The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2, Part 8

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 8

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OTTER, THOMAS, Manufacturer and Bank President, was born August ~17th, . 1819, in County Tyrone, Ireland. His parents removed to this country when he was ten years of age. Ile had already acquired the rudiments of an education while in Ireland, and continned his

studies at the public schools of Philadelphia. Ilaving commenced to learn the oil cloth trade at the age of eleven, however, he was obliged to supply his deficiencies by dili- gent study at night, which he did to good purpose. In his twenty-first year he commenced business on his own account, in partnership with J. Carmichael. ITis success was early and constant, and although, owing to the death of his father, the support of his family devolved upon him at the age of seventeen, he found time not only to give earnest attention to business affairs, but also to continue his studies. Observing the good old rule to avoid borrowing, and under all circumstances to keep an unimpaired credit, success constantly crowned his efforts. In 1848, he pur- chased the Bush ITill oil cloth factory, being the same in which he had served his apprenticeship. In 1870, he sold his old works and bought the extensive establishment at Nicetown lane and Second street, where his business, greatly enlarged, and the most extensive in the United States, is still carried on. Ilis marriage took place in 1845, to A. Bower, second daughter to General C. Bower, Sr., of Philadelphia. His civic life has been marked by charac-

teristic energy, and he has held many positions of trust and honor in the city of his adoption. A brief list of these will exhibit strongly the esteem with which he has been regarded by his fellow-citizens. In 1853, he was elected Commis- sioner of the District of Spring Garden; 1856, Member of Councils from the Fifteenth Ward, in which year he was also Chairman of Committee on Schools, School Director and School Controller. Leaving at this time the Buchanan- Democratic party, he was elected, in 1858, to Councils by the Fremont-Republicans, and by the People's party in :1859, 1860 and 1861. During these years he was a mem- ber of the Councils' Finance Committee, took an active part in improving the public schools, making several valu- able reports on the subject, and in organizing a paid fire department, which he was one of the first to advocate. Ile originated and carried through, in 1861, the ordinance for the appointment of a commission to support the families of volunteers from the city. In 1867 and 1868, he was again in Councils, and was prominent in passing the Park bill, which secured the eastern portion of the Park, where the 'New Water Basin is-at this time he was Chairman of the Committee on Finance-also the bill requiring the City Treasurer to pay the city warrants according to date and number, which had the effect of at once bringing them to par, and warmly advocated the bill for revising the assess- ments of real estate, in the city. Ile carried through the Common Council a bill which, had it not been ultimately defeated, would have proved one of the most important ordinances .ever passed in the district of Philadelphia, It was an Act of Assembly authorizing the public squares at Broad and Market streets to be used for the erection of the Academy of Natural Science, the Academy of Fine Arts, and other educational institutes. In consequence of ill health, he resigned in 1868, and spent a year in Europe. Ile has long been a member of, and elder in, the Presby- terian Church, was Superintendent of the Sunday-schools thirteen years, and Superintendent of the Broad and Green Streets Organization until 1867. He was elected President of the City National Bank in April, 1871. In person he is about the medium height, dark of complexion, keen, pierc- ing eyes, but mild and genial expression ; in conversation exceedingly fluent and entertaining.

ONG, HON. IIENRY G., Ex-President Judge of the Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania, was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, August 23d, 1804. Ilis father, Jacob Long, was a soklier of the Revolutionary War, and after a long and successful career as a merchant, died in Decem- ber, 1842, in his eighty-second year. Ilis grandfather, Nicholas Long, a native of Zweibrucken, Bavaria, emigrated to America in 1754, and having settled in Lancaster, mar- ried, reared a large family, and rose to an influential position

