}

50 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY


fellows, hoping to find one with whom he could converse about by-gone days, but he inquired in vain. They were all gone, and he found himself alone and lonely. Dilworth's spelling book, from which he learned English, and the knife and fork he used when a little boy, have been preserved as relics of his childhood.


His early advantages for religious instruction were good. He was "brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Morning and evening the old family bible was read and prayer was offered. His mother, too, had much to do in moulding his character and shaping his destiny. One evening as he returned home, he heard a familar voice engaged in prayer. He listened: it was his mother. Among other things, she prayed for her children and mentioned Henry, her youngest son. The mention of his name melted the heart of the listener. Tears rolled down his cheek, and he felt the importance of obeying God's command " My son, give me thine heart !"


In 1793 the entreaties and prayers of the father prevailed, and the son's stubborn heart yielded, and he experienced, as be always believed, the forgiveness and pardon of his sin.


The subject of this sketch was born near what is known as Boehm's chapel. It was the first Methodist house of worship built in Lancaster county, about six miles south of Lancaster city. This chapel was erected in 1791. It was called "Boehm's chapel," because it was built on Boehm's land; and the several Boehm families contributed much towards its erection. There were great gatherings at Boehm's chapel. The Bishops and distinguished lights of Methodism found their way there, and preached the Word of life. At quarterly meetings, the people came from Philadelphia and Maryland, and Boehm's chapel was a center of influence. It is difficult now to estimate the position it once occupied in Methodism.


In 1798, during a quarterly meeting held in this chapel, the now venerable subject of this sketch was converted. A few months before his probation expired, they appointed him a class-leader, at Soudersburg.


In 1800 young Boehm attended the general Conference of


OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 51


the Methodist church, which commenced its session on 6th, at Baltimore. In the same year Boehm, incompany with Dr. Chandler, visited Cape Henlopen, and saw the ocean for the first time, and having been here he saw he tried Tuesday, May 6th, at Baltimore. In the same year Boehm in company with Dr. Chandler, visited Cape Henlopen, and here he saw the ocean for the first time, and having been sick he tried sea bathing, from which he received great benefit. When he returned home he found his father ready to set out on a ministerial tour, and he accompanied him. His father was then allied with the United Brethren. After attending a Conference of this latter body, at which his father was elected one of the Bishops, he nevertheless resolved to travel as an itinerant Methodist minister, and in the same year began his labors.


There was great political excitement at the time. Federalism and Democracy ran high, and Jefferson and Adams were talked about everywhere. The excitement separated families, friends and church members. Boehm was urged on all sides to join one political party or the other.


Bishop Asbury visited his circuit, and he went with him to the Conference, which met in Philadelphia, on Saturday, May 1st, 1802. At this Conference he was appointed to Kent Circuit. This was the oldest circuit on the Peninsula, being formed in 1774. He traveled this circuit till August, when his presiding elder removed him to Northampton Circuit, Pennsylvania, one embracing several counties, besides Northampton, Montgomery, Berks and others.


Another preaching place was at Smithfield, Northampton county ; also at Bristol, on the banks of the Delaware, 20 miles from Philadelphia.


The Philadelphia Conference met at Duck Creek Cross Roads, now Smyrna, in May, 1803, in the Friends' Meeting House, the Methodists using their own for divine worship. During the session of the Conference Boehm, was appointed to Bristol Circuit.


After this, Bishop Asbury visited and asked him to accompany him in his travels. They set out for the west, and arrived in Somerset county. Here Boehm preached in. German. The Bishop said: "Henry, you had better return and preach to the Germans, and I will pursue my journey


52 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY


alone." Shortly after this he acquired the ability to preach readily in English.


On October 22nd, the yearly meeting of the United Brethren was held at his father's place. These meetings generally lasted three days, and were seasons of great interest. He says: " I had made an appointment to preach in the Court House at Reading, but the Commissioners refused to give up the key, and a large number who were assembled were disappointed. There was, in this town, a deep-rooted prejudice against the Methodists which continued for years. When I passed through Reading, in 1810, with Bishop Asbury, the boys laughed at us and said: There go the Methodist preachers.' They knew us by our garb, and perhaps thought it no harm to ridicule us. In 1823, when on Lancaster circuit, I succeeded in planting Methodism in Reading, and formed the first class there, where I had been shut out a score of years before. This I consider quite a triumph.


"Harrisburg was another of our preaching places. I was in the neighborhood of where Harrisburg now stands in 1793. It was then called Harris' Ferry, from John Harris, its founder. In 1803 it was a small place, and Lancaster was then the capital of Pennsylvania.


"Columbia was another of our preaching places. I was at this spot in 1791, when it was called Wright's Ferry,' from John Wright, a Quaker preacher, who came from England, and was the original land proprietor.


"My presiding elder was James Smith, a native of Ireland. We used to call him 'Big Jimmy,' to distinguish him from two other James Smiths. I took a tour with him for several days. He preached in English, and I immediately translated his sermons into German. There was no other way to get access to the people, many of them having never heard a sermon in English."


The Philadelphia Conference of 1804 was held at Soudersburg, commencing May 28th. The place was called Soudersburg, from Benjamin and Jacob Souders, the proprietors. They were both Methodists Benjamin being a local preacher. Methodism was introduced here in 1791, and a house of worship built in 1801. The Conference was held in a pri-


OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 53


vate room, at the house of Benjamin Souders, that the meeting-house might be used for preaching. There were 120 preachers present, and Boehm exulted at the idea of a Methodist Conference being held in his native county.


At this Conference he was appointed to Dauphin circuit.


On April 1st, 1805, he attended the Baltimore Conference in Winchester, Virginia, a place where Methodism had early been introduced.


At this Conference there were seventy-four preachers present and here Boehm, for the first time, saw Rev. William Waters, the first American Methodist traveling preacher, and also heard him preach.


The Philadelphia Conference met on May 1, 1805, in Chestertown, Md., in the court house, that the meeting house might be occupied for preaching. Here Bishop What-coat ordained seven deacons, among whom was Henry Boehm, whose father was present, desirous to see his son invested with full ministerial powers.


He was at this Conference appointed to St. Mary's Circuit. In his travels in this circuit, he met Lorenzo Dow, who, he says, was an irregular, eccentric and yet powerful preacher. He heard him several years afterwards, in Camden, N. J., where he appeared quite changed and shorn of his strength.


In 1807 he was, with Wm. Hunter, appointed to Pennsylvania Circuit, embracing that part of the State which lies between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers. " It was not," he says, " till 1807 that we got a permanent foothold in Lancaster. It was very hard soil for Methodism. Twice we made a beginning, but failed; and for several years the place was abandoned. W e had no preaching there, only an occasional sermon. The introduction of Methodism into Lancaster was providential. The translation of the Methodist discipline into German, had something to do with it. In 1807 I went to Lancaster to read the proof sheets of this translation at the printers. After I had read them and was about to return home, it commenced raining hard, and I put up at a public house where I had often stopped. Annoyed by the noise and confusion of the people, I left the public house and took a walk through Lancaster, to while away the


54 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY


time. While going along the street, I met with a woman who had been a member of the Methodist church, in Germantown. She told me there was a man by the name of Philip Benedict, in Lancaster, who had been awakened at a camp-meeting, and he and his wife were seeking the Lord; and she advised me to call and see them, telling me where they lived. I went to their house, pointed them to Jesus, and prayed with them. As I was about leaving they said, ‘O that we could have Methodist preaching in Lancaster.' I told them they could have it. So I left an appointment to preach at his house. It became a permanent preaching place. In a little while I formed a class of six members : Philip Benedict and his wife and four others. This was the nucleus of the society, which remained permanent. 1 am thankful that I had the honor of planting the tree of Methodism in that city. Behold, how many links there are in this singular chain ; how many small causes to bring such results."


At the request of Bishop Asbury, and the Philadelphia Conference, Boehm had the Methodist discipline translated into German, in 1807. He employed Dr. Romer, and aided him in the translation. They frequently compared notes and consulted about certain terms. Boehm employed Henry and Benjamin Grimier, printers, in Lancaster, to print 1500 copies. The Germans had an idea that the Mothodists had no discipline. This translation corrected the error.


At the Philadelphia Conference, held on the 20th of March, 1808, Boehm, with two colleagues, was appointed to his old field of labor.


After this, Bishop Asbury again chose Boehm as his traveling companion.; and he traveled with the latter around a large diocese.


"The venerable Asbury says Boehm was sixty-three years old when I began to travel with him. Having been greatly exposed, he was feeble and suffered from many infirmities. I traveled with him much longer than any of his other companions, and hence survived them all many years."


He left the Bishop infirm at Brownsville, Pa., for a while, and went to preach, or " fill his appointments," while the


OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 55


family where he stayed took care of him. Boehm reached Pittsburg, and preached in the court house to about a thousand people, who came to hear the Bishop, and saw but a plain German youth from their own State.


After the Bishop had recovered his health, they started for Ohio, preaching in various places. In September 6th, 1808, having spent some time in Cincinnati, they left for Indiana Territory, then a vast wilderness. At that time the Methodist church had but seven Conferences. The Western Conference included all the vast tract of country lying west of the Alleghanies, as far as it was settled, except Monongahela District, which belonged to the Baltimore Conference. The Western Conference met on October 1st, at Liberty Hill, Tennessee. Some of the appointments made at this Conference embraced the territory of whole States.


The day after the Western Conference adjourned, Boehm, in company with two Bishops, started for the South Carolina Conference, which was to meet in Liberty chapel, Green county, Georgia, on December 6th, 1808.


On November 23, 1808, Rembert's camp-meeting commenced, where Boehm for the first time saw the Southern preachers, all of whom have passed away except, Pierce and himself. On the 28th of November they started for Charleston, where Boehm was delighted with the warm-hearted brethren he met with; but he adds to his reflections, written many years later: " It was a sad day for them when secession was born, and they fired upon Fort Sumpter and the old time-honored flag."


From here they went to Southern Conference, the two Bishops riding in a chaise ; Boehm on horseback, as a kind of body-guard. The Conference commenced Monday, Dec. 26th, 1808. Here Boehm witnessed the novelty of seeing a camp-meeting held in winter, between Chri;tmas and New Year, where about a thousand people attended.


After the close of this Conference Boehm started for the North; and towards the end of March, 1809, reached the home of his parents again:



56 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY


On April 3, 1809, the Philadelphia Conference met in St. George's, Philadelphia, Pa. Bishops McKendree and Asbury were both present. Boehm says: " It may be asked to whom I was amenable when I traveled with Bishop Asbury ?" answer, to the Philadelphia Conference. It may be asked, who represented me, as I had no presiding elder. I answer, Bishop Asbury. When the question was asked, " Is there anything against Henry Boehm?" The Bishop was the only-person who could answer it, for he was the only one who knew how I spent the year; and he would answer with great gravity, "Nothing against Brother Boehm." It may be asked how I was supported while I traveled with the Bishop ? I answer, I received it from the different Conferences, as the Bishops received their salaries. My salary was one hundred dollars."


