100 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY constructions to increase the powers of this government, and thereby diminish those of the States. The rights of the States, reserved to them by that instrument, ought ever to be sacred. If, then, the Constitution leaves them to do. tide according to their own discretion, unrestricted and unlimited, who shall be electors, it follows as a necessary consequence that they may, if they think proper, confer upon resident aliens the right of voting." Mr. Buchanan was early in his advocacy of specie payments by the general government, instead of depreciated bank paper. In this he went hand-in-hand with Thomas II. Benton, the Ajax of American Democracy. He depicted, in forcible language, the evils that flow from the increase of banking capital to the laboring man, and, indeed, to all classes save the speculators. " Banks," he said, " could make money plenty at one time and scarce at another at one moment nominally raise the price of all property beyond its real value, and the next moment reduce it below that standard, and thus prove most ruinous to the best interests of the people. The increase of banking capital was calculated to transfer the wealth and property of the country from the honest, industrious and unsuspecting classes of society, into the hands of speculators, who knew when to purchase and when to sell." Upon the opening of the Twenty-fourth Congress, December 5th, 1836, Mr. Buchanan was chosen to the honorable and responsible position of chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations. The principal feature of this session was the discussion of Mr. Benton's celebrated " Expunging Resolution," which the indomitable Senator from Missouri had introduced, time after time, for the purpose of having expunged from the journal of the Senate the stain which had been affixed upon. General Jackson, for his removal of the deposits from the United States Bank. In this noble effort he had the cooperation of Mr. Buchanan, who, in. a speech of masterly power, and of rich and graceful eloquence, defended the hero of Orleans from all unjust aspersion, and proved, by the most convincing logic, that an imperative justice demanded of the American Senate that OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 101 it erase from its records the base brand of obloquy that had been stamped upon the conduct of the National Executive. His oration upon this occasion has always been considered as one of the finest specimens of eloquence that was ever witnessed upon the floor of the United States Senate. Immediately after the delivery of Mr. Buchanan's speech, the vote on the "Expunging Resolution " was taken, and the odious record stricken from the journal of the Senate. Martin Van Buren succeeded General Jackson, as President, March 4th, 1837. It was a time of great financial distress; greater, if possible, than that of 1820-21, which followed the war of 1812-14. The general flooding of the country with excessive issues of paper currency had stimulated one of those periods of general speculation which had covered the land with universal desolation. The President summoned an extra session of Congress, in order that measures might be devised to remedy the pressure of the financial crisis. Almost the first bill introduced was the " Sub - Treasury Act." Mr. Buchanan favored the passage of the bill in a speech of great power, and therein explained the causes of the monetary embarrassment in a most profound and statesmanlike manner, and presented a clear conception of the power of the General Government in regard to the question under consideration. His views upon this measure were of the most matured character, and his clear exposition of the powers of government aided greatly in securing the passage of the bill. In the regular session of 1837, the relations of the American government with Mexico came under consideration. In the course of a debate upon this subject, Mr. Buchanan traced the conduct of the Mexican government towards our citizens, and showed that the American flag was no protection to them, and that after being insulted and robbed, no satisfaction or apology was given. In reply to Mr. Clay, who suggested that owing to our deranged state of the currency we had better avoid war, he indignantly replied : "If the national honor demanded vindication, he would not be deterred by any such consideration. He, for one, would not consent to see American citizens plundered with impunity." 102 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY The question of the preemption right of settlers came up in the Senate about this time, and Mr. Buchanan defended this right, and was unwilling that any distinction should be made between American settlers and those of foreign birth It was, as he conceived, a just right that should be accorded to the hardy pioneers, whether native citizens or those who braved tide and tempest, in order to seek a home in the wilds of our western country. Another important question arose under Van Buren's administration, in regard to the alleged interference of federal officers in elections. A bill was introduced which proposed penalties upon any officer of the United States government, below the rank of a District Attorney, who should attempt to persuade a citizen to vote for any person to be elector of President and Vice President of the United States or for other certain officers. This measure was opposed by Mr. Buchanan with all the powers of his mind, and it was soon thereafter abandoned. The last Congress, under Mr. Van Buren's administration, commenced its first session December 2nd, 1839. It proved a very important session, as business of an interesting character engaged the attention of Congress. On the bill introduced by Silas Wright, of New York, "to more effectually secure the public money in the hands of the officers and agents of the government," long and violent discussion was had. It was the call for marshaling the old warriors of bank and anti-bank. The contest was again terrific and was another Trojan struggle renewed. Mr. Buchanan's speech on the Independent Treasury, of the 22nd of January, 1840, was able, dignified and profound. It is considered as containing the best synopsis of the science of political economy, and the relation between capital and labor that any American statesman had yet produced. At least it had never been surpassed. At the period of the delivery of this speech, Mr. Buchanan had been familiar with the working of the government for twenty years. He had passed through financial revulsions before, and having studied the effect of extravagant bank expansions, he was able to place his finger upon the errors of the past, and like OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 103 a skillful mariner, direct how to avoid the shoals and quick-sands that might lie in the future. It was out of this speech of Mr. Buchanan's, on the Independent Treasury, that his gathered material which served to fasten upon him enemies the charge of having advocated a reduction of the wages of labor. No charge was ever more unjust. John Davis, Senator of Massachusetts, was foremost amongst those who pursued him with this accusation. The manner, however, in which he defended himself from the justness of this charge, upon the floor of the United States Senate, in reply to Senator Davis, and the rejoinders he administered to the latter, are not yet forgotten by the older of our citizens. The election of 1840 swept, as by a hurricane, the Democratic party from power. General Harrison was elected President of the United States, and the Whig party had the ascendancy in both houses of Congress. Almost immediately after his election, the new President issued a proclamation for Congress to meet in extra session, May 31st, 1841. Congress met, but Harrison was already in his grave. The first movement was the introduction of a bill for the repeal of the Independent Treasury. Early in the same session Mr. Clay presented his plan of a "Fiscal Bank." The Democracy, though in the minority, fought the friends of the bank again, but in vain would have been their resistance but for the assistance of Vice President John Tyler, now President, who came to their rescue. In opposition to' Clay's "Fiscal Bank," Mr. Buchanan made one of his great speeches, and reiterated his constitutional objections to the establishment of a National Bank. The repeated vetoes of John Tyler of the favorite measures of the Whig party, so exasperated the leaders, that Mr. Clay introduced a proposition to abolish the veto power, conferred upon the President by the Constitution. On the 2nd of February, 1842, Mr. Buchanan made an elaborate reply to Mr. Clay's proposition, reviewing our whole system of government and showing the intimate relations existing between its parts. This logical and profound speech manifested on the part of Mr. Buchanan an accurate knowledge of the fundamental laws and maxims of civil government. 104 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY The most important feature of Mr. Tyler's administration consisted in the steps taken for the annexation of Texas. As heretofore stated, Mr. Buchanan was one of the earliest advocates of that measure. In his remarks upon this subject he said: "While the annexation of Texas would afford that security to the Southern and Southwestern slave States which they have a right to demand, it would, in some respects, operate prejudicially upon their immediate pecuniary interests ; but to the Middle and Western, and more especially to the New England States, it would be a source of unmixed prosperity. It would extend their commerce, promote their manufactures and increase their wealth. The New England States resisted with all their power the acquisition of Louisiana; and I ask, what would those States have been at this day without that territory ? They will also resist the annexation of Texas with similar energy ; although, after it has been acquired, it is they who will reap the chief pecuniary advantages from the acquisition." The admission of Texas was not consummated until after the election of James K. Polk to the Presidency. The election of 1844 again brought the Democratic party into power. James K. Polk, as soon as he was inaugurated President, selected for the responsible position of Secretary of State, the man whose career we are sketching, James Buchanan. So intimately connected were the actions of Mr. Buchanan and the administration of President Polk, that full justice could not be done the former otherwise than in a complete history of that administration. He was the acknowledged head of the Cabinet Council, and nothing of importance was undertaken without his sanction being had and approbation obtained. Of the many able State papers of which he was author during his premiership, time and space forbid our speaking. At the close of Mr. Polk's administration, he retired to private life, at Wheatland. Mr. Buchanan, although now basking in the shades of rural life, was by no means an indifferent spectator of public affairs. He still continued to watch the current of political opinions with the same eager eye as ever, and discussed public questions with his friends with the same warmth as OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 105 in his younger years. After the passage of the compromise measures of 1850, Mr. Buchanan was among the first to endorse them, and to spread throughout Pennsylvania a pubic sentiment in their favor. In a letter written by him a November, 1850, to a public meeting in Philadelphia, he expressed himself freely upon the compromise, and gave it his full and unqualified approbation. Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, was elected President of the United States in the autumn of 1852. Upon his taking the presidential chair, in March following, one of his first acts was the appointment of Mr. Buchanan as Minister to England. One of the principal questions that engaged his attention in London, was the Central American question, which the Clayton-Bulwer treaty had complicated but not settled. He was also one of the Ministers who conferred together at Ostend, regarding the Island of Cuba, and the result of the deliberations of which Conference has popularly been known as the Ostend Manifesto. The question of slavery was one which James Buchanan ever viewed from a conservative stand-point. From the time he first presented in Congress the petition from the Caln quarterly meeting of Friends, till his death, he regarded the subject of slavery as one over which the National Government had no legitimate control, viewing it as within the sole jurisdiction of the States in which the institution had existence. These views he proclaimed when he presented in Congress the above petition to which allusion has been made, and this conservative attitude he ever afterwards maintained, and which was in unison with the sentiments of the framers of the constitution and the principal statesmen of the old Democratic and Whig parties. Mr. Buchanan was one of those statesmen who regarded the question of slavery as one that existed by virtue of compromise, and he desired to see nothing done to violate the compacts of faith that had been solemnly ratified between the Northern and Southern sections of the Union. The Compromise measures of 1850 had his hearty adhesion, as in these he seemed to recognize the settlement of the only question that could, perhaps for ages, jeopard the national - 10 - 106 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY integrity. With the greatest anxiety and dread, was it there. fore that he heard, whilst in Europe, of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854. In a letter written to a leading statesman of his party, about the time that the repeal began to be mooted, he uttered solemn words of warning, and strongly remonstrated against the abrogation of this time-honored compact. He depicted in strong colors the dangers that he apprehended would result, should this unwise attempt be consummated. From an intimate knowledge of the feelings of the people of the North, he predicted the terrible storm that would be excited throughout the country by such an opening up of the slavery agitation as this would occasion. But the admonitions of Mr. Buchanan were unheeded. The Kansas-Nebraska act was passed by Congress on the 25th of May, and received the signature of President Pierce' on the 30th of the same month. The windows of slavery agitation were thereby all