USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > The history of Erie County, Pennsylvania, from its first settlement > Part 34
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Prof. Jebb, above mentioned, in 1874, married the widow of Lieut .- Col. Slemmer, U. S. A.,1 who is a sister of Maj. J. W. Reynolds, Superintendent P. & E. R. R., and aunt of Mrs. Darwin. Prof. Jebb has frequently visited our country. In 1892 he delivered the second annual course upon the founda- tion named the "Percy Trumbull Memorial Lectureship in Poetry," by special invitation of Johns Hopkins University. After completing the course on the Greek language and litera- ture there, a similar course was delivered in Chicago. Maj. Reynolds and Mr. Spencer met him in Baltimore, and the party occupied the private car of Vice-President Thompson over the P. & E. road.
Of the published works of Prof. Jebb, "The Complete Works of Sophocles" has received very many favorable notices from reviewers. Other publications are "Theophrastus Characters," "Modern Greece," "Life of Bentley," " Eras- mus," and many lectures.
Francis Newton Thorpe was born in Swampscott, Essex County, Massachusetts, April 15, 1857, and is descended from Miles and Rose Standish, who were of the Mayflower com- pany. In 1865 Mr. Thorpe's parents moved into Erie County and settled at Northeast. He passed through the public schools of this place and in 1875 completed the four years' course of study in the Lake Shore Seminary, an institution of learning that flourished in Northeast from 1869 to 1883. Among his class-mates in the county are Mr. A. E. Sission and Mr. Walling, district attorneys ; and Mr. J. M. Force.
After graduation he began teaching in the High School at
1 Gen. Slemmer was famed for saving Fort Pickens after the Federal forces found it impossible to hold the Pensacola navy-yard. Pickens was the one stronghold on the mainland from the Chesapeake to the Rio Grande, over which the flag of the Union never ceased to float.
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Pleasantville, Pennsylvania, and continued his studies. A year later he was elected teacher of the schools at Northeast and soon after put in charge of them. By his efforts a course of study was adopted which fits for college, and the schools soon took high rank in the county. In 1880 he traveled in Europe. Three years later he completed the post-graduate course in history at Syracuse University and received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from that institution. The subject of his doctor's thesis was "The Federal Principle in American Government." Having registered for the study of law in 1879, with Judge John P. Vincent, of Erie, Mr. Thorpe entered Judge Vincent's law office in 1884, and in June, 1885, was admitted to the bar. On the day of his admission he was elected to the Fellowship in History and Political Science, in the Wharton School, in the University of Pennsylvania, and in September of that year he entered the law school of that university and began special studies in American history with John Bach McMaster, the historian. 1886 he was re- elected fellow, and elected professor of History and Social Science in the Central Manual Training School of Philadel- phia. In 1889 appeared his work entitled "The Government of the People of the United States," designed as a text-book on American institutions and which immediately was favora- bly received, passing through eight editions in the next four years. In 1891 appeared his "Story of the Constitution," written for the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, and in 1893 appeared his next work involving vast labor, entitled "Benjamin Franklin and the University of Pennsylvania," printed by the government of the United States. This is a critical account of Franklin as an educator, and of Franklin's influence in the United States, together with the history of the University of Pennsylvania (of which Franklin was the founder) from 1740 to 1893.
While at Oxford University in 1880, Mr. Thorpe conceived the idea of a school wholly devoted to the study and investi- gation of American history and institutions, and in 1886 he entered upon the foundation of such a school at the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania. For five years he collected moneys, books, rare MSS., and material for the equipment of such a
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school. It was a noble conception and it was successfully carried out. In describing the schools in the history of the University, Mr. Thorpe writes : "The school was established in 1891 by the trustees of the university, as a result of the cooperative labors of William Pepper, M.D., LL.D., Provost of the University ; Joseph D. Potts, John B. Gest, and Hon. S. W. Pennypacker, of the board of trustees ; Charles Elmer Bushnell, Ferdinand J. Dreer, Hon. Thomas Cochran, Joseph G. Rosengarten, Richard L. Austin, John Bach McMaster, and Francis Newton Thorpe." The library of the school is specially rich in United States public documents, second in completeness to the collection in the British Museum.
