USA > Pennsylvania > The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 53
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to perform duties involving much responsibility. As a mem- ber of the City Councils, he served for nearly a quarter of a century, and the fact that he continuously served twenty years as President of the Select Branch, being for some time also the presiding officer of the Lower Branch, is a sufficient commentary upon the character of the reputation he has won. As a member of the School Board, he exerted a strong influence in securing many beneficial reforms. Ile has been also a Director of the Lancaster Gas and the Lan- caster Insurance Company. In all these various capacities he has labored with industry and no common degree of intelligence, and has shown himself the possessor of a cha- racter for unblemished integrity. IIe has engaged in many important business enterprises, having been formerly one of the Directors of the Conestoga Steam Mills Company, and lately one of the principal owners ; was one of the firm which built the No. 4 Cotton. Mill, one of the originators of the Conestoga Turnpike Company, and eventually its President. Ile has largely interested himself in railroad affairs, subscribing liberally to all practical schemes hav- ing a tendency to confer advantages upon the citizens of his section of the State. In this manner he became a Direc- tor of the Lancaster & Quarryville Narrow Gange Railroad, Director and Treasurer of the Delaware River & Lancaster Railroad, now in course of construction, and Director and Assistant Treasurer of the National Railroad, since pur- chased by the New Jersey Central & North Pennsylvania Railroad Companies. The National is to be the new line from Philadelphia to New York. He is President and Director of the Hlamilton Land Association of New Jersey, which owns a large tract along the proposed route of the National Railroad, and which is destined to furnish the site of a flourishing town. Notwithstanding the difference of his political views from those of the National adminis- tration, at the time of the late Civil War he gave an imme- diate and hearty support to the efforts of the Government to preserve the Union. Twice during the war was he called into active service of the Volunteer Surgeons' Department by the Surgeon-General of the State, laboring zealously to alleviate the sufferings of the sick and wounded after the battles of Bull Run (the second) and Antietam. In 1846, he was married to a daughter of the late John Mathiot, for many years Mayor of the city of Lancaster, and has three daughters living.
ACALESTER, CHARLES, Merchant and Banker, was born in Philadelphia, February 17th, 1798. Ilis parents, both of whom were Scotch, came to Amer- ica some years before, and settled in Philadelphia, where his father (also named Charles Macalester) became widely known as 'a prosperous merchant. Ile received a liberal education, firstly at Grey and Wylie's school, and afterwards at the University of Pennsylvania.
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While at the latter institution, during the war time of 1812, [ The efforts made by the bank to obtain a re-charter were when fifteen years of age, he commanded a company of immense. Some of its best friends were opposed to moving for it during the Presidential campaign of 1832, and the late General Thomas Cadwalader (father of Judge Cad- walader) was sent to confer with the leading men at Wash- ington as to the expediency of applying for a re-charter pending the canvass of that year. lle was told by ' the triumvirate,' as Clay, Webster, and Calhoun were called, that if the bank expected their support it must throw its influence into the canvass, and assist in defeating General Jackson. The Legislature of Pennsylvania had passed resolutions, with singular unanimity, recommending the re- charter. Mr. Dallas was chosen to bring forward the bill for it in the Senate, and it passed both houses, but was ve- toed by General Jackson. The bank and the Whig party continued the battle, which was kept up during 1833-'34 with great fury on both sides. The Administration was supported by the Globe, a most powerful newspaper, then edited with great ability by Francis Blair and Amos Ken- dall; and in the Senate by Messrs, Benton and Forsyth, who urged upon the President the removal of the Govern- ment deposits from the bank, which was resolved upon. W. J. Duane was then Secretary of the Treasury, and he refused to remove them. Ile was displaced from office, and Roger B. Taney was appointed, who soon after carried out the President's wishes. Upon this the bank commenced a regular system of curtailment. Money became extremely scarce, business was prostrated, confidence greatly impaired, and failures were numerous. This was called the 'panic season.' The political excitement also was great. The most popular orators were sent to different parts of the country to rouse the people; among them being Webster, Clay, Preston, and McDuffie. Ilorace Binney and Daniel Webster spoke in Baltimore, on a Sunday, the latter de- claring that ' there was no Sabbath in revolutionary times.' The great object of all this was to