opened. as he had predicted, and the deluge that began to pour upon the land was frightful and terrific. The anti-slavery press of the Northern States teemed full. of abuse of the men who had dared in the glare of the light and advancement of the nineteenth century, to attempt to favor the cause of slavery ; for in no other aspect could the action of the National Congress be viewed. It seemed in their eyes an unholy effort to turn back the dial of the age, and an effort to open up all the territory of the west to the abomination of slavery. The storm of abolitionism thus aroused, blew and gathered strength by distance, and the strong oaks of the Democratic party were bending beneath its blasts. In the midst of this vast hurricane of partisan fury, the Democratic Convention assembled at Cincinnati in 1856, and placed in nomination James Buchanan as their candidate for the presidency. By skillful management, the old party of Jefferson, in the face of all opposition was again victorious, and its nominee, the subject of our notice, was elected. On the 4th of March, 1857, he was inaugurated the 15th President of the United States. After the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the Terri- OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 107 tory of Kansas became the battle-ground between the antislavery and pro-slavery parties. Emigrants were hurried into the territory by both parties, each aiming at gaining, the ascendancy within its borders ; the one party seeking to make it a free and the other a slave State. The one persistently contended that slavery was local in its character, and therefore if a slaveholder brought his slaves with him these became instantly free. The other, quite as strongly maintained that slavery was recognized by the constitution, and therefore the owner of slaves had the same right to carry his slaves with him into the territory as any other property.. Without this right the Southern people insisted that the equality of the States would be destroyed, and. they would sink from the rank of equals to that of inferiors. In this view the pro-slavery party were sustained by the solemn adjudication of the Supreme Court. They yielded acquiescence in the territorial government appointed over them by Congress; whereas, the anti-slavery party having held a convention at Topeka, formed a State constitution and applied for admittance into the Union. They were, however, rejected. The regular Territorial Legislature, on the 27th of February, 1857, passed an act for the election of delegates in June of that year to frame a State constitution. This was the condition of affairs in Kansas when Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated President, on the 4th of March, 1857. A majority of the pro-slavery delegates were elected in June, 1857, because the anti-slavery party refused to participate in the election. When the convention assembled, they adopted what was known as the Lecompton Constitution ; and as slavery was the main question at variance between the parties, it was determined that this should be submitted to a vote of the people of the State. It was so submitted in December of that year, and the anti-slavery party, still persisting in their refusal to vote, the result was 6226 votes in favor of slavery, and but 569 against it. At the election held on the first Monday in January, 1858, under the new constitution, the anti-slavery party voting, a large majority of the members of the Legislature elected, belonged to this party. On the 30th of January, of the same year, the Le- 108 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY compton Constitution was transmitted to Mr. Buchanan, as the National Executive, from the president of the convention, with the request that it be submitted to the consideration of Congress. This was done in a message of the 2nd of February, 1858, and therein President Buchanan recommended the admission of Kansas as a State, under the Lecompton Constitution. He said : " The people of Kansas have in their own way and in strict accordance with the organic act, framed a Constitution and State Government ; have submitted the all-important question of slavery to the people, and have elected a governor, a member to represent them in Congress, members of the State Legislature and other State officers. * * * For my own part, I am decidedly in favor of its admission, and thus terminating the Kansas question." This message occasioned a long, exciting and violent debate, in both Houses of Congress, between the slavery and anti-slavery members, which lasted nearly three months. It was but the reecho of the storm that was raging throughout the land. Mr. Buchanan was bitterly denounced as truckling to the slave power, and as lending the weight of his high office to wards fixing upon the people of Kansas the curse of slavery against their will. Members of Congress were classified, during this controversy, as LeCompton and anti-Lecompton, as they favored or opposed the admission of Kansas. A wing of his own party separated from Mr. Buchanan on this point, and among these Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois. Kansas was not admitted under this Lecompton Constitution, and was only admitted a short time before the close of Mr. Buchanan's administration, with a free constitution. But events were gradually . culminating during Mr. Buchanan's administration towards a catastrophe of one kind or another. The slavery question was now the one all paramount. All other questions merged into insignificance, and it is only in the light of the slavery agitation of the period that his administration is estimated. No other act of his as President is ever remembered, and from that standpoint alone will he ever be judged. In the midst, however, of OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 109 the terrible commotion of the period, it soon became clear that even in the ranks of the Democratic party a schism, in fact, existed, and but time was required to develop it. This was also occasioned by the slavery question, and by many was considered as occasioned by an effort to compromise on the question. Senator Douglas became prominent as the advocate of what he chose to term squatter sovereignty, but which principle found no sanction in the decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. His arguments were, however, very captivating and attractive, and he succeeded in carrying with him a large body of the Democratic party. To this interpretation of the Constitution the Southern people were almost equally hostile as towards the out-and-out principles of the Republican party. They simply regarded Senator Douglas as bidding for the Presidency before the abolition sentiment of the North, and therefore they bore him an unquenchable and steady opposition. When the Democratic convention met at Charleston, in April, 1860, it was not long till the want of harmony in the party showed itself in the representative body. An attempt was made to agree upon a platform of principles, but without effect, and therefore the withdrawal of the delegates from the cotton States was the consequence of this disagreement. The convention adjourned to meet at Baltimore, in the hope of yet securing harmony in the actions of that body. It reassembled in June, at Baltimore, but without any better success than at Charleston. The breach had become too great and could not be remedied. Both wings of the party nominated their candidates, Stephen A. Douglas being the nominee of the one, and John C. Breckinridge of the other. The sympathies of Mr. Buchanan were with the Wing of the party that nominated Breckinridge, but no hopes of success could be anticipated by either, and the result was the election of Abraham Lincoln as President. As soon as the election of Abraham Lincoln was made known, the Southern people prepared to inaugurate the movement of secession. The first to secede were the cotton States, and on the 4th of March, 1861, these organized a 110 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY government at Montgomery, Alabama, with Jefferson Davis as President. The people of the Southern States had long harbored the belief that the Republican party alone would be unable to prevent a dissolution of the Union, because they did not believe that the Democrats of the North would give their adhesion to the prosecution of a war for the restoration of the Union. It was one of the cardinal principles of the Democratic party, that States could not be coerced by the general government, and one which had been solemnly reiterated again and again in its conventions, and they did not believe that the party could go back of its pledges and resolutions. The Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798, the one sketched by Madison and the other by Jefferson, clearly denied the coercion of States by the general government. These resolutions had ever formed the political bible, as it were, of the Democratic party. James Buchanan, however, better understood the tone of the Northern people, and he frequently assured the Southern leaders that the first gun fired upon Fort Sumpter or Moultrie would heal all political divisions in the North, and render it a unit in support of a war for the preservation of the national integrity. He had mingled so long in politics as to have discovered that the promises of most politicians are unreliable, and therefore was it that he uttered his cautions to those who depended upon aid from the Northern States. As to the doctrine of coercion, he clearly laid down the correct principle of the party in his last annual message to Congress. In this he says : " The question fairly stated is : has the constitution delegated to Congress the power to coerce a State into submission, which is attempting to withdraw or has actually withdrawn from the Confederacy ? If answered in the affirmative, it must be on the principle that power has been conferred upon Congress to make war against a State. After much serious reflection, I have arrived at the conclusion that no such power has been delegated to Congress, or to any other department of the Federal Government. It is manifest, upon an inspection of the constitution, that this is not among the specific and enumerated OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 111 powers granted to Congress ; and it is equally apparent, that its exercise is not necessary and proper for carrying into execution' any one of these powers. So far from this power having been delegated to Congress, it was expressly refused by the convention which framed the constitution. " It appears from the proceedings of that body, that on the 31st of May, 1787, the clause authorizing an exertion of the force of the whole against a delinquent State' came up for consideration. Mr. Madison opposed it in a brief but powerful speech, upon which I shall extract but a single sentence. He observed : The use of force against a State would look more like a declaration of war than an infliction of punishment, and would, probably, be considered by the party attacked as a dissolution of all previous compacts by which it might be bound.' Upon his motion the clause was unanimously postponed, and was never, I believe, again presented. Soon afterwards, on the 8th of June, 1787, when incidentally adverting to the subject, he said : Any government for the United States, formed upon the supposed practicability of using force against the unconstitutional proceedings of the States, would prove as visionary and fallacious as the government of Congress,' evidently meaning the then existing Congress of the old Confederation." The above was the old Democratic doctrine, and when he had given utterance to it, if he believed it, he should have maintained it. But so great at that time was the popular clamor in favor of coercion, that in his special message to Congress of the 8th of January, 1861, he attempts to evade the above, and draws the distinction between coercing a State and the individuals of the State. A weak distinction, indeed. What is the State but the individuals who compose it? If no authority was delegated to the general government to coerce a State, whence is the authority derived to coerce the individuals of the State, the very ones who form a State? In this backing down of Mr. Buchanan from the position first assumed by him, he exhibited a weakness not creditable to one who filled the exalted position of the Presidency of a nation. If his doctrine as regarded coercion was true, it remained so, though all the North 112 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY should declare the contrary. Then why not maintain it? Though its maintenance should have been pronounced treason, and death the penalty, he of all others should have defended it. Many brave men before had suffered for opinion sake, and did they sink in history on that account? They were only the more remembered and respected for their heroism and staunch defense of principle. Mr. Buchanan repeatedly asked of Congress additional authority to enable him to collect the duty in the Southern ports, where all the federal officers had resigned, but to this Congress gave no attention. At least the additional authority was not granted. His condition as President. at that time was a very trying and perplexing one. Elected as Democrat, upon principles that always gave satisfaction to the people of the Southern States, it is not to be supposed that he would desire to fight with the South the battle of the Republican party. The genuine Democratic party and the South had no quarrel; and James Buchanan, belonging to that school, had none either. Should he provoke a war with the South during the remnant of his term of office? Surely not. He and his party had done all in their power to avert the calamity then coming upon the country, and were able still to settle the troubles if they had the power. But that had passed from their hands, and it was the new power that the South designed to resist. Not the nation did they mean to resist, but simply the power of the Republican party. It is no wonder, therefore, if James Buchanan would feel a pleasure in being relieved from an office at a time of such embarrassment. He is said to have remarked to the new President: "If you, sir, feel as happy in entering upon the office of President as I do in retiring therefrom, then you are a happy man to-day." After the 4th of March, 1861, James Buchanan returned to Lancaster, where he met with a reception befitting his rank and condition, and