History of Northumberland Co., PA - Chapter 42


CHAPTER 42 - Pages 804-860
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
SUNBURY

   JACOB AWL, the original progenitor of this family in America, was
born in the North of Ireland, August 6, 1727, and died in Paxtang
township, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, September 26, 1793. He was a
tanner by occupation. In the French and Indian war he held the rank of
ensign and lieutenant in Colonel John Elder's battalion of rangers, and
was active in organizing the associators of Lancaster county at the
outbreak of the Revolution. Upon the formation of Dauphin county he was
one of the commissioners by whom its boundaries were located, and when
Harrisburg was laid out he was appointed by John Harris one of the
trustees of the land reserved for public uses. In 1759 he married Sarah,
daughter of Jeremiah Sturgeon; Samuel Awl, the fourth son and seventh
child of this union, was born at Paxtang, March 5, 1773. In early
manhood he was engaged m mercantile pursuits at Harrisburg; about the
year 1800 he removed to Augusta township, Northumberland county, and
there resided until his death, January 1, 1842. He served as county
commissioner, 1805-08, and as county auditor, 1834-37; when the adoption
of the public school system was first voted upon in Augusta township,
his was one of eight ballots in its favor; he was an active Mason, and
throughout the anti-Masonic agitation assisted in sustaining Lodge No.
22 at Sunbury. He married Mary, daughter of Senator William Maclay; she
was born at Harris's Ferry, March 19, 1776, and died in Augusta
township, August 13, 1823. Their children were William Maclay; Mary
Harris; Charles Maclay; Eleanor Maclay; Charles Samuel; George
Washington; Sarah Irwin; Hester Hall; Elizabeth Jane, and Robert Harry.
   William Maclay Awl was born at Harrisburg, May 24, 1799, and reared
in Augusta township, Northumberland county. He attended the University
of Pennsylvania, graduated from Jefferson Medical College, and located
in the practice of his profession at Lancaster, Ohio, in 1825, but
removed to Somerset, Ohio, shortly afterward, and thence to Columbus in
1833. He was appointed physician to the State penitentiary, and in 1835
suggested the organization of the State Medical Association. In 1857 he
was director of the State lunatic asylum, of which he was superintendent
twelve years, resigning in 1850. He was the first to propose the
education of the feebleminded to the Association of Medical
Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane (of which he was
vice-president from 1846 to 1848 and president from 1848 to 1851), and
from this suggestion the various institutions for this purpose throughout
the world have ultimately resulted. He was president of the board of
examiners which passed upon the qualifications of surgeons for the Ohio
regiments during the civil war, and late in life served as physician to
the Ohio institute for the blind, which he had been largely instrumental
in founding. An active member of the Presbyterian church, he was a
frequent contributor to biblical literature and prepared a chronological
chart showing genealogy, race, and age of Bible characters from Adam to
Moses. He married Rebecca Loughery, January 28, 1830, and died on the 19th
of November, 1876. Mary Harris Awl was born, September 1, 1802, married
William C. Gearhart, of Rush township, and died, November 29, 1870.
Charles Maclay Awl, born, January 5, 1804, died in infancy. Eleanor
Maclay Awl, born, November 26, 1806, married Ezra Grossman, and died,
May 26, 1889. Charles Samuel Awl, born, August 1, 1808, married Lucy
Duncan; he resided on a farm near Peoria, Illinois, where he was justice
of the peace many years, and died, November 1, 1883. George Washington
Awl, born, June 27, 1810, died, September 4, 1829, in this county. Sarah
Irwin Awl, born, June 1, 1812, married George C. Welker, and resides at
Sunbury. Hester Hall Awl, born, August 18,1814, married William Brindel,
a nephew of Governor Ritner, and resides at Sunbury. Elizabeth Jane Awl,
born, November 28, 1816, married Daniel Rohrbach, and resides at
Selinsgrove.

   ROBERT HARRIS AWL, M. D., was born in Augusta township, Northumberland
county, Pennsylvania, December 27, 1819, son of Samuel and Mary (Maclay)
Awl. He was educated at the common schools, read medicine with Dr. J. W.
Peal, and graduated from Pennsylvania Medical College in 1842. He at once
entered upon the practice of his profession, and was located at Gratztown
and Halifax, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, until 1845; he then removed to
Columbus, Ohio, where he was appointed assistant physician to the State
lunatic asylum and remained three years. Resigning on account of ill
health he returned to Sunbury in 1849, and here he has since resided in
the steady enjoyment of a lucrative practice. Between 1855 and 1888,
inclusive, he was fourteen years the regular physician to the
Northumberland county prison. Eight hysicians began the study of medicine
with him as their preceptor, viz.: Dr. John J. Miller, who died at
Magringo, Iowa; Dr. Ebenezer Russ, of St. Mary's, Pennsylvania; Dr. F. L.
Haupt, of Sunbury; Dr. Isaiah Folk, who died in Upper Augusta; Dr. A. C.
Clark, of Sunbury; Dr. H. H. Malick, who died in Upper Mahanoy; and
Doctors F. B. Masser and D. E. Lenker, of Sunbury. Doctor Awl was surgeon
to the Sixteenth Pennsylvania militia in 1843; in 1845 he was the
Democratic candidate for the legislature in Dauphin county; in 1864 he was
elected treasurer of Northumberland county, and served one term; at a
later date he was president of the Northumberland County Agricultural
Society, and in 1885 he was a member of the commission by which the limits
of the present wards of Sunbury borough were defined. Politically he has
been a life-long Democrat, and rendered valuable services to the party in
connection with the founding of the Northumberland County Democrat. For
John F. Meginness's various publications Doctor Awl has furnished
monograms of high merit on "Northumberland County Prisons," "The old
Cannon," "The First Duel in Northumberland County," and "The Brady
Family," while the numerous acknowledgments to his assistance in the
preparation of this work furnish ample evidence of his interest in other
matters pertaining to local history. The Doctor is a member of the Masonic
fraternity and of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was first married,
March 9, 1843, to Eliza Bower, of Dauphin county, who died, July 28, 1846.
On the 21st of November, 1849, he married Rebecca A., daughter of Peter
and Rachel (Miller) Pursel, of Sunbury; the children born to this union
are William Maclay; Ellen E., and Mary P., Mrs. Edward Young, of Renovo,
Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Young are the parents of two children, John
Packer and Robert Harris.

   HENRY B. MASSER, retired publisher, was born at Sunbury, August 17,
1809, son of Henry and Mary (Baldy) Masser, natives of Berks county,
Pennsylvania, and Sunbury, respectively. He was to a large extent self-
educated; leaving school at the age of fourteen to take charge of his
father's store, he pursued the study of the classics under Charles G.
Donnel and Rev. William R. Smith as private instructors, and thus
acquired an academic education. After reading law the prescribed period
under Alexander Jordan, he was admitted to the bar of Northumberland
county on the 5th of November, 1833, at the same time as James Pollock,
Charles W. Hegins, and Samuel P. Johnson. The three last mentioned all
became president judges in Pennsylvania - Pollock in Northumberland
county, Hegins in Schuylkill, and Johnson in Warren, while Pollock was
also Governor of the State, and it is doubtful whether four men of equal
ability and subsequent prominence were ever admitted to the local bar at
the same time on any other occasion. In 1839 Mr. Masser was appointed
deputy attorney general for Northumberland county; how faithfully and
efficiently he performed his official duties is attested by the fact
that during the six years of his incumbency he never had an indictment
quashed.
   Although thus established in the practice of the law, Mr. Masser's
natural talent as a writer early found expression in contributions to
the local papers and eventually led him to devote the best activities of
his life to the work of journalism. The history of the Sunbury American,
founded by him in 1840, is fully detailed in this work in the chapter on
the Press; as the responsible editor of this paper during a period of
twenty-nine years his name will always occupy a prominent place in the
annals of local journalism. Mr. Masser was recognized as a trenchant and
forcible writer, and a sagacious observer of the political and social
movements of the day. The paper had an extensive circulation throughout
this section of the State, while its editorial utterances were widely
copied and generally regarded as the expression of conservative and
unbiased Opinion. Under his management the American was particularly
earnest in its advocacy of measures designed to promote the internal
development of the State, and rendered effective service in fostering the
growth of public sentiment favorable to a protective tariff. In politics
it was Democratic, but supported James Pollock for Congress in opposition
to William A. Petrikin, the party candidate, on the tariff issue; its
influence was shown by the fact that this county, strongly Democratic
under ordinary conditions, gave Pollock a majority of several hundred. An
equally noticeable demonstration of its influence occurred in the contest
of Richard Coulter (Whig) and James Campbell (Democrat) for the Supreme
bench; the American declined to support Campbell on the ground of
Unfitness for the position, and his competitor received a majority of
six hundred in Northumberland county. Early in Buchanan's administration
it became identified with the "free soil" movement in the Democratic
party; its support was transferred to President Lincoln shortly after
his election in 1860, and from that time it has been a stanch Republican
paper. Mr. Masser retired from its active editorship in 1869, but has
not ceased to manifest a warm interest in educational and literary
matters.
   In 1842 Mr. Masser married Diana M. Engle, of Sunbury, who died on
the 7th of May, 1862. Two children were born to this union: Henry, who
was born February 1, 1843, and died, September 17, 1843; and Mary. Mr.
Masser has served for some years as a member of the vestry of St.
Matthew's Protestant Episcopal church, Sunbury.

   HUGH BELLAS, deceased, was descended in the third generation from
Hugh Bellas, of Liswatly, Ireland, who married a Miss Hunter about 1740;
they had issue as follows: George; James; Hugh; Thomas, and a daughter
who married a Mr. Sloan and immigrated to America prior to the close of
the last century. George Bellas was born at Liswatly about 1750,
immigrated to America, and settled in Fishing Creek township,
Northumberland county, Pennsylvania; he married a Miss Royce and they
had issue as follows: Hugh; Agnes; Sarah; Samuel; George; John; James;
Thomas, and Elizabeth. James Belles was born in 1752, settled at
Ballyarton, and died in April, 1842; he married Sarah Huey and they had
issue as follows: Jane, who was born in 1796 and died in 1819; Hugh, who
was born in 1798 and died in 1868; James, who was born in 1800 and died
in 1828; Rev. George, who was born in 1802 and died in 1885; Stewart,
who was born in 1804 and died in 1815; Sarah, who was born in 1805;
Thomas H., who was born in 1807 and died in 1883, and William, who was
born in 1809 and died in 1817. Hugh Bellas was born about 1755, and died
at Liswatly in 1825; he married a Miss King and they had issue as follows:
Mrs. Mary Ann Warden; Mrs. Jane Caskey; Mrs. Sarah Williamson; Thomas, who
located at Philadelphia; Rev. Joseph, who died in 1872; Hugh, who located
at Port Stewart, married a Miss Elder, and died in 1885; James, who
located at Philadelphia; Samuel, who died at Liswatly in 1832, and
Elizabeth, who died at Port Stewart in 1876. Thomas Bellas was born
between 1755 and 1760, immigrated to America, returned in bad health, and
died at Liswatly before the close of the last century.
   Hugh Bellas, deceased, attorney at law, was born near Belfast,
Ireland, April 26, 1780, son of George Bellas. He began the practice of
law in Sunbury in 1803 and resided at that place until his death,
October 26, 1863. He married Esther Anthony and they had three children:
Eliza P.; Ann Caroline, and Amelia S. Eliza P. Bellas married Charles
Pleasants, resided at Sunbury, and had the following children: Israel,
an officer in the United States Army, who was killed at the battle of
the Wilderness in 1863; Eliza F. Pleasants, who married W. K. Lineweaver
and had the following children: Charles P.; James, and Florence.
   Ann Caroline Bellas married Aristide Rodrigue and had the following
children: Andrew J.; Esther Aline, who married J. K. Gilbert; Hugh B.,
who married Elizabeth Dougherty; Ann Caroline, deceased; Aristide,
deceased; Clara V., who married James A. Ruthven, and William, deceased;
Henrietta, deceased; and Florence V., who married FitzGerald Tisdall.
   Amelia S. Bellas married James Brisbin and had the following
children: Esther, who married Franklin B. Gowen and has one child,
Esther B. Gowen; Hugh B.; Horace, and William.
   A sketch of the personal career of Hugh Bellas appears in this work
in the chapter on the Bench and Bar.