compel a restoration of the deposits, which, it was hoped, might lead to a re-charter of the bank. Soon after the appointment of myself and Mr. Ingraham, we received an autograph letter from Gene- ral Jackson requesting us to obtain from the bank a copy of its profit and loss account for a certain period. As our predecessors had been charged with acting as spies, I in- sisted upon notifying the Board of this letter, and that we should proceed to obtain the desired information. We did so, and had one meeting, when we were stopped by the refusal of the bank to allow us to inspect the books. In 1835, I had changed my business and become a banker, and was employed extensively by the bank in a variety of operations. After the first suspension, I collected, and had brought from the West and Southwest, in six months, three millions of dollars in specie. I was sent to Washington with a carte blanche to kill the first Sub- Treasury Bill, which I did, at an expense of $800. It was done by the tact and influence of the Democrats, I negotiated with Levi Woodbury, then Secretary of the Treasury during Van forty boys, who worked for two days assisting to make the fortifications upon the west side of the Schuylkill. Early in life he embarked in mercantile pursuits, and, in 1821, removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained until 1827, when he returned to Philadelphia, and commenced business there. Ilis force of character, and especially his sterling integrity, soon made him prominent among the principal commercial men of the city, and his relations also became extensive and intimate with the leading statesmen of the country, by whom his advice on financial matters was often sought. lle was a trusted friend of Presidents Jackson, Van Buren, Polk, Pierce, Buchanan and Lincoln, and had various political offices of high importance ten- dered him at different times -- among others, a Cabinet ap- pointment-all of which he uniformly declined, preferring the independence of private life. The following me .:: o- randa, found among his papers after his decease, may here be introduced, as telling, in his own words, the story of the stirring scenes and times through which he passed, and especially as giving much interesting information about the famous United States Bank, with which he was so con- spicuously identified : " The war between General Jackson and the bank had now (1832) commenced; and was brought on in this way : the country was divided, as it always has been, more or less, and the political parties were represented by the Whigs and the Democrats-the Whigs, a formidable party, headed by Clay, Webster and Calhoun. A number of leading Democrats in New Hampshire, headed by Levi Woodbury and others, complained to the Secretary of the Treasury that Jeremiah Mason, President of the branch at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was using that Branch Bank for political objects, proscribing Democrats, ctc. Mr. Ing- ham, then Secretary of the Treasury, and Mr. Louis M. Lane were the only men in the Cabinet friendly to the bank. Upon the receipt of Woodbury's communication, Ingham enclosed a copy of it to Mr. Biddle in a private note, to give him an opportunity of quietly correcting the abuses complained of, if they existed. Mr. Biddle, probably mis- understanding Mr. Ingham's object, replied in an official letter, repelling any interference in the management of the internal affairs of the bank. To this Mr. Ingham found it necessary to reply in another official letter, and the war be- gan. General Jackson had sent several nominations to the Senate for Government Directors, all of whom were re- jected. The General (who repeatedly said that he 'never left his wounded upon the field '), supposing, probably, that politics had some influence in ejecting me from the Board of the bank, then nominated myself and Edward D. Ingra- ham to the Senate, who confirmed us, and we were the only Government Directors in the Board when the charter ex- pired. On my return to the Board I was received most kindly by the officers and directors, and every possible favor was lavished upon me while the bank continued in existence,
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Buren's term, $4,000,000 worth of bonds, which the [ lution of the Bank of the United States, the introduction bank had issued in payment of the stock originally of steam navigation ; I have seen a public dinner given to Captain Shreeve, at Louisville, Kentucky, for bringing his boat up from New Orleans in twenty-three days, and have known it to be done repeatedly since in less than five; have witnessed the introduction of railways and the tele- graph ; have seen the country engaged in three wars beside the great Rebellion; was a Democrat up to the firing upon Sumter, and since then have ceased to be a partisan, and tried to be a patriot." IFe retired from active business in 1849, occupying himself subsequently with his private affairs, and varions trusts and executorships. He was one of the Trustees of the Peabody Education Fund from its subscribed. After the first suspension of the bank, some of the State banks were anxious to resume. Mr. Biddle wished to wait