upon this occasion., made his last public address to his fellow-citizens of Lancaster. He reviewed the condition of public affairs at some length, and returned; in conclusion, his warmest thanks for the honors his countrymen had showered upon him. The remainder of OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 113 his days he passed at his residence, called " Wheatland," near Lancaster. During the Tears he lived in retirement he was frequently visited by his Democratic friends, whom he ever received with great cordiality and friendship. After his retirement he prepared a history of his administration, but did not publish the same until the close of the* rebellion. It is entitled, "Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion." In this he essays the task of defending the policy he maintained, especially as regards the slavery question and the rebellion consequent upon its agitation. Of the rectitude of his conduct as regards his attitude on the slavery question, he was ever firmly convinced. In the presence of some friends, after his return from Washington, and after the inauguration of war, he remarked: "Well, gentlemen, I am fully convinced that the American people will yet justify me for the attitude I have maintained as regards the slavery question." Mr. Buchanan enjoyed his usual good health for several years. Even his last illness was short. He died June 1, 1868. His funeral was the largest ever seen in Lancaster. A sketch of the distinguished subject of our notice would be imperfect unless he would be delineated according to his deserts. As a statesman there is no doubt that Mr. Buchanan is deserving of ranking amongst the ablest to whom America has given birth. The great secret of his success as a statesman, was his sagacity to discover the political current before he too fully committed himself. It was this same trait, however, on the other hand, that has occasioned him more abuse than all else. This was his characteristic timidity, for there is no use in concealing the fact, that Mr. Buchanan was timid to a fault. He was not the bold man who would advance his opinions, let them be popular or otherwise. Had he been a man of that boldness, it is scarcely probable that he would ever have filled the presidential chair ; or if he had filled it, his action as President would have commanded more respect than it did. In private life, even so exceedingly reticent was Mr. Buchanan at all times during the rebellion, that his opinion could not be elicited at any time as to the results of the war. 114 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY When an opinion was sought of him, he would usually give an evasive reply, and left it only to be guessed what his real opinion was, and it is doubtful even if his most confidential friends knew whether he favored the prosecution of the war for the restoration of the Union or not. If his sentiments were the same as most of the leading Democrats of his school, he could not have favored what he must have regarded as a violation of the Federal Constitution. Yet if such were his opinions, he chose to conceal them.; for otherwise in the inflamed condition of Northern sentiment during the war, he felt that his person and property would have been in jeopardy. Indeed, frequent threats were made against his life, but these were ever regarded as the temporary ebullition of passion that would soon subside. Many were the letters he received denouncing him and threatening vengeance upon his head, but to none of them did he ever give any heed. They may, however, have somewhat more firmly sealed his lips during the rebellion, as during all this period he seemed to be particularly close-mouthed. The great fault of Mr. Buchanan was his extreme timidity, which did not permit him to do sometimes. what he desired to do. As a citizen, Mr. Buchanan had no superiors. He was kind-hearted, generous and humane, and a worthy object would never escape his recognition. Ile was not one of those who blindly became attached to friends, but he had a universal and sympathetic feeling for mankind. He was regarded by many as cold and phlegmatic, and that he had no regard for friends or enemies. Such was not James Buchanan. Many found fault with him because they had not at his hands received such favors as they had hoped. It was not in his power to favor all his friends, but he did all in that way that he possibly could: and that he could have done vastly more would have been a great pleasure to him. That he was entirely blameless in all his actions could not be expected. He was human and liable to err, as all are but that his faults were many, none will contend. He was perfectly honest and upright in all his actions and dealings, and in these particulars he is worthy of imitation by all. But few men live a more irreproachable life than Mr. Bu- OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 115 hcanan. He was highly esteemed by men of all parties, and none were so hardy as not to concede him honesty of purpose. As a lawyer, he ranked amongst the ablest of the whole country; and when engaged in the practice he read little but the books pertaining to his profession. He never was a Mall of great miscellaneous reading, and save law and politics his knowledge was limited. His extensive intercourse with leading minds and his residences in Europe, had given him a very general information upon all current topics, but he was in no sense either a scholar or a student. His knowledge, which was very considerable, was more what might be called picked-up, than acquired by dint of his own reading. He was an American, fully imbued with American ideas, and he cared little for knowing that which he could not turn to practical account. Indeed, he made no pretensions to scholarship, or profundity. He therefore knew nothing of many matters that engage the attention of students who are such from choice. His opinions upon no point except law and politics are therefore to be estimated. He knew much of the world, and for an American, as its society is now constituted, he was the man for the times. Had he been the stern and outspoken advocate of principle at all times, he would have been left in inglorious obscurity, and would perhaps never have been heard of save in his own county, or at most his State, as a sound, able lawyer. He is simply the production of American life and customs ; and what he might have been under another form of government we have no means of estimating. He, however, must remain the type of American statesmen, and other times and regulations, perhaps another form of government, will be required to develop a very different one. That Mr. Buchanan had the ability to achieve distinction in any pursuit, and under any form of government, is readily conceded. His ability was of the very first order, at least in the department of statesmanship. BUCHANAN, JOHN, was elected a County Commissioner in 1824. BUCKLEY, DANIEL, was an iron-master of Lancaster 116 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY county. He was a member of the Legislature in the years 1794, 1798, 1799 and 1800. He is one of the ancestors of Clement B. Grubb, iron-Master, of this city. BURROWES, THOMAS H., was born in Strasburg, Lancaster county, Pa., November 16th, 1805. He received a liberal education at Quebec and Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, where his parents resided for some years. Although never matriculated as a regular student of Trinity College, yet he acquired a sound knowledge of the Latin and the French languages, considerable acquaintance with the Greek, and the rudiments of the German. He acquired however, besides the mere education of a collegiate routine, an enlarged view of the world, and those habits of self. reliance which became to him of more importance than the most scholarly attainments could otherwise have been to him. He became better prepared for the stern battle of American life less by contact with books than by observation of life, from his travels and intercourse with society. Upon returning to Pennsylvania, he chose the law for his profession, and entered, as a student, the office of Amos Ellmaker, of Lancaster, a lawyer of liberal scholarship and of the highest standing at the bar. After reading two and a half years with Mr. Ellmaker, he entered, in 1829, the Yale College Law School, and pursued his legal studies in this institution for some time, and was in the autumn of 1829 admitted to the bar of Lancaster county, and soon after began tip practice of law. Being in easy circumstances he did not devote himself to the practice of the profession with that zeal and energy that others of less means are necessitated to employ ; but he soon became somewhat active in politics, and in October, 1831, was returned from Lancaster county as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and was reelected in 1832. While a member of the Legislature, owing to his party being in the minority, he did not attain any leading distinction; nor did he seek to render himself particularly conspicuous, but was amongst the most regular in his attendance at his post of duty. Upon the ascent of his party to power in the election of Joseph Ritner, as Governor of Pennsylvania, in 1835, he was called upon to fill OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 117 the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, to which ¹The State of Pennsylvania, in 1838, was upon the verge of civil convulsion, brought about by a dispute that arose in the city of Philadelphia as regards the election- returns of certain aspirants for legislative honors. One party claimed certain members as legally chosen, and their opponents insisted that the opposing candidates had been elected. Two sites of conflicting returns had been made out, and one of these had received the sanction of the Secretary of the Commonwealth and was transmitted to the proper officer. When, therefore, the House of Representatives met at Harrisburg, at 11 o'clock, December 4th, 1838, the Clerk of the old House of Representatives began reading the returns of election for members which had been furnished him by Mr. Burrowes, Secretary of the Commonwealth. As soon as. he had reached the returns of the county of Philadelphia, a Mr. Pray (one of the contesting members for the county), arose and handed the Clerk another return, and desired it to be read. Mr. T. S. Smith, another member from Philadelphia, protested against the reading of this return as being illegal and void, and not properly before the House. After some discussion, both returns were allowed to be read, and then the returns for the rest of the State were read without objection. The contestant members from Philadelphia of the opposing political factions being admitted, each party now proceeded to elect a Speaker, the Whigs 'choosing Thomas S. Cunningham, of Mercer. ; and the Democrats, James Hopkins, of Washington. After order became restored, each Speaker proceeded to qualify the member of his own party. After the members of each party had been sworn in, each adjourned to meet the next day. The Senate was called to order at 3 o'clock, in the midst of much disorder, and after a parliamentary display of partisan tactics, Charles B. Penrose was elected Speaker of the Senate. The public excitement by this time had become intense, owing to a popular impression that a design had been concocted to defeat the election of those fairly entitled to seats in the Legislature. The mass of spectators seemed to believe that the Secretary of the Commonwealth had been tampered with, and that his return was made in the interest of the party with which he was known to be in sympathy. A Mr. Brown, from Philadelphia, attempted to speak and was called to order as not being a member of the Senate. this excited the populace, and the shout was raised—" hear him," " Brown," " Brown," " you shall hear Brown," and similar outbursts of excitement now rent the halls. All at this moment became excitement and confusion, and a Mr. Rodgers, a member of the Senate, rose and moved that Mr. Brown be permitted to address the Senate. Brown now addressed the Senate, and all the while the tumult was increasing, when Mr. Penrose feeling himself unable to preserve order, yielded the chair to Mr. Rodgers and made his escape. Violent threats were now freely made against Thaddeus Stevens, Penrose and Burrowes, and these gentlemen retired from the assemblage and left their opponents in possession of the field. The same day, Governor Ritner issued his proclamation, calling upon 118 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY the Superintendency of Common Schools was then, ex officio, attached. From this time Mr. Burrowes made the work of popular education a subject of the most careful study, and prepared a revised school bill, which was adopted by the Legislature in 1836, and from that time, with great energy, devoted himself to the execution of the law. The years of 1837 and 1838 were periods of much activity in the educational life of Mr. Burrowes. In 1837 he published a plan and drawing for the improvement of school houses and furniture, which was widely used, and which was the first effort of the kind in the State, if not in the Union. In 1839, upon the retirement of Joseph Ritner from the office of Governor, and the coming into power of a different administration, the Superintendency of Common Schools passed into other hands, and Mr. Burrowes returned to Lancaster and devoted the next seven years of his life to agricultural pursuits, on a farm which he owned near the city of Lancaster. He had always been attached, and in his youth somewhat enured to rural affairs, yet he lacked that financial fitness necessary to render the pursuit of hus- the civil authorities "to exert themselves to restore order to the utmost of their power," and calling upon the military force of the commonwealth to hold themselves " in instant readiness to repair to the seat of government ; and upon all good citizens to aid in crushing the lawless mob, and in reinstating the supremacy of the law." In a day or two, numbers of armed military companies arrived froze different sections of. the State, and order was speedily restored. The Senate and the two Houses of Representatives continued to assemble, but without an adjustment of the difficulty being yet effected. In the meanwhile three members of the Cunningham House of Representatives came into the Hopkins House and took their seats, and desired to be qualified as members of that body. These