300 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY impromptu, breathed severe denunciations of sin and all un righteousness. And at the same time in burning strains of eloquence he presented to his hearers a vivid delineation of the great richness of divine grace and the wonderful sublimity and awful grandeur of the God-conceived plan of salvation for the souls of miserable and fallen met. The sermon of Mr. Herr, delivered on that occasion, was, as tradition tells us, an extraordinary effort, in the opinion of his illiterate and simple-minded hearers. In their opinion, it surpassed anything they had ever heard. For profundity of sentiment and eloquent invective, poignancy of grief at the wickedness of the age ; for clear, logical elucidation of man's requirements ; for sublime invocations for mercy and aid, it could not, as his auditors conceived, be surpassed. The effort must have been indeed extraordinary. No sooner was the news spread abroad that Mr. Herr had preached such a powerful sermon, than applications poured in upon him to preach in various parts of the county. His services came in great demand on funeral occasions. He was at once chosen the leader of the new flock. The tree which his father Francis had planted and nursed so carefully for many years, now began to bear its fruit under the auspices of John Herr. The soil was well watered by the penitent tears of himself and co-laborers. The fact that Mr. Herr was a decided radical on religious subjects; that he would not compromise his views and thereby sacrifice his sense of right, soon brought him into controversy with clergymen of different denominations. Many were the foul charges and false slanders that were heaped upon his head. His motives were impugned and his views misconstrued. Ridicule and derision were hurled at him in great abundance, but they fell harmlessly at his feet. The envenomed shafts of calumny that poured in upon him from every side, never ruffled the serenity of his disposition, or excited in him anything save emotions of pain and sorrow; and in return he simply offered up prayers for the souls of his calumniators. He veritably fulfilled the scripture injunction, in praying for those "who despitefully use you awl persecute you." Nothing, however, debarred his onward OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 301. progress; the more he was maligned and persecuted, the more strenuous were his exertions ; and in spite of the most untoward circumstances, his influence steadily extended. New accessions were constantly being made to the ranks of his sympathizers. In the month of April, 1811, the ordinance of baptism was first administered in the new body. On this occasion Mr. Herr was baptized by Abraham Groff; who, in turn, in company with Abraham Landis, was baptized by Mr. Herr. The organization known as the "Reformed Mennonite," or " New Mennonite" church, was instituted by this trio. They commenced by holding regular meetings at stated periods ; instituted the regular church ordinances, such as baptism and the breaking of bread; established a regular system of rules of church government in accordance with the injunctions of the apostles. Mr. Herr was at once recognized as their pastor, and was subsequently elected bishop. Their proceedings occasioned great excitement in the community, and, as a consequence, their meetings were attended by numbers prompted by mere curiosity. Mr. Herr's labors were soon heavy and exacting; he not only preached regularly and attended frequently at funerals, but was continually sought by individuals at home and abroad to offer the consolations of religion at the bedside of the sick and the dying. His time was so largely occupied in duties of this kind, that he was unable to devote much time to his private affairs. In this he greatly sacrificed, as regards pecuniary matters, for he was unwilling to receive any compensation in lieu of his time and services, feeling that the ministrations of the gospel should not be made a means of worldly accumulation and he from the first, made up his mind to look for his reward in the blessings promised to the faithful who labor in the vineyard of the Lord. Nor did his temporal affairs fail him. Indeed, to such an extent did they flourish, that he had always sufficient to live upon and rear his family in comfort and independence. In the autumn of the same year, Mr. Herr baptized fifteen penitent souls, among whom was included his wife, who stood by him faithfully in all his trials and tribulations, and his venerable mother. He proceeded in his undertaking in. 302 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY the even tenor of his way, exhorting, preaching and discussing at times with those that disagreed with him in opinion, and all the while was steadily gaining new converts to his opinions. His object was not, however, to build up a large congregation, merely for the purpose of being their leader. If such had been his design, he might have secured many more followers than he did. He admitted none as members of his congregation without the most thorough examination, and