Galaxy Fnb. Co. Philad-

Thomas

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in the community. After being educated in the schools of Lancaster, he became, in 1821, clerk to Dr. F. A. Muhlen- berg, then Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of the Dis- triet, and the experience gained by attendance upon the sit- tings of the Court and association with the most distinguished lawyers of the State was of great value to him in his subse- quent career. IIe engaged in the study of law with IIon. George B. Porter, in 1824, and was admitted to the bar January 19th, 1827 .. IIe immediately entered upon prac- tice, and passed through the usual struggles incident to the carcer of young professionals. Soon after his admission he was prevailed upon to become Solicitor for the Commis- sioners of the County, and although at subsequent elections he withdrew his name as a candidate, he was re-elected for twenty consecutive years. IIe early began to interest him- self in political affairs, but steadily resisted the importuni- ties of his friends, who desired for him political preferment, until the autumn of 1836, when, with his consent, he was elected a member of the Reform Convention which sat in Harrisburg from May, 1837, to February 22d, 1838. 1Ie was one of the youngest members of that body, and is the only survivor of the eight representatives of Lancaster county. Again, in 1838, he yielded to the wishes of his friends, and was elected by the Whigs to the Legislature, where he served with credit and honor during that unset- tled period known as the " Buckshot War." After the ex- piration of his term he resolutely declined all further politi- cal honor, and engaged with vigor in the practice of his profession, which yielded him a rich reward. When the Judiciary became elective, in 1851, he was without opposi- tion elected President Judge, and again, in 1861, the people, without regard to party ties, returned him for a second term of ten years. Having declined to become a candidate again, he retired from the bench in December, 1871, and, in acknowledgment of his dignity and impartial- ity as a judge, his kindness and courtesy to all, and his own estimable worth, the members of the bar, in convention assembled, December 9th, 1871, unanimously adopted the following resolutions :

The IIon. Henry G. Long, late President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster county, having refused to be a candidate for re-election, and having retired from the bench after an arduous and successful career as Judge for twenty years, the members of the Lancaster Bar, desirous of rendering a just tribute to his merits as a conscientious, upright and learned magistrate, do resolve :

Ist. That as members of the Lancaster Bar we cannot permit the occasion of the retirement of the IIon. Henry G. Long from the bench to pass without some expression of our sense of the many merits by which his judicial course has been distinguished.

2d. That we recognize and profoundly appreciate the purity of purpose, impartiality, industry, extensive legal knowledge, and sound sense which have so conspicuously marked his performance of his judicial duties; and that we shall ever bear with us in the future a grateful remembrance of the kindness, urbanity and readiness to accommodate, which all of us in the conduct of our professional business,

as well as in our general intercourse with him, have uni- formly experienced at his hands.

3d. That he carries with him our sincere wishes for his continued health and welfare, and that we trust for many coming years to see him yet among us, happy in the cou- sciousness of a faithful performance of his duties, and con- tributing by his genial presence and society to the happiness of his many friends.

4th. That the Court be requested to enter the proceedings of this meeting on their minutes, and that a committee of three be appointed to convey these resolutions to the Judge, and that the Secretary be instructed to have these proceed- ings published in the papers of this city.

AYES, IION. ALEXANDER L., LL.D., Judge, was born in Sussex county, Delaware, March 7th, 1793. Having attended the Friends' Boarding School at Smyrna, Delaware, he spent two years and a half at Newark Academy, whence he passed to Dover Academy, where he completed his preparation for college. While there he was prevailed upon to accept the nomination for Secretary of the Senate, and was triumphantly clected. IIe, in company with the late IIon. Robert C. Grier, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, entered the junior class half advanced at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1812 with one of the three highest honors. Ile then engaged in the study of the law with IIon. Henry M. Ridgely of Dover, and became a member of the bar November 15th, 1815. IIe continued at the Dover bar until he was admitted to practice in the Common Pleas District and Supreme Courts of Philadelphia in 1820, when he removed thither ; but in April, 1821, he engaged in pro- fessional duties at Reading, Pennsylvania. ITis successful career continued without further interruption until June 27th, 1827, when Governor John Andrew Shulze appointed him Assistant Judge of the District Court of Lancaster and York counties. He held this position until the division of the district in 1833, when, in response to the petition of the members of the Lancaster County Bar, he was appointed President Judge by Governor George Wolf. IIe exercised the functions of his office with dignity and acceptability, being successively appointed until 1849, when he resigned and resumed the practice of his profession. He was one of the originators of the enterprise resulting in the erection of the Conestoga Cotton Mills, and was one of the committee of five selected to visit New England on a tour of inspec- tion in 1845 ; he prepared the report favoring the immediate erection of a mill. IIe at first declined to become one of the five Managers of the Company, but in 1846 was induced to succeed John N. Lane. In 1850, he followed Mr. Hager as President of the Company, and was elected General Agent. Two other mills had been erected, the whole known as Conestoga Steam Mills, and individually designated as Nos. 1, 2 and 3. They employed about 800 hands, and he had full charge of all the operations until 1854, when he