gentlemen, Messrs. Butler and Sturdivant, of Luzerne, and Montelius, of Union, were sworn and took their seats, and this gave the Hopkins party a legal quorum of the whole number of Representatives. Mr. Micheler, a Whig Senator from Northampton, on the 25th of December offered a resolution to recognize the Hopkins House of Representatives as containing a quorum of the legally returned members, and this resolution was adopted by 17 voting in the affirmative and 16 in the negative. Several Whig Senators favored the resolution, and thus the difficulty terminated which for a time threatened to drench the land in blood. This period of excitement and tumult has ever since been popularly known as the "Buckshot War." OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 119 bandrey a profitable one. Owing to pecuniary losses, which he about this time sustained, he was compelled to dispose of his farm, and in 1845 he again returned to his profession, in the city of Lancaster. Immediately afterwards he commenced a series of papers, in the Lancaster Intelligencer, on the nature, defects and improvement of the Common School System of the State. These being over his own signature, were made more elaborate than newspaper communications and went into considerable detail. These articles attracted considerable attention, and were copied or otherwise noticed by papers in different parts of the State, and aided in uniting and directing the public sentiment, then to considerable attention, and were copied or otherwise noticed by papers in different parts of the State, to manifest itself in favor of school improvement. beginning At the convention of the friends of Education, held at Harrisburg in January, 1850, Mr. Burrowes was chosen temporary President, and acted as chairman of the committee "to consider and report the best means for invigorating the general superintendence of the Common School System, harmonizing its local operations, and spreading the knowledge of its true nature and benefits, its progress and necessities." In the report submitted by him on that occasion, Mr. B. recommended the establishment of a separate State department of education, and the publication of a monthly educational State journal for the dissemination of matters pertaining to the interests, of education amongst the friends of the cause in all parts of the Commonwealth. His views met the unanimous endorsement of the convention upon this occasion. In 1851, a number of teachers, of Lancaster, having met in convention, in the city of Lancaster, chose Mr. Burrowes as their chairman, and measures were adopted for the promotion of a permanent educational association in the county. On this occasion  Mr. Burrowes delivered an elaborate address upon the condition of the school system and the duties of teachers, which was printed and largely distributed. At this meeting a resolution was adopted authorizing the President to commence the publication of “a monthly paper devoted exclusively to the spread of information relative to education.” This was the origin of the Pennsylvania School 120 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY Journal, a work that until recently occupied much of the time and attention of Mr. Burrowes, and one that has exercised a very important influence upon the educational affairs of the State. By the act of 1855, the Pennsylvania School Journal was made the organ of the school department, and one copy directed to be sent, at the expense of the State, to each school district. In. 1854 Mr. Burrowes prepared for the State, descriptive matter for " Pennsylvania School Architecture," a volume of 276 pages. After having written all the important school bills that passed the Legislature after 1836, he crowned this eminent service to the State in 1857, by drafting the Normal School law, which is regarded by its friends as being unsurpassed by any legislation on this subject, either in Europe or America. In February, 1858, the subject of this notice had the honor of being elected Mayor of the city of Lancaster, the duties of which office he discharged for one year. In 1860 he was again called upon to administer the school system of the State; and in 1864 was appointed by Governor Curtin Superintendent of Soldiers' Orphans' Schools, and established these institutions in different parts of the State. In 1869 he was elected President of the Agricultural College, located in Centre county, a position he held until his death. In the latter part of the year 1870 he sold and disposed of his interest in the Pennsylvania School Journal, to J. P. Wickersham and J. P. McCaskey. To Mr. Burrowes belongs, we think, fairly, the honor of being entitled the father of the Pennsylvania Free School System. He did more to place it upon a permanent basis than any other citizen of the State, and the present shape that it has been made to occupy is chiefly to be attributed to his studious care and indefatigable management. He was also the author of the " Pennsylvania State Book," a work of much research. Mr. Burrowes died March 25th, 1871. BUYERS, JOHN, a member of the Legislature in the years 1825, 1826 and 1827. OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 121 - C - CALDWELL, ANDREW *, was born in Scotland, and emigrated to this country prior to the year 1718. He obtained a warrant for 285 acres of land, which lies on the old Philadelphia road, near the line between Leacock and Salisbury. He was united in marriage in the year 1718 with Ann Stewart. He was a worthy member of the Presbyterian church. , It was partly owing to his exertions and assistance that the old Presbyterian meeting-house was first established at Pequea, about the year 1730. He departed this life in the year 1752, and was buried at that place. *CALDWELL, ANDREW, his son, was born in the year 1722, and was joined in marriage with Isabella Andrews, in the year 1747, and died in the year 1768. *CALDWELL, ANDREW, his grandson, was born in the year 1748, and in the year 1744 was united in marriage with Ann Buyers, of Salisbury. He died in the year 1825, aged 77 years. His great grandsons, Andrew and William Caldwell, of Salisbury, (who are now far advanced in years), still hold the property. He built the first public house on the old Philadelphia road, called the Hat Tavern, which is standing as a private residence to the present day. CALDWELL, JAMES A., was engaged in the slate quarrying business, at Peach. Bottom. He was elected a member of the State Senate in the year 1837. The senatorial district was at that time composed of the counties of Lancaster and York. CALDWELL, JAMES, a citizen of Bart township, and a member of the Legislature for the years 1819 and 1828. *CALDWELL, REV. DAVID, D.D., son of Andrew and Ann Caldwell, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1725. He studied with a Mr. Smith, somewhere in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, who kept a classical school, (and who was probably the father of the Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, D.D., afterwards President of the *Contributed by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. - 11 - 122 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY College of New Jersey); and for the purpose of accomplishing his object, in the pursuit of knowledge, and in order to complete his studies, which he pursued with much avidity, he relinquished to his younger brothers all claim to any share in his father's estate, on condition that they would furnish him the means to carry him through college, with which proposition they readily complied. In contemplating the character and tracing the progress of any man who has filled a large share in the public eye, and for a time swayed the destinies of millions, or who has in a more silent and unobtrusive way exerted a salutary and permanent influence over mankind, we feel some gratification in knowing by what reasons he was led to pursue the course which he did, or take any important step in that direction; but in this case we are left to mere conjecture, from which no certain conclusions can be drawn, nor any confirmation of principles derived ; but it seems probable that about this time he made a profession of religion. He graduated at the College of New Jersey, in the year 1761, at the age of thirty-six years, and was ordained a minister of the Gospel, at Princeton, the year following, and in the year 1765 was appointed by the Presbytery of Philadelphia to labor as a missionary in the churches of North Carolina, including those of which he soon afterwards became pastor. In visiting the counties lying between the Yadkin and Catawba rivers, as well as in Guilford, he found many from Lancaster county, whom he had known in his youth, and while there he formed, or rather renewed, an acquaintance with Rachel, the third daughter of the Rev. Alexander Craighead, of Mecklenburg, whom he had known in her childhood, in Lancaster county, and they were united in marriage in the year 1766, which had an important bearing on his comfort and usefulness through subsequent life, with whom he lived until his death, and by whom he had eight sons and one daughter, who lived to maturity, and survived him, (besides three or four who died in their infancy), five being born within the space of two years. During the Revolutionary war, part of which time her husband had to conceal himself to save his life, which had been imperiled OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 123 by the sermons he had preached advocating the Revolution and encouraging the men of his congregations to volunteer in the service of their country. His wife was turned out of the house while it was occupied by British officers, and her only habitation, with her infants, was an old smokehouse, with nothing whatever to subsist upon except a few dried apples and dried peaches, which were found among the rubbish ; and in this suffering condition she was treated with great severity and indignity by the inferior officers, until after the battle of Guilford Courthouse. He had been installed pastor of the churches at Buffalo and Alamance, long before the war, and in that station he labored for about sixty years; and in the meantime he labored on his plantation, and ditched and drained the swamps and low lands on his farm with his own hands. The people of his congregations, at the time of their organization, were mostly from his own county of Lancaster, and had removed there before him many of them had known him from his childhood; they had been taught at the .same school and worshiped at the same sanctuary. A company had been formed. in Lancaster and Chester counties, called the Nottingham Company, which sent out their agents and purchased a large area of land, in what is now Guilford county, near the waters of Buffalo .and Reedy Fork; and when they were making their arrangements to change their residence, (which was about the time he commenced his education), they made a conditional agreement with him that, if Providence permitted, when he obtained license to preach, he would come out and be their preacher. In connection with the ministry, he established a classical school, and being a thorough scholar himself, many of his scholars became eminent as statesmen, lawyers, judges, physicians and ministers of the Gospel ; five of his scholars became Governors of different States, many more became members of Congress, and more than forty ministers were educated, in whole or in part, at his school, which served the Carolinas for many years both before and after the Revolution, as an Academy, College and Theological Seminary. Re took an active and leading part in the great struggle for 124 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY American Independence, and had to undergo great hard. ships, suffering and imprisonment, while the British array was encamped on his plantation, under Cornwallis. Among the many incidents which have been recorded of this remarkable man, and the many anecdotes which have been told concerning him, we may, perhaps, find room for this one, for the purpose of illustrating the character of the man, and which called for the exercise of his different qualities. About the time that Cornwallis' army was at one side of his, place and General Greene's forces were passing on the other side, two of the enemy came to the house of his brother, Alexander Caldwell, (who was absent with Greene's army), on a foraging excursion, in the evening about dusk ; the one an officer and the other a common soldier, who commenced acting very rudely, seizing whatever they could carry away, ordering their suppers, &c. Mrs. Alexander Caldwell immediately sent over a messenger, requesting the advice of the Rev. Doctor, who sent her back word that she must treat them politely and furnish them the best supper her house could afford, only she must be careful to take notice where they put their guns, and set the table in the other end of the house; and in the meantime, he would go over and conceal himself behind a certain haystack. While the men were in the other end of the house, demolishing the viands on the table, without fearing any danger, he went quietly into the other apartment, took up one of their guns, which was loaded, and stepping to the door of the room in which they were so comfortably employed, and presenting arms, told them at the same time that if they attempted to resist or make. their escape, that their lives would be forfeited. As neither of them cared to die just at the time, they surrendered at discretion, and he marched them over to his own house, where he detained them over night, and in the morning put them on their parole, by making them take a solemn oath on the family Bible that they would not again take up arms against the United States, nor in any way assist the British or the Tories, which promise they kept honorably, and returned to him on the day appointed. After the war was over, he was chosen a member of the conven- OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 125 tion which adopted the Federal Constitution, and also a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of the State of North Carolina ; and when the Synod of the Carolinas held its first meeting, which was held at Centre church, in the year 1778, a committee was appointed, consisting of five ministers and five elders, for the purpose of addressing a circular letter to the churches under the care of the Synod, and of this committee the Rev. Dr. Caldwell was appointed chairman. He continued to preach in his