In 1891 he resigned the chair of history in the training school and was elected professor of American Constitutional History in the University of Pennsylvania. In 1889 he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Since 1885 he has rapidly won distinction and recognition in his chosen specialty, American constitutional history and law. He is widely known as a lecturer on these subjects and he has written on them for The Century Magazine, The Atlantic, The Chautauquan, and for numerous educational magazines. He has been closely identified with the growth of University Ex- tension in this country. He is a member of several learned societies and is one of the council of the American Academy of Social and Political Science.
His library of rare originals and works on State constitu- tional history is not surpassed by any of the kind in this country.
He spends a portion of his summers at Northeast, and takes great interest in all pertaining to the history of Erie County. He is fond of music, art and literature ; is a constant con- tributor to the press on questions of the day ; is fond of assist- ing young men in their educational efforts, and is identified with many useful undertakings.
Rev. Cyrus Dickson, D.D., for eleven years one of the secre- taries of the Presbyterian Home Missionary Society, and one of the most eloquent pulpit orators and successful pastors of our country, was a native of Erie County. His father, Elder Wm. Dickson, commenced life for himself in the southern part, and
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in 1801 removed to the head of French Creek-afterwards to the northeast township, one mile and a half from the lake. Dr. Dickson was born Dec. 20, 1816, His mother was Christina Moorhead, daughter of James and Catherine Moorhead. Though quiet and unassuming, " she was a woman of princi- ple and of conscience, and in some things much in advance of her neighbors." Her heroic conduct at a barn-raising in her husband's absence has been much and deservedly published, and resulted in generally banisbing spirits on such occasions. Dr. Dickson graduated at Jefferson College, and was licensed to preach by Erie Presbytery in 1839. His first pastorate was at Franklin, Venango County. In 1848 he had a call to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he remained until 1856, when he was installed in the Westminster Church of Baltimore. After his appointment as secre- tary in 1870 he with his family resided in New York. He was married in 1840 to Miss Delia McConnell, of Girard, Pa. In 1858 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Washington College. His continuous labors made re- laxation desirable, and he planned a journey abroad, but the disorded state of that country prevented traveling in Pales- tine, In 1877 he attended as a delegate the Pan-Presbyterial Council, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Dr. Dickson was permanent clerk of the General Assembly from the reunion of the Old and New School branches until his decease, September 11, 1881,
William Wallace, Esq., a brother of Dr. J. C. Wallace, the first burgess of Erie, was a lawyer of prominence who came 1 to Erie from Harrisburg in 1800, as the attorney for the Pennsylvania Population Company. He married in 1803 Rachel, daughter of Dr. A. Forrest, who died in Erie in 1804. In 1806, he married Eleanor Maclay, of Harrisburg, and re- turned there to reside in 1810. He resumed his profession, was elected the first president of the old Harrisburg Bank, and was burgess of Harrisburg at the time of his death. He was a polite, urbane man, of slight frame and concise address, His only daughter, Mary Eleanor, married Rev. W. R. De Witt, D. D., long the pastor of the Presbyterian church of Harris- burg. Dr. William M. Wallace, the prominent physician of Erie, and Irwin M. Wallace, Esq., his sons, were among our
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most valued citizens for over half a century. Miss Julia A. W. De Witt, a grandchild, is the author of " How he made his Fortune," and "Life's Battle Won," and is a frequent and able contributor to church papers, Rev. John De Witt, D.D., a professor of Princeton Theological Seminary, and the gifted preacher is also a grandson.
The Wallace and Heron families in the Army and Navy.
By Elizabeth Pollock, a descendant. (By request.)
Mr. Benjamin Wallace was in the War of the Revolution ; was born in 1727, and died in 1803.