At the adjournment of the Conference, Bishop Asbury and Boehm went through New Jersey to Long Branch, Staten Island, and Elizabethtown.


On Monday, May 7th, 1809, they left Newark for the city of New York; and in the evening, Boehm went for the first time to the old church in John street, built by Philip Em-bury, called "Wesley Chapel ;" the first in the world named after Wesley.


On May 10th the New York Conference commenced its session in John street. There were 120 preachers present. Bishops Asbury and McKendree were present.


June 16th, 1809, he, with Bishop Asbury, attended the New England Conference at Monmouth, in Maine. After its close, they traveled through northern New York; and afterwards entered Pennsylvania, reaching the Valley of Wyoming, famed by Campbell.


Their appointments were generally sent forward, and in consequence of heavy rains, swollen rivers and muddy roads, they were eighty miles behind their Sabbath appointments. The Bishop says : " Brother Boehm upset the sulky and . broke the shaft."


From what has been said, it is evident that the office of a Methodist Bishop, at the time we speak of, was no sinecure ; and that Boehm, in accompanying him, had more to do than


OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 57


play the fine gentleman. It was, indeed, toil, intense toil, as much as body and soul could endure. During this tour Boehm visited all the Methodist Conferences then in existence in the United States, and preached the gospel in fifteen States, and became acquainted with the great men of Methodism in the ministry and laity, East, West, North and South. He says: " Never was a mariner after a perilous voyage more rejoiced to get into harbor than we were to reach, the old family mansion of my father. We arrived there on Friday, July 28, 1809 ; but both my parents were from home; therefore, Mr. Asbury concluded to go right on, while I went to a camp-meeting, near Morgantown, where I met my parents, and they embraced me with joy. I had been in seven different States, besides the Province of Maine, since I saw them." At the camp-meeting I heard my father preach in German. I preached immediately afterwards in English." He now started to overtake Bishop Asbury, and came up with him on August 3, 1809, at Fort Littleton. Soon after, our subject and the Bishop directed their journey westward, through Pittsburg to Cincinnati, where, on September 30, 1809, the Western Conference commenced its session, and from thence to Charleston, South Carolina, where Conference commenced on December 23, 1809.


They next returned to Virginia. Of this journey Rev. Boehm says : " My sufferings can never be told. The day we rode to Petersburg, we stopped to rest in the woods, and I lay down upon a log, for I was too weak to sit up. The time came to start, and I told the Bishops (Bishop McKendree had now rejoined us) to go, and leave me there. I felt as if I would rather die on that log than go on. They lifted me from the log on to my horse, and in this plight I rode to Petersburg. When we arrived there about sundown, I was into the house." so weak they had to lift me from my horse and carry me into the house.”


On the way south of Washington, they met that peculiar genius and unequaled orator, John Randolph, of Roanoke. He was riding, and had his dogs with him in the carriage. His complexion was very dark, and his eyes were black. They reached Baltimore, and from here Boehm went to see his


- 5 -


58 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY


father, who returned with him to Baltimore to attend the Conference. The elder Boehm preached in the Rev. Otterbein's church. He, Otterbein, and Asbury, were great friends. Henry Boehm says: " This was my father's last visit to Baltimore, his last interview with Otterbein, and the last time he ever attended an annual Conference. From Baltimore they went to the Philadelphia Conference, which commenced its session April 18, 1810, at Easton, Md. When the appointments were read off, they included the following : Henry Boehm travels with Bishop Asbury.' They now visited the Pittsfield (N. Y.) Conference, and from there went to the New England and Genesee Conferences. Boehm says of their journey from the Genesee Conference: " We commenced our Southern and Western tour. Such a doleful, fearful ride, few Bishops ever had ; and it was one calculated to make the traveler rejoice when at the end of his journey. Asbury, at that time, in consequence of infirmities, rode in a sulky, and I on horseback. Sometimes I would ride before him, and then in the rear. We would occasionally change when he was tired, or the roads very rough."


Asbury, in his journal, says : " We must needs come the Northumberland road; it is an awful wilderness. Alas.! read and prayed in the woods. I leave the rest to God. In the last three days and a half we have ridden one hundred and forty miles. What mountains, hills, rocks, roots Brother Boehm was thrown from the sulky, but providentially not a bone was broken."


Again, Boehm says : " The road was so rough that Bishop Asbury could not ride in the sulky; it jolted and hurt him, so he and I exchanged, and he rode my horse, and I in his vehicle. If 'he had been thrown out as I was, he probably would have been killed. No bone of mine was broken, and yet the flesh was torn from my left leg so that I was a cripple for months. I suffered more than if it had been broken. Riding on horseback with that poor leg, no language can describe my suffering."


Boehm and the Bishop reached home again. Mr. Boehm says : "After an absence of months I remained at home


OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 59


 one day and two nights, and the Bishop said, ' Henry, we must move.' My father and sister, and many others, went to Lancaster, where, on the 5th of August, we had a great day. The Bishop even felt an interest in this place, where we had such a hard time to obtain a foothold. He preached morning and evening ; James Smith at three, and I immediately after him in German. The Bishop rejoiced to see such a comfortable house of worship here, and wrote : ' After forty years' labor we have a neat little chapel of our own.' Good-bye,' I said to my friends, and at noon on Monday, we were at Columbia, where the Bishop preached. I was lame, and the lameness was increasing, but I did not mention it to my parents, lest they should urge me to stay at home, or worry about me when I was gone, therefore I bore my sufferings in silence."


Their route now again went through Carlisle, Shippensburg, Chambersburg, Connellsville, Brownsville, to Pittsburg. From Pittsburg they went west, to Chilicothe and Cincinnati, to the Western Conference, which was held in Shelby county, Ky. From there they went south and attended the South Carolina Conference. January 28th, 1811, they started to cross Cape Fear river, and narrowly escaped losing their horses and lives. Boehm says : " Bishop .Asbury was much alarmed, far more so than I had ever seen him. Our preservation and that of the horses was providential."


They next attended the Virginia Conference, then the Baltimore Conference, after which Boehm left the Bishop and went home to see his parents, whom he found well. Mr. Boehm, on this trip, preached in Lancaster.


After the sessions of the Philadelphia and New England Conferences, Bishop Asbury and he made a visit to Canada. Boehm says : " We crossed the St. Lawrence in' romantic style. We hired four Indians to paddle us over. They lashed three canoes together and put our horses in them, their fore-feet in one canoe and their hind-feet in another. It was a singular load, three canoes, three passengers (the Bishop, Smith and myself), three horses and four Indians. They were to take us over for three dollars."


60 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY


From Canada they passed through the Genesee country, and then reached home, the elder Boehm and Asbury to meet on earth for the last time.


On August 20th they started for the west and south ; attended the Virginia Conference February 20th, 1812. Afterwards, while attending the Baltimore Conference, Bishop Asbury seemed to have a presentiment of the elder Boehm's death, and they reached home and found the aged patriarch no more.


Sunday, April 5th, Bishop Asbury preached his funeral sermon at Boehm's Chapel, to an immense crowd.


On May 1st, 1812, they attended the General Conference in the city of New York. This was the last General Conference Asbury attended.


Boehm soon afterwards ceased to travel with the Bishop. The latter thus spoke of the connection with him in his travels : "For five years he has been my constant companion. He served me as a son ; he served me as a brother ; he served me as a servant ; he served me as a slave."


Boehm was now appointed presiding elder of Schuylkill district, embracing Boehm's Chapel, so that he might be more with his widowed mother.


In 1815 he was appointed to Chesapeake district. On July 4th he visited his mother, and Asbury met him there. They went together to Lancaster, and there parted for the last time. Asbury died at the house of George Arnold, of Spottsylvania, Virginia, March 31st, 1816.


At the Philadelphia Conference, held April 18th, 1816, Boehm was elected a delegate to the General Conference, which met in Baltimore, May 1st, 1816. Bishop Asbury's funeral service was here held, at which Boehm was one of the mourners, and Bishop McKendree pronounced the funeral oration. He left a will, of which Boehm was one of the executors; and now, for a long time, the only surviving one. At the Conference held in Philadelphia, in April, 1817, Boehm was appointed presiding elder of Chesapeake district. He made several tours with Bishop McKendree, and also with Bishop George. In 1819 he was appointed presiding elder of the Delaware district.


OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 61


In April, 1821, Conference was held at Milford, Delaware ; and Boehm was married now and resided there. He was reappointed to the same district.


In 1823 he was on Lancaster circuit. His mother died in November of that year, and was buried beside his father. In 1826-7 he was on Strasburg district. For fourteen years he was on circuits after he left the districts. He got a little home on Staten Island, and took a supernumerary relation. Here his wife died. He was a member of the General Conference of 1832, and was present at the memorable Conference in 1844, when the church South seceded. He had much to do in laying the foundation of German Methodism in New York. In 1856 he visited Lancaster again, where he was heartily welcomed by John Boehm's widow. He spent several weeks in the vicinity in visiting old friends, and preaching. He found Philip Benedict and his wife still living, who are now both dead. They talked over the early struggles and triumphs of Methodism in Lancaster.


He visited Boehm's Chapel, from whose windows he could see the graves of his father and mother. The friends of his youth were all gone. He visited the west again, and wondered at the changes since he had traveled there. In Dayton, in the publishing house of the " United Brethren in Christ," he saw a portrait of his father. Here he also saw an excellent likeness of Father Otterbein.


He visited his relative, Samuel Binkley, who formerly lived near his father. Here a cane was presented to him, which originally belonged to Otterbein, who gave it to Asbury, and he gave it to the elder Boehm. After his return home, he again went west and stayed a year in Cincinnati, where he preached before Conference in Xenia, and was present at the marriage of General Grant's sister in Covington, Kentucky, to a German preacher stationed in Cincinnati.


In 1864 he attended the General Conference in Philadelphia, and addressed it on the topics of the past and present. He brought the tears to many eyes in recalling the hardships he and many of the fathers endured.


During the last few years he has annually made a visit to


62 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY


Lancaster, where he still preaches the Gospel whenever he comes. His appearance is venerable and commanding, his enunciation plain, distinct and deliberate. His memory is very good, and anecdotes nearly a century old fall from his lips with peculiar grace.


On October 1st, 1871, he was present by special invitation, to lay the corner-stone of the new Methodist church in East King street, Lancaster, where he expressed his gratification in being able to behold the progress of the Methodist churches from their early weakness and struggles to their present position of influence in the community.


At the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, held in May, 1872, at Brooklyn, New York, he was present and addressed the assembled ministers, who heartily welcomed the venerable veteran, and he left them carrying with him their hearty congratulations and many good wishes for his happiness in the deep shades of his far advanced life.