congregations until the year 1820, and lived until the 25th of August, 1824, when he bid adieu to earth in the one hundredth year of his age. CAMERON, JAMES, a brother of Simon Cameron, was born in Maytown, Lancaster county. He was for a time a. partner in the Lycoming Gazette, and in the year 1829 obtained control of the Lancaster Sentinel. In 1839 he was appointed Superintendent of Motive Power on the Columbia Railroad, in room of Andrew Mehaffey. He was in 1843 appointed Deputy Attorney General of the Mayor's Court, in room of S. Humes Porter, resigned. Through various and successive steps, he worked his way in life from orphanage and poverty up to distinction and position in society. He held the position of colonel in the late civil war, and was killed at the first battle of Bull Run. A correspondent, speaking of the repulse of the Union army at Bull Run says: "Col. Cameron, who had repeatedly rallied his men, seemed paralyzed at this new reverse; he dropped his sword from his hand and looked a moment at the retreating mass. Some of his men still fired, and when one of his lieutenants came forward for orders about the wounded soldiers, he turned suddenly towards him, faced the battery, and at the same instant a minie bullet pierced his breast. He fell without a groan. After his fall, the rout became complete, and night saw the disheartened army in full retreat toward Fort Corcoran. CAMERON, SIMON, was born March 8th, 1799, at Maytown, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He traces his descent on the paternal side, from the Camerons of Scotland, who. shared their fortunes with the unfortunate Charles Edward, 126 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY whose star of hope sunk on the field of Culloden. Donald Cameron, his great grandfather, was a participant in that memorable battle, and having escaped the carnage, made his way to America, arriving about 1745-6. He afterwards fought under the gallant Wolfe upon the heights of Abraham. On his maternal side, Simon Cameron is descended from Conrad Pfoutz, one of those sturdy German Protestants whose faith no terrors could conquer. An exile from his native land for conscience' sake, he sought the western wilds, and was for a time the companion of that famed Indian fighter, Capt. Samuel Brady, the history of whose life is more captivating than romance. When the subject of our sketch was about nine years of age, his parents removed from Lancaster to Northumberland county, and his father dying soon after, he was early cast upon his own exertions. Having an unquenchable fondness for books, young Cameron was able to perceive no other means so likely to satiate his appetite as a printing office, it seeming to him the chief centre of thought in the community in which destiny had fixed his lot. He therefore entered, in 1815, as an apprentice to the printing business in the town of Sunbury, where he continued until 1817. His employer at this time proving unfortunate in a financial aspect, his office was closed, and our apprentice, now being out of employment, was compelled to seek a situation elsewhere. He accordingly made his way, on foot, to Harrisburg, and after considerable disappointment was received as en apprentice in the office of James Peacock, of that place. On attaining his majority he located at Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and in January, 1821, began the publication of the Bucks County Messenger. As editor of this paper he evinced a breadth of information which, in view of his limited advantages, seemed astonishing. In March of the same year he entered into partnership with the publisher of the Doylestown Democrat, and the firm merged their papers into the Bucks County Democrat, whose publication they continued till the close of the year 1821, when the paper was sold to Gen. W. T. Rogers. Cameron started for Harrisburg, and again obtained employment as a journeyman printer, and the fol- OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 127 lowing year we find him in the employ of Messrs. Gales & Seaton, publishers of the National Intelligencer, at Washing- ton, D. C. In 1823 Simon Cameron returned to his native State, and was married to Miss Brua, of Harrisburg. In the same year be became one of the publishers of the Reporter, a Democratic paper printed at Harrisburg. He was also elected State printer, and received from Governor Shulze the appointment of Adjutant General of Pennsylvania. The poor printer was now become a man, of mark. His official and business connections introduced him to the leading men of the State, and he soon came to be recognized as one of the shrewdest business men of the whole country. His utilitarian character now unfolded itself, and shortly afterwards he obtained a leading position in the financial institutions with which be was connected." He early became conspicuous in the public improvement enterprises of the State; and the projection of the Harrisburg, Mt. Joy and Lancaster Railroad, is the excogitation of his brain. His energy and ability vastly contributed towards the completion of this public enterprise. In recognition of his efficiency in this particular, he was chosen President of the road. The Lebanon Valley Railroad was another monument of his sagacity and foresight. The Northern Central Railroad, from Harrisburg to Sunbury, was anther of his developed conceptions, which, with the Tide Water Canal and other improvements, are sufficient to give him a front rank amongst the useful and enterprising citizens of the commonwealth. In 1845, after the inauguration of James K. Polk, the position of Secretary of State was tendered to James Buchanan, then one of the United State Senators from Pennsylvania in Congress. A successor was to be chosen to fill Buchanan's place in the Senate. Simon Cameron was the man who, at this time, in recognized sympathy with the Democratic party, was selected for this position as the representative of the wing of the party which favored the policy of a protective tariff. George W. Woodward was, however, the caucus nominee of the Democrats this party being at 128 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY the time strongly in the majority. The Whigs consented to unite their strength upon Cameron, because of his known tariff sympathies. By the union; therefore, of the Whigs and a part of the Democrats, the subject of our sketch was elected to the United States Senate. In 1857 General Cameron was again a candidate for the United States Senate, and succeeded in being elected over John W. Forney, then universally conceded as one of the shrewdest Democratic politicians in Pennsylvania. Upon the election of Abraham Lincoln, in the year 1860, the distant sound of an approaching storm became instantly audible in the southern horizon. As soon as the new President assumed the helm of state, on the 4th of March, 1861, and began to look around him for those in whom he should repose his counsels in the troubled state of the nation, he tendered the port-folio of the war department to the subject of our sketch. General Cameron became Secretary of War at a period when all the signs of the times indicated an unprecedented hurricane upon the American continent. It came with the bombardment of Fort Sumpter, on the morning of the 12th of April, 1861, and immediately the bugle-blasts of war arose, both North and South, and the period which followed required of the War Secretary a coolness, sagacity and vigor of will, that the exigencies of the nation had never before demanded. General Cameron at once evinced his appreciation of the magnitude of the difficulties to be encountered, and showed a determination of resistance that the crisis required. In accordance with his plans, an army was soon organized, and the Northern States were placed upon a military footing that amply shielded and assured the perpetuity of the Federal Union. The position was, however, a perplexing one for even the steadiest nerves, and our Secretary retired from the post in January, 1862, and was appointed to the important diplomatic position of Minister to Russia. In 1867 General Cameron was, for the third time, elected to the. United States Senate, a position he still continues to fill. As a politician, General Cameron ranks as one of the most OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 129 shrewd and sagacious in the United States ; and for years has been recognized as exerting a powerful influence in the machinery of the nation. His devotion to his friends knows no bounds; and hence, in a great measure flows his great strength as a leader in the workings of politics. From this cause is it that he has been able to attach to his interests men of both political parties; and those enrolling themselves under his standard are not forgotten when victory perches upon his banners. CARPENTER, ABRAHAM, was a citizen of Strasburg township, and an influential and leading man of his time. He was a farmer. He was a member of the Legislature in the years 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1795, 1796 and 1797. He was elected a member of the State Senate in the year 1798. he died March 4th, 1815, in the 57th year of his age. CARPENTER, CHARLES, was a member of the Legislature in the years 1842 and 1843. CARPENTER, CHRISTIAN, was elected Sheriff of Lancaster county in 1799. He was the father of William Carpenter, late Prothonotary of the county, who was elected in 1857. Wm. Carpenter has for many years been the leading scrivener and conveyancer of Lancaster city. CARPENTER, EDWARD, was born in Lancaster county, and emigrated to the northwestern territory about the year 1800. In 1802 he was chosen a member of the Ohio Convention that framed the State Constitution. Afterwards he was appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Fairfield county, Ohio, and held this position for several years. He filled many minor positions, and all with great acceptability. He died March 20th, 1822, in the 79th year of his age. CARPENTER, EMANUEL, was a member of the Legislature in the years 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1759, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1763, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770 and 1771. He was for many years a Justice of the Peace, and President of the Justices' County Court, a position he held up to his death, in 1780. He was the grandfather of Emanuel C. Reigart. The following shows the manner in 130 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY which his public services were appreciated by his fellow. citizens : To Emanuel Carpenter, esq., late one of the Representcitives in the Assembly for the County of Lancaster : SIR : The burgesses, assistants, &c., of the borough of Lancaster met this day, at the request of a number of the reputable inhabitant:, .of the borough, and being sensible of your services as one of the Representatives for the county of Lancaster in the General Assembly of the Province, these seventeen years past, have directed that the thanks of the corporation be offered to you, with the assurance of their approbation of your steady and uniform conduct in that station. And, as you have declined serving your country in that capacity, I am charged to mention, that it is the earnest wish of the inhabitants of Lancaster that you may be continued in the commission of the peace and a judge in our county, where you have so long presided, and deservedly acquired and supported the character of an upright and impartial magistrate, &c. By order of the Burgesses and Assistants. [ Signed, ] CASPER SHAFFNER, Town Clerk. Lancaster, October 3, 1772. CARPENTER, EMANUEL, JR., was a member of the Legislature in the years 1777, 1780, 1784, 1785 and 1786. CARPENTER, HENRY, a Commissioner of Lancaster county, elected in 1823. CARPENTER, DR. HENRY, was a leading and prominent physician of Lancaster county. He lived near Lampeter, and established a large botanical garden, into which he introduced a fine assortment of rare and costly plants that were exotics in this section. of country. CARPENTER, DR. HENRY, was born December 10th, 1819, in Lancaster, in the same house he now occupies. His father was named Henry, and he is the great grandson of Heinrich Zimmerman (Carpenter), the first founder of the numerous Carpenter family in Lancaster county. His education was obtained in the select schools of the city, and afterwards he went to the Lancaster County Academy. He read medicine in the office of Dr. Samuel Humes, and began the practice of medicine in March, 1841. He immediately obtained a handsome practice in the profession. He was one of the founders of the Lancaster County Medical Society, in 1844, and its first Secretary, a position he held for several Years. In 1855 he was elected President of the Society. OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 131 He has been Secretary and Vice President of the State Medical Society, and is now one of the Board of Censors for the Eastern district of Pennsylvania. He was President of the Select Branch of City Councils; for nearly twenty years, and has been an active and influential member of the Lancaster School Board for about sixteen years. For many years he has served as one of the directors of the Lancaster Gas Company and also of the Lancaster County Insurance Company. He has, for a long time, been a director of the Conestoga Steam Mills Company, and since their sale, in 1857, one of the principal owners. He was one of the firm that built No. 4 cotton mill. He was one of the originators of the Conestoga Turnpike Company, and its President since the organization. He is one of the principal physicians of the city of Lancaster, and enjoys a large and very lucrative practice. He was the chosen physician of the late James Buchanan, Thaddeus Stevens, Col.. Reah Frazer, and others of our leading citizens. CARPENTER, JACOB, a member of the Legislature for the years 1765, 1766, 1767, 1769, 1772 and 1781. CARPENTER, JACOB, was elected three times Treasurer of Pennsylvania. He was appointed January 13th, 1800, by Governor McKean, Clerk of the Orphans' Court of Lancaster of his county. He died February 13th, 1803, in the 36th year CARPENTER, JOEL, a member of the Legislature in the years 1814 and 1815. CARPENTER, DR. JOHN, also a leading physician of the county. He lived near Earlville, and his services in his professional line were sought for by persons from a great distance. He lies buried in the old Carpenter graveyard, near Earlville. CARPENTER, MICHAEL, son of Samuel Carpenter, was