Dr. John C. Wallace was a Surgeon in the U. S. Army, came to Erie with Gen. Wayne, and resigned to settle here.
Benjamin Wallace (brother of Dr. J. C. Wallace), was a Major in the U. S. Army, commissioned in 1813.
James Gordon Heron was in the War of the Revolution, and afterward was a Major in the U. S. Army.
Margaret Heron married Dr. John C. Wallace, of the army.
Hannah Heron married Capt. Daniel S. Dexter, of the U. S. Navy. After his death she married Maj. Nelson, of the U. S. Army.
Nancy Heron married Lieut. Hopson, of the U. S. Army.
Jane Wallace (daughter of Margaret Heron) married Capt. Otis Wheeler, of the U. S. Army.
Hannah Foster, (daughter of Jane Heron) married Gen, Crosman, of the U. S. Army.
Hannah Irvine (daughter of Mary Ann Heron) married Lieut. Cutts, of the U. S. Army.
Otis W. Pollock (grandson of Margaret Heron Wallace), is a captain in the Twenty-third Infantry, U. S. Army.
Alexander Crosman (grandson of Jane Heron Foster) was lieutenant in the U. S. Navy.
Frederick Crosman (grandson of Jane Heron Foster) was lieutenant in the U. S. Army.
Mary E. Cutts (granddaughter of Mary Ann Heron Irvine) married Col. William Craig, of the U. S. Army.
Calvin De Witt (grandson of William Wallace, who was a brother of Dr. J. C. Wallace and Benjamin Wallace) is a Surgeon in the U. S. Army.
Lieut. S. K. Allen, U. S. N., and grandson of Col. Ethan
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Allen married Miss Eleanor Wallace, daughter of J. M. Wal- lace, Esq.
All these I have mentioned were in the regular service of the United States, but when it comes to volunteer and militia service, a much larger list could be named.
Benjamin Wallace, son of Dr. J. C. Wallace, was a volunteer in the army of Texas, with the rank of major, in 1835 and 1836, when Texas fought for her independence from Mexico. He was taken prisoner by the Mexicans, and by the order of Santa Anna was, with other prisoners, shot in cold blood, at the massacre of Goliad.
Charles Crozat Converse, the son of Manning Converse, and grandson of Jacob, [whose distinction it was to unite, by his marriage, the lines of the Winthrop and Robinson settle- ments in America, as, after graduation from Brown University in 1790 he married Miss Ellen Robinson, of Plymouth, Mass., of the family of the Puritan leader, and whose ancestress, of the same name, was an heir of Capt. Miles Standish] is well known by his contributions to general literature and his success in his profession of the law. He also ranks as one of America's leading orchestral composers. "While pursuing his literary and legal studies in Germany, he took a course of instruction in musical composition under the great harmo- nist Richter, and his professional confrères, at Leipsic. Spohr, Mr. Converse's orchestral mentor, Liszt, and other composers highly praised his orchestral works, which embrace overtures, symphonies, cantatas, etc. His "American Concert Over- ture," for full orchestra, was played at the Boston Peace Jubilee, it being chosen from thirty works there offered. His " Im Frueling " has been played several times in New York under the direction of Theodore Thomas, and his "Psalm Cantata," on the 126th Psalm was performed at the concert of the Music Teachers' National Convention in Chicago, July 1888, under the same direction. The American overture on "Hail Columbia," which was played at the World's Fair on the Fourth of July, was enthusiastically received. The overture numbers fifty-eight printed pages. Its singular his- toric value concerning the formation of a school of American music is recognized by the purchase of its score, and the first
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proof copy of it in print for preservation with the collection of Columbia mementos now being formed in Chicago.
It was after examining this work that Spohr, Mr. Converse's musical mentor, made the notable prophecy that " If its com- poser devotes himself to musical composition, America need not look to Europe for works of the higher class."