BOMBERGE R, GEORGE H., was a soldier of the war of 1812, and marched to the defence of Baltimore in 1814. He was, in 1822, appointed Deputy Marshal of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In 1823 he was appointed Clerk of the Orphans' Court. He was for many years one of the leading conveyancers and scriveners of Lancaster.


His son, Dr. J. II. A. Bomberger, is President of Ursinus College, Pennsylvania, and a theologian of wide reputation in the Reformed church. He is also editor of the Reformed Church Monthly, and the author of several theological works.


BOMBERGER, JOHN, was a merchant tailor of Lancaster, and a man of considerable wealth and standing in the community. He was elected County Commissioner in 1811, and appointed Recorder in 1839.


*BOMBERGER. The Bomberger family of Lancaster county, and in fact mostly all bearing this name in the United States and Canadas, are descendants of Christian Bomberger and Maria his wife, who emigrated from Eshelbrun, Baden, and arrived in this county on the 12th of May, 1722. He took up and settled upon a tract of land in War-


*Contributed by I. F. Bomberger, of Litiz.


OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 63


wick township, which is now in possession of Christian Bomberger, Jacob Bomberger, and Levi B. Brubaker. It contained 548 acres, the patent of which is still preserved, and bears date May 22nd, 1734.


He bad two sons, named John and Christian, and six daughters. John's descendants were five sons, viz : Michael, John, Christian, Joseph and Jacob. Of Michael, John and Joseph, no record can be found. Jacob removed to Dauphin county, and but one of his descendants, Jacob, who at present resides in Harrisburg, is known to exist. Christian had seven sons, viz : Joseph, David, Moses, Peter, Samuel, Christian and John. Moses, Peter and John, had no children. Joseph had two sons, one of which, Elias, removed to Virginia. Samuel and Christian went to Canada ; and David had two sons, viz : Isaac and Christian (Doctor). The former bad two sons, Cyrus and Isaac, both residing now in Penn township ; and the latter, who is still living, has two sons, Isaac F. and Samuel G., all residing in Warwick township.


Christian's descendants were five sons, viz : John, Christian, Jacob, Joseph and Abraham. Of Christian and Abraham, no record is found. Jacob had no children ; Joseph had three, Christian, Joseph and John ; and John had seven, viz : Christian, John, Jacob, Joseph, Abram, Daniel and Peter. John had two sons, Christian and Jacob, who live upon the old homestead. Christian's descendants are in Cumberland county. Jacob left but one descendant, Henry, who resides in Warwick. Peter's descendants are represented by his grandsons, John B., Elias, Martin E., Christ, and Abram, of Manheim. Joseph, Abram and Daniel, have left descendants in different parts of the county; their exact lineage cannot be traced.


BOWMAN, H. B., was born at Ephrata, Lancaster co., Penna., in the year 1804. He received a good English education, graduated in the Pennsylvania Medical College, Philadelphia, and practiced medicine in the village of Neffsville, Lancaster 'county, until the autume of 1848, when he was elected Recorder of Deeds in and for Lancaster county, the duties of which office he discharged during his official


64 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY


term with entire satisfaction. In 1856 he started a woolen mill at Neffsville. In 1862 he was elected a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and in 1863 was re-elected, serving both terms to the satisfaction of his constituents. Dr. Bowman died July 21st, 1869.


BOWMAN, JOSEPH, was in 1851 elected Prothonotary of Lancaster county.


*BOWMAN, SAMUEL. The subject of this memoir is a striking instance of that noblest of all spectacles, a poor and uninfluential young man, making his way in life and struggling for intellectual improvement. When men born to, affluence, and aided by all the appliances of the best academical training, succeed in acquiring knowledge, become useful in their day and generation, and gain for themselves position, and succeed in having their names inscribed on the rolls of fame, we cannot withhold our admiration and a just tribute of praise. What shall we say then, when we behold a young man encumbered by all the impediments that adverse circumstances can interpose, by his energy and indomitable perseverance overcoming them all and becoming a conspicuous and shining light, whose benign influence extends beyond his immediate neighbor. hood, and lasts long after his earthly career is terminated ?


It has been well slid, that where there are no examples of excellence there will be no efforts to attain it. In this instance we have a spirit who finds an ideal character of . excellence in the fertile resources of his own mind, and faithfully and to a considerable degree successfully struggles to realize this soul-born ideal of perfection. Truly he, in departing, left behind him


—" Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints that perhaps another

Sailing o'er life's solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother

Seeing, shall take heart again."


Our subject was born at Bowman's Mills, in Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the first day of December, 1789. His father, Christian Bauman, (as the name originally was written in


*Contributed by J. B. Good, esq.


OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 65


German), was a Swiss Mennonite, whose ancestors had emigrated to America on account of the religious persecutions that followed the revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. His mother was Nancy Huber, of whose relatives a number are still living in this county.


Of his early years little is known except that his mother, in his childhood, perceived that he was different from the rest of her children, and, as it is said, in view of the approach of her death, which occurred when he was still quite young, was much concerned for him, not knowing whether his peculiarities indicated mental vigor or imbecility.


As soon as he was sent to school, however, it became evident that he had a natural fondness for letters, and he soon made such progress that he far outstripped all his schoolmates.


English schools had no existence in those days in the neighborhood where young Bowman was born and raised. In his father's family, and in the whole neighborhood for many miles around, no other language than the Pennsylvania German was in use. He, however, assiduously applied himself to the study of the English language, and for this purpose procured the best dictionaries that he could obtain, and he soon gained considerable proficiency in the language.


After he had attended the schools in the neighborhood, and having nearly attained the years of manhood, he attended a school kept in the neighborhood of Churchtown, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he had the opportunity of conversing in English, with both teachers and pupils.


Here he studied surveying, which he afterwards so extensively and successfully practiced for many years, and in which he attained, perhaps, to as much skill and habitual accuracy as any other surveyor in the State or:elsewhere.


His clear head and logical mind were eminently fitted for practical geometry. His love of justice and equity, and his high character for honesty and uprightness of purpose, all combined to make him afterwards the most successful practical surveyor in the whole neighborhood for many miles around.


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66 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY


About this time his taste for general literature commenced to develop itself. From the time he had learned to read he continued to manifest a remarkable love for books and a taste for the beautiful. It is in regard to this feature of his character that we have the greatest reason to admire this, in many respects, extraordinary man. Surrounded by those who had no literary taste at all ; the ignorant, the illiterate and the bigoted, he not only acquired a just taste for elegant literature, so that he enjoyed the best productions of art, and the creations of the beautiful, especially in poetry, but he also occasionally composed himself. His style was very nervous and clear ; his points made with much clearness, force and precision.


In his library, were found some of the best classical authors in the English language, and he never bought books for playthings or for show, but he used and studied them till their contents became almost a part of himself.


It was thus that he acquired an almost inexhaustible fund of illustrative anecdotes; and there was no one 'who knew how to apply them in conversation more opportunely and with finer effect than himself.


Among other authors he used to read and admire, was Pope's translation of the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer. Boswell's life of Dr. Johnson he also enjoyed very much, on account of the sterling character of the great moralist, though he heartily despised the sycophantic biographer. Among the German poets, he especially loved the witty and sarcastic Langbein, whose lively verses he enjoyed with exquisite delight. But he had a clear perception of the excellent and beautiful, and he admired and prized it wherever he found it in his extensive reading.


In 1815 he was married to Elizabeth Bauman, a distant relative, an estimable lady, and one who was possessed of considerable personal attractions. Of this marriage were born several children, only one of whom (a daughter, married to Mr. Isaac Sensenig), is living at this time. His wife survived him a few years.


From. 1815 to 1820 he was, during the winter months, engaged in teaching school. During the rest of his time he


OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 67


followed surveying, scrivening, and sometimes ordinary labor. He never considered it beneath his dignity to perform, when necessary, any kind of honorable labor.


In teaching school he exercised a remarkable influence over his pupils. He acquired a wonderful reputation among his neighbors, on account of his great knowledge; for they gazed,


" And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,

That one small head could carry all he knew."


But he was especially famous for his success in keeping good order and governing his school well. To this day there are some of his pupils living, who, when talking about the degeneracy of modern school government, will say: " It was not thus in Sam Bowman's school."


In 1820 he built the first house in the place, which was afterwards named after him, " Bowmansville." This place is situated in the valley of the Muddy Creek, in Brecknock township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, about four miles from Bowman's mill, the place of his birth.


The house he built was arranged for keeping a country store. Here he commenced the mercantile business immediately after the building was finished. His means were small, and he had, to a great extent, to begin his career upon borrowed capital. But such were his industry, economy and business qualifications, that he soon became a lender instead of a borrower. His well-known character for honesty and fair dealing, as well as his pleasing social qualities, attracted crowds of customers. His store was resorted to far and near ; and it .is very remarkable that this man, so different in his views, tastes and habits of thought from those by whom he was surrounded, should yet have maintained their friendship, confidence and esteem in an unusual degree. This fact alone proves the high moral qualities of the man, and his unexceptionable deportment towards all those with whom he came in contact.


In the meantime he also followed the business of a surveyor and conveyancer. He was soon appointed and commissioned a justice of the peace, in which office, however, he did not act, except to take acknowledgments of deeds and


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other legal instruments of writing, of which be prepared great numbers.


On the first day of April, which is the general moving and settlement day in Lancaster county, his store was the place where the business of the whole neighborhood was transacted. He had to perform not only the duties of a country merchant, but also those of a scrivener, banker and legal adviser. Indeed, his neighbors reposed so much confidence in him, that he was frequently consulted on general matters of private business, and his advice was considered so valuable that it was almost invariably followed.


In 1840 a post-office was established at his store, and was after him named "Bowmansville," and he was appointed postmaster, which position he held for a number of years, and performed its duties to the general satisfaction of his neighbors.


He never held any other office except the two mentioned, justice of the peace and postmaster ; and yet his influence was greater than those of many men who have held prominent positions in the gift of the people. He never could condescend to wallow in the mire of political scheming and corruption. His nature was honest and straightforward, and incapable of the mean actions and petty tricks of professional politicians.


From what has been said above, it is evident that his life was one of constant and unremitted labor, both of mind and body. Being rather corpulent, as he advanced in life his aversion to active out-door exercise increased, and the consequence was that his physical constitution suffered, and he was attacked with paralysis. His mental vigor also gradually declined, until he was forced to retire from active business. The transition from constant activity to the confinement of his room affected him unfavorably. His health continued to grow worse, until after a short confinement to his bed he died, January 19th, 1857, at his home in Bowmansville, surrounded by his family, and mourned by a large number of friends and acquaintances.