born September 22nd, 1796, in Warwick township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He removed with his father to Lancaster, in 1807, and learned the business of a turner. Becoming involved in speculative enterprises in which he 132 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY met with heavy losses, he turned his attention to the writing of deeds and other instruments of legal transactions; in a word, he became a scrivener. In this career he seemed to have found the business for which he was best fitted ; and in the year 1843 he was elected Mayor of the city of Lancaster, and by successive reelections continued to fill this office up to 1852. In stature, unlike his father, he was not corpulent, but rather of a spare build. He was of a feeble rather than of a robust constitution. In disposition he was kind and gentle, yet grave and serene in his demeanor. He was a man of a high order of integrity and moral worth, and a devoted and humble Christian. He was of industrious and steady habits, and devoted himself sedulously and constantly to business until overtaken by disease (pulmonary consumption), which caused his death, August 5th, 1861. CARPENTER, SAMUEL, was born November 11th, 1765, in Lancaster county Pennsylvania. He was brought up to the business of agriculture, which he followed for many years, and up to April 1807, when he removed to Lancaster for the purpose of having better opportunities for the education of his children. Here he engaged for some years in the business of inn-keeping; Lancaster at the time being the seat of the State government, and a great resort for strangers from all parts of the State. He was appointed an Alderman, and not long thereafter was elected Mayor of the city of Lancaster, a position to which he was frequently reelected. In appearance he was not tall, but of medium height and quite corpulent. He made an excellent magistrate, being possessed of strong native sense, and a clear understanding of right and wrong. His opinions of law were remarkably accurate. In conversation he was affable and exceedingly friendly, and he enjoyed the high esteem of all who knew him. CARTER, RICHARD, was one of the early settlers of Warwick township. He was a native of Warwickshire, England, and emigrated to Lancaster county at an early day. It was through his influence that Warwick township was named in honor of his native county in England. He died OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 133 July 9th, 1750, aged 81 years. He lies buried at the Union Meeting House, in Warwick township. CASSEL FAMILY. The first family of Cassels emigrated to this country, from Hesse Cassel, Germany, about the year 1680, and settled at Germantown, near Philadelphia, then a small town ; at this place the Mennonites, of which the Cassel family were members, had a church and regular preaching. An incident occurred about this period going to show, in a very striking manner, the simplicity of the church at this time. A letter came from Europe to the Cassels that a large legacy was left them by the death of a relative, amounting to nearly a million of dollars, and that they should send out and get the treasure. A church council was called and the matter freely discussed, when it was decided by a unanimous vote not to receive the money, as it would have a tendency to make them proud. Simplicity of manner, plainness of dress, frugality, honesty and economy were some of the characteristics of this people. Abraham Cassel, with an elder brother, heard that there was fine land in Lancaster county, and about the year 1750 these two emigrated to this county and located near Sporting Hill, in Rapho township, then a wild wilderness. Their fortune consisted of a good axe, strong constitution, and a firm and determined purpose. Trees were soon felled to the ground, and a log house erected on the banks of the Back run, where there' was a good meadow, well adapted for grazing and raising stock. Here Abraham Cassel, the second, was born ; and on the 18th of April, 1775, was married to Esther Weiss, and from this union the following children were born : Henry Cassel, March 12th, 1776 ; Maria Cassel, December 13th, 1779 ; Abraham Cassel, December 14th, 1782. Henry Cassel, the oldest son, located at Marietta, where he was one of the leading men, and greatly instrumental in building up that town. He was President of the old Marietta Bank. He built the house now occupied by Mr. Watt, then one of the most costly buildings in the county. He had three children; the youngest, A. N. Cassel, who was a member of the Legislature in the years 1838 and 1839, and is now one wealthiest and most honored citizens of Marietta. 134 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY Maria, the second child, was married to a man named Kauffman, and located near Manheim, in Penn township; they had two children. Abraham, the only son, has been one of the leading men of the county for many years. Abraham Cassel, the youngest of these three children, owned and conducted a farm in Rapho township, the old homestead. He was a man of very marked character, and a sound and practical thinker. He served in several public positions, and was a director of the poor of Lancaster county. His family consisted of three sons and two daughters. The oldest son, Dr. John H. Cassel, studied medicine with Dr. Washington L. Atlee, and afterwards located at Pittsburg, where he was highly respected. Emanuel Cassel, the second son, is a farmer and resides near Mt. Joy, greatly esteemed by his neighbors for his generosity and kindness of heart. The only living daughter is Hetty Ann, married to John K. Barr. They reside near Salunga. Jacob E. Cassel, the youngest son, was born January 22nd, 1822. He was elected,a member of the Legislature in October, 1859. Upon the breaking out of the rebellion he enlisted as a private in Hambright's 79th regiment, P. V., but arriving in camp, he was appointed to the position of Quartermaster, which he held up to October 9th, 1862, when he was captured by the enemy. Upon his release, infirm health induced him to retire from the army. CASSIDY, DR. PATRICK, was born September 22d, 1810, in Butler county, Ohio, where his early life was passed. While a young man, he spent some time engaged in teaching school. In 1835 he removed to the city of Lancaster, and soon entered upon the practice of his profession. He long maintained the rank of one of the most skillful physicians of the county of Lancaster. During all his lifetime be was a student, and ever awake to all discoveries and improvement in the science of medicine. He kept himself informed as to the invention of new surgical instruments as they made their appearance, or to any new method of treating disease which promised more effectually to relieve suffering or preserve life, thus proving a true physician instead of a mere fossil in the profession. " The older I grow," he once OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 135 remarked, " the less medicine I prescribe. I have long made it the careful rule of my practice, to give absolutely as little medicine Dr. Cassidy was one of the most efficient and active members of the School Board of Lancaster city, and he spent considerable sums of money in the purchase of books on the art and science of teaching. He labored in this sphere out of an abiding love for the system of popular education. He was the Republican candidate for Mayor of the city of Lancaster, in 1862 and 1863, but owing to the popularity of his competitor, was defeated. 'He died in the year 1864. CHAMBERS, STEPHEN, was a .leading lawyer in his day, and was admitted to the bar in 1780. He was a delegate to the convention in 1787, which ratified, on the part of Pennsylvania, the Federal Constitution. He was killed in a duel which he fought with Dr. Reger. CHAMPNEYS, BENJAMIN, was born in Cumberland county, in New Jersey. His ancestors came up the Delaware before Penn's Charter, with John Fen wick, the grantee of the province of West New Jersey, and landed at Salem. One of these ancestors, Edward Champneys, was Fenwick's son-in-law, and aided William Penn in establishing a proper and just government, and was instrumental in settling a controversy between the proprietary and Byllinge, who had a large interest in the lands of the province. The father of Benjamin Champneys, an only son, spent his early life and was educated in Philadelphia, graduated at the University, and sailed from that port in the "Philadelphia" as a surgeon under Commodore Stephen Decatur. The subject of this notice was placed under a tutor at nine years of age, and remained under instruction for several years ; subsequently, he entered the Sophomore class at. Princeton, where he remained till the decease of his father. He then entered the office of Chief Justice Ewing, of New Jersey, and remained there for six months ; and at the suggestion of his guardian, Colonel Potter, of Philadelphia, he removed to Lancaster. He became a law student of George B. Porter esq., and, after three years of study, was admitted to the bar. He soon established himself in his profession and 136 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. secured for himself a lucrative practice. In the autumn of 1825 he was nominated by the Democratic party and elected a member of the House of Representatives. He was again elected in the year 1828, and discharged the duties of both sessions with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents. In 1839 he was appointed by Governor Porter, President Judge of the Courts of Lancaster county, and discharged the duties of this office for three years and a half. While yet judge, he was nominated by the Democratic Convention of Lancaster county for the office of State Senator, and thereupon tendered his resignation of the President Judgeship, to take effect before the election. He was elected Senator in 1842, and served the usual term of three years. Before the expiration of his Senatorial term, he was appointed Attorney General of the Commonwealth, by Governor Shunk, and held this office until the decease of the Governor. Benjamin Champneys acted with the Democratic party up to the breaking out of the Southern rebellion, when he ranged himself on the side of those who favored a vigorous prosecution of the war for the suppression of the rebellion, and thus became identified with the Republican party, with which he afterwards acted. In 1862 he was nominated by the Republican party and elected to the House of Representatives, and in 1863 was nominated and elected to the State Senate. He discharged the duties of these positions with a conscientious regard for what, in his opinion, duty required of him. Since the termination of his official career as a State Senator, he was engaged in no active business. Benjamin Champneys long ranked as one of the leading lawyers of the Lancaster bar, and for many years the amount of legal business transacted by him was, perhaps, surpassed by no member of the bar in the county. He, indeed, ranked amongst the ablest of his profession in Pennsylvania. tie died August 9th, 1871, aged 71 years. CLARK, BRICE, a native of the county of Derry, Ireland, emigrated to America and first settled in New Castle, Delaware. he moved thence to Leacock, Lancaster county, and OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 137 afterwards to East Donegal. He was elected a member of the Legislature in the year 1794. He died in 1819. CLARK, ROBERT, a member of the Legislature in the year 1784. CLARK, THOMAS, an Associate Judge of Lancaster county, appointed in 1813. CLARKSON, REV. JOSEPH, was born in Philadelphia, and was the son of Dr. Gerardus Clarkson, a prominent physician. of that city, and an influential member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. During the early part of the revolutionary war Mr. Clarkson attended a classical school, then of great repute, kept by Dr. Robert Smith, a Presbyterian clergyman, in Lancaster county, Pa. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1782, and received the degree of Master of Arts from the College of New Jersey, 1785. Having studied for the ministry he was admitted to Deacon's Orders in 1789, being the first ordained by Bishop White after his return from England, whither he had gone for consecration. During that year he acted as Secretary to the House of Bishops and began his ministry in Philadelphia, removing thence in about three years to Wilmington, Delaware, where he officiated in the Old Swede's Church until 1799. In April of that year he accepted a call to St. James' Church, Lancaster, Pa., where he remained until the time of his death, January 25,1830. He was a man well beloved by his parishioners, and had during his long life a very peaceful ministry. His remains lie in St. James' churchyard. *CLEMSON FAMILY. The Clemson family were amongst the most worthy pioneers who opened up the wilderness north of the Gap mountain and the valley of the Pequea, (now Salisbury township), and they were also among the most eminent members of the Society of Friends, at the time that the old Sadsbury meeting was first established, in the year 1724. James Clemson, the first, emigrated from Birmingham, England, near the close of the seventeenth century, having embraced the doctrines of the Friends. He purchased 636 acres of land in the valley of the Pequea, on which he *Contributed by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. - 12 - 138 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY settled. His warrant bears date the 18th of May, 1716. He left three sons and three daughters, viz : James, John and Thomas; Hannah, (married to Joseph Haynes), Mary, (married to Henry Gest), and Rebecca Clemson. He died in the year 1730; and his lands were divided among his sons, James Clemson, the second, purchased 200 acres of his father's tract, from his brothers and sisters, in the year 1731, on which he erected a three-storied stone dwelling house, lately occupied by his great grandson, Davis Clemson, now deceased, and which is the oldest residence now standing in Salisbury township. He was for many years a public speaker and a worthy member of society, and his name frequently appears on the records of Sadsbury meeting. In the year 1740 James Clemson and Anthony Shaw were appointed representatives from Sadsbury, to represent that monthly meeting in the quarterly meeting of Friends, at Old Chester. His son, James Clemson, the third, was born in Lancaster county, in the year 1727, and in 1749 was joined in marriage with Margaret, daughter of Stephen Heard, of Sadsbury. He was an early advocate of American independence, and was commissioned a Justice of the Peace before the Revolution. He was elected a delegate to a general county convention in the year 1774, to take into consideration the resolves of the Continental Congress, and the question being put, for or against resistance to British tyranny, James Clemson, John Whitehill, of Leacock, and Robert Bailey, of Sadsbury, voted in the affirmative. On the 5th of January, 1775, he was elected to represent Lancaster county in the Provincial Convention, at Philadelphia. He was also appointed on the committee of observation and inspection for Lancaster, for the year 1775.