" The words and music of Charles Crozat Converse's Ameri- can national hymn, 'God for Us,' was one of the many spe- cial features of the Mail and Express souvenir Washington centennial edition to-day. This noble hymn is growing steadily in popularity and frequently makes its appearance at national and patriotic celebrations. It possesses every essen- tial for a national song and has become a favorite in Grand Army circles. The Mail and Express printed 250,000 copies of 'God for Us' for its centennial souvenir."-American Art Journal.
The popular hymn " What a Friend we have in Jesus " has been translated into many languages and may be heard in strange lands.
Mr. Converse married Miss Lida Lewis, of Alabama, on January 14, 1858. Their only child and son, Clarence, is known as an author, his articles being published in Youth's Com- panion, Little Men and Women of Boston, Argosy, Godey's Magazine, The World, etc., and occasionally in Philadelphia and Chicago papers. He has been urged by New York critics to devote himself entirely to parlor comedies, and has been highly praised as a dramatic writer. He would seem " to in- herit literary gifts which have marked his illustrious line, in which the names of Rev. Dr. Thomas Carter and Count Rum- ford are conspicuous."
Because of Mr. Converse's devotion to philology he has been engaged to assist Rev. Mr. Gregory, editor-in-chief of the "Standard Dictionary" now preparing, in that line of musical definition with which he is especially familiar.
A synopsis of a paper adopted and put upon record by the Presbytery of Erie. Taken from the Memoir by Rev. A. H. Caughey, Ph. D. :
Samuel John Mills Eaton was born at Fairview, Erie County, Pa., April 15, 1820. His father, Rev. Johnston Eaton, was
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one of the pioneers, and his mother, Eliza Cannon, was of the family that founded Cannonsburg, Pa., the seat of Jefferson College. He was educated partly at home and at Erie Academy, and entered the sophomore class at Jefferson Col- lege in 1842, graduating in 1845, being esteemed the finest essayist of his class, He spent three years at the Western Theological Seminary, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Erie in 1848. The same year he was ordained and called to succeed Rev. Cyrus Dickson at the churches of Franklin and Mt. Pleasant, November 5, 1850, he was married to Miss Clara J. Howe, who still survives, and in 1855 he devoted his whole time to the church of Franklin, which was his only pastorate, continuing there thirty-four years, until Feb- ruary, 1882. When he commenced his work there the church had 74 members ; when he resigned the last name on the roll was numbered 772. During the revival of 1867, 111 persons were added to the church on examination. In 1869 Washing- ton and Jefferson College gave him the title of Doctor of Divinity, In 1871 he visited Europe and the East, devoting himself particularly to the study of the Holy Land, and after- wards published the result of his observations under the titles of "Jerusalem " and " Palestine." He became stated clerk of the Presbytery of Erie in 1853, and held the position through life, and for many years held the same position in the old Synod of Erie, He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Washington and Jefferson College, and of the Western Theological Seminary. Was appointed chairman of a com- mittee to investigate the workings of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and made a valuable report to the Assembly in 1886. Dr. Eaton was identified with Chautauqua from its commencement, and at his death held the largest num- ber of seals for courses of study mastered of any Chautau- quan. He lectured there on "Palestine and Jerusalem," and was also a popular and valuable author, His works were "History of Petroleum," "History of the Presbytery of Erie," "Lakeside," "Ecclesiastical History of Centennial Mis- sionary Work," " Memorial of Dr. Cyrus Dickson," "Chapters in the History of Venango County, Pennsylvania," " Bio- graphical Catalogues," etc.
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Dr. Eaton died suddenly at his home in Franklin July 16, 1889. It would be difficult to overestimate the character and work of Dr. Eaton. He was preeminently a manly man and a noble Christian.