It is very seldom that the death of a mere private citizen occasions so great a void in the community as did that of


OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 69


the subject of this sketch. His character was altogether pure and his morals irreproachable. His word was never doubted. His advice was doubly valuable, because it came from one whose wisdom, honesty and integrity of purpose were undoubted, quite above suspicion. To his unlettered neighbors his knowledge and general intelligence were matters of wonder. He stood so much head and shoulders above them all, that his attainments were by them supposed to be almost infinite, and his judgment infallible. But he was admired by others than his illiterate meighbors. Intelligent strangers were. often surprised to find a man of his superior qualities in a locality where they had not supposed that they should meet with any save the plain and simple.


In his business habits, he was very careful and methodical. The deeds of conveyance and other instruments of writing he prepared, and the drafts of the numerous surveys he made, all attest the anxious care as well as consummate skill with which he performed his work. lie bad a laudable ambition to be esteemed a correct and competent business man ; and all who knew him and had business transactions with him can bear testimony to the ability and honesty with which his affairs were conducted.


In his intercourse with his neighbors he was remarkably genial and social. He seemed to forget his superiority when he came in social contact with those around him, and in every respect identified himself with them.


As regards his religious views and opinions, it is difficult to faithfully portray them. The peculiar circumstances which surrounded him in his early youth, had undoubtedly much to do with his religious impressions. The religion of his parents and relatives was clothed in anything but an attractive garb. Dry dogmas, narrow, bigoted views, and unenlightened sectarian zeal, were elements as unattractive to his mind as could be well conceived. The natural consequence was, that every thing bearing the name and resemblance of religion, became odious to. him. The active energies of his mind soon raised doubts as to the truth of a system whose aspect was so uninviting and whose spirit was so uncongenial to his more- refined nature. And, when


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parental love and solicitude for his spiritual welfare brought the strongest arguments they could command to bear upon him, they were so absurdly conceived or so awkwardly handled, that his clear head and subtle discrimination could not help but perceive their weakness and absurdity. The inevitable consequence unfortunately was, that he took for granted that these were the strongest arguments that could be advanced in support of the truth of the Christian system, and he became—a skeptic. In these doubts he became more confirmed by reading various authors, such as Volney and others; but such was his modesty and conscientious fear of injuriously affecting others, that he never openly gave utterance to his opinions.


These doubts cost him many sleepless nights, and they followed him more or less from his youth through middle life ; and it was only after his sun had crossed the meridian and the lengthening shadows of the evening of life closed around him, that his mind rested in peace upon the truths of the gospel as revealed in the Bible, and died in full faith and expectation of a glorious resurrection.


*BOWMAN, REV. DR. SAMUEL, was born in Wilkesbarre, in the beautiful Wyoming Valley on the 21st of May, 1800. His father was an officer in the Revolutionary war, and was an active participant in the battle of Lexington. Educated at an academy in his native place, the law had been chosen as his profession, but he soon became a student of divinity, having been brought under deep religious conviction by the sudden death of his father, which resulted from an accident. He was ordained in Philadelphia, August 25th, 1823, and entered upon ministerial duty in this county ; in the same year preaching his first sermons in Leacock and Salisbury townships, where he remained about two years. In 1825 he was stationed at Easton, but in the following year he returned to his former charges in this county. In 1827 he accepted a call to the Rectorship of St. James' church, in this city, one of the oldest Episcopal parishes in the State. Of the acceptable manner in which he more than discharged the responsible duties of this sacred station, we


*From the Lancaster Daily Evening Express.


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are not confined in our search for testimony to that of his own branch of the church ; nor indeed to the circle of professing Christians of whatever denomination. Dr. Bowman not only had the unlimited confidence of the members of his own congregation, but his friends were legion amongst those of no church connection. The characteristics which so strongly attached him to all who knew him, grew with his growth and strengthened with his years. His attachment to his parish and to the community was so deep, that he would never accept any position which involved the necessity of abandoning Lancaster as his home. In 1845 he was, against his own inclinations, voted for as the candidate of those in convention who opposed Rev. Dr. Tyng for bishop, and was several times elected by the clergy, but the laity refused to concur. The contest was long and exciting, and Bishop Potter was finally elected as a compromise candidate, much to Dr. Bowman's gratification, who would have accepted the office with much reluctance, if at all, for the reason above stated. In 1848 he was elected bishop of the diocese of Indiana, which he declined again, reiterating his desire to remain with the flock between whom and himself there was such a strong attachment.


With regard to the two parties which unfortunately exist in the Episcopal church, Bishop Bowman was a conservative, even to the extent of ignoring the existence of what are called " High" and " Low Church." It was only on the Sunday night previous to his death, while walking home with him from St. John's Free Church, where he preached his last discourse, that he remarked that unrestrained party spirit had brought the existing calamity upon our nation, and that if it were possible to destroy the church of Christ, party spirit would be the instrumentality through which it would be accomplished. He regarded party as the besetting sin of both church and State. This, indeed, bad been the spirit of his earnest discourse, at St. John's, that evening, based upon the word of St. Paul, addressed to the church at Corinth—" For I am determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."


And this was the spirit in which he accepted the office of


72 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY


Assistant Bishop, three years before. The convention failing to make a choice between Dr. Vinton and himself, Dr. Bowman offered a resolution for a committee to report to the convention a candidate, which he advocated with great earnestness and ability, solemnly and emphatically withdrawing his name from the nominations before the convention. He said God brought men together by ways unknown to them. His name had been placed there without any feeling of ambition on his part. His great and only desire was, that he might pass the rest of his days in the humble, yet honorable, station of the ministry, to which he was so sincerely attached. He expressed the hope that the carrying out of this resolution would prove the breaking down of the partition that existed between some portions of the church, in which church all should be of " One Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism." Let the only strife be, he continued, as to who shall expend most labor in the cause of God. Let us no longer array ourselves under party leaders. Let our only motto be, "Pro Deo, pro ecclesia, et hominum salute !"


After the election of Dr. Bowman, he was introduced to the convention, by a committee, as the Assistant Bishop. He closed a feeling address with the " fervent hope that the work which the convention had accomplished that day would redound to the unity and advancement of the church, through Jesus Christ our Lord."


In 1861, on the occasion of his thirtieth anniversary as Rector of St. James', Dr. Bowman thus alluded' to the changes that thirty years had made in the church and parish: " When lie preached his first sermon in St. James', the Episcopal church in the United States had but 10 bishops, and 460 ministers ; now it embraces 39 bishops and 1836 ministers. When he entered the parish , of St. James' there were but 50 communicants, only 25 of whom remain, the rest having fallen asleep. Now there are two hundred communicants. During the period of his ministerial labors in the parish, he had solemnized 221 marriages, 648 baptisms, and attended 378 funerals; the rite of confirmation was also administered to 270 persons. About 8 years ago a parochial school was established, in which from 80 to 100 children have been con-


OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 73


tinually educated without drawing upon the public for aid. An Orphan Asylum had been established during the same period, affording a Christian home to many helpless and unprotected children. And more recently still, a 'Home' or the aged and infirm, which had already accomplished great good, and promises still more extended usefulness for ;he future." The enlargement of St. James' was referred to ; Ind more recently, the establishment of a church (St. John's) on the principle of free seats, which has already been paid for, and which he hoped had a long career of usefulness before it. These were charges which do not attract the gaze Ind admiration of the world ; indeed, it is too often the lestiny of those who labor in any good cause to have little sympathy from the world, but " God will not forget their works and labor of love."


The death of Bishop Bowman occurred in this wise. He had left home on a tour of western visitation in his official capacity, and had taken the 6 a. m. train, on the Allegheny Valley Railroad, en route for Butler, where he had an appointment to administer the rite of confirmation on the following Sabbath. At Freeport, 24 miles from Pittsburg, he )roposed taking the stage to Butler. After proceeding tbout 19 miles, the train was halted in consequence of a )ridge which had been injured by a late freshet, and a land-aide nearly 2 miles beyond. Arrangements had been made to convey the passengers over this part of the road in a land-car, a locomotive and a passenger car being in readiness on the other side to carry them on. Several gentlemen preferred walking, and among them Bishop Bowman.


The workmen having charge of the hand-car when returning to the bridge, found the Bishop lying by the road-side, laving fallen upon his face as if seized with apoplexy. His ace was buried in his hat, in which was his pocket handkerchief, that he had saturated with water in a small stream a few paces back, doubtless as a prevention against sun stroke.


BOUDE, SAMUEL, a member of the Legislature in the rears 1784, 1792 and 1796. He was a leading physician of Lancaster.


- 7 -


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¹BOUDE, THOMAS, son of Samuel Boude, was a native of Lancaster county. He served, with distinction, as a captain during the revolutionary war, at the close of which he received the brevet commission of Major. He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He lived at Columbia, and was engaged in the lumber business for many years, and was an active and energetic business man. He was a prominent politician of the Federal party, and was elected a member of the Legislature in the years 1794, 1795 and 1796. He also represented Lancaster county in the National Congress from 1801 till 1803. He died October 24th, 1822, in the 70th year of his age.


BOYD, S. W. P. was elected Sheriff of Lancaster county in 1860. His maternal grandfather, James Porter, was one of the early settlers of Lancaster county. Nicholas Boyd, his father, died December 22nd, 1840, aged 66 years.


BOYER, JOSEPH, was elected County Commissioner in 1858.


BRADY, JOHN, was elected Recorder of Lancaster county in the year 1851.


BRANDT, DANIEL, was elected one of the County Com- missioners in 1855.


BRECKBILL, BENJAMIN, was elected County Commissioner in 1841.


BRECKBILL, JOHN, was a citizen of Strasburg township, and was a member of the Legislature for the years 1790, 1791, and 1792. He was also a delegate to the convention which-amended the Constitution of Pennsylvania in 1789.


BRECKBILL, ULRICH, an early settler of Lancaster county, and one of the compeers of Hans Herr and his companions. He was a minister of the Mennonite kith. He was accidentally killed October 19th, 1739, while driving his


¹Thomas Boude bought the wealthy Stephen Smith (colored), of Philadelphia, when a boy of eight years of age, from the Cochrans, of Dauphin county. He raised him, and after he married, Mr. Boude gave him his freedom and furnished him meats with which to go into business, and thus laid for him the foundation of his fortune.


OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 75


team on the Philadelphia road. His descendants in Lancas-

ter are quite numerous.


BRENEMAN, CHRISTIAN, a member of the Legislature in 1814.


BRINTON, FERREE, was elected Assistant Judge of Lancaster county, in 1856. He was re-elected in 1861, and served two terms with great satisfaction to his constituents. As a judge he was very upright and conscientious, and discharged his duties with great credit. A writer in the Daily Evening Express said of Judge Brinton, that he " was a gentleman in his manners and habits, and was the most intellectual looking non law-judge that I ever saw on any bench, and he had more mind and information than any non law-judge I ever knew but one." .