* He was a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania in the years 1777, 1778 and 1779. He was appointed and commissioned a Justice of the Peace and of the Common Pleas, in and for the county of Lancaster, upon a return made according to law, from the district composed of the townships of Sadsbury and Salisbury, in said county, in 1790. He had two sons, James and John, and seven daughters, all *Rupp's History of Lancaster county, pp. 384 and 389. OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 139 of whom were intermarried into the most wealthy and respectable families of the county. His son, James Clemson, the fourth, served for many years as Justice of the Peace in Salisbury; also, his grandson, the late well-known and highly respected James Clemson, esq., the fifth, served in the same capacity. It was an old saying, that " the-Clemsons always keep one squire in the family." His great. grandson, James Clemson, the sixth, is now an extensive cattle dealer in the city of Philadelphia, and his descendants in the county are both numerous and respectable, and among their number we find the McCauleys, the McCaus, lands, the Samples, the Skiles', the Ellmakers, the Hendersons, the Buckleys, the Watson; of Donegal; the Patterson;. Of Mount Joy; the McNeils, and the Buyers, of Salisbury; Isaac Atlee, the son of Col. Atlee ; the Whitehills, the Baker; and many of the most respectable families in Lancaster and Chester counties. Thomas Clemson (or William), the grandson of John Clemson, (and brother of the Rev. Baker Clemson), was an eminent chemist, and was married to a daughter of the distinguished statesman John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina. Davis Clemson, the grandson of Judge Clemson, until his death occupied the old homestead, which was erected by his great great grandfather, about the year 1735. CLINTON, JOSEPH, was born February 18th, 1800, in Lampeter township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. His father was of English descent, and his mother of German. His education was very limited indeed, he having picked up by degrees all the information by means of which he has been enabled to pass through life. He first learned the hatting business in Lancaster, and worked at the same for near and thence business forty years. During part of this time he lived at New Holland and thence moved to Elizabethtown, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. On the 20th of December, 1824, he married Parmelia, daughter of John and Margaret Diffenderffer, New Holland. In the fall of 1854 he was elected to the office of Clerk of the Orphans' Court, and discharged the duties of the same for three years. He was, in 1850, appointed Deputy Marshal for taking the census of part of Lancaster county. 140 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY COCHRAN, RICHARD E., M. D., was born at Bohemia Manor, near Middletown, New Castle county, Delaware, on the 9th day of September, A. D. 1785. His father, descended of Scotch-Irish stock from the north of Ireland, was a farmer and land-owner in comfortable circumstances. The .son, after passing his earlier years engaged in agricultural pursuits on his father's farm,, obtained an education, including an acquaintance with the Latin and Greek languages, at an academy at Newark, Delaware and choosing the medical profession as his pursuit in life, took his degree as doctor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, from a board ,of professors, including Rush, Wistar, Dorsey, Physick and other distinguished men, in the year 1810 or 1811. He commenced practice at Middletown, Delaware but having married in May, 1812, moved to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1813, and there engaged in mercantile pursuits, during the then pending war with Great Britain, during which he volunteered in the military service on the approach of the foe. In 1817, after his father's death, he became the owner of part of his landed estate, and removed to his place, called Somerton, near Middletown, where he resumed and continued the practice of his profession until May, 1824. In the meantime he took an active part in political life, on the side of the old Democratic party, and besides other mere local positions, was twice, in the years 1822 and 1823, elected a member of the House of Representatives of his native State. In May, 1824, he removed with his family to Columbia, Lancaster county, and there continued in an almost unbroken prosecution of professional labor during the remainder of his life. In 1836 he was nominated and elected a Representative delegate from the county, to the convention called to propose amendments to the constitution of the State, and attended the sessions of that body at Harrisburg and Philadelphia in 1837-38. Besides other duties, he discharged those of chairman of the committee to revise and adjust the several sections of the constitution after the amendments had been agreed upon. His life was closed on the 1st day of September, 1854, when he had nearly attained the 69th year of his age, by an attack of the disease called Asiatic Cholera, which OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 141 at the time raged in that borough, and of which he was one of the earliest victims, as he had visited professionally and with characteristic fearlessness and devotion the first sufferers. He was a ruling elder, and in that character attended. many of the judicatories of the Presbyterian church, whose communion he had joined before he left his native State, and remained in until death. COCHRAN, LIEUTENANT RICHARD E., JR., was the third son of Richard E. Cochran, M. D., and was born on the 16th day of November, 1817, at Somerton, New Castle county, Delaware. His boyhood and youth passed quietly, and in attendance upon school in his father's family, in Delaware, and after his removal at Columbia, until the year 1838, when be sought and obtained a commission as Second Lieutenant. in the army of the United States, and was assigned to the fourth regiment of infantry. In this service he was ordered first to Florida, and afterwards to the western border in Arkansas, and the territory partly now within the State of Kansas, and among the Indian tribes. When the war with Mexico commenced, in 1846, he joined with his regiment the forces under the command of General Zachary Taylor, in, Texas. On their march to the Rio Grande, he took part in the battle at" Palo Alto, on the 8th of May, 1846, and was, slain the next day in the battle of Resaca de la Palma, sword. in hand entering the captured entrenchments of the defeated Mexicans. His body was first interred. near the scene of his death, but was afterwards brought home by his father and brothers, and placed . for final interment in the cemetery at Columbia, attended by a large military and civic procession. A monument was erected over his grave by the citizens of the town, who honored his patriotism and courage, and remembered his kind and genial conduct and disposition while his early years were passed in their midst. He was married and left a widow and daughter to survive him. COCHRAN, THEODORE D., the fourth son of Richard E. Cochran, M. D., and was born at Somerton, Delaware, on the 18th day of January, 1821. Brought by his father to Columbia he passed his boyhood and youth there, going to school and obtaining a knowledge of the art of printing. 142 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY In 1840 he became and continued to be for some time, the editor of the Old Guard, then published at Lancaster, and then and afterwards wrote largely for the newspaper press, especially the Columbia Spy and York Republican. In 1847, the country being then engaged in war with Mexico, he entered the military service and received a commission as Lieutenant in the regular line, being attached to the regiment known as Voltiguers. He marched from Vera Cruz in the force commanded by General Cadwallader, taking part in all its contests and in the subsequent battles around Mexico, conspicuously those of Molino del Rey and Chapultepee. He remained there in the service until the forces of the United States were withdrawn from Mexico at the declaration of peace, and the regiment was disbanded. Previously to that time, his fellow citizens of Lancaster county elected him one of their representatives in the State Legislature, in which he served them during the sessions of 1844 and 1845. He was residing at York when the Southern rebellion broke out in 1861, and, although still suffering from the effects of hurts and disease incurred in the Mexican war, he commenced at an early day to raise a company, which he commanded in a three months tour of duty, and after its close took a commission in a regiment of regular forces, but was compelled by ill health to retire from the service. After a lingering and painful illness he died at the residence of his oldest brother, Thomas E. Cochran, at York, on the 26th day of July, 1863, and his body is interred in Prospect Hill Cemetery, adjoining that borough. COLEMAN, EDWARD, son of Robert Coleman, was one of the wealthiest and most enterprising citizens of Lancaster in his day, and it was chiefly owing to his enterprise that the Conestoga navigation was made a success. He stood high amongst his fellow citizens, and was honored with numerous public trusts. He was elected a member of the Legislature in the years 1818 and 1819. In 1820 he was chosen to a seat in the State Senate of Pennsylvania, and reelected to a second term in the same body. A public dinner was given him by the citizens in 1827, before his departure for Europe in that year. OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 143 COLEMAN, ROBERT, emigrated from Ireland and came to Lancaster county, and found employment with Peter Grubb, the proprietor of Hopewell forge. The following incident introduced him, as the story goes, to Grubb's favorable notice : One of his fellow employees desiring an. order to be written, asked Coleman to write it, and when Grubb saw the order be inquired who wrote it, and being told that it was a man by the name of Coleman, he immediately sent for him and ordered him to be entered as his book-keeper at £100 per year, Pennsylvania currency. Afterwards, when the Elizabeth furnace was sold as the property of Baron Steigel, and was carried on by a company, Coleman was employed as its manager. It was not long till he obtained a share in the furnace, and finally came to possess the whole interest of the same. He became in short, by his energy and perseverance, the most successful iron-master in Lancaster county; and to untiring industry and judicious management, he united the utmost probity and regularity in his dealings. To him is Lancaster county chiefly indebted for the celebrity it acquired from the number and magnitude of its iron works and the excellence of its manufacture. He married a daughter of Robert Old. He was elected a member of the Legislature in 1783, and was one of the associate judges of Lancaster county for about 20 years. COATES, KERSEY, son of Lindley Coates, was for some tune a teacher in the Lancaster high school, afterwards studied law with Hon. Thaddeus Stevens. He moved west about 1856, was Colonel of the 77th regiment of Missouri militia during the rebellion, and was afterwards elected President of the Missouri River, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad. He now resides in Kansas City, Missouri. COATES, LINDLEY, was born in Cain township, Chester County, Pa., March 3d, 1794. He married Deborah Simmons, and removed to Sadsbury township, Lancaster county, in the spring of 1820. Lindley Coates was one of nature's noblemen. He was possessed of remarkable natural talents, was an able debater, and a bold and fearless advocate in the cause of the emancipation of the Southern slaves. He was 4PPointed a manager for Lancaster county at the first organ- 144 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY nation of the Anti-slavery Society, in Philadelphia, December 5th, 1833. He was chosen a member of the Reform Convention of Pennsylvania which was held in 1838. He died June 3d, 1856. COLLINS, CORNELIUS, one of the early settlers of Colerain township, emigrated from Ireland, and took up land in both Colerain and Drumore townships. He was a farmer and a member of the Associate Reformed Church. COLLINS, CORNELIUS, son of James Collins, was born July 14th, 1795. He has always been engaged in the avocation of his forefathers, that of agriculture. He was a Director of the Poor during the years 1831, 1832 and 1833. He has been an elder and trustee of the Middle Octoraro church for upwards of forty-five years. He was, without any solicitation on his part, elected to the Legislature in 1836, and reelected in 1837 as a member of the old Whig party. He has never been an aspirant for public positions. Mr. Collins belonged to the old style of politicians, being nominated as a candidate for the Legislature whilst following his plow. He is in his sentiments entirely liberal and charitable, and has never been known to attempt to dictate to men under his control for whom they shall vote. He always permits men to exercise their own judgment. As a man he is honest and upright, and has ever maintained an irreproachable reputation. COLLINS, JAMES, son of Cornelius Collins, was born in Colerain township, and was for a time a private in the American army during the Revolution. He was an intelligent, enterprising and influential citizen, and an elder of the Associate Reformed Church, at Octoraro. COLLINS, ORESTES, appointed President Judge of the several courts of Lancaster county, in 1836. COLLINS, THOMAS C., also son of James Collins, is a farmer and an active and influential man in his locality. its was elected County Auditor, and