for another cotton crop, in order to make it more difficult for them to do so. I was directed to deposit to my individual credit in several banks, here and in New York, as much as I conveniently could, with- out exciting suspicion. I had $600,000 in Philadelphia, and a like amount in New York banks, where it remained almost untouched, and several committees called on me to sce what arrangement they could make in case it was con- cluded to resume. This money belonged to the bank, and for it no acknowledgment, even of the most simple kind, first institution. He was also President of the St. Andrew's was given by me. In 1842, I went to London on a private ; Society, and of the Orthopedic Hospital ; a Director (from the time of its organization) of The Fidelity Insurance, Trust and Safe Deposit Company; of the Presbyterian IIos- pital, and of the Insurance Company of the State of Penn- sylvania, of which latter company his father had been President. In 1873, he gave, for the establishment of a college in Minneapolis, a valuable property, consisting of a large building with extensive grounds attached, then named by the trustees the " Macalester College "; and also con- firmed the same by his will. IIe was twice married; firstly, in 1824, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Eliza A. Lytle, only daughter of General W. II. Lytle, and niece of the cele- brated Judge Rowan, the great rival of Henry Clay, and sister of the noted orator, R. T. Lytle; and again, in 1841, to Susan, daughter of the late John Wallace, and niece of the Hon. Horace Binney. By his first marriage he had two children : a son, who died shortly before himself, and a daughter, still living. He died December 9th, 1873, regretted by an unusually wide circle of friends and acquaintances. The event called forth high tributes of respect from the journal's of the city and all the public bodies with which he had been connected. Eminently successful himself in all his undertakings, he was al- ways ready to aid by his advice, and by active assist- ance, those who were beginning life's battle or struggling with adversity. Unobtrusive in all he did, gencrous in every sense of the word, he was universally beloved and honored. ITis private character was one of the greatest purity, unselfishness and loveliness; charitable in all his judgments and indulgent to the weaknesses and faults of others, no harsh comments or unkind aspersions ever passed his lips ; and the one who knew and loved him best bears emphatic testimony to the fact, that never, even in the most unguarded moments of family intercourse, did she hear from his lips one word or sentiment that did not indi- cate the true nobleness of his character, or that cannot now be remembered with pride and satisfaction. Such a life is in itself a lesson. Such " footprints in the sands of time" tend to increase the faith in human nature, and in the truth and efficacy of that religion which was always his bulwark
mission, and on this visit became acquainted with George Peabody, with whom my relations became most intimate, he being always my guest when at Philadelphia or Torres- dale. I was also favored, when in London, with two invi- tations to breakfast from the poet Rogers, who told me of the meeting at his dinner-table of Byron, Moore and Campbell, and showed where each sat. Byron and Moore had quarrelled, and Rogers was anxious to effect a recon- ciliation. Ile invited Byron to come and dine with Moore. Byron accepted, saying he would dine or fight with him, he did not care which. At the dinner, Byron was in a very bad humor. He would eat nothing but potatoes, with pepper and a great deal of vinegar. I became acquainted with John C. Calhoun in 1830, when he was Vice-President. Ile was then in his prime, and was the most fascinating man I have known. John Forsyth was the best debater I ever heard. During the panic of 1833-'34, he fought the combined Whig phalanx in the Senate, almost single- handed, on the Bank question. The Administration was largely in the minority in the Senate. Benton sustained the President with his ponderous, battle-axe . kind of speeches, which he sometimes kept going for three or four days at a time. But Forsyth was a semper paratus man, who would keep at bay half a dozen assailants while Ben- ton was preparing one of his big speeches. During the above-mentioned panic season, when the bank war was raging with fury, I dined one evening with President Jack- son, the company consisting of the President, Major Lewis, and Major and Mrs. Donelson. After leaving the dining- room we went into one of the drawing-rooms, and soon after we were seated, Senators and members of Congress began to come in and talk over the news of the day. All were excited except the President. He had received that morning a letter from General Irwin, saying that he had sent him a young filly of 'gentle blood,' and twice during the evening I heard the President tell Major Donelson to ' go and see if the filly had come.' Ile had made up his mind on the Bank question, but wanted to see the filly. My life has been a most eventful one. I have lived to see the rise and fall of two Napoleons, the creation and disso- fand guide.