BRISBIN, WM., a member of the Legislature in the years 1802, 1803 and 1804.


*BROOKS, PROF. EDWARD. It is yet too soon to write a biography that shall do justice to Professor Edward Brooks, for he is yet a young man, and has not reached the meridian of his powers. Though he has already achieved much—more than enough to satisfy the ambition of most scholars and thinkers—what he has done must be accepted, not as the measure of his usefulness, but merely as a promise of what he is yet to do. And yet, in a, life so abundant in fruit and so rich in promise, though it has numbered scarcely more than half the years allotted to man, there must be something worthy of being recorded for our interest and instruction. But in attempting to write the biography of a man of thought, this difficulty meets us at the threshold—a lack of stirring events and striking incidents calculated to awaken and keep alive the interest of the readers. His life may have been one of incessant activity, and may have achieved " victories no less renowned than war ;" but his activity has not been that of the forum or the field, nor can his victories be estimated by the number of guns captured and enemies slain. His campaigns have been carried on in the class-room and the study; his battles have been fought


*Contributed by Prof. J. Willis Westlake.


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and won, not with cannon balls and bombshells, but with arguments and ideas. Hence the biographies of writers and scholars are rarely popular, being mainly confined to the " audience fit though few " of those who are engaged in similar pursuits. This is to be regretted, for the temple of' a good man's character is his greatest work ; it is the preacher's most effective sermon, the teacher's most useful lesson. How many poor boys have learned the lesson of self-reliance from the life of Franklin, and of truthfulness from that of Washington ! And if all the facts connected with the life of the subject of this sketch could be placed prominently before all the youth of our country, they would do more good than all that he has said and written.


Edward Brooks was born at Stony Point, on the Hudson, January 16th, 1831; and in this picturesque place, rendered forever memorable by one of the daring exploits of " Mad Anthony Wayne," he passed the first fifteen years of his life. It is impossible to measure the effect of early influences, but there can be no doubt that the romantic beauty of the scenery with which he was surrounded in his childhood, operating upon a highly sensitive and finely organized mind, powerfully contributed to the formation and development of that fine poetic taste, that ardent love of the beautiful, for which he is distinguished, and which adds such a charm to his literary productions.


The means of education afforded him during these years were very limited, being merely those furnished by the public schools of the neighborhood ; but these he improved to the utmost, surpassing all the other members of the school, so that when, in 1846, he went with his parents to reside in Sullivan county, New York, he already possessed a very good elementary education, particularly excelling in mathematics and literature. The region in which he now lived, being a wild and sparsely populated one, had no public school for him to attend, and as circumstances did not permit his going to an academy he applied himself with his accustomed energy to the learning of a trade, an undertaking which he speedily and thoroughly accomplished. But while manual pursuits thus claimed his attention, they by no means


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monopolized it, nor could they repress his soaring aspirations. Though fully recognizing the dignity of honest labor, yet he felt that there was for him a higher plane of usefulness than that of the mechanic, and he spared no effort to improve his talents and add to his acquirements. He read and studied incessantly, making for himself a school-room of field and forest, of shop and fireside, of every place to which duty or pleasure called him. Thus he not only obtained a mastery of the branches he had begun in the public schools, but pushed on to higher attainments ; while he also improved his taste and formed his style by making himself acquainted with music and with the standard English authors. He wrote with considerable facility both prose and verse; and it may be worth while to mention here, that his first published production was a little poem written at the age of fourteen, and which, being too bashful to hand it to the printer, he pushed under the printing office door. In common with most successful literary men, he early formed a habit which cannot be too highly recommended to young readers—that of reading with pencil in hand, and of noting down for future use the most important facts recorded and thoughts expressed or suggested by the author.


"As a pebble in the streamlet scant

Has turned the course of many a river ;

As a dew-drop on the infant plant

Has warped the giant oak forever"—


so an apparently trifling occurrence sometimes decides a man's destiny. It was one of these momentous trifles that turned his mind about this time in the direction of arithmetical analysis, and thus gave him, to use his own words, " the golden key that unlocks the various complex combinations of numbers." The qualities of his mind were such that he would in any case, have become eminent in something —perhaps in natural science, perhaps in music, perhaps in poetry and general literature—but he would not probably have become the distinguished mathematician that he is, had he not received this mental impulse. This was nothing more nor less than the perusal of Colburn's Mental Arithmetic--a little book which revolutionized the study of the


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science of numbers in this country, and powerfully contributed to the breaking up of the dull routine work of the school-room, and the substitution of more rational and normal methods of instruction. At the same time a powerful coordinate influence was exerted by the little treatise, once so popular, entitled " Watts on the Mind." This he read with the greatest interest, and from it were derived those seed-truths of mental science which, taking root in the fertile soil of his intellect, have developed into the ripened grain of knowledge and brought forth a rich harvest of thought.


His career as teacher had a very humble beginning; his first school being a singing-class, his first school-house a barn. Subsequently, when about eighteen years of age, he taught a school in the village of Cuddebackville, N. Y., with excellent success, at a salary, at first, of eighteen dollars a month and board. Here, for the first quarter, he had an experience—sometimes pleasant, often ludicrous, but always inconvenient—of the " peripatetic" old fashion of " boarding 'round." Having an agreeable tenor voice and a pretty good knowledge of music, he introduced singing into his school, and this greatly enhanced his success and popularity as a teacher. At the end of the second quarter, on account of the ill health of his father, he gave up his school and went home. Here he remained a year, and then left to attend the Liberty Normal Institute, under the charge of Mr. Henry Stoddard (brother of Prof. J. F. Stoddard), to fit himself more fully for the work of teaching. In this institution he greatly distinguished himself; both by his scholarship and social qualities, and at the close of the session was awarded the honor of the valedictory. And thus closed his brief career as a pupil. Thenceforward, though still a learner, a faithful and laborious student of the writings of the wise and good of all ages,-and especially or the dual works of God, in nature and Revelation—be devoted himself with all his energy to the work of teaching.


We have dwelt at some length on the earlier and preparatory portion of Prof. Brooks's life, for the encouragement of the young into whose hands this book may fall; to show


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what may be accomplished by industry and energy, in spite of adverse circumstances, without the help, however valuable, of academies and colleges, and independent of all the advantages that wealth and station can bestow. It thus appears that he is mainly self-educated ; and this, coupled with the fact that be is thoroughly well-educated, is something of which he has abundant cause to be proud. Learning that is, as it were, thrust on one by rich and indulgent friends, is not half so much valued, generally not half so valuable, as that which is wrung from the reluctant hand of adverse fate—sought for, sweat for, struggled for.


The subsequent events in Prof. Brooks's life we shall pass over as rapidly as possible, in order to discuss, as fully as space will allow, the qualities of mind and heart that have rendered him so eminent.


On the completion of his course at the Institute mentioned above, he taught for three years in a school of which Prof. John F. Stoddard was principal, at Bethany, Wayne county, Pennsylvania. Probably the most important, as it certainly was the most interesting event of these three years, was the formation of an intimate acquaintance with the pianist of the institution, Miss Marie Dean, of North Stamford, Connecticut, who subsequently became his "true and honorable wife," and who has thus far rendered his life as happy in his private, as it has been useful in his public relations. He next taught for a year in the academy at Monticello, N. Y., and then, in 1855, accepted a professorship in the Normal School at Millersville, Lancaster county, Pa., where he has ever since labored with distinguished success, and acquired an influence as an educator second to none in the State. In 1858 the trustees of Union College conferred upon him the well-merited degree of Master of Arts.. In 1866, on the resignation of Prof. J. P. Wickersham, he was elected Principal of the institution which he had so powerfully contributed to build up ; and in this position he has shown administrative abilities of a high order, combined with broad and comprehensive views of the work of public education and the adaptation of the normal schools to that work.


Here, amid his labors as a teacher, he has composed the


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works that have given him a prominent place among Amer ican educational authors. They are, in fact, an outgrowtl of those labors ; being a successful attempt to present or paper the philosophical methods of instruction employec by him in the class-room with such excellent results.


Prof. Brooks is known to the public at large chiefly as a mathematician; but his reputation does not in this respect do him justice. To his friends he is known to be equally thorough and original in other departments of knowledge He is no less a metaphysician than a mathematician ; and it may safely be predicted that, if he lives to carry out his de. signs, he will yet give to the world works which, if not more useful, will contribute far more to the permanence and ex. tension of his fame than anything he has yet published.


PUBLISHED WORKS.—The works published by him to the present time (May, 1873), are the following :


1. An Arithmetical Series, consisting of six books ; a Primary, an Elementary, a Mental and a Written Arithmetic; together with two " Keys," each containing many valuable exercises and suggestions, besides the solutions to the problems.


2. Geometry and Trigonometry.


3. Elementary Algebra—his latest publication.


The works named above, though unpretending and apparently unimportant, are the result of much thought and labor. They are not mere compilations, as are many text-books at the present day, but bear on every page the stamp of originality ; a statement that is abundantly attested by the fact that other authors have extensively copied from them in the revision of existing works on the same subjects, or in the composition of new ones. In a subsequent part of this sketch a few of their peculiar excellences will be briefly pointed out. The influence that these books exert is incalculable, as they are used very extensively in Pennsylvania and several other States, and are moulding the minds and directing the thinking of hundreds of thousands of children.


PROJECTED WORKS.---Prof. Brooks contemplates the publication, at no distant day, of several other works, some of which are already composed, and require only revision and   OF


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arrangement to fit them for the printer. The list will mbrace, among others, the following :


1. Philosophy of Arithmetic.

2. Methods of Teaching Arithmetic.

3. A series of works on the Science of Education.

4. Educational Addresses.

5. The higher works required to complete his series of mathematical text-books.


Several of his addresses have already been published, and ome of them, particularly the one entitled " The Spiritual Element in Education," have been greatly admired, both on account of their freshness and vigor of thought, and the beauty and elegance of their style.


PROFESSIONAL AND LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS.—Prof. Brooks's public life presents itself to us in three aspects : As a teacher; 2. As a lecturer; 3. As an author; and we propose to examine briefly his characteristics in each of these particulars, and discover, if possible, the secret of his remarkable success.


As a Teacher : Of Prof. Brooks's wonderful success as a eacher, not only in imparting knowledge, but in giving power, the thousands of active and intelligent young men nd women who have' enjoyed the benefit of his instructions, are glad and grateful witnesses. This success is due to several causes, of which the three following seem to us the nost prominent:


1. A perfect familiarity with whatever subject he attempts o teach, rendering him to a great extent independent of the text-book, and, indeed, superior to it. Thus his mind resembles not a mere reservoir, but a living fountain, from which streams of knowledge issue forth with all the freshness and sparkle of originality.