unless ample proof existed of sincere repentance. Candidates, therefore, who desired admission as members of his church, must undergo a searching ordeal and a trying examination in order to test their fitness for such communion. All this he knew was necessary to keep the church pure and uncorrupted. It must be preserved free from all corruption and impurity so far as was possible. He was determined that, so far as lay in his power, no hypocrite, with assumed Christian habiliments, should obtrude himself and interfere with the successful working of the new organization ; and when, unhappily, a few such were admitted, and a few fell from grace, he obeyed the apostolic injunction, and of them made stern examples, and treated them as " publicans and heathen." By this constant care and vigilance which he exercised, was he enabled to prevent schism from entering the organization, and likewise rendered it out of the power of pride, worldly allurements and vanity to prevail against it. The services of Mr. Herr all this time were coming more and more in demand, and many invitations came to him from abroad to preach for them. He visited and preached in the neighboring counties of York, Cumberland, Franklin, Lebanon, Bucks, Montgomery, and others, in most of which he organized congregations and ordained pastors over them, who constantly kept him advised of their proceedings. As a consequence, his correspondence became very large; so much so, indeed, that nearly all his time unoccupied in preaching was required to reply to his correspondents. Nor were his labors by any means confined to the localities above named ; he made repeated visits to New York and Canada, when traveling was not a matter of the ease and convenience of the present day. His mode of conveyance was OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 303 either on horseback or in those heavy two-horse wagons rode use of by emigrants before the spring carriage was invented. On his route he preached at various points, and planted the nuclei of various congregations, that bore in after years abundant fruit. He also made several trips to Ohio and Indiana, when those States were but little reclaimed from their primitive condition of a wilderness, and when the crossing of the Alleghenies was regarded as quite an adventure. He established congregations in both the above named States, as he did also in later years in the State of Illinois. As he became advanced in years, and the fruits of his labors were ripening in distant and more extended regions, his correspondence grew still more voluminous, so much so that it became necessary for him to call in aid to assist him in his labors. His prayers for aid in his arduous work were not in vain. A band of laborers grew up around him who were able to challenge the world for piety, disinterested benevolence and purity of life. Though not of the refined and educated, nevertheless, like the humble fishermen of Galilee, they were mailed in the holy armor of gospel truth, and with devoted hearts and heroic spirits they were amply qualified to fight the battles of the Lord. These came to Mr. Herr's aid, and largely relieved him of the details of superintendence. But never, until the day of his death, did anything important or unusual transpire in church affairs, either at home or abroad, without his knowledge and never did an important question arise in the whole church of his organization, wherever scattered, that was not referred to .him for solution. Notwithstanding Mr. Herr's great correspondence and other labors connected with the ministrations of church affairs, he still found time to write several volumes and Pamphlets upon religious topics. They were all written in German, with the exception of that entitled, his "Remarkable Vision," which he wrote in English. The others were all translated into English, and passed through several editions. In this brief sketch we are unable to analyze his writings, and speak of them all severally as they deserve. Of his " Vision," this, however, may be said : that it is a remarkable 304 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY work in every sense, and one that indicates a genius of a high order ; and the little work will not suffer when placed in comparison alongside of the " Pilgrim's Progress." Mr. Herr maintained an epistolary controversy with a pastor of the Moravian church of Litiz, which finally re. suited in a pamphlet, entitled " a brief and apostolical answer,' which was published in the year 1819. It is clear, at this late day, that Mr. Herr had the best of the argument ; and his clerical antagonist seemed to think so himself, as he never saw proper to reply. This was not the only instance that Mr. Herr had such correspondence with clergymen, but it is the only one that was published. Had John Herr received the culture of a classical education and made politics his study, he could have become a leader in spite of all opposition. He was an admirable judge of mankind, and could intuitively almost, as it were, select those who should execute what he desired to be accomplished. It is not