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again yieldled to the solicitations of his friends and allowed himself to be elected Associate Law Judge of the Courts of Lancaster county. IIe was re-elected in 1864, and during his long judicial career he has proved himself possessed of rare ability and an unusual lack of prejudice. Though past four-score years his mental and physical powers are so re- markably well preserved that he bids fair to fill one or more decades of honor and usefulness. He probably holds the oklest commission of any living judge, having served forty- two years on the bench. Ile has always manifested a deep interest in all benevolent associations and in the cause of education. He was for many years President of the Board of School Directors and long a Trustee of the State Normal School at Millersville. He is also a Trustee and one of the Vice-Presidents of Franklin and Marshall College, from which he received, during a temporary absence in 1873, the honorary degree of L.L.D. Ile has been the President of the Atheneum and Historical, Agricultural and Mechanics' Society of Lancaster since its organization. Ile was mar- ried, July 23d, 1823, to a daughter of Galbraith Patterson, of Lycoming county, Pennsylvania.

LEASANTON, GEN. AUGUSTUS JAMES, late of the United States Army, was born in Washington city, District of Columbia, January 21st, 1SOS, and is a son of the late Stephen Pleas- anton, whose connection with the United States Government extended through no less than fifteen different administrations, embracing a period of over fifty- four years. ITis family connections were most honorable and noted. Ile was a grand-nephew of Cesar Rodney, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and a cousin of Lord George Rodney, the celebrated Admiral of the British Navy. His wife, Mary Hopkins, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, was a niece of the late James Bu- chanan, President of the United States, and also a relative of George Lewis, a signer of the Declaration. lle had held some office of trust and honor in the State, and was advised to seek for some similar service where his talents would benefit the General Government. This was during the administration of the elder Adams, and when the seat of Government was located in Philadelphia. The first offices of trust and profit had naturally been granted to the various members of the Revolutionary Government, and subordinate appointments were made to those of their rela- tives or family connections. In this way General Pleasan- ton's father obtained a position, being appointed thereto by Timothy Pickering, formerly a Colonel in the Revolutionary Army, and subsequently one of P'resident Washington's Cabinet. When the seat of Government was removed to the banks of the Potomac, he accompanied the administra- tion thither, and, as before remarked, remained in some official connection with the Government for a period of over

half a century, which terminated only with his death, in March, 1854. During the war of 1812, when the city of Washington was invaded by the British troops, he was at his post while so many fled, and by his efforts he saved the most valuable of the documents, foreign treaties, and, above all, the original draft and engrossed copy of the great De- claration of Independence; in fact, all of the archives of the Government which were preserved in the Department of State. These he conveyed away to a secure locality until the enemy retired ; everything else, excepting that which he saved, was destroyed. Through all the various administra- tions, comprising so many different political creeds, he was retained in office, his services to the Government being . deemed invaluable. During President Polk's administra- tion a strong pressure was made by the Democratic mem- bers of Congress, who were largely in the ascendancy, upon the Executive for his removal; but that gentleman replied to them : " Pleasanton is my friend, and his house was my only asylum during the reign of terror. I will not remove him." Ilis official duties were various, and besides filling an important position in the State Department, he also at sundry times was attached to the Treasury Department, being Commissioner of Revenue, Superintendent of the Light-House Department and Fifth Auditor of the Treasury. Two of his sons-General Pleasanton of the cavalry service United States Army, and A. J. Pleasanton-were educated at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The latter resigned from the army, and being a gentleman of ample means has devoted his time to sundry experiments, novel in their character and highly satisfactory in their re- sults, which have been laid before the American public both through the medium of the daily press and monographs printed at intervals, and distributed among scientific and literary institutions, and also to persons of culture, with the hope that the subject treated of and illustrated might attract the attention of the curious, as well as those interested in the improvements of the age. The original work was en- titled, On the Influence of the Blue Color of the Sky in Developing Animal and Vegetable Life, and detailed in extenso the result of his experiments of the great develop- ment of animals which were lodged in compartments par- tially covered with blue glass, so that the rays of the sun passing through might absorb the color of the glass. The same experiment was tried in a grapery under glass whose sashes contained a moderate quantity of blue panes. The results in both cases were well defined, and being com- pared with animals and vegetables raised in the ordinary methods, presented a wide difference. These experiments covered a period of ten years, the results being given to the public at the close, in an address delivered by him before the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, in May, 1871. During the War of the Rebellion he was as- signed to the command of the Home Guard of Philadelphia, which embraced many regiments of volunteers who did not march beyond the limits of the State, including the Blue