Dr. Thomas Hastings Robinson, professor of Sacred Rhet- oric, Church Government, and Pastoral Theology, in the Western Theological Seminary, at Allegheny, was born Jan- uary 30, 1828, in Northeast township, Erie County. He graduated at Oberlin College, Ohio, in 1850 ; taught in public and select schools-was principal of the Academy at Ashta- bula, Ohio, and was for six months principal of the Normal School at Farmington. He entered the Western Theological Seminary in 1851 and graduated in 1854, receiving a call soon after as colleague pastor of the Market Square Presbyterian church at Harrisburg, Pa., Dr. William R. De Witt, pastor, and was ordained and installed January 21, 1855, by the Presbytery of Harrisburg. After Rev. Dr. De Witt's with- drawal in 1864, and his decease in 1867, Dr. Robinson con- tinued in sole charge of the church, a pastorate of thirty years, until his resignation to accept of the professorship at Allegheny.
Rev. Dr. Robinson in 1856 married Mary Wolf Buehler, daughter of Henry Buehler and Anna Margaretta, only daughter of Governor Wolf of Pennsylvania. We find also in "Pennsylvania Genealogies " Scotch-Irish and German, that Thomas Robinson, the father of Rev. Dr. Robinson, married Mary McCord, whose father, William McCord, removed to Erie County in the early days, and died there in 1806. The Blaines and Mooreheads were from central Pennsylvania, set- tling east of Erie, and their descendants formed a large com- munity of thrifty and intelligent farmers, organizing two Presbyterian churches. Annie-Robinson Tuttle married, in Northeast in 1885, William H. Jeffers, D.D., LL.D., professor of Old Testament Literature, Ecclesiastical History, etc., in the Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny, Pa. John F., David, William, several of the brothers went to Pittsburg about 1850 and formed the banking firm of Robinson Brothers, now for many years well known, honored, and successful.
Albion Winegar Tourgee, Ph.D., LL.D., American author
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and jurist, was born at Williamsfield, Ohio, May 2, 1838. He studied at Rochester University, 1859-61, then entered the Union Army as private in the Twenty-seventh N. Y. V. I. ; was severely wounded at battle of Bull Run, in consequence of which he was discharged from the service; in 1862 was commissoned Lieutenant of Co. G., One Hundred and Fifth O. V. I. ; resigned in 1864 on account of wounds ; on editorial staff of the Erie Dispatch, and principal of Erie Academy, 1864-5. Removed to Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1865 ; was a member of the North Carolina Constitutional Conventions of 1868 and 1875 ; was one of the commission to codify and revise the State laws. Was elected Judge of the Superior Court of the State in 1868, and held that position until 1874. Was editor of The Continent Magazine, New York, 1882-4. Has been a professor of the Buffalo Law School since 1889. Is the author of several professional works,-" The Code with Notes " (North Carolina) 1878 ; " A Digest of Cited Cases" (North Carolina) 1879; " Statutory Decisions of the North Car- olina Reports," 1879. Is the author of the following novels : "Toinette" (now entitled "A Royal Gentleman ") 1874; " A Fool's Errand," 1879; "Figs and Thistles," 1879 ; "Bricks without Straw," 1880 ; "John Eax," 1882 ; " Hot Plowshares," 1883 ; "Black Ice," 1885 ; " Button's Inn," 1887 ; " With Gauge and Swallow," 1889; "Pactolus Prime," 1890 ; " Murvale Eastman," 1891 ; " A Son of Old Harry," 1892; "Out of the Sunset Sea," 1893. Author also of the following miscellaneous books : "An Appeal to Cæsar," 1884 ; " The Veteran and His Pipe," 1885 ; "Letters to a King," 1887. Since 1880, his resi- dence has been at Mayville, on Lake Chautauqua, Chautau- qua County, N. Y.
The Rt. Rev. John Franklin Spalding, D.D., the second Missionary Bishop of Colorado and first Bishop of the diocese of Colorado, was born in Belgrade, Maine, August 25, 1828. He graduated from Bowdoin, 1853; the Gen- eral Theological Seminary, 1857. He was ordered deacon at St. Stephen's, Portland, Maine, July 8, 1857, by Bishop Burgess, by whom, also, he was advanced to the priest- hood July 14, 1858, in Christ church, Gardiner, Maine. He was missionary at St. James' church, Old Town, Maine, for
John H. W. Stuckenberg (D.D.