   EBENEZER AND ABIGAIL (ISRAEL) GREENOUGH were natives, respectively,
of Massachusetts and Delaware. The former was born, December 11, 1783,
and died, December 25, 1847; the latter was born, December 12, 1791, and
died in 1868. Mr. Greenough graduated from Harvard University in 1804,
and came soon afterward to Pennsylvania; immediately upon his arrival at
Wilkesbarre he accepted the principalship of the academy at that place,
and during his connection with this institution, began the study of law.
He removed to Sunbury in the latter part of 1806, completed his
professional preparation, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1808.
He was a man of large educational attainments, a strong Federalist in
politics, and a brilliant lawyer. A contemporary of Samuel J. Packer,
the two were warm friends and worked much together in matters of great
public interest. Mr. Greenough was one term in the legislature, where he
was conspicuous in the advocacy of internal improvement and in the
shaping of manufacturing and corporation laws. He was the author of the
Lateral Railroad law, although this was probably written after he left the
legislature, and while he was not again in office his interest in public
affairs continued to wield a wide and potent influence. He reared one son
and five daughters, and left to them at his death what was then considered
a handsome competency.

   WILLIAM I. GREENOUGH, attorney and counselor at law, was born at
Sunbury, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, May 27, 1821. He prepared
for college at the academies of Sunbury, Wilkesbarre, and Danville, and
in 1839 graduated from Princeton. Having decided upon the law as his
profession, he devoted three years to its study with his distinguished
father as preceptor, and in 1842 was admitted to the bar. In ante
bellum days a Whig, he drifted naturally into the Republican party upon
its organization, and has since been consistently loyal to its
principles, though at no time an aspirant to official preferment. In
fact, his life has been devoted to the law, in which his wisdom as
counselor is unquestioned. At Danville, Pennsylvania, September 21,
1852, Mr. Greenough was married to Mary C., daughter of Peter Baldy, and
has one son: Ebenezer, a graduate of Princeton and a lawyer by
profession.

   SAMUEL J. PACKER, deceased, was born in Howard township, Centre
county, Pennsylvania, March 23, 1799, son of Amos and Elizabeth (Jones)
Packer. The ancestry of the family is traced to Philip Packer, a native
of England, who immigrated to New Jersey and located near Princeton. He
married Rebecca Jones, a native of Philadelphia; their eldest son,
Philip Packer, 2d, settled in the forks of Cooper's creek, opposite
Kensington, Philadelphia, but afterward removed to the vicinity of
Yellow Springs, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He married Ann Coates, a
native of Ireland; their eldest son, James Packer, was born near
Princeton, New Jersey, on the 4th of 2d month, 1725, removed to Howard
township, Centre county, about 1794, and died there, January 10, 1805.
On the 1st of January, 1752, at East Cain meeting house, Chester county,
he married Rose Mendenhall, who died in Bald Eagle, Clinton county, in
June, 1824, at the age of ninety-one. Amos Packer, fifth child of James
and Rose (Mendenhall) Packer, was born in Chester county, January 30,
1759, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Lydia Jones. Samuel
J. Packer, seventh child of Amos and Elizabeth (Jones) Packer, was
reared in his native township, educated under the tuition of his father,
and apprenticed to the Printing trade at Bellefonte. He established the
Inquirer at Sunbury in 1820, studied law under Hugh Bellas, and was
admitted to the bar of Northumberland county in 1823. A sketch of his
professional and public career appears in this work in the chapter on
the Bench and Bar. He married Rachel, daughter of James and Catherine
(Cochran) Black, and to this union were born live children: John B.;
Eliza J., deceased; Jane B., deceased; Samuel J., and Mary C., deceased,
who intermarried with the Rev. F. R. Riddle.
  
   JOHN B. PACKER, attorney at law, was born at Sunbury, Pennsylvania,
March 21, 1824, son of Samuel J. and Rachel (Black) Packer. He received
an academic education, studied law under Ebenezer Greenough, and was
admitted to the bar of Northumberland county, August 6, 1844. Prior to
the organization of the Republican party he was a tariff Democrat, and
as such was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature from his native
county in 1849 and 1850. He was elected to Congress in 1868 from the
Fourteenth Pennsylvania district, served four consecutive terms, and
declined a fifth after receiving the nomination. More complete details
regarding his professional and political career are given in the chapter
on the Bench and Bar in this work. While a member of the State
legislature he secured the incorporation of the Susquehanna Railroad
Company, afterward merged into the Northern Central, of which he was one
of the organizers and for many years a director. He has served as
counsel for that corporation since its formation, and has also
represented the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in a similar capacity in
this part of the State. In 1855 he became identified with the Bank of
Northumberland, of which he was president from 1857 until it was merged
into the First National Bank of Sunbury in 1864; of the latter
institution he has been president since its organization, and is also
connected with banking houses at Selinsgrove and Lewisburg,
Pennsylvania. Mr. Packer was married on the 22d of May, 1851, to Mary
M., daughter of the late William Cameron, of Lewisburg, and they are the
parents of five children: William C., who was born on the 1st of May,
1852, became a brilliant member of the bar, and died on the 4th of June,
1886; Rachel, wife of F. K. Hill, of Sunbury; James C., attorney at law,
Sunbury; Mary, and Nellie C.

   SAMUEL J. PACKER, cashier of the First National Bank of Sunbury,
was born at that borough on the 19th of June, 1831, son of Samuel J. and
Rachel (Black) Packer. He was educated at the public schools and academy
of his native town, read law with his brother, John B. Packer, and was
admitted to the bar of Northumberland county on the 4th of April, 1860.
He at once entered upon and continued in the active practice of his
profession until his election as cashier of the Bank of Northumberland,
November 19, 1863. He has served in that capacity in the Bank of
Northumberland and in the First National Bank of Sunbury to the present
time. Of his ability as a financier the uniform prosperity of the
institution with which he is so responsibly connected is sufficient
evidence. Mr. Packer is a Republican in politics.

   WILLIAM CAMERON PACKER, deceased, was born at Sunbury, May 1, 1852,
eldest son of John B. and Mary (Cameron) Packer. He was reared in his
native town, and after leaving the local schools attended the
Wilkesbarre Academy and Bloomsburg State Normal School, graduating from
the latter institution in 1871. He pursued the study of the law under
his father, and was admitted to the bar of Northumberland county on the
5th of November, 1872, after which he at once entered upon the practice
of his profession at Sunbury. Several years later he was appointed
solicitor for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in Northumberland county,
discharging the duties of this responsible position with ability and
credit until his death. He also acquired a very considerable general
practice, and ranked with the ablest among the younger members of the
local bar. He laid out the Cameron addition to Shamokin, served as
director in the First National Bank of Sunbury, and was also connected
with other business enterprises. In politics he was a Republican; in 1875
he was elected a member of the borough council, in 1876-78, assistant
burgess, in 1879-80, second burgess, and in 1881-83, chief burgess. During
his incumbency in the latter office and largely through his
instrumentality the river embankment was constructed for the protection of
the town against floods, the borough debt was materially reduced and the
remainder refunded at a lower rate of interest, resulting in a large
annual saving to the tax-payers of the town. In 1875 Mr. Packer married
Jennie H., daughter of Dr. Henry C. and Harriet (Boob) Houtz, of
Alexandria, Pennsylvania; she was born on the 9th of December, 1852, and
died, April 1, 1882. In 1884 he married her sister, Laura A. Houtz, who,
with the children by his first marriage, Mary C., John B., and William
C., survives him and resides at Sunbury. He died on the 4th of June,
1880, at the age of thirty-four and in the full vigor of early manhood.
"Running through his life," wrote one who knew him well, "was a vein of
generosity that formed one of his prominent characteristics. The poor,
into whose homes his bounteous hand carried comfort and assistance, are
among those who will miss him most in the days to come. His friends are
numbered by thousands, including all classes of society. To know him
was to love him, and few there are who have had that pleasure that do
not recall some kindly deed performed or some cheering word uttered in
the hour of adversity. To the sick and afflicted he is endeared by ties
which even death can not sever, for his goodness supplied many
delicacies and attentions otherwise beyond their reach. In all the
relations of life he was the same - honorable, upright, manly, and
charitable."

   DAVID ROCKEFELLER, deceased, was born on the 6th of September, 1802,
son of William and Drusilla (Vankirk) Rockefeller and grandson of Godfrey
Rockefeller. The latter was born in New Jersey in 1747; in 1789 he settled
at the present site of Snydertown, Northumberland county, and there
resided until his death. He married Margaret Lewis, and they were the
parents of eleven children. William, the fifth in order of birth, was a
farmer by occupation and died in Rush township, where David, his son and
the subject of this sketch, was born and reared. After reaching manhood he
first engaged in merchandising at Sunbury. He then learned surveying under
his uncle, Jacob Rockefeller, and was actively engaged in the duties of
that profession from the year 1826 until within a week of his death, which
occurred at Sunbury on the 22d of August, 1876. Throughout northern and
central Pennsylvania he enjoyed a reputation for exceptional accuracy, and
was frequently called upon to make surveys in cases of disputed land
titles. His memory was remarkable. Years after making a survey he could,
without reference to his notes, give the courses and distances of lines
that he had run, with perfect accuracy and without apparent effort. He was
county surveyor a large part of his professional career, either by
appointment of the surveyor general or election to that office. He also
served as deputy sheriff more than a score of years; on the 25th of
June, 1849, he was commissioned as register and recorder, and filled
that office until the ensuing election. He married Catherine, daughter
of Philip and Susanna (Carter) Mettler, natives of New Jersey and
pioneers of Rush township; she died on the 7th of September, 1889, at
the age of seventy-nine. They were the parents of five sons, two of
whom, William M. and A. Jordan, grew to maturity. A. Jordan Rockefeller
was a lawyer by profession, and died at Sunbury in 1862 at the age of
twenty-six.

   WILLIAM M. ROCKEFELLER, president judge of the Eighth Pennsylvania
judicial district, was born at Sunbury, August 18, 1830, son of David
and Catherine (Mettler) Rockefeller. He was educated at the Sunbury
Academy, studied law under John B. Packer and the late Judge Jordan, and
was admitted to the bar of Northumberland county on the 6th of August,
1850. After one year of practice at Minersville, Schuylkill county,
Pennsylvania, he located at Sunbury, and was actively engaged in
professional work until his elevation to the bench in 1871. Having been
re-elected in 1881, he is now approaching the end of his second term. In
1855 he was elected chief burgess of Sunbury. In 1853, associated with
Judge Jordan and M. L. Shindel, he revised and edited the second edition
of the American Pleader's Assistant, a young lawyer's guide to pleading
and forms that has found a place in many libraries. The Judge was a
Democrat before the civil war, at the outbreak of which he became a
Republican and has since been attached to that party. On the 11th of
August, 1857, he married Emily, daughter of Thomas and Maria (Housel)
Jones, of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of three
children: Mary; Charles W., attorney at law, and Flora, Mrs. Ward Rice,
of Pueblo, Colorado. The family are all members of the Presbyterian
church of Sunbury, of which the Judge has been a trustee over thirty
years and chairman of the board of trustees since 1876. In 1887, in
company with Mrs. Rockefeller and Mr. and Mrs. John B. Packer, the Judge
visited the principal cities and localities of interest in the western
States and Territories, and in the following year, accompanied by his
son Charles W., he made an extended tour through the British Isles,
France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and Italy.

   IRA T. CLEMENT, president of the Sunbury Steam Ferry and Tow Boat
Company and an extensive manufacturer of lumber, is a native of New
Jersey and was born on the 11th of January, 1813. His father, Joseph
Clement, a Revolutionary soldier, reared two sons and one daughter.
After his death his widow married a Mr. Smith, who removed to Ohio and
died there; she then returned to Sunbury, and here spent the remainder
of her life. Ira T. Clement learned the carpenter trade at Sunbury; and
pursued that occupation a short time; he then embarked in merchandising
and was in business thirty years, and has now been engaged in the lumber
industry nearly forty years. In the manufacture of lumber, furniture,
and coffins he employs about one hundred twenty-five men, and gives to
all his various interests his personal supervision. Some years since he
was stricken with rheumatism, which finally destroyed his power of
locomotion; notwithstanding his condition he abates not in his energy,
nor misses a day from a personal survey of his important industries. His
line of steamboats plying regularly between Sunbury, Northumberland, and
Shamokin Dam affords convenient and pleasant transportation between
those Points. In politics Mr. Clement was once a Whig, then a
Republican, and is now a Democrat. He married Sarah Martz, of Sunbury,
who died in 1872; twelve children were born to them, four of whom are
now living: Henry; Louisa, Mrs. H. B. Moore; Frances, widow of David C
Dissinger; and Laura, Mrs. D. James. Mr. Clement and family are members
of the Reformed church.