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Reserves, Gray Reserves, and the numerous independent companies of cavalry, artillery, infantry and riflemen which had formerly been attached to regiments already in the field.

ELL, MARTIN, Iron Operator, was born January Ist, 1808, in Blair county, Pennsylvania. IIe is the son of Edward Bell, born 1770, who married Mary Ann Martin in 1799, both of British descent. Ile was educated at home, and as soon as he reached the proper age was occupied as mill- · wright, carpenter and assistant surveyor till 1828, when he succeeded the assistant engineer in the construction of the Pennsylvania Canal between Mifflin and Lewistown. In 1833, he aided his father in building the Elizabeth Blast Furnace. While so engaged he devised a plan to utilize the gas from the furnace head in a steam boiler. The im- provement was patented, after much trouble, in 1840, but want of means and the calls of other occupations prevented the discovery from being generally introduced at the time. Subsequently a renewal was obtained, and it was found that the same invention had been claimed and patented in 1838; but the alleged inventor had in fact purloined the idea from the Elizabeth Furnace, as was proved on trial. From 1842 to 1847, he rented and managed his father's furnace, re- building it and carrying out the rule he has always observed of preventing all work upon the Sabbath. These altera- tions caused an increase of twenty or thirty tons in the weekly product. The furnace was idle from 1867 to 1872, through the failure of the ore bank, but was then started with charcoal fuel. Originally a Democrat, he has been an Anti-Mason, a Free-Soiler, an Abolitionist and a Radical Republican. Temperance, freedom, public education and the strict observance of the Sabbath are cardinal principles with him, for which he has always been ready to spend time and money. IIe has been School Director for thirty years, a member of the Baptist Church for thirty-three years, and was at one time candidate for State Senate on the Temperance ticket. Probably no other man in Blair county has exercised so much influence for so long a period. Ilis improvements in the blast furnace are recognized as of great value by metallurgists. In 1836, he married Eliza M. McKnight, and has three sons and four daughters,

EIM, JOIIN, Hardware Merchant, was born at Oley, Berks county, Pennsylvania, July 6th, 1749. Ile was the only son of Nicholas Keim. Ile was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and in the fall of 1777, marched with Colonel Lutz's Battalion to reinforce the army under General Washington. Like his father, he was a man of stern integrity. Ile studied with delight the ethical writers of England, Ger-

many, and France, and was rigid in his efforts to promote virtue by well-doing and a simplicity of life. Ile took a great interest in everything relative to the prosperity of the borough and county. He was one of the Burgesses of Reading, after its incorporation, and was a Commissioner of the county from 1787 to 1790. In his business, he amassed a large fortune ; as a creditor he was ever lenient, and his numerous tenantry respected him as a kind land- lord. He was married, October 15th, 1771, to Susanna, daughter of Dr. George de Benneville. IIe died, February roth, 1819, leaving three sons and one daughter.

