its im- portant struggles. During the Presidential campaigns of 1868 and 1872, he was especially active as the Chairman of prominent Republican County Committees. This year (1874) he received the nomination of the Republican party for the office of District Attorney of Allegheny county, and his peculiar fitness for the position, in addition to the great numerical strength of his party in the county, indicate for him a signal triumph. He was commissioned by Governor Hartranft, Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-Gene- ral of the Sixth Military Division of Pennsylvania, August Ist, IS73.
VANS, DAVID, Merchant, Broker and Lawyer, was born in Manheim township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, February 21st, 1827. Ile is of Welsh and German descent, his father, John Evans, having been a wealthy and influential citizen of Lancaster county. He enjoyed every educational advantage which the cultivated intelligence and ample means of his father could afford him. He graduated with high honors, from Franklin & Marshall College, Lan- easter, Pennsylvania, in the class of 1858. He had been engaged in teaching for several years prior to his matricula. tion in that institution, and after graduating, he returned to his preceptorial pursuits and continued therein for one year. Ilis acknowledged abilities, united with the great interest he had always exhibited in regard to all matters pertaining to public education, caused him to be, in February, 1859, appointed General Superintendent of the Public Schools of Lancaster county. In this highly responsible position he served with general satisfaction for thirteen years. Origin- ally appointed to fill an unexpired term, he was elected and re-elected during the period above mentioned. Ilis retire- ment from the post which he had so long and acceptably (11-d, was solely the result of political combinations, and' engaged as when he first entered the profession to strive for
his services, or wish of his to abandon his good work. During his official career, he labored incessantly to improve and elevate to the highest attainable point the school system of his native county. The character of the teachers, pupils, and of the school-buildings was all greatly advanced during his judicious administration; and to his wisdom and industry, mainly, is Lancaster county indebted for the high reputation sustained by her public schools. Ile devoted much of his attention to the improvement of the teachers, and was active in his encouragement of the annual teachers' meetings, using every effort to elevate their tone, and being the first Superintendent to publish the proceedings of these meetings as an addition to the educational history of the State. In politics he has always been strongly attached to the principles of the Republican party ; was an earnest sup- porter of Fremont, in 1856, and took an active part in that presidential campaign. After his retirement from official station, he was offered unusually high remuneration to re- engage in the profession of teaching, but he preferred to become a student, and accordingly entered upon a course of legal reading. Ile is the senior member of the firm of Evans & Metzler, real estate and insurance brokers, and his business reputation is fully equal to that sustained by him as an accomplished gentleman and an honest, industrious, and most efficient public servant. Ile was married, in October, 1858, to a daughter of Jacob Zook, a well-known farmer of Lampetre township, Lancaster county, Pennsyl- vania.
COFIELD, HION. GLENNI W., Lawyer and Legislator, was born in Dewittville, Chautauqua county, New York, March nth, 1817. Having enjoyed such educational advantages as were afforded by the common schools of that period and section, until his fourteenth year, he entered an establishment for the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of the art of printing. After serving three years of his apprenticeship to this trade, he resumed his studies, and, first pursuing a course in the higher branches, entered ITamilton College, New York, in 1836. Graduating from this institution in IS40, he immediately accepted a position as tutor in a private family, residing in Farquier county, Virginia. IIere he remained for one year, when he returned North, and for twelve months held a like post in MeKean county, Pennsylvania. During these years, his leisure time had been industriously and profitably employed in the acquisition of legal knowledge. He completed the study of the law under the tuition of IIon. C. B. Curtis, of War- ren, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar, at Warren, in 1842. Ili; industry and ability quickly gaining him a prominent position, he built up an extensive and lucrative practice, in the prosecution of which he is still as actively
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fame and fortune. From early manhood he manifested an | Chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, and fully honorable and patriotic interest in political questions, and sustaining the high character for statesmanship and rare business qualifications which gained him honor and reputa- tion in the Legislature of his State. soon became a recognized leader in the Democratic party. By the members of that party, he was, in 1850, elected a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania. Here he made his influence felt, and gained enviable and honorable dis- tinction. Hle was Chairman of the Committee on the Judi- ciary, and his speech in advocacy of an Elective Judiciary was a most elaborate and able effort, adding greatly to his reputation, and attaining a wide circulation and most favor- able reception throughout the State. Although a strong Democrat, and a believer in the principles of that party at the time, yet he was always an Anti-Slavery advocate, and even in his college days was a prominent member of an Abolition society. Holding such views, he naturally became the champion of the " Wilmot Proviso," the uncompromis- ing opponent of the " Fugitive Slave Law," and an earnest worker to effect the repeal of the " Missouri Compromise." This opposition to some of its most favored doctrines served to alienate him from the Democratic party, with which he had