2. Natural and philosophical methods, of instruction. He s as thoroughly Pestalozzian as Pestalozzi himself, and as analytic as Colburn ; and yet he can be deductive as well as inductive, synthetic as well as analytic. He has the clear insight that enables him to perfectly adapt his method to the circumstances of each case. He does not drive pupils, but leads them. He does not do away with the necessity of


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study and thought, but he makes study attractive, and teaches how to think. He does not remove difficulties from the learner's path, but shows how to surmount them. Thus the student, as he ascends the rugged " hill of science," is forever tempted on by new beauties unfolding before him ; like a traveler who, unmindful of the toil, climbs some moss-grown precipice to pluck a rare and beautiful flower that he sees smiling down upon him from its mountain home.


3. The possession, in a remarkable degree, of what may be called inspirational power, by which he is enabled to enkindle the enthusiasm of his pupils, and invest the dryest subject with living interest. Part of this effect is doubtless due to the fact that he is himself interested, both in the subject and in the class ; but much of it is due to what, for want of a better name, we may call personal magnetism. l I e not only interests his pupils in the subject, but in himself personally, so that every one becomes a warm and life-long friend. Thus he is enabled to influence their moral natures, as well as their intellectual, and to awaken in them those emotions, and instil those sentiments that tend to build up a noble character and render knowledge a blessing to its possessor and to society.


As a Lecturer : The same qualities that make Prof. Brooks a successful teacher, make him also a popular lecturer. As an instructor at teachers' institutes he is un-surpassed—never failing to interest his audience and to give them practical and valuable ideas. An apparently dry subject like geometry, he can present so simply as to make it comprehensible by a child, and at the same time he can clothe it with all the beauty .and attractiveness of romance. Should the interest flag for a moment, he is ever ready to revive it by a pertinent anecdote or a witty remark. Many speakers will make an interesting lecture from which you can get no definite result—nothing but a general impression but Prof. Brooks gives such a clear outline of his subject, and states his points so strongly, as to enable the hearer not only to apprehend but to retain what he says. His ascending the platform is always a signal for the sharpening of


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pencils and opening of notebooks; for all are sure that they will hear something worthy of record.


As an Author: Since a person's oral instructions and writings are merely different manifestations of the same mind, it is impossible to describe his characteristics as a teacher without at the same time indicating in a measure his characteristics as a writer. Hence, some of the causes of Prof. Brooks's popularity and usefulness in the latter capacity, may be inferred from what we have already said concerning his labors in the class-room and on the platform. Nevertheless, at the risk of some repetition, we shall endeavor to state what appears to us to be the most important of these causes. They are three in number :


1. An abundance of information—partly the fruit of his own fertile and original mind, partly the result of patient and extensive research. He always has something new and striking to say on every subject of which he treats.


2. A logical arrangement of materials, based on a thorough acquaintance both with the subjects themselves and with the laws by which the mind acts in coming to a knowledge of them. Having a clear perception of the uses and limitations both of the inductive and the deductive methods of teaching, he is able to employ both, as occasion demands, without abusing either—always having reference both to the nature of the subject and the degree of advancement of the learner.


3. A style which in scientific statement or discussion is clear, logical, and direct—the natural result of clear thinking; but which, when the nature of the subject allows, abounds in illustration and imagery—the effect of an active imagination and fine poetic feeling.


As shown above, Prof. Brooks's fame as an author chiefly rests upon his mathematical text-books. It would be both interesting and profitable to subject these to a critical examination, and to call attention to the many valuable additions they have made to our stock of scientific knowledge; but for this work we have neither the requisite time nor ability. We shall attempt nothing more than to state in general terms a few of the features that establish their claim to originality, and make them superior to all books .that


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ceded them in the same field. Among these are: 1. Many improvements in old definitions, and several new ones ; 2. Several new classes of problems; 3. Many new solutions of old problems; 4. A simplification of the reasoning in arithmetic, and a reduction of what was awkward and illogical to a simple, logical, and scientific method ; 5. Several new generalizations and classifications, such as the relations of fractions, " composition" as a process correlative with factoring, the classification of algebraic symbols, etc. The algebra is a model of simplicity, conciseness, elegance, and logical accuracy; and the geometry is one of .the most strikingly original works on the subject ever published in this country. In the latter, by a variation and simplification of the theorems and demonstrations, the subject is presented in about half the space usually devoted to it, without in the least impairing the chain of logic.


One of Prof. Brooks's happiest and most original ideas, is that presented in his " Philosophy of Arithmetic "—one of his unpublished works.¹ He therein develops the science of numbers from three fundamental processes—synthesis, analysis, and comparison—thereby showing the error of those who have held that the whole science of arithmetic is contained in addition and subtraction; and also the mistake of such logicians as Mansel, who claim that there is no reasoning in pure arithmetic.


His miscellaneous productions, consisting of poems, essays, and addresses on various subjects, though well worthy of being put in book form, are scattered here and there in newspapers and pamphlets, or hidden away in neglected piles of manuscript. As shown above, he possesses invention, fancy, taste, a musical ear, power of ex-pression—all the essential elements of a poet; and at various times he has sought recreation—nothing more—in poetical composition. Perhaps his greatest hindrance to success in this direction, is the consciousness that he is a teacher, the tendency to be didactic. If he would, for once, sink the


¹Portions of this work were published in the Pennsylvania School Journal in 1861 ; also in the Mathematical Monthly (since discontinued), for March of the same year.


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pedagogue in the poet, and devote himself to a work of pure imagination, he would undoubtedly produce poetry worthy of his superior genius.


His little poem of five stanzas, entitled " Be a Woman," published anonymously in 1857, has obtained considerable popularity both in this country and England. It has been printed in thousands of periodicals, and read by hundreds of thousands of people. We quote the last stanza.¹


" Be a woman ! on to duty

Raise the world from all that's low ;

Place high in the social heaven

Virtue's fair and radiant bow ;

Lend thy influence to each effort

That shall raise our nature human ;

Be not fashion's gilded lady,

Be a brave, whole-souled, true woman."


We cannot stop to examine his other miscellaneous writings, having already greatly exceeded the limits prescribed for this sketch. They shall presently be allowed to speak for themselves, as fully as they can do so .in a few brief specimens. But first let us see what conclusion we have arrived at.


The author's characteristics, as exhibited particularly in his mathematical books—the only ones yet published—have already been given. A wider survey enables us to give the following as a summary of his qualities of mind and heart : A refined taste ; an active imagination ; great logical acuteness, enabling him to detect the truth or falsity of a proposition at a glance, and deduce results with ease and certainty ; a profound and pervading sense of moral obligation ; and a style which, despite a tendency to indulge too much in epigrammatic and antithetical forms of expression and an excess of rhetorical ornament, is clear, pure, strong, and eminently pleasing, and attractive.


The following extracts, culled almost at random, will show his peculiarities of thought and expression much better than ally words of ours can do it ; and we are sure that they will abundantly sustain the literary judgment pronounced above :


¹ For the whole poem and its history, see Pennsylvania School Journal tor August, 1871, quoted from the Lancaster Express.


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"It is better to inspire the heart with a noble sentiment than to teach the mind a truth of science."


" I would rather live in the memory of grateful pupils than be honored in song or story."


" The problem of life is filled with known and unknown quantities which, when compared, give an equation whose roots are determined only in eternity."


“The aesthetics nature is higher than the scientific; art, therefore, it would seem, should be placed above science. Science is the product of mere intellect ; art involves and embodies both thought and feeling. To write a poem, therefore, is better than to solve a problem ; a great poet has a brighter fame than a great philosopher. I would rather be gentle Will Shakespeare, the author of Hamlet, than Sir Isaac Newton. the author of the Principia. Hamlet will be enshrined in the heart of mankind long after the Principia has ceased to be read or printed. * * * Music aids in the work [aesthetic culture] with its melodious voice. A school song in the heart of a child will do as much for its character as a fact in its memory, or a principle in its intellect. The cradle song that fell from a mother's lips becomes a sacred memory that inspires the life."


" Spiritual culture demands the training of the moral nature. The moral nature embraces the activity of our entire spiritual being. It consists in the apprehension of the right, in the feeling of obligation to do the right, and the consequent act of the will to carry out the spiritual imperative. The aesthetic nature is idea and feeling ; the moral nature is idea, feeling, and volition. In mathematical phraseology, the aesthetic nature equals the Reason plus the Sensibilities ; the ethical nature equals the Reason plus the Sensibilities plus the Will."


" The culture of these three powers—Faith, Love, and Obedience—in their relation to God, is religious culture. Faith in God, love to God, and obedience to God, is religion. The relation is simple and logical. Faith leads to love ; we must believe before we can love. Love leads to obedience ; that obedience is the most willing and perfect which flows from affection. Faith, then, is the soil in which grows the tree of Love, and Obedience is the ripened fruit. Let us plant the tree of Love in the soil of Faith in God, and it will reward us with the golden fruit of perfect Obedience."'


"Life is a product of three factors—nature, self, and destiny ; but the central and controling influence is self, the imperial power of the free spirit.


We shape ourselves, the joys or fears

Of which the coming years are made.'


All true success in life is organic, and follows the law of organic development. Analyze any great character or achievement, and you will find an idea at the centre—an idea which determined its growth, and gave direction to its development. This is the universal law. The


¹It will be observed that the author comprehends all religious duties in these three—

Faith, Love, Obedience ; a generalization which is philosophical, and, so far as we know, original.


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ideal is the germ of the real. Development; everywhere throughout God's universe, is the unfolding of a purpose. The acorn slumbering in the soil through the gloom of winter, contains the plan of an oak, and in the spring-time begins to develop the tree which shall live for a century. The little plant, starting in the dark ground, travels all the way up from a seed, with an idea in its head, unfolding it at the top into blossom and fruit."


" Beauty, purity, and generosity may appear in the external act, whilst the motive prompting it may be mean, ignoble, and selfish. Truth, purity, and all the noble traits of character, may be enshrined within the soul, and the life be so unobtrusive that they may not manifest themselves to the public gaze. . When asked why Antipater was not dressed in purple, Alexander replied These men wear purple on the outside, but Antipater is royal within.' Character is being royal within. It is a soul throbbing with generous feelings, with noble impulses, a soul loyal to the claims of truth and virtue."


"Man must labor for his best achievements. The duty of industry rests upon us as a responsibility from Heaven. The God who made us is a ceaseless energy, a tireless activity, infinite in His doing as in His being. There is no such thing as indolence in His wide universe. The most peaceful place of the summer landscape is but a veil that covers the incessant and tireless activities of leaf, and root, and sunshine, and dew. And all this activity is not for the end of action. Nature aims at results ; she energizes for products. The dew-drops of the summer night are the tree-builders of the summer day ; and the sunshine of spring pours its golden rays into the green leaf, that it may blush in the rose's petal, or glow in the summer harvest."