   JOHN HAAS, ex-president of the Sunbury Nail, Bar, and Guide Iron
Man Manufacturing Company, was born at Elysburg, Northumberland county,
Pennsylvania, June 22, 1822. His parents, Daniel and Eve (Reed) Haas,
were also natives of this county, and in 1854 removed to Newtown,
Fountain county, Indiana, where they died. To them were born seven sons
and four daughters, of whom eight are living: David, Jacob, Daniel, and
William, who reside in the State of Indiana; John and Jonas, who live in
this County Julia A., who married Nicholas Y. Fisher and lives in
Indiana, and Maria A., widow of Charles Leisenring, who resides at
Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. The parents became early identified with the
Lutheran church, but after removing to Indiana joined the Methodist
organization because of there being no Lutheran church in the town where
they located.
   John Haas received his education in a log cabin school house and
among his early teachers were Albe C. Barrett, Jehu John, and William H.
Muench. He worked on a farm until the age of eighteen years, when his
father apprenticed him to learn the trade of fuller and carder with
David Martz, at his mill located on a small stream near the present site
of Paxinos. He soon became dissatisfied, believing that such a trade
would be an unprofitable one, and consequently quit. His father again
sought a trade for him, this time putting him at the blacksmith shop of
Daniel Roads, where he remained one winter, and then withdrew with the
same belief that this, too, would be a poor vocation. His father then
told him that he must look out for himself; and soon after the young son
began clerking for his cousin, Jonas Haas, a merchant at Lineville,
Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, receiving the small sum of five dollars per
month for his services. At the end of one year he came home, and within a
short time took employment on the repair of a railroad at Pottsville,
remaining thus engaged for one year After a visit home he resumed his work
under the same employer at Pottsville, but soon thereafter came to Sunbury
in response to a letter from Ira T. Clement and became a clerk in that
gentleman's general store, where he remained from 1845 to 1857. During the
last mentioned year he was employed as a clerk by Fagely, Seasholtz &
Company, coal merchants of Sunbury, and in the fall of that year he became
a member of the firm, its name changing to the style of John Haas &
Company. This firm conducted an extensive coal operation until 1872, when
they sold their personal property to the Mineral Mining Company, but
continued to deal in coal until the death of Mr. Fagely. During this
partnership Mr. Haas and Mr. Fagely purchased four thousand acres of
woodland in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, had a large amount of lumber
manufactured from the same, and found sale for it at small profit. He
belongs to Sunbury Lodge, No. 22, F. & A.M., Northumberland Chapter, No.
174, and the Crusade Commandery of Bloomsburg; was a member of the
I.O.O.F. of Sunbury; was a director of the Sunbury, Shamokin and Lewisburg
railroad; is a director of the First National Bank of Sunbury; is
president of the Sunbury Water Company; president of the board of
directors of the Missionary Institute of Selinsgrove; was treasurer of the
Pennsylvania State Sunday School Association for one year; was for a time
a director of the Loysville Orphans' School; became a member of the
Lutheran church over fifty years ago, and has been its Sabbath school
superintendent for twenty-two years, having at the present time a school
of seven hundred pupils under his management, and the great good he has
done in this worthy cause will only be known in that day when the secrets
of all hearts shall be revealed. He was a Democrat until the formation of
the Republican party, when he entered its ranks, casting his first vote
for John C. Fremont for President of the United States.
   He was first married in 1845 to Mary A. Geen, who died in 1856, the
mother of four children, three of whom are living: Mrs. M. A. Martin;
Mrs. J. C. Rohrbach, and John P. His second and present wife was Mercy
Ann Martin.

   WILLIAM DEWART, from whom the family of that name in this county is
descended, was a native of Ireland; he immigrated to Chester county,
Pennsylvania, and thence, in 1775, to Sunbury, where he was an early
merchant. There he died, July 25, 1814. Lewis Dewart, his son, was born
at Sunbury, November 14, 1780; in early life he assisted in his father's
store, and although actively and successfully engaged in business for
many years, his public career is particularly noticeable. In 1816-20,
inclusive, he was elected to the House of Representatives, in 1823, to
the State Senate, and in 1834-37, inclusive, to the House of
Representatives, of which he served as Speaker in the session of 1827. He
was also elected to the XXIId Congress from the district of which his
native county formed part. In politics he was a Democrat. He married
Elizabeth Liggett, of Chester county, Pennsylvania; William L. Dewart,
their only son, was born at Sunbury, June 21, 1820, educated at Dickinson
College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and at the College of New Jersey at
Princeton, read law with Charles G. Donnel, and was admitted to the bar of
Northumberland county in 1843. He was an active supporter of the
Democratic party, and was several times a member of the national
conventions of that organization; he was also a member of the XXXVth
Congress, and otherwise prominent in public affairs. He married Rosetta,
daughter of Espy Van Horn, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in 1848, and
they were the parents of three sons and two daughters, three of whom grew
to maturity and are now living: Lewis, attorney at law, Sunbury; William
L., of the Northumberland County Democrat and Sunbury Daily, and Bessie,
wife of F. L. Brice, of Sunbury. Major Dewart died at Sunbury, April 19,
1888; his widow resides in that borough at an advanced age.

   WILLIAM MCCARTY, deceased, was born at Port Roseway, near Shelburne,
Nova Scotia, September 15th, 1788, son of James McCarty, a native of
Ireland, who had been wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of the
Cowpens and was detained in Nova Scotia until 1798, when he removed to New
York. The subject of this sketch was almost entirely self-educated. He
began his active career as cabin boy on a merchantman, and made several
voyages to the West Indies and Spain. He then entered the office of the
leading Democratic paper of New York as an apprentice to the printing
trade, at which he was subsequently employed as a compositor. His first
venture as a publisher was a daily newspaper at New York, upon which he
performed nearly the entire work himself. In that city he was also a
member of the firm of McCarty & White, which published a monthly magazine,
The Ladies' Miscellany. About the year 1813 he removed to Philadelphia;
there he became associated with Francis Davis, and the firm of McCarty &
Davis transacted an extensive and prosperous publishing business for some
years. In 1830 Mr. McCarty became identified with the Wading River Canal
and Manufacturing Company, which erected large paper mills at McCartynlle
(now Harrisville), on the Wading river in Burlington county, New Jersey.
It was the intention of this company to manufacture paper from the salt
marsh grass of that locality; the venture was entirely successful from a
mechanical and scientific point of view, but, owing to the failure of
the United States Bank, modifications in the tariff, and other causes,
it terminated in financial disaster in 1844. This obliged Mr. McCarty to
retire from the firm of McCarty & Davis, and also compelled the
suspension of the Philadelphia Gazette, a daily paper of which he had
been editor and publisher. He subsequently operated the Wading Creek
mills individually, but the entire establishment was destroyed by fire
and thus his circumstances were more embarrassed than before. In August,
1844, he removed to Sunbury, where he conducted a book store and was
identified with the Sunbury Canal and Water Power Company and other
enterprises. He also acquired large property interests in this section
of the State, but never fully recovered his former affluence. He died
at Sunbury on the 8th of April, 1861.

   SIMON P. WOLVERTON, attorney at law, was born in Rush township,
Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1837. His parents,
Joseph and Charity (Kase) Wolverton, descendants from English and German
ancestry, respectively, were both born in this county. The senior Mr.
Wolverton buried his wife in 1862; he lived to be eighty-three years
old, dying in 1885. They reared two sons and three daughters. Simon P.
Wolverton was educated at Danville Academy and Lewisburg University,
graduating from the last named institution in 1800, after doubling his
studies and condensing the Junior and Senior years into one. He was
admitted to the bar in April, 1862, and entered at once into practice.
Upon Confederate General Stuart's raid into Pennsylvania, Mr. Wolverton
raised a company of emergency men of which he was captain. When Lee's
army invaded Pennsylvania he again raised a company of Pennsylvania
militia and as captain served until honorably discharged. In the fall
of 1878 he was chosen by the people of the Democratic party to fill out
the unexpired term of A. K. Dill in the State Senate, Mr. Dill having
resigned to become a candidate for Governor. He was twice re-elected,
making in all a service of ten years in the upper branch of the
Pennsylvania legislature. His district being Republican by at least one
thousand, his three successful elections by large and increasing
majorities admit of but one conclusion. In 1890 he was elected to
Congress from the Seventeenth Congressional district, composed of
Northumberland, Columbia, Montour, and Sullivan counties, by a very
large majority. Mr. Wolverton is truly a self-made man. His only
inheritance being an unusually brilliant intellect, a magnificent
physique, an iron constitution, and untiring industry, the world was
before him and he readily appreciated the demands that Queen Fortune
would make before she would vouchsafe her smiles upon him. He entered
the lists and all the good people of this county and thousands outside
of it know the result, and with one accord proclaim "Long life and
continued prosperity to the man who by his individual merit has risen
from obscurity to exalted rank in the community of his nativity." Mr.
Wolverton was married in Sunbury, March 23, 1865, to Elizabeth D.
Hendricks, and has three children: Mary G.; Elizabeth K., and Simon P.
The family are all members of the Presbyterian church, and Mr. Wolverton
is identified with the Masonic and Odd Fellow fraternities.

   TRUMAN H. PURDY, president of the Lewisburg Furniture and Planing
Mill Company, treasurer of the Lewisburg Nail Works, treasurer of the
Sunbury Gas Company, and one of the directors of the Lewisburg Steam
Forge Company, is an attorney at law of Sunbury, and was born in Wayne
county, Pennsylvania, June 26, 1831. His parents, Harvey and Ruth (Clark)
Purdy, were natives, respectively, of Wayne and Lackawanna Counties,
this State, and date their ancestry back to the colonial days. The
senior Mr. Purdy died, November 9, 1847, aged forty-six years, and his
widow died, December 31, 1852, at the age of forty-eight years. They
reared three sons and one daughter, of whom our subject and a brother,
Dr. N. C, Purdy of Allenwood, Pennsylvania, are living. T. H. Purdy was
educated at Madison Academy and Lewisburg University. He established
the Union Argus, a weekly paper at Lewisburg, edited it three years,
sold out, and began the study of law with Judge Bucher. In 1861 he was
induced to come to Sunbury and start the Northumberland County Democrat.
He conducted this paper until 1867, Publishing, at the same time, the
German Democrat, a paper which died with his retirement. Under his
management the Northumberland County Democrat increased its circulation
from three hundred to three thousand five hundred. While conducting the
paper he continued the study of law under Judge Alexander Jordan and in
1866 was admitted to the bar. Always a Democrat, he represented the
county and that party two times, 1864 and 1865, in the legislature.
Since 1866 he has not been active in politics, but prior thereto he had
been a hard and telling worker. In 1862 he made sixty-five speeches,
and at the election of that year the Democrats polled one thousand
majority as against sixty-four in the year 1861. He delivered the
historical oration at the centennial celebration of Sunbury, July 4,
1872, which was published in pamphlet form and widely read. In 1863 he
purchased considerable land, in what is now East Sunbury; he selected
from it a plot of about two and a half acres, upon an elevation
overlooking the town, upon which he erected his present residence. In
1876, associated with J. B. Ewing, he founded the town of Steelton,
Pennsylvania, where he yet has large interests. Mr. Purdy takes an
active interest in education and public improvements at all times, and
the high school at Purdytown or East Sunbury is credited to his
influence. Being a man of learning and rare literary attainments he
delights in books, and his private library is one of the finest in the
State. As an author he has brought out through his Publishers, J. B.
Lippincott & Company, "Legends of the Susquehanna, a handsome volume of
one hundred ninety-five pages, elegantly bound and rich in charming
verse. The book is profusely illustrated by the famous F. O. Darley,
and this was the last work performed by that now lamented artist. Mr.
Purdy also published a two hundred page poem entitled "Doubter" the
edition of which has been exhausted, and has just completed a novel
which will soon be brought out by his publishers. He was married in
Lewisburg, December 19, 1861, to Mary B., daughter of the late Dr.
Robert James, of Northampton county, and a sister of Robert B. James, of
Easton, Pennsylvania, and has three children: Carrie M.; Truman J., and
Hiram L.