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ENNINGS, COLONEL WILLIAM W., Soldier, | and judgment that he gained the favor of the entire public. Mechanic and Manufacturer, son of William and Anxious to re-enter actively upon business pursuits, and to attend to his private interests, which he had neglected for public affairs, he abandoned official station and turned his attention to his foundry. Associating in partnership with J. M. Stover, he rapidly gained the business point which he had left, and pushing ever onward, spite of losses and reverses, he has firmly established the Franklin Ma- chine Works and Foundry of Harrisburg as a successful enterprise. In IS70, at the request of the Republican party, he permitted the use of his name as a candidate for Mayor of his native town. Though he received a large vote, yet, the city being Democratic, he was defeated. In the present year (1874) he was a Delegate to the State Republican Convention, the first convention which nomi- nated a Lieutenant-Governor. He was married, December 17th, 1861, to Emma J. Van Horne. ITis is a bold and progressive spirit well balanced by sound judgment. Ile has shown himself competent and worthy in every station to which he has been called, making an honorable reputa- tion as a business man, a soldier, a politician, and a citizen. Elmira Jennings, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was born in that city, July 26th, 1838. Ilis edu- cation was acquired in the public schools of his native city, and here he diligently employed his early years. Arriving at a suitable age, he was taken, at his own solicitation, into his father's foundry to be taught thoroughly all that pertains to that trade. A steady and careful worker, a keen, close observer and student, he cmerged from his apprenticeship an accomplished and skilful workman, with not only an excellent practical but also a scientific knowledge of his own branch of the busi- ness, together with all other matters connected with the foundry and machine-shop. The opening of the Civil War found him well established in business for himself in a foundry and machine-shop at South and Short streets, Harrisburg. Without hesitating to count the cost to him- self, he immediately entered the service as a private in Captain McCormick's Company (the " Lochiel Greys "). Always military in his tastes, and for a long time a member of a cadet organization, his comrades acknowledged his fitness to command by electing him to the First Lientenancy of the company, and in this capacity he served during the three months' campaign of 1861, in the 25th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. Instantly upon his return from the front he was tendered by the Governor the position of Post Adjutant and Drill-Master at Camp Curtin. Accept- ing the commission, he continued on duty until July, IS62. Anxious to be actively engaged in the field, he applied for and obtained permission to raise a regiment, and the fol- lowing month found him at the head of the 127th Regi- ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, with a commission as Col- onel bearing date of August 16th, 1862. Proceeding im- mediately to Washington, the regiment was brigaded and Colonel Jennings placed in command. The brigade re- mained in camp guarding the Chain Bridge, above Wash- ington, District of Columbia, until the beginning of Decem- ber, 1862. The regiment was then sent to join Burnside's command in front of Fredericksburg, and was attached, at Falmouth, to Hall's Brigade, Second Division, Second Corps, with which it remained during its term of service. In the many and severe battles in which, under Colonel Jennings, it was engaged, the services of his command and its heavy losses fully attest the soldierly reputation which history has accorded to the organization and its gallant head. The term of service of the regement expiring on May 29th, 1863, it was mustered out of service at Harris- burg, and its commander returned to private life until called upon to again enter the field as commander of the 26th "Emergency " Regiment, during Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania. How his fellow-citizens appreciated his ser- vices is shown by their subsequent action. In the fall of 1863, he was, by a large majority, elected Sheriff of Dauphin county, in which capacity he acted with so much fairness
ALLACE, WILLIAM M., M. D., Physician and Surgeon, was born, during a temporary residence of his parents, at Erie, Pennsylvania, Angust 29th, ISOS. Ifis father, William Wallace, was a lawyer of prominence in his day, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; his mother was the daughter of the IIon. William Maclay, the first United States Senator from Pennsylvania, and the granddaughter of John Harris, the founder of Harrisburg. Dr. Wallace received a thorough English and classical education at the best schools of the country ; pursued his medical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, and graduated therefrom, with high honors, in 1830, After practising for about two years, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and its vicinity, in connection with Dr. Luther Reily, he removed to Erie in 1833. In this city, with the exception of an interval of five years, from 1848 to 1853, during which time he was engaged in the manufacture of flint glass in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he has since resided and been actively employed in attending to the large and ever-in- creasing demands of his extensive private practice. Ile has been for years recognized as one of the most eminent obstetricians in the country, and in his own section his fame is pre-eminent in this particular, while his success in general practice has added greatly to his reputation. In 1869, he was elected one of the Vice-Presidents of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and, in IS70, he was complimented with the high honor of being elected by his professional brethren to the Presidency of that body. His learning is great, his ambitions are honorable, and his life having been devoted to the service of others, his name is revered by a large circle of his fellow-citizens.