The heart prompts us, and truth and justice compel us, in closing this imperfect sketch, to say that Prof. Brooks himself, measured as God measures a man, by his soul, his character, is better and greater than any of his works. Fort unate in having had the benefit, in his childhood, of the counsels and prayers of a wise father and a remarkably gentle and intelligent mother, he has never departed from his early lessons of morality and religion. His sensibilities are tender as a child's and strong as a man's; but the will commands the feelings, and duty dominates the will. Having Perfect command of himself, he is therefore qualified to command others ; yet the rod df authority was never wielded by a gentler hand. Naturally of a quick temper, he seldom manifests anger ; fond of ease and pleasure, he yet labors to the full extent of physical endurance. Rapid in all his motions, mental and physical, he is never rash. Amid all his multiplicity of duties—administrative and educational, public


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and private—there is no confusion, nothing hap-hazard. Method is as prominent in his business as his books. His power of mental concentration is prodigious, but it is fully equaled by his persistence and energy. This is the great secret of his success; this is the golden key that had unlocked for him the temples of Fortune and of Fame.


BROWN, JEREMIAH, sr., a member of the Legislature in the years 1796, 1797, 1798, 1799 and 1800.


BROWN, JEREMIAH, jr., was born in the year 1776. He was elected to the Legislature in 1826. He represented Lancaster county in Congress from 1841 to 1845. He was the first Associate Judge elected by the people, in 1851.


BROWN, WILLIAM, a member of the Legislature for the years 1776, 1778, 1779, 1781, 1782 and 1783.


*BRUBAKER FAMILY. John Brubaker emigrated to this country, from Switzerland, in the year 1710, and settled on the Little Conestoga, about two miles west of the city of Lancaster, where Mr. Samuel Binkley's mill is now located ; here Mr. Brubaker built the first grist mill in Lancaster county. He had a large family, consisting of nine sons, viz : John, Daniel, Peter, Abraham, David, Christian, Henry and Jacob. Two of these sons, John and Daniel, settled in Elizabeth township, near Hammer Creek; they married sisters, daughters of Michael Tauner. Peter settled in Rapho township. Abraham settled in Virginia. The rest remained in their father's neighborhood.. The above named John, jr., took the farm owned at the present time by one of his lineal descendants, Jacob E. Brubaker. He, however, before settling, paid a visit to Germany in the year 1750, where he married Maria Newcomer, and returned with his wife and cousin to America. His wife only lived thirty weeks, when she died. He then married his second wife, the above Miss Tauner, and had-a family of eleven children. I. shall speak only of John, the oldest, he being my direct ancestor. He was born A. D. 1752, was married to Anna Eby, and had a family of four children, viz : Two sons and two daughters ; Anna, born 1753, Maria, born 1756. The


*Contributed by M. N. Brubaker.


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last mentioned was married to ¹John Bear, from whom Mr. Gabriel Bear, at Mount Joy, has descended. I shall speak more fully of this family hereafter. The son, Jacob Brubaker, who was my great grandfather, was born A. D.1758. He married Miss Susanna Erb, in 1781, and raised a family of seven children. He died of yellow fever, in 1793, contracted while in Philadelphia, ke being engaged in hauling his grain and flour to that place during the prevalence of that disease there. His young widow devoted her time and energies nobly to her family. Previous to this time some members of the " Old Mennonite " church settled in Canada ; they had purchased a very large tract of land. After awhile they found there was a mortgage on it of $30,000, which would be foreclosed ; they became alarmed and sent a committee to Lancaster county to solicit aid from their brethren ; after some labor they succeeded in raising the amount ; this young widow contributed a large sum towards it. The committee started back to Canada, through the wilderness, with this money in gold and silver in their saddle-bags, on their horses; they reached home safe and cancelled the mortgage. These events transpired about the beginning of the present century. Those men had nothing to give for security but their word and honor, which they faithfully fulfilled. They surveyed the tract, 60,000 acres, divided it into lots of from 500 to 1,000 acres, and sold tickets to the parties who loaned them the money, held a regular lottery, and so this widow drew a large tract of land, in lieu of her claim' against the committee. She traveled out, on horseback, to see her land. In the year 1816 she sent her youngest son, John, out to take charge of this land; he married there and raised a numerous family, who still possess some of the land, which has become very valuable. The widow, Susanna Brubaker, lived 51 years in widowhood, and died in 1844, at an advanced age. This old lady traveled to Canada twice on horseback ; one day, while leading her horse across the mountains, she came upon a large rattle-


¹ John Bear, spoken of bfore, was married to Miss Marie Brubaker A.D. 1756, and these had a family of nine children, of whom Samuel was married to Miss Weaver. They had a family of eight children, of whom Gabriel was the oldest son, who resides in Mt. Joy at the present time.


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snake, which was lying across her path; she aimed a blow at it with her walking-stick and killed it. Her oldest son, Jacob Brubaker, who was my grandfather, was born in 1782, and was married to Miss Maria Eby. They started out in life on the farm first spoken of; they had a family of nine children, of which Sem, the oldest son, is my father, who resides near Mount Joy at the present time. Jacob, the youngest son, occupies the old mansion farm at the present time, which has been handed down from generation to generation for a period 160 years. The Brubakers in this county and Canada have all descended from the same stock.


BRUBAKER, GEORGE, was born April 24th, 1817, in Leacock township, Lancaster county. On his father's side he is of German descent, and of Scotch-Irish on that of his mother. His early educational advantages were very limited, the time of his pupilage in the common schools not having exceeded eighteen months. At an early age he began teaching school, and pursued this calling for nine consecutive sessions, running through a period of the same number of years. He was one of the first teachers in the county under the free school system, of which he was one of the earliest and warmest advocates.


In 1848 he was nominated and elected to the position of Register of Wills of Lancaster county, by the Whig party, and for the term of three years faithfully discharged the duties of this office. In 1851 he commenced the study of law, and in the year 1854 was admitted to the bar as a practicing attorney, which profession he has since followed with a very considerable degree of success.


In 1868 he was nominated and elected to the office of District Attorney by the Republican party. For four years he held the office of Select Councilman in Lancaster city, and was a prominent mover in the division of the city of Lancaster into nine wards.


George Brubaker, as a business man, is keen and sagacious, and as a citizen, kind, liberal and public spirited.


BRUSH, GEORGE GAMBLE, was born in Oxford township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 10th of August, 1793. He was apprenticed in 1809 to William Hensel, of Lancaster


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city, to learn the carpenter business, and served four and a half years in his employ. In 1814 he removed to Manor township, Lancaster county, to a small village on the Susquehanna river, which had sprung up during the war of 1812-14. In this village he worked at his trade until 1820, when he began the mercantile business. About this time a post-office was established in Manor township, and he was appointed Postmaster by President Monroe, and held this position under the administrations of Monroe, Adams, Jackson and Van Buren. In 1827 the borough of Washington was incorporated, and Mr. Brush was elected a member of the first Town Council. On the adoption of the Common School System by Manor township, he was elected a school director for three successive terms. In 1841, having been elected a justice of the peace, he resigned the Postmastership. In 1846 he removed to a small farm in Manor township, where he has since continued to reside. In the fall of 1855. he was elected a member of the State Legislature, and served as such during the session of 1856. On the chartering of the Lancaster County Bank, in 1841, he was elected a member of the first Board of Directors, and has served in that capacity up to the present time.


BUCHANAN, JAMES, 15th President of the United States, was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, April 23, 1791. The place of his birth is situated about three miles from the village of Mercersburg, and in the midst of a wild and romantic mountain gorge, which, with its beautiful scenery, may have served to arouse in his youthful mind, sentiments of lofty aspirations and fervent patriotism. His father, James Buchanan, was a native of the county of Donegal, Ireland, and was one of the early settlers of Franklin county, having emigrated thither in the year 1783. His mother, Elizabeth Speer, was the daughter of a respectable farmer of Adams county, Pennsylvania. His father was a man of great enterprise and industry, and speedily rose from the condition of an humble emigrant to one of independence and prominence in the community. The mother of Mr. Buchanan was a woman of remarkable native intellect, and although not possessed of more than an ordinary English


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education, yet she was distinguished for her masculine sense and rare literary taste. The most striking passages in Pope, Cowper, Milton and Shakespeare, she could repeat from memory.


In 1798 the father of Mr. Buchanan removed with his family to Mercersburg, and there the subject of our notice received his first lessons in Greek and Latin; His more than ordinary rapid progress in his studies, indicated to his preceptors a mind of rare strength and vigor; and his father, accepting the suggestions of his teachers, determined to afford him the advantages of a collegiate education. At the age of fourteen, accordingly, he entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle, then a Presbyterian institution, under the presidency of Dr. Davidson. Here he at once took rank amongst the most indefatigable students, and rapidly rose in the estimation of his teachers as a young man of mark and great promise. In the studies of his classes he outstripped' all his mates, and on no occasion was he found unprepared in his recitations. Whilst always prepared with his lessons, he was by no means what is known as a close student, but rather, ranked with those who indulged most freely in sport and relaxation. His college tasks .were no burden to him, being acquired as if by intuition; and his vigorous mind displayed itself in every department. He enjoyed all the honors of the literary society with which he was connected, and was presented by its unanimous vote to the faculty for the highest collegiate honors. He graduated in 1809, at the age of eighteen.


In December of the same year, he commenced the study of law in the office of James Hopkins, Esq., of Lancaster, then recognized as the leading lawyer of that bar. He was admitted to the practice of the profession, November 17th, 1812, when but little over twenty-one years of age. From the day of his admission a tide of success seemed to meet him; and until he retired from the profession his was a series of successive triumphs. There, perhaps, was never an instance of • such a rapid rise in the legal profession as that afforded in his case. When a lawyer of four years' standing, he was selected to conduct, unaided by senior counsel, the


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defense of a distinguished judge, who was tried on articles of impeachment before the Senate of Pennsylvania. His defense on this occasion was a masterly display of legal acumen and forensic ability that at once gave him a Statewide reputation, and ranked him as an intellect fit to cope with the ablest men of the nation. His reputation was fixed in that trial, and business poured in upon him with an increasing flood. So successful was he in his legal business, that by the time he was forty years of age, he had acquired a sufficient independence that enabled him to retire from the profession. During the tide of his practice his name occurs oftener in the Reports of the State than that of any other lawyer of his time..


Mr. Buchanan early displayed his patriotism and love of country. During the progress of the war between Great Britain and America, in 1812-14, the British had taken and destroyed the public buildings at Washington. This act aroused a feeling of indignation throughout the whole United States. A public meeting was held at Lancaster in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war, which was addressed by Mr. Buchanan, and he was the first to enroll his name as a private soldier in a company raised upon the spot, and which, commanded by Capt. Henry Shippen, marched to the defence of Baltimore. In this company Mr. Buchanan served until the same was honorably discharged..