been so long connected. Upon the formation of the Republican organization, in 1856, he publicly severed his old political connections, and gave his willing adherence to the new power which represented so well and fully his life- long convictions and openly-avowed principles. Soon an acknowledged leader in the ranks of his new associates, he was, in 1856, nominated for State Senator, and being elected (from a district previously strongly Democratic) by a majority of 1200, he served in that capacity until IS60. The advanced position to which he had attained in the Lower House, as an effective speaker and logical reasoner, was fully sustained by him during his senatorial career. While thus serving, he introduced and ably advocated the bills to exempt the homestead from sale for debt, and abrogating all laws excluding the testimony of witnesses on account of religious belief. The opponents of these meas- ures, although unable to answer his arguments in favor of them, finally succeeded in defeating the bills. He also introduced and succeeded in carrying the bill for the grant- ing of aid by the State to the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad, which has been productive of such beneficial results by the development of the natural resources of the formerly wild section of the State in which he resides, and where the interests of his constituents, as well as his own, are directly centred. He was temporarily appointed, by Governor Andrew G. Curtin, in 1861, President Judge of the Eighteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. In 1862, desiring to testify still further their appreciation of his worth and valuable services, no less than to seenre well-known influence, his constituents nominated and elected him a Member of the Thirty-eighth Congress, and he has been re- elected to cach succeeding Congress. He was elected, in IS72, by the Republican party, one of the three Congress- men at large from Pennsylvania, and as such has served, with his usual ability, in the Forty-third Congress, being
ORDAN, FRANCIS, Lawyer, ex-Scercetary of the Commonwealth, is of Scotch-Irish extraction, and was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, Feb- ruary 5th, 1820. Ile was educated at Marshall College, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania; Augusta College, Kentucky, and subsequently at the Franklin & Marshall College in this State. Upon the completion of his collegiate course, he returned to Bedford and commenced the study of the law, teaching school meanwhile, in order to meet the expenses attendant upon his legal education. After a three years' course of careful reading under the tuition of S. M. Barclay and W. C. : Logan, he was admitted to the Bedford bar, and continued in practice until the breaking out of the Civil War. Prior to his engagement in the Union military service, he practised his profession in partnership with the late Judge King. Shortly after his admission to the bar, he was appointed District Attorney for Bedford county. At that time this appointment was in the gift of the Attorney-General of the State, and when the law was changed, making the office of District Attorney elective, he was chosen for the term of three years, at the close of which he declined a re-election. While officiating in this position, his indictments were, in every instance, so accurately and skilfully drawn, that not one of them was ever " quashed " for informality. In 1855, he was elected to the State Senate for the districts composed of Bedford, Somerset, and Fulton counties, and was the champion of the bill for the sale of the Public Works; also Chairman of the Committee on the Apportionment of the State for Members of the General Assembly; upon this occasion, he was chiefly instrumental in obtaining for the old Whig party a fairer distribution than had ever been made previously. While in the Senate, he was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee at the time when such celebrities as Judge Wilkins, Hon. D. \. Finney, G. W. Scofield, and Charles B. Penrose were members, an honor worthy of mention. Subsequently, he was a member of a commi -- sion of three, appointed to revise the Civil Code of the State. At the close of his senatorial term, he declined the offer of a second nomination, desiring to devote his atten- tion to legal pursuits. At the outbreak of the war, he was appointed Assistant Quartermaster, and later, Paymaster in the army. After serving in this capacity for two years and six months, he was appointed by Governor Curtin, Military Agent at Washington, District of Columbia. The duties of this position required both legal and military knowledge, and an unwavering integrity and loyalty, and in every par- ticular he conducted himself to the entire satisfaction of all
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concerned. In grateful acknowledgment of his services, the Legislature passed an act conferring on him the rank and pay of a Colonel of infantry. In 1867, he was appointed Secretary of the Commonwealth, and discharged the duties of this office with ability and integrity, serving during both terms of Governor Geary. While before the public he wrote and spoke continually on matters concerning Constitutional Reform, and did much to educate public sentiment in favor of the new Constitution. In a letter written at the request of Ilon. Morton MeMichael, Richard Vaux, George W. Biddle and others, he suggested thirteen amendments to the Constitution, and of these the Convention adopted twelve. In February, 1872, at the invitation of the Social Science Organization of Philadelphia, he delivered his famous Ice- ture on Constitutional Reform, since widely copied and commented upon. Of this address the Hon. Jeremiah S. Black said that it was " the best, the bravest, and the most effective blow that legislative corruption had received at the hands of any man in the Commonwealth ; " and that " his analysis of the Statute-Book of Pennsylvania, with his exposure of its absurdities, was masterly in the best sense of the word." Speaking on the same subject, the Hon. Charles I. Faulkner, of Virginia, says: " I have read it with great profit, and consider your argument on the subject of special legislation overwhelming."