known, indeed, that he was ever deceived in a single instance in any of his appointees, whether for the transaction of church or business matters. And it is somewhat remarkable that, as in accordance with his religious opinions, a resort to legal tribunals was not warranted ; yet in business affairs he became the dupe of sharpers and knaves to a much less extent than is usually the case with business men. He was a natural born orator. His oratory was both emphatic and persuasive. He was grandly eloquent when he wished to enforce a truth or depict the evils of sin. A leading feature of his character was his earnestness and sincerity. His reasoning powers were of a high order, and in argumentative discourse he had few if any equals. He had a fine voice, and when appealing to sinners to turn from their evil ways, (and on such occasions made use of his persuasive powers,) the effect was electrical. He was a sound logician, and fortified his arguments by appropriate quotations. He never spoke from notes, and his impromptu efforts on the spur of the occasion were frequently his most successful ones. He was a radical in religion, and would have been in politics had he given it any attention; but his mind was so OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 305 equally poised, that he never would have become agrarian. His mind was so well balanced, that under no circumstances did he despond or become unduly excited. He possessed extraordinary good judgment, was frequently an arbiter between neighbors, when a dispute arose between them, and his decisions were always satisfactory. His disposition was mild and childlike in simplicity ; the pauper and degraded had as free access to his attention as the most respected. His kindness of heart was so proverbial, that he never could gainsay a legitimate request; but when anything was demanded contrary to his principles, no inducement could swerve him from his course. Except in his religious views, it is doubtful if John Herr ever had an enemy ; his business transactions were of such a nature that no one ever took umbrage thereat; on the contrary, all his acquaintances were so attracted by the excellency of his conduct, the unselfishness of his motives, and by the unostentatious benevolence that characterized all his labors, both temporal and spiritual, that they became his devoted friends. Mr. Herr's sole and only aim in this life, seems to have been to prepare himself, and point out the way to others, for a life in the future. And as every person with whom he came in contact soon became convinced of his sincerity, they respected him on account of his motives, even though they differed with him in opinion. In the family relation he was a perfect model as a son, husband and father. He filled all these relations creditable to human nature. That he had his failings in temper and desire, no one was more conscious than himself ; and of this he gave frequent evidence in the pulpit and his writings. But take Rev. John Herr all in all, and it may be said of him by one who knew him for many years, that " his like will not soon be found again." John Herr was married in 1808, to Elizabeth Groff, a descendant of Hans Groff, the head of one of the surviving families who accompanied Hans Herr from Switzerland. They had ten children, two of whom died in infancy. In accordance with his sense of duty, Mr. Herr took his last trip to Canada in 1850. He preached a sermon in the evening, traveled to a neighbor's house to spend the night, and 306 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY died on the 3d of May, 1850, far from his wife, his kindred and connections, and at peace with all the world. He calmly and willingly resigned his soul into the hands of his Creator, in the firm and abiding hope that he should receive the crown of glory prepared for the faithful in the mansions of eternal rest. HERSHEY, CHRISTIAN, elected Commissioner in 1836. HERSHEY FAMILY. Andrew Hershey was born in Switzerland in the year 1702, and moved with his father to the Palatinate. In the year 1719 he and his brother Benjamin sailed for America and settled in Lancaster county. His brother Christian also came to America, settling in Lancaster in 1739. The three brothers were each of them chosen ministers in the Mennonite church. Andrew died in the year 1792, aged ninety years. He left twelve children, viz.: Christian, Andrew, John, Benjamin, Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, Henry, Catharine, Maria and Odti. Andrew Hershey, second son of Andrew, one of the first settlers, was born in Lancaster county in the year 1734, and died July 16th, 1806. By his first. wife, named Bachman, he had one daughter, Catharine, born in the year 1760. His second wife, Maria, whose maiden name was Acker, was born September 26th, 1743, and died September 13th, 1831. By his second wife he had the following children : Anna, Jacob, Maria, Andrew, Henry, Elizabeth and John. Anna was born February 27th, 1762 ; Jacob was born October 2nd, 1765, and died May 30th, 1821; Maria was born May 23d, 1768 Andrew was born September 14th, 1779, and died