   GEORGE HILL, attorney at law, was born in Lycoming county,
Pennsylvania, August 3, 1821, and acquired an education at the common
schools and a classical institute taught by Samuel S. Shedden, a
Presbyterian divine. He began the study of law at Milton under James
Pollock, afterward a member of the national Congress, but a change in
circumstances led him to Union county, where he taught school and
finished his legal studies under Absalom Swineford. He was admitted to
the bar in August, 1848. Entering at once into practice he remained at
Selinsgrove from 1849 to 1858, and in the spring of the last named year
came to Sunbury. Here he has been for over thirty years a lawyer of
recognized ability and a citizen of high repute. He has always been a
Democrat; ever active in the promotion of others, for himself he has
sought no political preferment, and has for some years taken no active
part in politics. As a Mason Mr. Hill is also prominent. He is a member
of the local lodge and chapter. Mastering the principles of those bodies
he has passed into the higher dispensation of the commandery and
consistory at Bloomsburg. In religious matters too he takes a deep
concern and belongs to the Reformed church. He was first married at
Selinsgrove in December, 1848, to Martha C. Buehler, who died in 1870,
leaving the following children: Ferdinand K.; J. Nevin; Mary S., now the
wife of J. Z. Gerhard, M D., superintendent of the State lunatic
hospital, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Samuel Ambrose, deceased; William
Herbert, and Charles H. In June, 1871, he married Sue E. Kirlin, of
Middletown, Pennsylvania. Mr. Hill's parents were Daniel and Susan
(Truckenmiller) Hill, natives of Pennsylvania, and of Scotch-Irish and
German descent, respectively. The senior Mr. Hill, a farmer, died when
his son George was only seven years old; his widow and three children
moved to this county, where she died in 1865 aged sixty-five years. The
Grandfather Hill was a Revolutionary soldier.

   DANIEL HEIM, hardware merchant and vice-president of the Sunbury
Nail, Bar, and Guide Iron Manufacturing Company, was born in Upper
Mahanoy township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, January 15, 1816,
son of John and Sophia (Kohl) Heim. His grandfather came from Germany
and was one of the pioneers of Upper Mahanoy. John Heim, a farmer and
school teacher, died in 1824. He was the father of sixteen children,
seven daughters and one son by his first wife, and six sons and two
daughters by his second wife. The latter lived to be eighty-eight years
old. Daniel was her seventh child. His mother remarried when he was
about twelve years old, and he soon afterwards entered upon the battle
of life among strangers. For three years he found employment among the
farmers, and then in Union county learned the carpenter trade and
followed that and millwrighting eighteen years. In 1850 he engaged in the
merchandise business in his native township and followed it sixteen years;
thence he came to Sunbury and remained one year, and in 1867 moved to
Danville and kept the Danville Hotel one year. In 1870, in partnership
with his son John, he embarked in the hardware business at his present
location. John retired from the business in 1879, and Mr. Heim has since
continued the business alone. He was one of the organizers of the Sunbury
Nail, Bar, and Guide Iron Manufacturing Company, and has been its vice-
president since its inception. In ante bellum days Mr. Heim was captain of
militia and lieutenant of a volunteer company, and when Johnston was
Governor he was commissioned major of a uniformed volunteer battalion and
held that rank five years. Major Heim was married in his native township,
October 23, 1836, to Mary Hornberger, daughter of George Hornberger, and
has had borne to him ten children: John H., a jeweler; Lydia, Mrs. Peter
Gonsar; Henrietta, Mrs. Samuel H. Snyder; Sarah Ann, deceased wife of
Charles Schlagel; Louisiana, widow of Albert Haas; James B., who had been
in the army, was mustered out, and died in 1865 on his way home; George
W.; William Henry; Mary Ellen, who died in 1863, and Percival O. Mr. Heim
is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Lutheran church. He
served one year as chief burgess of Sunbury, elected by the Republican
Party.

   GEORGE W. ZEIGLER, attorney at law, was born at Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, May 24, 1819, son of George and Gertrude Elizabeth
(Chritzman) Zeigler. George Zeigler was a hatter by occupation, and
served his county many years as Prothonotary. He was born in Gettysburg
and died in Dauphin county, where he had lived Some years, at the age of
sixty-three years. His wife was a native of Germany, lived to be
seventy-five years old, and died in Butler county, Pennsylvania, where
she lived with one of her sons. His father was a soldier in the
Revolutionary war, and himself a soldier in the war of 1812. The
subject of this sketch was educated at Gettysburg and learned the
printing business on the old Gettysburg Compiler. When yet a young man
he joined his brother at Butler in the printing business, and then began
the study of law. At the age of twenty-two years he was admitted to the
bar, and practiced law two years afterwards in Butler. From there he
went to Jefferson county, where he built up an extensive practice,
remained fifteen years, and left on account of his health. After two
years practice at Selinsgrove he came to Sunbury in the fall of 1864.
Here his ability as a lawyer was readily recognized, and he has long
occupied a high position in the profession. He has been thrice a member
of the legislature, in the sessions of 1854-55 and 1861. He has always
been a Democrat and his advocacy of the principles of that party have
until within the past four or five years been untiring and zealous. Mr.
Zeigler is truly the architect of his own fortune. The inheritor of no
riches, the recipient of no bounty other than the God-given qualities of
a correct mind and a sound body, his successes in life are scored to his
individual merit. The late Jacob Zeigler, for fifty years a conspicuous
factor in Pennsylvania Politics and whose life forms a part of this
great State's history, was the elder brother of our subject. Mr. Zeigler
was married in Butler, December 27, 1838, to Mary A. McQuistion, and the
six children born to them are: Isabella, Mrs. George W. Keefer; Joseph,
superintendent of the Adirondacks railroad; Gertrude E., Mrs. P. P. Smith;
J. Walter; George, who died in 1860 aged thirteen years, and Edgar, who
died in infancy. Mrs. Zeigler died, September 5, 1889, aged sixty-nine
years, eleven months, and five days. Mr. Zeigler is a member of the
Presbyterian church and a Freemason.

   WILLIAM A. SOBER, attorney at law and United States commissioner
for the Western district of Pennsylvania, is a native of Shamokin
township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and was born, September
3, 1840. His father, Alexander Sober, was born in the same place, and
his mother, whose maiden name was Foy, was probably born in Rockefeller
township. The Sober family, originally from Germany, came here from New
Jersey in the person of the grandfather of our subject during the latter
part of the last century. Alexander Sober, third son of his father, was
born in 1807, and died in December, 1869. He was a quiet and industrious
citizen and farmer, and highly esteemed by his neighbors. His widow yet
lives in her native place. They were the parents of twelve children,
nine sons and three daughters, of whom all, except two of the former,
are living. William A, the sixth son, was attending Dickinson Seminary,
Williamsport, when he decided to enter the army. In August, 1861, he
enlisted in Company D, Fifty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served
sixteen mouths, taking part in the battles of Yorktown, Williamsburg,
White House, Chickahominy, and Seven Pines, and was seven days in front
of Richmond. While at the latter place he was taken with typhoid fever,
and was soon afterward discharged. In May, 1864, he was appointed to a
position in the provost marshal general's office as chief clerk of the
disbursing branch for the Western district of Pennsylvania, and resigned
in December, 1865. He next read law under John B. Packer, and in August,
1867, was admitted to the bar. In 1871 he was appointed county solicitor
and held the office three years; in 1872 he was appointed United States
commissioner; from 1882 to 1886 he was in the borough council, and in
the latter year he was elected assistant burgess. Always a Republican
and ever active in behalf of that party, Mr. Sober has deserved well at
its hands, and this brief summing up shows that his merits have not been
wholly unappreciated. He was married in Reading, Pennsylvania, in
October, 1869, to Emma E., daughter of Augustus F. Boas, a lawyer and
many years a leading banker of Reading, and has one child, Emily Belle.

   JOHN W. PEAL, M. D., removed from Hughesville, Lycoming county,
Pennsylvania, to Sunbury, in November, 1838. He lived and practiced
medicine there until 1868, when, owing to failure of health, he was
removed to Lock Haven, where his son resided. Here after a prolonged
illness he passed to rest on the 14th day of July, 1868, aged sixty-eight
years and one month. He was the son of John Peal and Mary (McClintock)
Peal, having been bornnear Shippensburg, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania,
on the 13th of June, 1800. At twenty-seven years he married Martha
Washington Sturgeon, daughter of Samuel Sturgeon, of Shippensburg, who
proved through life a beautiful character. They now sleep side by side in
Highland cemetery at Lock Haven. He was a strong man, of commanding
presence, sympathetic heart, and iron will. In his home life that will
power which had been given him for the arena of men sometimes, as is the
case with many men, got out of place, and wounded those he loved, but if
thus he wounded, with what infinite tenderness did he heal! His generous
heart could always be depended on for acts of manly kindness. He was a
good husband, an ambitious father, and a thrifty business man. Six
children, five daughters and one son, survive him, also nine grandsons and
nine granddaughters. He wrote his name, John W., to distinguish it from
his father's, but his name was simply John, the son of John Peal, who was
the son of John Peal, an Englishman who immigrated to this country about
the middle of the eighteenth century, and was living, between 1800 and
1810, near Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Doctor Peal's mother, Mary
McClintock, was Scotch-Irish, a relation of James McClintock, M.D., late
of Philadelphia, and John McClintock, D. D., LL. D., late of Paris,
France, a most gifted and cultured man. Mrs. Peal's father, Samuel
Sturgeon, cousin to Daniel Sturgeon, late United States Senator from
Pennsylvania, and her mother, Fanny Rogers, were Scotch-Irish also, and
in "ye olden time" both families worshiped at the old Silver Spring
Presbyterian church near Shippensburg. His name, John W. Peal, has
descended to his grandson, John W. Peal, of New York City, and to his
great-grandson, John W. Peal, son of Rembrandt R. Peal, Philadelphia.
Doctor Peal lived an active and useful life. As a physician he was very
attentive to his patients, very cheering and magnetic in the sick-room,
and very original and bold in his treatment of diseases. He was a born
physician, and devoted his whole mentality to his profession. So deep
was his interest in the sick ones who were entrusted to his healing art
that he often when the case was critical walked his floor all night
absorbed in thought. Looking back now, the writer sees a strong,
handsome, earnest, unselfish man, whom never storm or darkness deterred
from going to the bedside of the sick, whose tenderness to the suffering
never failed, and whose skill in treatment was unexcelled by any of his
compeers; this man was Dr. John W. Peal, of Sunbury. On his grave-stone
in Highland Cemetery are written these expressive words "at rest."
S. R. P.

   DANIEL W. SHINDEL, physician, was born in Sunbury, Northumberland
county, Pennsylvania, November 17, 1822, and is probably the oldest
practicing physician in Sunbury. His father was the Rev. John Peter
Shindel of the Lutheran church, and his mother's family name was
McCullough. Both parents were native Pennsylvanians, the Shindel family
coming originally from Germany and the McCullough's from Ireland. Rev.
J. P. Shindel came to Sunbury in 1812 and preached in various churches in
this part of the country thirty-five or forty years. He died in 1853, aged
about sixty-seven years. They reared eight sons and four daughters, of
whom three sons only are now living. The youngest, Luther, is a Lutheran
preacher at Danville, Pennsylvania, and Jacob G. L., an ex-judge, is a
druggist at Selinsgrove, Snyder county, Pennsylvania. Dr. D. W. Shindel
was educated primarily at Sunbury Academy, began the study of medicine
while teaching school, and in 1850 was graduated from Pennsylvania Medical
College. He has served the people in various local offices, such as
councilman, assistant burgess, school director, and pension examiner.
He has been a member of the school board twenty-one years and was United
States pension examiner from 1865 to 1885. He has also served as medical
examiner for several life insurance companies. He has been twice
married, first in Sunbury, June 17, 1851, to Mary Wharton, who was the
mother of three daughters: Florine, Mrs. J. Fasold; Susan D., Mrs. John
R. Quiggle, and Mary E., Mrs. George W. Hoffman. Mrs. Shindel died in
January, 1863. In 1864 the Doctor married Elizabeth Irwin, and to this
union have been born six children: William L., editor of the Shamokin
Dispatch; Jane, deceased; Carrie, deceased; Minnie; Georgia A., and
Webster, deceased.