EAUMONT, JOHN COLT, Captain United States Navy, was born at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, August 27th, 1821, and is a son of IIon. Andrew Beaumont, who held many local offices in Luzerne county, was a member of the Legislature, Repre- sentative in Congress, and Commissioner of Public Buildings and Grounds at Washington. His mother was a relative of Colonel Colt, of Hartford, Connecticut, the inventor of the revolving pistol. He received an academic education at the Wilkesbarre 'Academy, and at the age of sixteen was appointed Midshipman in the navy, to date March Ist, 1838. Reporting at New York, he sailed on the United States sloop-of-war " Erie " for the West India Squadron, where he served on board the sloop " Ontario " until 18440, when he returned to Boston in the same vessel in which he left the United States. In December, 1840, he was ordered on board the frigate " Constellation," and served in the East India Squadron until 1844, when he re- turned home, passed the requisite examination and was pro- moted Passed Midshipman. He served on board the " Jamestown," on the coast of Africa, during 1845, and until the breaking out of the Mexican War, when he was ordered, in 1846, to the ship-of-the-line "Ohio," and was present on board that vessel at the siege and capture of Vera Cruz and the capture of Tuxpan. After the Mexican War his vessel was ordered to proceed to the Pacific Squadron, but young Beaumont was detached from the ship at Rio Janeiro !
and returned home in the frigate " Columbia " as hew acting Lieutenant. His next duty was at the Naval Observatory, in 1848; at which, and on coast survey, he was engaged with Lieutenant Porter, now Admiral, in making a survey of the Hell Gate channel, East river, until the spring of 1849, when he was ordered to the frigate " Independence," bound for the European or Mediterranean Squadron. As Master, and as acting Lieutenant, he served on board this vessel until the summer of 1852, when he was again ordered to the Observatory, where he remained until May, 1854. Ile had in the meantime been promoted Master, August 30th, 1851, and Lieutenant, August 29th, 1852. ITis next ser- vice was in the " San Jacinto," under Captain Stribling, on special service for ten months, in 1855, and, in 1856, lie was detached and ordered on board the frigate " Potomac," flag-ship to Commodore Paulding, commanding the Home Squadron. When Paulding, in 1857, transferred his flag to the " Wabash," Beaumont accompanied him, and re- mained on board until the spring of 1858, when he was or- dered to the receiving-ship " North Carolina," at New York, where he remained until 1859. In 1859, he was ordered to the " Hartford," East India Squadron, and re- mained until 1861, having been transferred, in 1860, to the sloop " John Adams," in which vessel he came home as Executive Officer. Arriving home after the breaking out of the Rebellion, he was soon assigned to the command of the gunboat " Aroostook," North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and which was the first wooden vessel which served in the James river. He was actively engaged in the battles at Fort Darling, under Captain Rodgers, in May and June, 1862, and was the first to open fire on the rebel lines at the battle of Malvern Hill, July Ist, 1862. July 14th, 1862, he was promoted Commander, and in the latter part of the same month was taken ill and received sick leave for four months. He was next placed in command of the " Sebago," a gunboat attached to the South Atlantic Squadron, and was stationed off Port Royal and neigh- boring ports of South Carolina until the spring of 1863, when he was placed in command of the monitor " Nan- tucket ; " in which vessel he participated in most of the en- gagements at Morris Island and the reduction of Forts Wagner and Sumter, in Charleston harbor, in 1863. In the spring of 1364, he was placed in command of the steamer " Mackinaw," of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and remained until the close of the war, taking part in both attacks on Fort Fisher, under Admiral Porter, and in the subsequent fighting along Cape Fear river. Much of the time he was on this station he was engaged in torpedo hunting in James river ; and in the last fight at Fort Fisher one of his boilers exploded, wounding and killing one officer and seventeen men. In 1866, he was selected to command the double. turreted monitor " Miantonomah," which carried Assistant Secretary of the Navy Fox to Russia to present to the Czar the congratulations of this Government at his escape from an attempt at assassination. The voyage at.