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OWELL, CHARLES MILLER, Marble-Worker, | his office with a purpose single to the welfare of the com- was born in Philadelphia, April 24th, 1814; his munity. As a Director, he took an active part in increasing the efficiency of the common-school system, and suggested a number of amendments which were carried out with the most beneficial results. In 1872, he was appointed by the Mayor Chief-Engineer of the Lancaster Fire Depart- ment; in 1873, was continued in the same office by the unanimous choice of the firemen themselves, and might have filled the position for an indefinite period if he had not refused a re-election. Many positions of private and public trust were pressed upon him, but in all these cases he felt himself called upon, by reason of his innate repug- nance to notoriety and the urgent claims of his own busi- ness, to decline. In 1835, he became a member of the Masonic fraternity, connecting himself with Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 155, of Philadelphia; but upon his removal to Lancaster, in 1841, transferred his membership to Lodge No. 43, of that city; was elected W. M. in 1852, re- elected in 1854, and in the same year was appointed D. D. G. M. for the First Masonic District of Pennsylvania, an appointment which he still retains. He has passed through all the chairs, in 1871 being elected R. E. G. C. of the Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Pennsylvania, and re-elected in 1872. He is also an Odd Fellow, having filled all the offices of the Subordinate Lodge and Encamp- ment, and haring founded Monterey Lodge, No. 242, of Lancaster, of which he is still a member. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and has been a Trustee in it for upwards of thirty years. On December 28th, 1841, he married a daughter of the late John Michael, the proprietor of the Grape Hotel, Queen street, Lancaster, and has had five children, four of whom are living, the two sons being associated with their father in the marble business. Ilis eldest daughter is the wife of Rev. William D. Le Fevre, now engaged in pastoral duties in Bedford county. futher, Amos Howell, being one of the most ex- tensive coach-builders of that city, carrying on his basiness at the corner of Eighth and Arch streets. Ile was of Welsh extraction, and his wife, the mother of Charles, was of Scotch descent. Charles attended a private school until his twelfth year, receiving the usual rudimentary education, and was then sent to an excellent institution in Plainfield, Connecticut, where he remained two years, making very material progress in his various studies. Upon his return, he was apprenticed at the marble trade, under General Peter Fritz; and, under the fostering care of this gentleman, served from his four- teenth until his twenty-first year, having in this time acquired more than ordinary proficiency in the various branches of that business. He commenced then as a jour- neyman, still for a time remaining with his old mentor, acquiring meanwhile a clear insight into counting-house rules and customs. In 1838, he entered into the trade upon his own account, establishing himself at the corner of Fourth and Race streets, removing, after one year, to the corner of Ridge avenue and Eleventh street. Ilere he soon secured, by strict attention and prompt and fair dealing, a very large patronage, and continued for some years to prosecute a thriving business. Having occasion to visit Lancaster, he made the acquaintance of a lady of fine culture and pleasing address, who soon after became his wife. After his marriage, he removed to Lancaster, leas- ing a large property on East King street, and in September, IS41, re-commenced the marble business. His success here, assured from the first, was far beyond his anticipa- tions, and in 1846 he bought a large lot on North Queen street, to which he removed his business, and where he still continues it, having greatly extended the original area of his yard by purchasing properties north and south of it. Being the oldest place of its kind in Lancaster, he has, by careful attention to all its necessities, made it the largest, with a constantly growing patronage which represents ALDWELL, ROBERT BENTON, Banker, was born in Birmingham, Huntingdon county, Penn- sylvania, July 18th, 1851. His father, William Caldwell, a resident of the above-named county, was largely interested in the tanning business; his mother, Mary ( Lloyd) Caldwell, was origi- nally from Blair county, in the same State. Ilis education was acquired in the common schools located in Sinking Valley, Blair county, and when in his thirteenth year he abandoned school life in order to take charge of the tan- ning business of his father, the latter being then in a preca- rious state of health. His father dying at the expiration of a year from that time, he retired from the business, and, leaving his home, obtained employment in a mercantile establishment at Ironsville, a neighboring town, under James McQuade, a prominent and enterprising merchant of that place. He remained there for six months, when, every section of that portion of the State. Much against his wishes, he was nominated, in 1856, as the Democratic candidate for County Treasurer; and, despite the fact that the Whig party in that section was greatly in the ascen- clancy, he was elected to that office by a very large majority. In this canvass he was supported by the better class of voters of both parties, who had learned from a long intercourse to put a true estimate upon his worth as an up- right, intelligent citizen. The duties of this office he fulfilled with wise discrimination, succeeding in placing the financial affairs of the county in a very satisfactory con- dition. Upon the expiration of his term in this capacity, he was earnestly solicited to accept membership in the City Councils, and was thereupon elected. lle was suc- cessively chosen each year to a seat for a long period, and, as a member of both branches, discharged the functions of
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