He was, in October, 1814, elected a member of the lower House of the State Legislature, and in that body maintained the same fearless and patriotic course that distinguished him throughout the war. When Philadelphia was threatened with invasion, and the State was left to its own defence, he urged upon the Legislature. in the strongest manner, the adoption of efficient measures of relief. The. National Treasury was at this time almost bankrupt, and on account of the opposition which the war encountered in the Eastern States, on the part of the Federalists, (of which party Mr. Buchanan was then a member), the soldiers in the public service were with great difficulty paid. Being re-elected to the Legislature, in 1815, he ardently supported a bill appropriating the sum of $300,000, as a loan to the United States,


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to pay the militia and volunteers of the ,State in the government service.


At this time Mr. Buchanan took ground against any unjust discrimination against naturalized foreigners, as compared with the native-born population, except that which relates to the office of the National Executive. The Governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut had transmitted to the Governor of Pennsylvania certain resolutions, recommending changes in the Federal Constitution, and among the rest, one which should render naturalized foreigners ineligible to the Senate or House of Representatives of the United States. This proposition was strongly disapproved of by Mr. Buchanan, and the position thus early assumed by him formed one of his cardinal and life-long principles. It was during the period of his second session in the Legislature, that he became impressed with the danger, the inexpediency, and the unconstitutionality of a United States Bank, an opinion he ever afterwards steadfastly defended.


The next political step in the career of Mr. Buchanan, is his election, in 1820, as a member of the lower House of the National Congress, in which body he took his seat in December, 1821. At the time he entered that body, an array of talent was assembled that would grace the halls of any nation. In the House were the distinguished names of McDuffie, Joel R. Poinsett, John Randolph, Philip R. Barbour, Andrew Stevenson, Louis McLane, and others equally noted. In .the Senate, Rufus King, Martin Van Buren, Mahlon Dickinson, Samuel L. Southard, Nathaniel Macon, Richard M. Johnson, and others of equal ability were assembled. Among this assemblage of noble Romans, Mr. Buchanan took rank at once as one of the most industrious and indefatigable members of the House. He was always in his seat, and generally participated in the discussions that :arose upon any important public question. His first elaborate speech, delivered January 11th, 1822, was upon a bill making appropriations to the military for deficiencies in the Indian department. So ably did he defend the course of Mr. Crawford, then Secretary of the Treasury, that the National Intelligencer departed from its usual course and


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gave a verbatim report of the speech. This speech at once enrolled him amongst the ablest men of the House, gave him a national reputation, and was an earnest of the future distinction that awaited him.


While Mr. Buchanan was strict in the expenditure of the national money, he was liberal where necessity was evident. When some members of Congress found fault with a bill authorizing the relief of soldiers disabled in the revolutionary war, he met the opposition with the remark, that the amount proposed " was a scanty pittance for the war-worn soldier," and that he was altogether disinclined to oppose a measure that patriotism so imperatively demanded. Other things that early engaged his attention as a national legislator, and upon which he made speeches, were the Apportionment bill, Transactions in Florida, the Appropriation bill, and the Bankrupt bill. The debate upon this latter bill was long and animated, and one that called forth the abilities of the House in a remarkable manner. Many of the most distinguished members of that body were strong advocates of the bill. Mr. Buchanan did not participate in the discussion until near the close of the session, and just before the bill came up for final reading. He then delivered, March 12th, 1822, one of the most powerful and eloquent speeches of the session, and in this took grounds against the passage of so unjust a law, as he conceived. In this he said : " We are now called upon to decide the fate of a measure of awful importance. The most dreadful responsibility rests upon us. We are not now to determine merely whether a bankrupt law shall be extended to the trading classes of the community, but whether it shall embrace every citizen of the Union, and spread its demoralizing influence over the whole surface of society." Immediately after this speech the vote was taken and the bill was defeated.


The question of a tariff was a prominent one before the Eighteenth Congress, and was championed by the dauntless Clay, of Kentucky, who christened it with the captivating name of the "American System." In the discussions on this question, which took place in Congress, we find Mr. Buchanan arrayed on the side of a protective policy, and



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giving utterance to sentiments that would not have met the approbation of the partisans with whom he afterwards affiliated. We find him thus expressing himself : " But, after all, Mr. Chairman, what do we ask by this bill for the manufacturers of iron ? Not a prohibitory law, as the gentle- man from Massachusetts (Mr. Fuller) seems to suppose, which will exclude foreign iron from our market. We wish only to infuse into our own manufactures sufficient vigor to enable them to struggle against foreign competition. Protection, not prohibition, is our object." Benton's Abridgment of Debates, Vol. VII, p.673.


In 1827 he again said : " Can any person really believe that because I supported protection in 1824 I am bound to advocate prohibition in 1827." Benton's Abridgment of Debates, Vol. IX, p. 394.


In 1825, when the election of a President took place before the lower House of Congress, Mr. Buchanan urged that it should be conducted in the presence of the people, with the galleries of the House open to the people, and not in secret conclave, as was urged by some members and Senators. He was opposed to the Panama mission, a project that had been conceived by Mr. Clay, and supported by his flowing eloquence. In the second session of the nineteenth Congress a bill was introduced for the relief of the surviving officers of the revolution, and this Mr. Buchanan sustained in a speech of great eloquence and power, in which he triumphantly vindicated the duty of government in providing for the wants of its defenders.


About this time Mr. Buchanan took occasion to condemn, in Congress, the attiring of our foreign ministers in a military coat, covered with glittering gold lace, and decking them with a chapeau and small sword. Thus early did he give evidence of his republican sentiments ; and afterwards, during his residence as Minister at the Court of St. James, he appeared, like Dr. Franklin before him, in the simple and unpretending garb of an American citizen.


In 1828 General Andrew Jackson was elected President of the United States, and Mr. Buchanan aided in this result to the extent of his ability. The majority of 50,000, which


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Pennsylvania gave for Jackson, furnishes evidence of the efficiency of his support. He, himself, was re-elected to Congress in the same campaign, and during the following session was placed at the head of the Judiciary Committee, a position that had been filled by Daniel Webster. One of the most famed cases that had ever came before Congress, the impeachment of J. H. Peck, Judge of the District Court of the United States for Missouri, was one in the management of which Mr. Buchanan acted a conspicuous part, and secured himself a national reputation as a barrister of the first order. He, with Henry R. Storrs, of New York, Geo. McDuffie, of South Carolina, Ambrose Spencer, of New York, and Charles Wickliffe, of Kentucky, were chosen on the part of the House, as managers to conduct the prosecution before the Senate. William Wirt and Jonathan Meredith were for the defence. The trial was conducted on both sides with distinguished ability, Mr. Buchanan closing the case and confining himself to the legal and constitutional questions involved. He, in a masterly manner, pointed out the difference between the principles which govern English courts and those which, under the Constitution, must govern those of the United States. The Senate acquitted Judge Peck by a vote of 22 to 21, but shortly afterwards an act was passed obviating whatever technical objections stood in the way of conviction, so that no judge afterwards ventured to commit a similar offence.


On the 3rd of March, 1831, Mr. Buchanan voluntarily retired from Congress, of which he had been a constant member for ten years. He was soon afterwards selected, by President Jackson, as minister to the Court of St. Petersburg. In this position he concluded the first commercial treaty between the United States and Russia, which secured to our merchantmen and navigators important privileges in the Baltic and Black seas. In 1833, upon his return from Russia, he was elected to a seat in the United States Senate, taking his seat in that body December 15th, 1834.


The subject of. negro slavery came before the Senate in 1835, from the reference, in the message of General Jackson, in regard to the circulation through the United States mail, of


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incendiary publications designed to excite insurrection in the Southern States, and upon memorials for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. This aspect of the slavery question was a new one before Congress. How, most judiciously to deal with it, was the question to be decided. Mr. Buchanan saw, that if the question was permitted to come constantly. before Congress, it would keep up throughout a never-ceasing agitation, which might, in the end, endanger the stability and perpetuity of the American Union. He, therefore, conceived as the best method to deal with it, that some legislation should be enacted that might stifle the agitation in the bud and prevent the question of slavery from being raised and discussed in that body. He favored the receiving of the petitions or memorials for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and then declaring, after respectfully considering them, that Congress had no power to legislate on the subject. " I repeat," said he, " that I intended to make as strong a motion in this case as the circumstances would justify. It is necessary that we should use every constitutional effort to suppress the agitation which now disturbs the land. This is necessary as much for the happiness and future prospects of the slave as for the security of the master. Before this storm began to rise, the laws in regard to slaves had been really ameliorated by the slaveholding States; they enjoyed many privileges which were unknown in former times. In some of the slave States prospective and gradual emancipation was publicly and seriously discussed. But now, thanks to the efforts of the abolitionists, the slaves have been deprived of these privileges, and while the liberty of the Union is endangered, their prospects of final emancipation is delayed to an indefinite period. To leave this question where the Constitution has left it, to the slaveholding States themselves, is equally dictated by a humane regard for the slaves as well as for their masters."


About this time Texas was passing through its war of independence, and Santa Anna, 'the President of Mexico, was using all his efforts to reduce it again beneath his authority. Mr. Buchanan sympathized, as an American,


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with the struggling Texans, and urged its recognition on the part of the United States as an independent government. He afterwards favored the admission of Texas as one of the States of the American Confederacy.


Towards the close of Gen. Jackson's administration, the French indemnity question rose to one of the first magnitude. The French Chamber of Deputies, by a majority of eight votes, refused to sanction the recommendation of Louis Philippe, who had advised the payment of the American indemnity. This conduct On the part of the French, roused Gen. Jackson to the highest pitch of intensity, and he thereupon demanded an appropriation of $3,000,000 for the increase of the navy and for the defence of the maritime frontier. Mr. Buchanan supported the demand of the President in an able speech, and reviewed the whole ground of difficulty between France and the United States, and clearly established, by the law of nations, the error into which the French government had fallen; and that the money being justly owing to American citizens, it was incumbent upon the government to see that they received their dues. The decided stand taken by President Jackson on French affairs, and the noble support accorded him by Mr. Buchanan and other leading men of the nation, hastened the settlement of the troublesome question.


One of the most important subjects that came before this Congress, was the admission of Michigan and Arkansas into the Union. The subject gave rise to much debate, in all of which Mr. Buchanan bore a conspicuous and distinguished part. It was objected to the admission of Michigan that aliens bad participated in the formation of the Constitution but Mr. Buchanan took the ground that aliens who were residents language of the northwestern territory had a right, by virtue of the ordinance of 1787, to exercise the elective franchise. In this discussion Mr. Buchanan made use of the following " The older I grow, the more I am inclined to be what is called a State-rights man. The peace and security of of this Union depend upon giving to the Constitution a literal and fair construction, such as would be placed upon it by a plain and intelligent man, ,and not by ingenious