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tracted the attention of naval officers throughout the world, | as the sea-going qualities of the monitors had never yet been tested by an ocean voyage. After leaving St. Peters- burg the vessel cruised along the European coast to the Mediterranean, and returned safely to the United States in IS67, after an absence of fourteen months. Ile was retired from active service in April, 1868, but was restored in I873, promoted Captain, to date June 10th, 1872, and placed on duty as Executive Officer at the Washington Navy Yard, where he remained until June, 1873. From July, 1873, until July, 1874, he commanded the " Powhattan," which was serving on special duty under the orders of the Navy Department along the Atlantic coast. During the antici. pated troubles with Spain, in IS73-'74, he was actively en- gaged in cruising from the United States to Cuba and back, and on two occasions towed monitors to Key West. IIe married, in 1852, a daughter of Rev. John Dorrance, of Wilkesbarre, who died in 1855, leaving one son, who is now living. He was re-married, in 1873, to a daughter of Hon. Charles Kirby King, who was long connected with the Navy Department. He inherits an inventive genius, and invented and introduced a roller hand-spike, which is used by the army and navy, a hawse- plug and the ventilator now used on board naval vessels. During his service in the navy he has been at sea twenty-two years, on shore duty four and one-half years, and unemployed ten years, of which five years were passed on the retired list.
YERS, LEONARD, Lawyer and Congressman, was born near Attleborough, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, November 13th, 1827. When he was about ten years of age his parents removed to Philadelphia, where he received his education, on the completion of which he entered upon the study of the law, and in due course was admitted a member of the Philadelphia bar. He soon acquired a considerable practice, especially in the courts of the United States, and became the Solicitor of two of the municipal districts of the city. Upon the consolidation of the several districts, in 1854, he digested the ordinances for the city of Phila- delphia by authority of Councils. In October, 1862, he was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress from the Third District as a Republican, and has since been re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses successively by large majorities. In his action in Congress and in all his public service his zeal and ability, and his disinterested public spirit, have won for him a deservedly high and enviable reputation among his colleagues, and the esteem and perfect confidence of his constituents. He has served on several important com- mittees, and has always taken a most active part in all the measures brought before the House. In particular, his influence was exerted in securing to the Government League
Island as a naval station, and in obtaining the selection of Philadelphia as the place in which to hold the Centennial International Exhibition under Government auspices. At present he is a member of the Committees on Foreign Af- fairs and on Naval Affairs. Ilis written productions com- prise many valuable papers contributed to the magazines, and some translations from the French, which are very happily done. A most eloquent and able speech of his may also be here mentioned, which was delivered in the House on March 24th, 1866, the subject being the " Acceptance of the Results of the War the True Basis of Reconstruction," as may also his Memorial Address upon the Death of Presi- dent Lincoln, one of the best of the many admirable speeches called forth by this sad occasion. As a member, and some time Chairman, of the Committee on Patents, he has inte- rested himself greatly in the inventors of the country and in the amendment of the patent laws. He is the author of the section by which photo-lithographie copies of the drawings of each invention are given weekly to the public as the patents are issued. Upon the Naval Committee his efforts to strengthen the Navy have been frequent and con- spicuous, and his bill to allow sailors a free outfit of cloth- ing has met general commendation. Upon the Committee of Foreign Affairs he has been no less active. Ile spoke in favor of the Alaska purchase, and in the Forty-second Congress he was authorized to report the French Spoliation Bill, a measure of long-delayed justice presented and urged by him, but again postponed by Congress as it had been for many years before. On several occasions he aided the legislation in favor of protection to American citizens, most fervently and practically asserting their rights in the debate upon the celebrated case of Dr. Ilouard, a native of Phila- delphia, condemned to death by the mockery of a military court in Cuba, whose life was no doubt saved by the action of the House of Representatives.
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