was, in 1863, elected one of the Commissioners of Lancaster county. ¹COPE, CALEB, was born in Chester county, Pa., in the' ¹Major Andre (then Captain Andre) was captured at St. John's Upper Canada, on the 3d of November, 1775, by General Montgomery, OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 145 Year 1736, and removed when a young man to the borough of Lancaster. where he became an influential and leading citizen. He was one of the first surveyors and regulators the citizen. streets appointed for the borough of Lancaster, in 1774. In September of the same year he was elected second Burgess of the borough, and reelected to the same position in the year 1775. He died in Philadelphia, May 30th, 1824. CONYNGHAM, REDMOND, was a native of the city of Philadelphia, and was a graduate of Princeton College, New He inherited from his paternal grandfather an estate of £2,000 per annum, in the county of Donegal, Ireland, where he spent several years of his early life. Whilst in Ireland he was the companion of Curran, Grattan, and other bright intellects of Hibernian soil. Amongst the most and with other British officers sent to Lancaster, Pa., as a prisoner of war. Caleb Cope, being a member of the Society of Friends, a noncombatant, was not of those who were fierce in their resistance to the pretensions of the British Crown. Public feeling being greatly inflamed against the prisoners, and the landlords of the borough refusing to entertain them, Mr. Cope extended the prisoners the hospitalities of his house. This act required no small degree of moral courage upon the part of Mr. Cope ; and, as a consequence, so embittered the citizens against him that they beat in the windows of his dwelling, which, in the disturbance, accidentally caught fire and was burned. In after years the citizens of Lancaster liberally assisted the unfortunate owner in the reerection of his dwelling. Major Andre was a skillful painter, and had a great taste for the fine arts. His manners were gentlemanly, and his education and accomplishments procured him admittance to the social gatherings of the elite of Lancaster of that day. Under his instructions the celebrated Dr. Benjamin S. Barton, then a youth, received his first lessons in the art of sketching, and he became no mean draughtsman. His descendants yet preserve specimens of Andre's skill, some of which are of singular merit. One of Mr. Cope's sons had a strong natural taste for painting, and he soon became a favorite of Andre's ; so much so that he constantly pressed the father to place the lad in his charge, and suffer him to be brought up to the art. On one occasion he urged that he .was anxious to go back to England, but could not do so without a reasonable excuse for quitting the army ; that he had now an offer to purchase his commission; and that with this boy to look after, a fair pretext for returning home would be afforded. But the father was inflexible, and in March, 1776, the master and pupil were separated, the former being sent to Carlisle. A correspondence was, however, kept up between Mr. Cope and himself for some time.—Record of the Cope Family, pp. 32-3. Life of Andre, by Sergant, p. 89 146 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY brilliant of these was his cousin, Wm. Conyngham Plunket, afterwards Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and who was named after Mr. Conyngham's grandfather. Mr. Conyngham lived some years in Luzerne county, and whilst a citizen of that county had the honor to represent it for some time in the Legislature. He removed to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he spent the balance of his days. He was married to a daughter of Jasper Yeates, Judge of the Supreme Court of. Pennsylvania. He died June 16th, 1846, in the 65th year of his age. Mr. Conyngham was a great reader, a finished scholar, and evinced an especial fondness for antiquarian research ; his contributions to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and to the American Philosophical Society, of both of which he was a member, rank him as an explorer of no ordinary measure. His papers are valuable contributions to the historical and philosophical domain of our literature. He wrote much on the early history of Pennsylvania, and the aborigines of Lancaster county. His death was announced in the rooms of the American Philosophical Society by Bishop Potter, who pronounced an eloquent eulogium upon the deceased, and a resolution was passed requesting the Bishop, at a future day, to deliver an address before them on his life and character. In his deportment Mr. Conyngham was an entire gentleman, and exceedingly interesting and entertaining as a social companion. He was the warm friend of all public enterprises looking towards the melioration and advancement of society. In worthy young men he always took great interest, and especially in those preparing themselves for the Christian ministry. He was a great friend of Sabbath schools. As a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, he was frequently a lay delegate to its Diocesan conventions. The church in Paradise, this county, is in a good degree a. monument of his liberality and zeal. Mrs. Elizabeth Conyngham, wife of the above, and a lady of great benevolence, survived her husband many years. She died August 3rd, 1867, at the advanced age of 90 years. COOKE, SAMUEL, a member of the Legislature in the years OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 147 1801 1802 and 1803. He was a citizen of Donegal township, and died March 6th, 1804. He was an early abolitionist, as the following from his will indicates: "Item—Having hired out my black man Bob to Samuel Evans, it is my will that immediately on the expiration of the term for which be is hired, he, the said Bob, shall be set free. Item—It is my will that within one month after my decease, my negro Tim shall be set free. And likewise it is my will that my negroes and slaves not yet 24 years of age, shall upon their and each of their attaining to that age be set free." COWDEN, JAMES, was a member of the Legislature in 1780. COWDEN, JAMES B., was a member of the Legislature in 18530 *COOPER, CALVIN, emigrated from Birmingham, England, about the year 1730, and located in Sadsbury township. He purchased the land from Thomas Moore, on which the town of Christiana ¹ is built, in the year 1734, (being a part of the ¹Christiana Riot Case.—In September, 1851, was enacted within the limits of Lancaster county a tragedy that attained a national celebrity ; and this owing to the antagonistic sentiments that prevailed throughout the country on the subject of African slavery, as it existed in the southern section of the American Union. At the time of the formation of the constitution, in 1787, slavery existed in all the States of the Confederation, save one ; and yet so considerable an opposition displayed itself towards the institution, that a compromise of conflicting opinions on this question was found necessary in order to induce all the States that had borne the banner of independence through the revolution, to adopt the Federal Union. This compromise was effected, and slavery was permitted to exist in the several States, subject to their laws ; and the Northern States, soon enacted laws for the manumission of the slaves within their borders. Slave labor in the Southern States being considered profitable, especially with the increasing demand for cotton, Southern States became, considered profitable, especially with the increasing demand for cotton, these States clung to an institution that swelled the coffers of the wealthy and afforded them all the pleasures that life could covet. The Southern States became, therefore, the advocates of slavery, and Northern, its opponents. With the growth of the United States, and the march of liberal ideas throughout the civilized world, the opposition to slavery continued to increase in the Northern States, and at the time of the admission of Missouri into the Union; so intense became the feeling that was engendered between the two sections, that another compromise was needed to prevent the disruption of the Federal bonds of nationality Appa- *Contributed by Isaac Walker, of Sadsbury. 148 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY land confirmed to Philip Powell in the year 1702), and the following year, 1735, he erected a fulling mill on the Octoraro, between Christiana and the residence of Cyrus Brinton. The machinery for the mill he brought with him from Eng. rent harmony between the North and South again unfurled its standard over the broad domain of the American Union ; but the seeds of opposition to the institution of slavery were already sown and germinated, and time alone was required to produce the fruit. The efforts that had been made by Clarkson and his compeers in England, to induce the British government to put an end to the slave trade, had the effect to arouse the public mind of the educated world to the enormities and abuses of 'an institution that, in its best guise, had a revolting aspect. The British government emancipated, in the year 1834, their slaves in the West India Colonies, and this event sent its effect across the waters, and speedily numerous societies were organized, whose object was the suppression of slavery in the American Union. Among the foremost (if not the very first), who arrayed themselves against the institution of slavery, were the Quakers, a pious and estimable class of Christians, whose virtues adorn the annals of history. The founder of our State, William Penn, in common with many other members of his society, was led to believe that the holding of human beings in slavery was sinful, and in his will he emancipated all his slaves, and to some of them he gave tracts of land in addition to their freedom. As early, as 1688 a company of German Quakers emigrated from the fatherland, settled at Germantown and took a decided stand against slavery. They revolted at the idea of good men buying and selling human flesh, as it were. Faithful to their convictions, they published, an address to the society in the same year, and from that time forth these devoted followers of William Ames, their leader, who came over with them from the Palatinate, bore an uncompromising testimony against slavery. The subject was annually agitated in the society, and gradually gained strength until the year 1754, when we find Benjamin Lay, Anthony Benezet, John Woolman and Ralph Saudiford laboring in the work of emancipation, the last of whom freed his slaves in the year 1 'r 33. In the year 1774 it was made a breach of the discipline and a dishonorable offence for members to hold slaves. It was also counseled against hiring slaves or serving as executors or administrators to estates in possession of slaves. Thus early do we find this body of Christians (the Quakers) far in advance of others in their opposition to human slavery. Upon the organization of the anti-slavery societies throughout the northern States, it was to be expected that the Quakers should figure prominently in these efforts to abolish slavery. All that the Quakers and the other anti-slavery organizations could effect, was to keep up an agitation of the slavery question, and thus endeavor to educate the public conscience up to their principles. In this they were in a veil great degree successful. Their opinions entered others of the America OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 149 land. In the year 1746 he purchased a large tract of land in the valley, from James Musgrove, being part of the land which bad been sold by the Proprietaries' commissioners of property, to John, the father of James Musgrove, in the year churches, and divisions of the same followed, marked by the Mason and Dixon boundary. The American Union, in the eyes of many of the leading statesmen of the nation, was again rocking in the throes of disunion or civil convulsion, and another compromise, headed by Clay and Webster, was sanctioned by the national Congress,. in 1850, which made it the duty of the Northern States to surrender fugitive slaves to masters where the proper legal demand was made for them. Against the compromise of 1850, and especially against the fugitive slave law, the northern conscience at length fully revolted. Slavery being regarded as a sin by a large portion of the intelligent citizens of the North, that they should be compelled to render aid in capturing the fleeing fugitive from labor, was altogether incompatible with their sense of duty. In their view they would rather bear the penalty of the law than aid in its execution. No law could justly, as they believed, compel them to violate conscience. In no section of the whole North was there a more determined feeling of opposition or disinclination to the execution of the fugitive slave law, than in the eastern part of Lancaster county, where the citizens were mostly either Quakers or their descendants. For years fugitive slaves had found amongst the people of Sadsbury and Salisbury townships kind treatment, and quite a colony of them had become congregated and settled in the vicinity of Christiana. It was natural to suppose that the fleeing fugitive would direct his steps to a retreat amongst the friends of his liberty, rather than amongst those who were ready to surrender him for pelf or out of hatred towards his race. Some of the slaves of Edward Gorsuch, of Maryland, had made their escape to the eastern part of Lancaster county, and were living amongst others of their race in that section. On the 9th of September, 1851, Edward D. Ingraham, Commissioner of the United States, issued his warrant to Henry H. Kline, an officer appointed by him under the fugitive slave law of the 13th of September, 1850. The warrant so issued, commanded the officer to apprehend Josh Hammond and three other fugitive slaves, the property of Edward Gorsuch, and which slaves had escaped from Maryland, and were then in Lancaster county. The fact of the issuing of the said writ became known to a colored tavern-keeper in Philadelphia, by the name of Samuel Williams, who, with another colored man, preceded the official party to the neighborhood where the slaves resided, and where the arrests were to have been made, and gave notice that they were coming to execute the writs and reclaim the fugitive. The capturing party consisted of Deputy Marshal Kline, Edward Gorsuch, the owner of the fugitive slaves, Dickinson, a son of Mr. Thomas Gorsuch, Dr. Thomas Pearce, a nephew, and Joshua Gorsuch, besides two