   CAPTAIN CHARLES J. BRUNER was born in Sunbury, November 17, 1820,
and died, March 15, 1885. His father was the Rev. Martin Bruner of the
German Reformed church, and his mother's maiden name was Mary Gray - the
latter a native of Sunbury and the former of Philadelphia. The Rev.
Martin Bruner died in 1852; his widow lived to the age of seventy-five
years. He came to Sunbury when twenty-one years old, from here moved to
Hagerstown, Maryland, and from there to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where
he died.
   Charles J. Bruner came to Sunbury to live in 1840. He was educated
in Lancaster, studied law under Judge Alexander Jordan, and was admitted
to the bar in 1843. For a time after coming to the bar he was associated
with the late Major Dewart; afterward he had no law partner. At the
meeting of the bar at Sunbury, Monday, March 30, 1885, held for the
purpose, the formal announcement of Captain Bruner's death was made and
the following resolutions were adopted:-

   The bar of Northumberland county, having convened to take recognition
of the death, and to pay some seemly tribute to the character and memory
of the late Charles J. Bruner, Esquire, whose relations as a member
thereof have always been so honorable, but whose untimely decease it has
been so suddenly and unexpectedly called to deplore, doth resolve,
   First, That his spotless career as a lawyer while in active membership
of this bar, his exemplary courage when in camp and field, while he served
his country as a soldier in the early and trying days of the late civil
war, his enviable record for efficiency and integrity as an officer in the
civil service of the Federal government during the fourteen years or more
he held the important trust of collector of internal revenue for the
Fourteenth district of Pennsylvania, and his fair promise of honorable
achievement on his recent return to and renewal of active employment in
his profession of the law, have made his name and character well worthy to
be held in active memory, and render his fame well worthy of perpetuation
among the historical records of our bar and his virtues and achievements
in public and professional life well worthy of righteous emulation.
   Second, That his learning, the high order of his natural abilities, his
discriminating judgment and quickness of perception, and the noble Virtues
of his public and private life, have largely contributed to place him in
high rank among the just and honorable of his profession.
   Third, That by his genial manners, his amiable temper, his affectionate
disposition, his generous impulses, as well by his unswerving fidelity in
pure and disinterested friendship as by his kindly and beneficent
influences in social and professional intercourse, he has won his way to
the strongest feelings and best impulses of our hearts.
   Fourth, That a committee of four members of the bar be appointed to
convey to his family the assurance of our heartfelt sympathy with them
in this sudden and great bereavement, and to commend them in the great
depth of their sorrow to the strong staff tendered by him "who tempers
the wind to the shorn lamb," and fails not to remember the widow or the
orphan, but notes in tenderness of mercy even the fall of the sparrow.
        Signed,  W. A. SOBER,
                 G. W. ZEIGLER,
                 SAMUEL HECKERT,
                 P. L. HACKENBERG,
                 Committee.

   At Lincoln's first call for troops in 1861 Captain Bruner responded
as the leader of Company F, Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served
about six months, taking an active part in the battle of Falling Waters.
He was afterward in the emergency service a short time. General Grant
while President appointed him collector of internal revenue for the
Fourteenth Pennsylvania district, a Position he held successively under
both Hayes and Arthur. The Grand Army Post in Sunbury is named in honor
of his brother, William. Captain Bruner was a member of the Reformed
church and prominent in the I.O.O.F. He was a self-made man. Beginning
life without fortune in worldly goods, he gave liberally through his
life from his stores made ample by his personal industry, and died
leaving those dependent upon him a fair competency. He is a direct
descendant from the celebrated Bradys, and his widow, to whom he was
married in Sunbury, June 3, 1852 was Louisa Weiser, a direct descendant
of Conrad Weiser, the noted Indian interpreter during the early
settlement of the region of Shamokin, now Sunbury. To this union were
born the following children: Mary Gray, the wife of C. G. Voris,
attorney, of Milton; Elizabeth, who died before a year old; Louisa, who
died at four and a half years of age; Charles, who died at one and a
half years of age; William W., now in the United States postal service,
and Franklin, who died when eight years old.

   GENERAL JOHN KAY CLEMENT, deceased, was born at Philadelphia, January
1, 1820, son of Evan and Hannah (Kay) Clement. His father died when he was
but seven years of age. He was educated at the Friends' school in his
native city, read law under Richard Howell of Camden, New Jersey, and was
admitted to the bar at Trenton in l841. Shortly afterward he located in
Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, residing at Minersville and Pottsville,
and removed to Sunbury in l854. He possessed great ability as a lawyer,
and was an orator of exceptional eloquence and power. Among the official
positions with which he was honored were those of brigadier general of the
State militia, to which he was appointed while a resident of Schuylkill
county; district attorney of Northumberland county which he was elected in
1859 and 1871 and appointed in 1877; and provost marshal of the Fourteenth
Pennsylvania district from 1862 to 1864. In 1854 he married Mary S.,
eldest daughter of Isaac and Mary (Eyer) Zeigler, of Sunbury; Charles M.
Clement, deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is their
only surviving son. General Clement died at Sunbury on the 15th of
October, 1882. He was a Republican in politics, a member of the Masonic
fraternity, and a vestryman in St. Matthew's Protestant Episcopal church
at the time of his death.

   LLOYD T. ROHRBACH, treasurer of the Sunbury Nail, Bar, and Guide
Iron Manufacturing Company, treasurer of the Sunbury Water Company,
dealer in ice and coal, and manufacturer of brick, a lawyer by
profession, and an active all-around business man, was born in Upper
Augusta township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, January 22,1839.
He was educated at the common schools of Sunbury, Missionary Institute
at Selinsgrove, and Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, and in April,
1861, joined the army as a private in Company F, Eleventh Pennsylvania
Volunteers. At the end of three months' service he read law, and in
1863 was admitted to the bar. In 1868 he was appointed United States
commissioner, held the office several years, and resigned. Giving up
the practice of law in 1872 he afterwards served two terms as
prothonotary and clerk of the courts, and thereafter turned his
attention to his business interests.
   A Republican in politics, he is regarded as one of the best workers
in the party, and though seeking no office for himself his invaluable
services are always at the command of his friends. He was married at
Sunbury, December 20, 1866, to Jennie C., daughter of John Haas, and has
two children: George Edward and William R.

   JAMES H. McDEVITT, attorney at law and United States commissioner
for the Western district of Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, December 7, 1843. He was graduated from St. Francis
College in 1861, and for some years was engaged in mercantile business
at Altoona. He came to Sunbury in 1870 as a clerk in the office of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and while there began the study of law.
He was admitted to the bar in 1873, and has been regularly in practice
ever since. In September, 1873, he was appointed United States
commissioner, the term of which office is limited to good behavior or
life. He is an active Democratic worker, was for some years a member of
the executive committee of the State, and in 1886 was the regular nominee
for Congress, a sort of forlorn hope, the district being then
overwhelmingly Republican. Mr. McDevitt is a Royal Arch Mason and an Odd
Fellow. He was married in Danville, Pennsylvania, November 11, l871, to
Amelia, daughter of S. B. Boyer, and has one daughter, Essie. The parents
of Mr. McDevitt were John and Charlotte (Caffey) McDevitt, the former a
native of Ireland and the latter of Pennsylvania, of Quaker origin. The
father was many years a merchant in Altoona and died there in 1873 aged
seventy-seven years. His widow resides in Philadelphia.

   SOLOMON B. BOYER, attorney at law, was born in Little Mahanoy
township, now Cameron, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, January 4,
1829, son of John and Elizabeth (Bixler) Boyer, early settlers of this
county. The senior Mr. Boyer, a farmer and merchant by occupation,
reared eleven children, nine of whom are living. Solomon B., the
eldest, was educated at the common schools, learned the cabinet maker's
trade, and occasionally clerked for his father. He read law with the
late H. J. Wolverton and was admitted to the bar in August, 1858.
Entering at once into practice, he readily gained reputation and
popularity, and has for many years been recognized as a successful
lawyer in the civil and criminal courts. His practice extends throughout
the State, and into all the courts, both State and Federal. Now and for
some years past an ardent Democrat, he was during the war a Republican,
and held the office of deputy revenue collector under President
Lincoln's administration. He has been chief burgess of Sunbury four
years and held other minor offices at various times. In Masonry, Odd
Fellowship, and Knights of Pythias Mr. Boyer is the foremost man in the
county. There is scarcely any position in the order of Odd Fellows,
including the office of Grand Master of this State, that he has not
held, nor any honors they have not conferred upon him from time to time.
He was married in Cameron township in 1850 to Esther Haupt, and has had
two children: Francis, his only son, who was accidentally drowned when
between nine and ten years of age, and Amelia, wife of J H. McDevitt, of
Sunbury.

   JOHN NEVIN HILL, attorney at law, was born at Selinsgrove,
Pennsylvania, September 3, 1855, son of George Hill. He received a
thorough academic education, studied law under his father, and was
admitted to the bar, March 11, 1878. Beginning the practice in Luzerne
county, he was at Hazelton four years and in 1882 associated himself with
his father in Sunbury. This partnership lasted two years, since which Mr.
Hill has been alone in the practice. He was admitted to practice before
the State Supreme court in April, 1883; and in 1889 he was commissioned by
the Governor as one of seven to revise and codify the laws relating to the
care of the poor, an honor earned by his public labor and addresses upon
this subject. In 1885 he compiled the laws and ordinances of the borough
of Northumberland and he is now the authorized county reporter of the
Pennsylvania County Court Reports, a work requiring and receiving much
careful research as shown by his elaborate and thorough annotations. He is
a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellow fraternities, and of the Episcopal
church. July 15, 1878, he was married in Northumberland to Florence I.
McFarland, and has three children: Martha Olivia; John McFarland. and
George M.

   ISAAC L. WITMER is a son of John and Mary M. (Lenker) Witmer, both
of leading families that came early from Lebanon county, this State, and
settled in the Mahanoy region, this county. He married Annie Bubb, a
daughter of Michael Bubb, whose father at the early age of sixteen years
emigrated from Germany and settled in Mahanoy township. To this union
were born thirteen children, of whom nine grew to maturity and are yet
living.

   CHARLES B. WITMER, the eldest son of Isaac L. and Annie (Bubb)
Witmer, was born in Lower Mahanoy township, Northumberland county,
Pennsylvania, April 13, 1862. His boyhood days were spent upon the farm
where his parents still reside, alternating the labor incident to farm
life with attendance at the public schools of his neighborhood. He
early became desirous of obtaining a liberal education, and with such in
view he entered the Uniontown select school during the fall of 1879. He
was subsequently licensed and employed to teach the primary school at
Georgetown, this county, and at the close of one term entered the
Millersburg high school where he remained some time. Returning home,
and after several weeks' attendance at the Berrysburg Teachers' Normal,
he was again licensed and employed to teach in the public schools of
Lower Mahanoy township. In the spring of 1881 he entered Union
Seminary, now known as Central Pennsylvania College, at New Berlin,
where he remained, supported by the means obtained by farm labor and
teaching, until he was graduated in the class of 1883. During the
following year he was principal of the Georgetown high school, and in
the fall of 1884 was examined and registered to read law with C. G.
Voris, then of Sunbury. He continued his legal studies, with the
exception of the summer of 1886, during which he was principal of the
Teachers' Normal Institute of Snyder county, Pennsylvania, until
February, 1887, when he was admitted to the bar of Northumberland
county. He began at once to practice his profession at Sunbury, and by
strict attention to business he has merited a lucrative and growing
practice, not only in his native county, but also in the surrounding
counties.
   He was appointed solicitor for Northumberland county in 1889, and
in the spring of the same year was admitted to practice in the Supreme
Court of the State. On the 20th of August, 1889, he was nominated by
the Republican party for district attorney, and after a heated and ably
conducted campaign, in which he made many friends, was defeated by a
small majority. He is a member of the First Reformed church and the
Sunday school, in both of which is a leading officer, is also a member
of the I.O.O.F., S.P.K., and P.O.S. of A., and in each has filled
important positions. He was married, October 17, 1885, to Mollie, daughter
of Isaac Beaver, of Middleburg, Pennsylvania, and has one son.