IVINGSTON, IION, JOIIN B., President Judge of the Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania, was born in Salisbury township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, October 14th, 1821. His father, John Livingston, together with other ancestors, had been engaged in agricultural pursuits. Hle early showed himself possessed of marked ability, and made rapid progress ; he attended, among others, the select school of Rev. Dr. Timlow, in his native township. Physi- cal disability incapacitated his father for some branches of farm work, and much devolved upon this his eldest son, who managed to attend school in the winter and improved the leisure moments during his summer's work. Thus he progressed until 1842, when, his brothers having grown sufficiently to manage the farm labor, he was induced to teach, but continued to spend his intervals for several sub- sequent years in assisting his father. Having concluded to study a profession, in 1845, his inclinations tended towards medicine, but after mature consideration he chose the law. lIe accordingly wrote to IIon. Thaddens Stevens, who replied in the following characteristic epistle : "Ilave room. Terms, $200. Some pay, some don't." Ile entered the " Great Commoner's " office, January 6th, 1846; and having devoted himself earnestly and assiduously to study, was admitted, January 26th, 1848, and engaged in practice in Lancaster. In 1851, he removed to the office of N. Ellmaker, and assisted him in hus Orphans' Court and general practice until he was elected District Attorney, in autumn, 1862. The energetic and able manner in which he performed the duties appertaining to that office brought him still more favorably into public notice, and he secured one of the largest and most lucrative practices in the county. Although he considered it no promotion to yield such a practice for a position on the bench, he was induced to accept the nomination, having received more votes at the primary election than all his competitors combined; was elected by a large majority, in autumn, 1871, and entered upon his duties, December 4th, following. He was formerly Treasurer of the American Mechanics Building and Loan Association, of Lancaster, and has been active in the en- couragement of laudable enterprise. ITis courtesy, integrity,

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and ability render liim an acceptable and efficient presiding officer of the Courts of the Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania.

RINCKMANN, MICHAEL, M. D., Physician, was born in the Electorate of Hesse Cassel, Germany, February 16th, 1827. Ile is the second son and third child of Moses Brinck- mann, a merchant in humble circumstances, but of good parentage, and who exerted himself to

bestow a fair education upon each of his large family of children. The lad acquired the usual academie branches of knowledge, and also turned his attention at quite an early age to the study of medical science, the former being made collateral to the latter. In February, 1848, having just attained his majority, he was appointed an Assistant- Surgeon, and attached to the Medical Staff of Dr. P. Montag, Regimental Physician, First Infantry, called the " Wilhelm Kurfurst," and served honorably during the German Revolution of 1848-9. In 1850, he was appointed an Assistant of the Court Physician, Dr. J. Schmitt, who also attended the various military hospitals of the country. Owing to a recommendation to that effect? in 1851, he was sent by special order of the Prince Elector, Frederick Wil- helm, of Hesse Cassel, Marienburg, to the principal institu- tion in Germany for the education of hydropathie physicians. By assiduous attention to his duties, and elose application to study of the various theories and the practice of hydropathic science, he obtained promotion the next year to a life ap- pointment at Alexandershad, the largest institution of the kind in the kingdom of Bavaria. "Ilis zeal as an apostle of the true healing art, and for freedom of thought and reform in this respect, induced him to transplant the result of his experience to the free soil of America. ITe came to this decision late in the summer of 1854, and a few Phila- delphia patients under his care at Alexandersbad, materially assisted him in maturing his plans. Ile landed in New Vork, in January, 1855, and soon started on a tour of observation through the northern part of the Union ; which was of benefit to him, as it gave him an insight into the mode of living, habits, temperament, and medical practices of the people. IIe came to Philadelphia in the fall of that year, and opened a hydropathic institution at Willow Grove, and subsequently another at Chestnut Hill, both in the neighborhood of the city. He has had all classes under his ministrations, among them eminent physicians, lawyers, and United States officers, worn out by hard service during the late civil war; and has eminently succeeded in removing the ailments under which they labored, restoring to them a sound and healthy organization. During 1856, his attention was directed to a singular disease which made its appear- anee in Newark, New Jersey, supposed by some to be yellow-fever, and which baffled the skill of the most eminent physicians of that vicinity. On his repairing to the assist-

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The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2, Part 8

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

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