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two years, afterwards successively rector of St. George's church, Lee, Mass., assistant minister Grace church, Provi- dence, R. I., and rector of St. Paul's church, Erie, Pa., until his elevation to the Episcopate. He was consecrated in that church, December 31, 1873, by Bishop McCoskry, assisted by Bishops Bedell, Talbot, Coxe and Kerfoot. Upon the erection of the jurisdiction into a diocese he became its diocesan. His bishopric included Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mex- ico. In 1874 he seconded the letting off of New Mexico, in 1886 of Wyoming, in 1892 of Western Colorado. In 1880 the Cathedral in Denver was built-in 1886 Mathews Hall-in 1888 Jarvis Hall and Wolf Hall. These are the Divinity School, the schools for boys and for girls. The two former were at first located in Golden, but in 1878 were destroyed by fire. St. Luke's Hospital was founded in 1881 and its present fine build- ings were erected in 1891. The growth of his work has fairly kept pace with that of the country. The diocese of Colorado was formed in 1887 and admitted into union with the General Convention in 1889 and is one of the leading dioceses of the West. Bishop Spalding has published various works, the prin- cipal ones are: "The Church and its Apostolic Ministry," "The Best Mode of Working a Parish " and "Jesus Christ the proof of Christianity."
In 1864 he was married in Erie to Lavina D., daughter of J. C. Spencer, Esq. Mrs. Spaulding's services for the church, in the Bible class and mother's meetings are well known, and by reason of her persevering efforts she will ever be indentified with St. Luke's Hospital in Denver .- Partly from The Church Standard, June 10, 1893.
John H. W. Stuckenberg, D.D., member of the Philosoph- ical Society of Berlin, etc., was born in Bramsche, Germany, January 6, 1835 ; came to the United States at the age of four ; graduated in the classical and theological departments of Wittenberg College, and studied in the University of Halle, Germany, from the autumn of 1859 till the spring of 1861, de- voting his attention chiefly to theology and philosophy. Re- turning to the United States, he became the first pastor of the English Lutheran church of Erie in 1861. When the One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volun-
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teers was formed he was appointed chaplain, joining the regi- ment in September, 1862, on the battlefield of Antietam, where some days were spent in the burial of the dead. He was with the regiment in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellors- ville and Gettysburg. The church in Erie being in urgent need of his services, he resigned his position as chaplain after being thirteen months in the army, At that time but few of the original members of the brave regiment were at the front, having suffered terribly in the battles mentioned, particularly during the heroic charges at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. After returning to Erie in the autumn of 1863 he took an active interest in the religious and public affairs of Erie. He resigned his pastorate in 1865 and returned to Germany to study in the universities of Göttingen, Berlin, and Tübingen, remaining abroad eighteen months. After supplying a pulpit in Indianapolis he organized the Messiah Lutheran church in Pittsburg, and was called to Wittenberg College in 1873 as professor of sacred philology. Being anxious to devote him- self more fully to a specialty than was possible in this position, he resigned in 1880 and returned to Berlin for the purpose of using tlie royal library. Soon after his arrrival the man- agement of the American Chapel was committed to him, and in 1887 he organized the American Church of Berlin, of which he is still pastor. This church is a union of different denominations, and is attended largely by American students in Berlin, Besides his work in behalf of this church he has kept up his studies and has been engaged in literary pursuits. Among the works published by him are the following : "History of the Augsburg Confession," " Christian Sociol- ogy," "Life of Immanuel Kant," "The Final Science," "In- troduction to the Study of Philosophy," "The Age and the Church." In German he wrote : "Grundprobleme in Hume." For a number of years he conducted the European department of the Homiletic Review. He has also been an extensive con- tributor to the Andover Review, Our Day, and numerous other journals in America and England. He has retained his deep interest in Erie, and numbers many of its citizens as his warm friends. In his various labors he has been efficiently aided by his cultivated wife, a daughter of Henry Gingrich, of Erie.
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