   WILLIAM C. FARNSWORTH, attorney at law, was born at Sunbury, January 1,
1864. He was principally educated at the public schools. At the age of
seventeen he migrated to the West, locating for a time at Des Moines,
Iowa, as editor of the Industrial Motor. He was afterwards employed for a
short time on special work for the Iowa State Register, and later kept
books for a wholesale house and had charge of the Western Lyceum Bureau.
Altogether he spent one year at Des Moines. He then returned to
Pennsylvania, and clerked for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at
Shamokin until 1885. In February of that year he began the study of law in
the office of John B. Packer at Sunbury. He was admitted to the bar in
September, 1887, entered immediately upon the practice of his profession,
and has rapidly attained rank and recognition. He is a Republican in
politics, and was the nominee of his party for Congress in 1890 from the
Seventeenth Pennsylvania district. On the 12th of January, 1887, Mr.
Farnsworth married Miss Mary A. Lodge, of Halifax, Pennsylvania; they are
the parents of one child, Margaret Packer.

   CHARLES M. CLEMENT, a lawyer of Sunbury and now deputy Secretary of
the Commonwealth, was born in Sunbury, Northumberland county,
Pennsylvania, October 23, 1855. His father was General John Kay
Clement, one of the leading criminal lawyers of Pennsylvania, and his
mother was Mary S., daughter of Isaac Zeigler, once a prominent merchant
of Sunbury. General Clement died, October 15, 1882, at the age of
sixty-three years. Charles M., his only son now living, was educated at
Sunbury Academy and Burlington, New Jersey. After leaving school he
clerked six years in the prothonotary's office, read law with his
father, and was admitted to the bar, March 11, 1878. In January
following he began the practice and was associated with his father until
the death of the latter. Mr. Clement has been one term assistant
burgess of Sunbury and five or six years a member of the borough
council, was for several years borough solicitor, and is now solicitor
for the school board. October 1, 1887, he was appointed by Charles W.
Stone corporation clerk of the State department and November 29, 1890,
was appointed by Governor Beaver to his present position. From 1879 to
1883 he was secretary of the county central committee, Republican, and
from 1883 to 1888 was chairman of the committee. He was one of the
organizers of the Sunbury Guards, Company B, Twelfth Regiment N.G.P.,
entered the service as a private, and was promoted in regular order to
the captaincy, a position to which he has been twice chosen, first in
1882 and secondly in 1887. Mr. Clement is a member of the Sons of
Veterans, Sons of the Revolution, Knights of the Golden Eagle, and the
S.P.K. He was married at Northumberland, November 19, 1879, to Alice
Withington, and has three children: John Kay; Martin W., and Charles
Francis.
  
   MARTIN L. SNYDER, attorney at law, was born in Point township,
Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, April 3, l853 son of John S. and
Margaret (Weiser) Snyder. He was educated at Bloomsburg State Normal
School, and from 1876 to 1878 was cashier of the Augusta Bank of
Sunbury. In August, 1879, he began the study of law with S. P.
Wolverton, and in the fall of 1880 was admitted to the bar. After about
one year in Mr. Wolverton's office while that gentleman was in the State
Senate, he opened an office and has since been actively engaged in
practice. Mr. Snyder is a Republican in politics, a member of the K.
of P., and one of the trustees of the Presbyterian church. From the age
of thirteen to sixteen young Snyder followed canal-boating between
Williamsport and Philadelphia and thereby earned the money to purchase
books and defray incidental expenses. From sixteen to twenty-one years
of age he taught school and was graduated at the Bloomsburg Normal
School, and had just entered Princeton College when his brother, William
Lester, died, and he was called home to succeed him as cashier of the
bank. Thus it will be seen that from the age of thirteen years Mr.
Snyder has had to make a way for himself, and it is but proper to say
that his success has been commensurate with his efforts. Beginning life
without a penny, he is educated, has made himself a reputation as a
lawyer, and has acquired wealth. Though often solicited he has steadily
declined all official preferment; his only appearance in the political
field was as a candidate for the nomination for district attorney, an
honor he missed through indifference on his own part. Mr. Snyder's
grandfather, Peter Snyder, was one of the first settlers in this part of
the county. He was a farmer and justice of the peace, lived at
Hollowing run, Lower Augusta township, and left large property,
principally in real estate. He had four sons and four daughters: John
S. and Peter H., twins; Anthony, and William S. Peter H. lives in
Sunbury; Anthony lives in Fayette, Ohio, and William S. lives on a farm
in Lower Augusta township. Of the daughters Mrs. Sober is dead: Jemima,
Mrs. Griffith, was first married to a Mr. Bergstresser, and now lives in
Dauphin county; Susan, Mrs. George Fisher, lives at Selinsgrove, on the
Isle of Que, and Lydia, Mrs. Benjamin Fisher, is now in Nebraska. Peter
was a descendant of Governor Snyder. Mr. Snyder's father, John S.
Snyder, was born in Lower Augusta township, February 6, l820, and
married Margaret Weiser in 1844; she died in 1856 and he afterwards
married Catharine Gemberling, and in 1877 moved West and now lives near
Three Rivers, Michigan. His first wife, by whom he had four sons, was a
daughter of Philip Weiser, a grandson of the famous Conrad Weiser, and a
farmer by occupation. He had two sons and four daughters: Solomon, of
Illinois; George, who died in 1882 in Lower Augusta township; Margaret,
Mrs. Snyder; Elizabeth, Mrs. George Kiefer; Sarah, Mrs. John Evert, and
Catharine, who married Henry Fausold, now deceased. Philip Weiser, the
grandfather of Mr. Snyder, was born in Pennsylvania in 1786, and died in
Upper Augusta township, November 16, 1802, his wife Catharine having died,
March 31, 1851. John S. Snyder, the father of the subject of this sketch,
had four sons by his wife, Margaret (Weiser) Snyder: Anson W., who on the
24th of December, 1574, married Sophie Kerns, of Mifflin county,
Pennsylvania, and now lives upon his farm near Lewistown, Pennsylvania;
William Lester, who died at the age of twenty-four years, January 23,
1876, after having served as cashier of the Augusta Bank of Sunbury,
Pennsylvania; John Calvin, who was graduated in medicine at Ann Arbor,
Michigan, and Buffalo, New York, and after serving with distinction as
assistant professor of anatomy at the University in Buffalo, New York, one
year, located at Osborne, Kansas, in 1884, where he has since practiced
his profession with credit and success, and married Jennie Annette
Bainton, of Buchanan, Michigan, January 30, 1890; and Martin Luther, the
subject of this sketch, who has been interested as counsel in both the
civil and criminal, courts of this Commonwealth, in which he has
represented a number of important cases, as well as before the Supreme
court of the State.

   JOHN JUNIUS REIMENSNYDER, attorney at law, was born in Augusta county
Virginia, June 2, 1812, son of Rev. George Henry and Christina
Reimensnyder, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Frederick,
Maryland. They were the parents of five daughters and two sons; both the
sons, like their father, entered the ministry of the Lutheran church. Rev.
Cornelius Reimensnyder was for some years the agent of the American Sunday
School Union, and died at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Rev. J. J Reimensnyder
received his education under the tuition of his father and at local
academies, received the degree of A. M. from Roanoke College, Salem,
Virginia, and was licensed to preach at the age of twenty years. He was
successively located in the ministry at Mt. Sidney, Virginia, Woodsboro
and Smithburg, Maryland, and Milton and Northumberland, Pennsylvania; from
1854 to 1864 he resided in Turbut township, Northumberland county, and
since the latter date has been a resident of Sunbury. Owing to physical
disability he was obliged to relinquish the work of the ministry, and in
1874 was elected as the first superintendent of public schools in
Northumberland county; he filled this office with great acceptability six
years, and during this period did much to promote the educational
interests of the county. The first county institute was held in the first
year of his incumbency, and at every subsequent institute he has taken
part in the exercises. In 1860 and 1862 he received the county nomination
for Congress, but withdrew on each occasion from personal considerations
without making a contest in the district convention. He was elected
prothonotary of Northumberland county in 1863 and re-elected in 1866,
serving in this office two terms. On the 14th of March, 1876. he was
admitted to the bar, and has since been engaged in the practice of law.
Mr. Reimensnyder was married May 3, 1838, to Susan Margaret, daughter of
Benjamin Bryon, of Augusta County, Virginia, a captain in the war of 1812.
To this union were born eight children: Cornelius, a lawyer of Toledo,
Ohio; Rev. Junius Benjamin a Lutheran clergyman of New York City; Rev.
John M., a Lutheran clergyman of Milton; George B., a lawyer of Sunbury;
Millard F., a druggist of Sunbury; W. Virginia; S. Augusta, and H. Cleora,
organist of Zion Lutheran church and a graduate of the Philadelphia
Conservatory of Music.

   GEORGE B. REIMENSNYDER, attorney at law, was born at Smithburg,
Washington county, Maryland, July 27,1849, son of Rev. J. J. and Susan
(Bryan) Reimensnyder. He obtained his education at the public schools
and at the academy of Sunbury, and received the honorary degree of A. M.
from Pennsylvania College, June 25, 1886. He began active life as an
apprentice to the printing trade in the office of the Democrat at Sunbury,
where he remained one year. In 1866 he entered the prothonotary's office
at Sunbury as deputy clerk, retaining that position until July 1,1870.
After teaching in the public schools of Rockefeller township one year he
entered the office of the register and recorder at Sunbury, in which he
was employed nine years and served as deputy clerk seven years. In 1875 he
began the study of law under Leffert H. Kase, and was admitted to the bar
on the 6th of August, 1877. In 1879 he entered upon the practice of his
profession, in which he has achieved fair success. He has served as a
member of the examining committee of the local bar association
continuously since 1881, and as borough solicitor of Sunbury 1888-89; in
1881 he was president of the convention of the Young Men's Christian
Association of Pennsylvania at Bellefonte. At the present time he is
secretary of the council of Zion Lutheran church, Sunbury, a director in
the Sunbury Trust and Safe Deposit Company and solicitor for that
institution, and president of the Pomfret Manor Cemetery Company. Mr.
Reimensnyder was married, November 22, 1887, to Miss Clara B., only
daughter of David L. Stackhouse, druggist, of Philadelphia. They are the
parents of one child, Lillian, born March 23, 1889.

   C. R. SAVIDGE, attorney at law, was born, January 19, 1851, in
Trevorton, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. His father, Samuel K.
Savidge, a mason and bricklayer by trade, was a native of Rush township.
He married Ellen Campbell and to this union were born three children: C.
R.; Harrison C., who is manager of Whitmer & Sons' lumber business in
West Virginia, and Lizzie A., who married Williard Robinson, of West
Virginia. The father died in 1858 and the mother in 1882. Both were
consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. C. R. Savidge was
fond of books from the time he learned to read, and in 1865 was employed
to teach in the country schools, in which be was engaged four years. In
1869 he taught in the public schools of Danville, Pennsylvania, after
which he entered Princeton College, from which he was graduated in 1874,
a classmate of Henry, M. Hinckley and James Scarlett, both well known
gentlemen of Riverside and Danville. On his return from college Mr.
Savidge took employment in a saw mill and continued that with other
arduous labors for some time. After reading law with Simon P. Wolverton,
he was admitted to the bar of Northumberland county in 1877. He at once
began practice in Sunbury and has taken a high rank among his fellow
members at the bar. In 1880 he was elected district attorney by a majority
of one thousand sixty-six. On the  31st of December, 1875, he was married
to Louise Essick, of Montour county, this State, and to this union have
been born seven children, six of whom are living: Harry W.; Albert C.;
Ralph W. E.; Preston M.; Louise, and Lucile. Mr. Savidge belongs to the F.
& A.M. the Conclave, and K. of G.E. He is a Democrat, and the family are
adherents of the Baptist church.

   H. M. McCLURE, attorney at law, was born in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania,
August 8, 1859, a son of J. C. and Glorvina (Elder) McClure. He received
his education principally at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, from which
institution he was graduated in 1877. In January, 1878, he began the study
of law under the tuition of Simon P. Wolverton, and was admitted to the
bar of Northumberland county, June 28, 1881. During the summer of 1878 he
played base ball with the Binghamton and Syracuse clubs; in 1879 he played
with the Rochester club, and in 1882 with the Baltimore club. From January
9,1884, to February 9, 1888, he was practicing law in the office of Simon
P. Wolverton, and in the last mentioned year he established an office by
himself; and by strict attention to business is meriting a large and
growing practice. On the 12th of June, 1890, at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania,
he was married to Miss Margaret Focht. In politics he is a Republican. Mr.
McClure gave material aid in securing the national regatta of the National
Association of Amateur Oarsmen which was held at Sunbury in July, 1887.

   CHRISTIAN NEFF was born, October 18, 1817, in Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, and died in Sunbury, June 27, 1882. His father, John
Neff, a farmer during his lifetime, was a native of Lancaster county, as
was also his mother. Our subject spent his boyhood days upon a farm,
until apprenticed to the tailor's trade, which he followed for some
years in Louisville, Kentucky. Returning thence to Lancaster county, he
was married, September 24, 1846, to Ann Brennaman, a step-daughter of
Col. Abraham Greenawalt, of Elizabethtown, that county. He then
purchased a small farm and after following rural pursuits for a while,
he opened a dry goods and grocery store at Buck Lock along the line of
the Pennsylvania canal. About the year 1860 he rented the Washington
House at Middletown, Dauphin county, and kept it until April 1, 1867,
when he purchased the old Washington House at Sunbury, which stood on
the present site of the new Neff House. He at once removed his family
to Sunbury, where he thereafter kept hotel until his death. He was
courteous and gentlemanly, ever ready to accommodate his guests and make
their stay with him as pleasant as possible. He thereby merited an oft
remark from the traveling public, "that he was one of the most open-
hearted landlords they had ever met." He was a member of the Perseverence
Lodge of the Masonic order at Harrisburg. and served in the borough
council of Sunbury. Mr. Neff began his political career as a Whig, and
naturally drifted into the ranks of the Republican Party, and although he
always took an active interest in political issues, yet he never sought
official position. Possessed of a large fund of general information, a
keen knowledge of human nature, quick to perceive the ludicrous in all
things and apt in telling an anecdote in the proper place, he was
consequently very popular among his friends and associates. His wife, who
was born, February 18, 1822, died, April 26, 1878, and was the mother of
the following children by her union with Mr. Neff: Helen A., deceased;
Anna F., deceased; Catharine J., wife of B. M. Aughinbaugh; Horace B., who
married Mary Gill; Caroline; George H., who married Ella Bright and is an
attorney of Sunbury; Lewis F., who married Margaret J. Martin; Christian
S., who married Blanche Long; Walter, deceased, and Annie, deceased. Of
these children, Catharine J., together with her husband and Lewis F. and
George H., are the proprietors of the new Neff House of Sunbury.

   GEORGE H. NEFF, attorney at law, was born, June 26, 1857, in Dauphin
county, Pennsylvania, son of Christian and Ann (Brenneman) Neff. He
received his education at the common schools, finishing at the high
school of Sunbury, from which he was graduated in 1874. He learned
telegraphy in Sunbury, and was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company as operator at Sunbury, Shamokin, and Mt. Carmel for about one
year. On the 7th of January, 1877, he entered the law office of S. P.
Wolverton as a clerk. While there he studied stenography and type-
writing and subsequently became his private secretary, which position he
held for thirteen years. He also took up the study of law under Mr.
Wolverton and was admitted to the bar, June 28, 1881. At this date he
was made assistant to Mr. Wolverton in his office practice and continued
as such until September 1, 1889, when he opened an office and has since
practiced by himself. He is a Democrat, and has always taken an active
part in State and county politics. He is a director in the Southern
Central Railroad Company, now in process of construction, extending from
Sunbury to Harrisburg along the west shore of the Susquehanna river. He
was married, June 2, 1887, to Ella Bright, daughter of Peter Bright, a
boot and shoe merchant of Sunbury, and to this union one child has been
born, Harold M. Mr. Neff with a few others was instrumental in securing
the national regatta of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen,
which was rowed on the Fort Augusta course on the Susquehanna river at
Sunbury in July, 1887.

   DANIEL BECKLEY, court crier, was born, February 2,1802, in Berks
county, Pennsylvania, son of Daniel and Hannah (Eyster) Beckley. The
parents came to Northumberland county about the year 1812 and settled
near Milton, in which town they both died, respected citizens and
consistent members of the German Reformed church. Our subject received
a common school education and was brought up at farm labor. He clerked in
stores at Sunbury, Milton, Selinsgrove, and Trevorton. He was elected by
the Democratic party to the offices of Prothonotary and sheriff and served
a term in each with credit. At the beginning of his term of office Judge
Rockefeller appointed Mr. Beckley court crier, which position he has
continued to fill to the present time. He is a member of the Presbyterian
church and is one of the most upright and respected citizens of the county.

   WILLIAM WHITMER, one of the active business men of Sunbury, was
born at McAllistersville, Pennsylvania, December 11, 1835. He came to
Sunbury in 1872 and immediately embarked in the mercantile and lumber
business, in both of which he has been successful. He is now a member
of the mercantile firm of Whitmer & Trexler, the oldest dry goods house
in Sunbury. He has branched into business from his present town into
different parts of Pennsylvania, and also West Virginia, where he gives
employment to a large number of men. He is a Republican, and one of the
enterprising business men and highly respected citizens of the borough
in which he resides.

   LEWIS DEWART, attorney at law, was born in Sunbury, Northumberland
county, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1849. After a thorough academic
preparation he entered Princeton College and was graduated therefrom in
the class of 1872. He read law with the late Judge Jordan and was
admitted to the bar in 1874. In 1875 he was elected borough clerk, held
the office one term, and in 1877 was elected district attorney. He is
an active and energetic Democrat, and for his party does much hard and
effectual work. He has served on the central committee, and was a
delegate to the convention that nominated Pattison for Governor. The
degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by his Alma Mater.

   CHARLES D. GIBSON, attorney at law, was born in Sunbury,
Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, August 29, l863. His father is the
Rev. Lewis W. Gibson of the Episcopal church, now located at Dover,
Delaware, and his mother was the daughter of the late Judge Charles G.
Donnel, of Sunbury. Charles, the elder of the two sons, was educated by
his father in private instruction and at Union College, Schenectady, New
York. He began the study of law in 1887 with John B. Packer as his
preceptor and was admitted to the bar in September, 1889. Prior to his
taking up the study of law he was five years in the employ of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company as clerk.

   JOHN S. HAAS was born May 6, 1810, in Northumberland county,
Pennsylvania. He received a common school education and on the 6th of
December, 1835, was married to Margaret Deppen, who was born, March 4,
1812, in Berks county, Pennsylvania. When a Young man he belonged to a
militia company and held the position of colonel. He was a Democrat,
and served as overseer of the poor for many years. He died, November
30, 1885, followed by his widow on the 13th of December 1887. Both were
members of the German Reformed church. To their union were born four
children, only one of whom is living, Hiram M.; the others died in
infancy. The Sunbury American of December 4, 1885, contained the
following: "Colonel John S. Haas died at his residence in Upper Augusta
township, near Sunbury, on Monday last, aged about seventy-five years. He
resided in Jackson township, this county, until 1850, when he purchased
what was then called the Sunbury mill property, where he resided since. By
economy and good management he accumulated a large amount of wealth. He
was unassuming and seldom mingled in company and was respected for his
fair and honest dealing. His death was caused from paralysis."

   HIRAM M. HAAS, farmer, was born in Jackson township, March 4, 1846,
son of John S. and Margaret (Deppen) Haas. He was educated at the
Sunbury schools and at Missionary Institute, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania,
and also took a course at the Poughkeepsie Commercial College. He was
occupied for fifteen years in conducting the mill, and in the management
of his father's business. In 1870 he married Lusetta, daughter of John
Hull, a merchant of Snydertown. By this union they have nine children:
John F.; Edward L.; Isaac J.; Bessie May; Hiram W.; Mary Margaret; Essie
Mabel; Nellie Jane, and Marion Valeria. Mr. Haas is an active member of
the Democratic party. He has served as township auditor for three
successive terms, and as school director three terms. He is connected
with the I.O.O.F. and the Royal Arcanum of Sunbury.

   PETER H. SNYDER, a retired citizen of Sunbury, was born in Lower
Augusta township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, February 6, 1820,
son of Peter and Joanna (Shipman) Snyder. His grandfather, Casper
Snyder, came from Germany and settled in this county before the
Revolutionary war. He was a farmer and tavern keeper on the old
Harrisburg and Sunbury road, where his son Peter succeeded him; the old
brick tavern house was built by Casper Snyder in 1798. Peter Snyder was
born in 1788 and died in February, 1866; his wife died six years
previously at the age of seventy years. They reared nine children, and
buried three; eight are now living. Peter H. Snyder was born, February
6, 1820; he was reared upon the farm and educated in the common schools
and at Danville Academy. He studied surveying, and taught school twenty-
one winters. He removed to Sunbury in 1881 and retired from active
business. October 23, 1845, he married Malinda Wolverton, and they are
the parents of four children: Nelson W.; Dennis H.; Rosetta J., and Anna
Laura. Mr. Snyder is a Republican in politics, and in faith a member of
the Presbyterian church.

   HENRY B. SMITH, merchant, was born at Womelsdorf, Berks county,
Pennsylvania, November 19, 1855, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Haak)
Smith. The father, a lumber merchant, died in 1876 at the age of fifty-
six years, and his widowed mother yet lives at Womelsdorf. Henry is the
eldest of two sons and two daughters. The straitened condition of their
financial affairs after the death of his father limited his schooling to
such only as was possible prior to his thirteenth year. At that age he
began to clerk in his native village and remained there one year. Having
accumulated the (to him) vast sum of twenty dollars, he packed up his
valise and started West. Arriving at Sunbury, the "great west" was yet a
great way off, and his capital had dwindled down to a minimum. He sought
employment with Clement and Dissinger, merchants, and remained with them
ten or eleven years. In 1882, having saved about two hundred dollars,
he formed a partnership with S. C. Drumheller and engaged in the coal
business. The year following the dry goods house of Smith, Drumheller &
Zeigler was established as H. B. Smith & Company. Zeigler retired at
the end of three years and Drumheller at the end of two more. Thus,
since 1887, Mr. Smith has had no partner. They began with a capital of
three thousand dollars: Mr. Smith has now invested over twenty thousand
dollars and not only does an extensive trade but sells a great many
goods at wholesale. He is a member of the Patriotic Sons of America,
Royal Arcanum, Conclave, and the Lutheran church. He was married in
Sunbury, October 24, 1888, to Mary E., daughter of Nathan Martz.

   JOHN WEISER BUCHER.- The Bucher family date their advent into
Northumberland county back to the Indian occupation, and the name
figures with more or less prominence in all the succeeding generations.
Henry Bucher, grandfather of John W., reared a large family of children,
and his youngest son, Francis, a tanner by occupation, married Mary Ann
Mawser, December 8, 1831, reared six sons and two daughters, and died,
March 19, 1875. Of his eight children, the subject of this sketch is
the oldest of four sons and one daughter now living. He was born in
Sunbury, September 15, 1835, received an academic education, learned the
tanning business under his father, and at the age of about twenty years
became clerk and deputy of the register and recorder, a position he
filled about six years. He was next appointed deputy prothonotary and
held that office one year. In February, 1864, he enlisted in Company C,
Forty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, at Harrisburg, and served one
year as a private under General Hancock in the Nineteenth army corps. He
was mustered out at Charleston, South Carolina, returned to Sunbury, and
for two or three succeeding years was engaged in the tanning business.
His next employment was with Ira T. Clement as book-keeper of that
gentleman's manufacturing establishment, a position he was continued in
for several years. He has been secretary of the Sunbury Steam Ferry and
Tow Boat Company and associate manager or superintendent of the various
manufacturing industries of Mr. Clement, in whose employ he was for the
fourth of a century. Mr. Bucher has been chief burgess and treasurer of
Sunbury and four of five terms borough councilman. In July 1890, he was
elected secretary and treasurer of the Sunbury Trust & Safe Deposit
Company, a new bank now being started up on the corner of Fourth and
market streets. He is prominent in Masonry, Odd Fellowship, Knights of
Pythias, Improved Order of Red Men, and the Reformed church. He was first
married in Sunbury, December 15, 1858, to Hester A., daughter of the late
James Beard, at one time prothonotary of the county and afterward a
lawyer. She died December 26,1862, leaving three children: Francis Edward,
a lawyer in Philadelphia: John Beard, a merchant of Sunbury, and Mary
Margaret, who was born, September 13, 1862, and died, February 14, 1877.
His second wife, to whom he was married, March 4, 1868, was Mary Jane,
daughter of Ira T. Clement, who died in December following, leaving one
child, Laura C. February 13, 1872, Mr. Bucher married Mary Faust, by whom
he has had five children: Samuel Faust, deceased; William Henry; Sarah
Helen; George Franklin, and Mary Ann Masser. deceased.

   CHARLES M. MARTIN, physician and surgeon, is a son of Rev. Jacob
Martin, of the Lutheran church, and Abbie A. (Stephenson) Martin, and
was born at Greencastle, Franklin county, Pennsylvania. January 15,
1840. His grand-father, George Martin, was one of the pioneers of
Sunbury and here his sons, George, William, Henry, John, Charles,
Luther, and Jacob were born and reared. George served thirty-two years
in the United States Army, including the Seminole Indian war. He and
his brother William served through the Mexican war, and William, Luther,
Henry, George, and Charles were soldiers in the Union Army during the
late Rebellion. Luther was killed in the battle of Gettysburg, and
Henry at the battle of the Wilderness. William was a major and George a
captain; both live retired in Philadelphia. Charles resides in Savannah,
Ohio. Rev. Jacob died in Sunbury in 1872 at the age of sixty-eight
years, fifty years of his life having been spent in the ministry. His
widow survived him but three months. Of his four children, Henry died
at the age of eighteen years; one of his daughters is the wife of James
Lyon, of Sunbury; another is the wife of D. W. Shryeck, of Greensburg,
Pennsylvania, and Charles M., the subject of this sketch, is a physician.
At the outbreak of the war between the States Mr. Martin was living at
Westminister, Maryland, and Charles M., after an academic training at
Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, was attending lectures at the University
of Maryland, at Baltimore, from which institution he was graduated in
March, 1863. While in Baltimore he was a resident student of the hospital
and after graduating was appointed assistant surgeon by Surgeon General
Hammond of the United States Army, and assigned to hospital duty at
Frederick, Maryland. At the close of the war he located in practice at
Owing's Mills, Baltimore county, Maryland, and was there until the summer
of 1870, at which time he came to Sunbury. Here his talents were readily
recognized and he at once took and has since maintained high rank in the
professions. Doctor Martin is vice-president of the Sunbury Medical
Association, and has been resident surgeon of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company for the past twelve or thirteen years. He was appointed on the
board of pension examiners, removed by President Cleveland in the spring
of 1884, and re-appointed by President Harrison in June, 1889. The Doctor
is a Republican in politics, has been a member of the borough council, is
now a school director, is a Knight Templar Mason, and a member of the
Lutheran church. He was married in 1865 at Westminster, Maryland, to
Sallie H. Shreeve, who died in 1872 at Owing's Mills. In February,
1883, he married Mary Alice, daughter of John Haas, of Sunbury, and has
one son, William H.

   HIRAM LONG, physician and surgeon, was born in Northampton county,
Pennsylvania, April 30, 1831. He was reared upon his father's farm and
educated at Stroudsburg. He read medicine in his native village, and
was graduated from New York Medical College in the spring of 1859. In
1862 he became assistant surgeon of the One Hundred Seventy-third
Pennsylvania Volunteers and subsequently in order of promotion assistant
surgeon and surgeon of the Two Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania
Volunteers, a position he held at the close of the war. With the Two
Hundred and Fifth regiment he was in the Ninth army corps and took part
in all the battles fought by the Army of the Potomac. Returning home he
resumed the practice of medicine in Union county, and was there until
1871, when he located in Sunbury. In 1880 he removed to his present
residence in Purdytown, and sought to give up as far as possible the
practice of his profession. Under President Cleveland's administration
he was appointed pension examiner and held the office until displaced by
Corporal Tanner. The Doctor is a member of the Sunbury Medical
Association and was some years its president. He is prominently
identified with the Masonic fraternity, the G.A.R., the Loyal Legion,
the Presbyterian church, and the Sunday school. He was married at his
native place, October 28, 1860, to Frances M., daughter of Dr. Robert E.
James. Dr. Long's father was William A. Long and the maiden name of his
mother was Eva Miller. The Longs were Scotch-Irish and came to America
in 1740, settling first in Chester county, Pennsylvania; later some of
them moved into Bucks and subsequently others into Northampton county.
William A. Long's grandfather located at Mt. Bethel in Northampton
county prior to the war for independence and there his children,
grandchildren and many great-grandchildren were born. William A. Long
married Eva Miller, whose parents were of German descent, and they
reared three sons and three daughters. The daughters are all deceased
and of the sons Jeremiah is a merchant in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Jacob
E. is a banker in Bangor, Pennsylvania, and Hiram is a physician at
Sunbury.

   PHILIP H. RENN, physician and secretary of the Sunbury Medical
Association, was born in Sunbury, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania,
May 26, 1851. He received his primary education at the public schools
and at Sunbury Academy, read medicine with Doctor Clark and later Doctor
McKay, and in 1877, was graduated from the University of Louisville,
Kentucky, to which institution he was cadetted by the United States
government. In 1879 he opened an office in Sunbury, coming hither from
the Marine hospital at Louisville, where he was house surgeon. Here he
stepped steadily into prominence in the profession and has steadily kept
abreast of the foremost. Doctor Renn is a member of the K. of P., the
I.O.O.F., and the Presbyterian church. He was married in Chicago, July
254, 1889, to Miss Dora, of Louisville, Kentucky.

   JACOB MASSER, deceased, physician and surgeon, was born in 1820,
graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1841, and from that time
until his death successfully practiced medicine in Sunbury. He served
one term as register and recorder of Northumberland county, was a
surgeon in the late Rebellion for about one year, and died, September
10, 1876; his widow survives him and now resides in Sunbury,
Pennsylvania.

   FRANKLIN B. MASSER, physician and surgeon, son of Dr. Jacob and
Sarah (Heighler) Masser, was born in Sunbury, this state, July 14, 1860.
He received a common school education; when seventeen years of age he
commenced the study of medicine with Dr. R. H. Awl as his preceptor, was
graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1880, and has since been in
active practice. Our subject is a member of the Sunbury Medical
Association, has been city physician, and pension examiner; he is also a
member of the Royal Arcanum, Knights of the Golden Eagle, and the and
the Episcopal church. Mr. Masser was married in Sunbury, April 12,
1884, to Harriet Houtz, daughter of the late Dr. Henry Houtz, and to
their union have been born two children: Franklin and Sarah.

   JACOB R. CRESSINGER, D. D. S., was born in Sunbury, Northumberland
county, Pennsylvania, May 31, 1844. His father was the Rev. John B.
Cressinger of the Baptist church, a native of this county and a grandson
of Michael Cressinger, a German count who came to America in 1768 and
settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania. Count Cressinger was an officer
in the Continental army during the seven years' war for liberty, and
took an active part in many hard battles with the British. His wife
accompanied him through the entire war and with him lived many happy
years of subsequent peace. After the war he came into this county and
lived in Augusta township to a ripe old age. He reared four sons:
Michael; Henry; William, and Peter. Henry, the grandfather of the
subject of this sketch, was an officer in the war of 1812, and lived
many years at the mountain near the mouth of Shamokin creek; just when
he died is not known, but he is buried in Sunbury cemetery. His wife
was Margaret Renn. And he reared two sons: John B. and Barney. The
latter left Sunbury some time in the '50's and died in Michigan. John
B. preached many years in this county, organized and built up several
churches, and in 1848 removed to Ohio, where he yet lives. He was born,
January 1, 1812, and in July, 1831, married Mary Baumgardner. She died
in 1881 at the age of seventy-five years. They reared four sons and one
daughter, and buried two sons and a daughter in infancy. Jacob R., the
youngest of the family, was educated at the common schools and studied
dentistry with his brother. At the outbreak of the war he was attending
Oberlin College, Ohio, and from there joined the army in August, 1861,
served until November 27, 1865, in the Forty-first Ohio Infantry, and left
the service as brevet second lieutenant. With the gallant Forty-first he
fought in the brittle of Shiloh and the siege of Corinth, and did garrison
duty at Murfreesboro; he met the enemy face to face at Perrysville and at
Stone River, where on the second day he was wounded. He was on duty at
Readyville, Tennessee, and in the Tullahoma Campaign; he participated in
the bloody engagements of Ringgold, Gordon's Mills, Chickamauga, Brown's
Ferry, Orchard Knob, Mission Ridge, and the expedition to the relief of
Knoxville, and was finally mustered out at Blain's Cross Roads, December
31, 1863. By reason of re-enlistment as veteran, January 1, 1864, he
took part in the battle of Dandridge, Tennessee, January 16-17th, and on
January 17th started for home on a thirty days' veteran furlough,
rejoined his command at Chattanooga, Tennessee, March 10, 1864, and was
with it in the following engagements, Rockford Ridge, Resaca, Adairsyilie,
Dallas, Kennesaw, Culp's House, Knickajack Creek, Chattahoochee River,
Pickett's Mills, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Utah Creek, Lovejoy Station
(Georgia), Columbia, Franklin, Nashville (Tennessee), and in Pursuit of
Hood to Huntsville, Alabama. From that time on to the close of the war he
was with his regiment in Texas. After the War he completed the study of
dentistry, and in February, 1868, came to Sunbury. Mr. Cressinger is a
thirty-second degree Mason, an Odd Fellow, and prominent in the G.A.R and
in the Baptist church. He was married in Sunbury, May 31, 1869, to Mary A.
Brice, has three children living, and has buried one, Edna, at the age of
one and one half years. John B. is a student at Bucknell University and
Horace G. is at home. Doctor Cressinger's brother, Isaac, enlisted in 1862
in Company C, Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was captured at
Harper's Ferry, confined in Libby and Andersonville prisons, in the fall
of 1863 was exchanged and subsequently discharged on a surgeon's
certificate. In January, 1864, he re-enlisted and October 19, 1864, at the
battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, he was killed. Another brother, Daniel B.
enlisted in a company from Ohio in 1861, was discharged in 1863, and
soon after his return home died at Upper Sandusky, Ohio. The Doctor has
in his Possession a hammer which was used by his great-grandfather,
Michael Cressinger, to sharpen his flints while serving in the
Revolutionary war, and used by his grandfather in the war of 1812.

   ANDREW NEBINGER BRICE, editor and proprietor of the Sunbury Weekly
News, is a lawyer by profession and a justice of the peace by repeated
elections. He was born at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1840,
son of Thomas and Mary (Wenck) Brice, natives of this county and the city
of Philadelphia, and of Irish and German extraction, respectively. Mr.
Brice was educated at the common schools and in the office of the Sunbury
Gazette he started to learn the printing business in 1857, serving three
years and a half. In the spring of 1861 he assisted in starting the
Northumberland County Democrat, and was connected with that paper about a
year, reading law in the meantime with Judge Alexander Jordan. In the
summer of 1862 he joined the army and was made second lieutenant of
Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers, served
nine months, and was mustered out as first lieutenant. July 4, 1863, he re-
entered the army, going out as a private in a volunteer cavalry squadron,
and served six months. September 7, 1864 he again enlisted and served
nearly one year as a private in Company H, Fifth Pennsylvania Cavalry.
While a member of the One Hundred and Thirty-first regiment he was at
Chancellorsville and Antietam, with the volunteer squadron he was looking
after the wounded at Gettysburg, and with the Fifth Cavalry he was in
front of Richmond and Five Forks. In front of Richmond, December 14, 1864,
he was slightly wounded, but the great irreparable injury received by him
while a soldier was not caused by the armed enemy; it was the more
formidable and dangerous work of disease. That enemy that attacks you in
the air you breathe, in the water you drink, in the food you eat; that
silent, invisible, and insidious monster which hovers about you while you
sleep; that evil genius which mixes the fetid effluvium of decaying animal
and vegetable matter with the pure hydrogen and oxygen of life and plants
the germ of destruction in the blood - from the wounds of this enemy.
Mr. Brice will never wholly recover. After the war he resumed the study
of law and diversified the time with school teaching until admitted to
the bar in 1870. He has been three years chief burgess of Sunbury, more
than once in the council, and five times elected justice of the peace.
In 1881 he started the Sunbury News, which in 1883 absorbed the old
Gazette, and is publishing the Legal News, a small periodical of law-
book size. Mr. Brice was first commander of the local post of the
G.A.R. He is a past grand of the Order of Odd Fellows, past chief
patriarch of the Encampment branch, and also past grand marshal of the
State of Pennsylvania of the same order