August 1st, 1835 Henry was born December 19th, 1772; Elizabeth was born December 5th, 1775 ; John was born March 31st, 1783, and died July 16th, 1831. Andrew Hershey, one of the family last named, married Esther Kauffman, who was born May 31st, 1770, and died March 3rd, 1829. By her he had the following children, viz.: Christian, born December 28th, 1796, and died September 5th, 1834 ; Anna, born July 15th, 1799 ; Andrew, born January 15th, 1802 ; Maria, born December 9th, 1804 Catharine, born January, 15th, 1809 ; Esther, born September 11th, 1811; Barbara and Elizabeth, born December 9th, OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 307 1814 ; John, born March 14th, 1818 ; and Magdalena, born March 20th, 1821. HESS, CHRISTIAN, elected Commissioner in 1851. HESS, MARTIN D., Recorder in 1857. HERTZ, REV. DANIEL, was born in Susquehanna township, Dauphin county, April 23d, 1796, where he grew up to manhood. His parents were named Lewis and Rosanna Hertz. In youth he learned, in Harrisburg, the printing business, but this not agreeing with his health, he abandoned it for brick-laying, a trade which he learned with his brother. In the winter months, not being busied in the business of his trade, he engaged at intervals in teaching school, and so continued until having made the acquaintance of Rev. Isaac Gerhart, he was induced to prepare himself for the ministry. He began his preparatory studies to this end, under Rev. Gerhart, and closed them under Dr. Helfenstein, of Philadelphia. He entered upon the duties of the ministry somewhere about the year 1821, and after preaching somewhat desultory for some time, received a call to Ephrata, which he accepted and entered upon duty at this place in the spring of 1823. His charge at Ephrata embraced several congregations; and his trial sermon was preached at Muddy creek, in the same church in which he closed his labors, forty-five years and six months afterwards. His was a long and faithful pastorate, and his name remains enshrined in the memories of those who oft listened to the words of truth that flowed from his pure and mellowed lips. In his long and dutiful service to the congregations of his charge he preached 10,028 regular Sabbath and week-day sermons ; 1,776 funeral discourses, and united in the bonds of matrimony 1,136 couples. After his long and faithful stewardship he resigned his charge into other hands, and peacefully breathed out his soul into the bosom of his Redeemer, September 22d, 1868. In the words of Rev. J. V. Eckert, the subject of this notice as a pastor, " was laborious, and faithful in his ministry. He pursued his calling with almost unexampled devotion. He was instant in season and out of season. Like his heavenly master, he went about doing good. He was systematic, conscientious, and particular in his calling. His manner and 308 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY deportment was high-toned and manly ; and never complained, nor allowed any one to trifle with his ministerial character." HIBSHMAN, HENRY, was elected a member of the Legislature in the years 1811, 1815 and 1821. He was elected to the State Senate in 1833. HIBSHMAN, JACOB, was a native of Lancaster county, and a citizen of great prominence and respectability in the community. In 1810 he was appointed one of the associate judges of Lancaster county, the duties of which office he discharged for nine years. In 1818 he was elected a member of Congress for the district composed of the counties of Lancaster, Lebanon and Dauphin. He filled the office of Deputy Surveyor for the county of Lancaster, for a period of upwards of twenty years. He was appointed by the Governor Appraiser of Damages, suffered by land-owners in consequence of the public improvements. He served the office of justice of the peace for many years under the old constitution ; and after the adoption of the new one, was continued in office by the suffrages of the people. He held the office of Major General of the 5th Division of Pennsylvania Militia for twelve years. He died at his residence in Ephrata, May 19th, 1852, aged 80 years, 4 months and 19 days. In public as well as in private life, Jacob Hibshman was esteemed for his integrity, ability and high sense of honor. In him were united a sound understanding and a kindness of heart which endeared him to all who knew him. In his entire character he was well worthy of imitation. He left behind him an unspotted reputation. HIESTAND, JOHN A., editor of the Examiner and Herald, was admitted as a member of the Lancaster bar in the year 1849. He was elected to the Legislature of Pennsylvania in the years 1852, 1853 and 1856. In 1860 he was elected to the State Senate, and served one term in that body. He was appointed in 1871, by President Grant, to the position of Naval Officer in the city of Philadelphia. HIESTAND, JOHN M., elected Commissioner in 1852. HIESTER, ISAAC E., son of William Hiester, and grandnephew of Governer Joseph Hiester, was born in New Hol- OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 309 land, Lancaster county, in May, 1824. At an early age he was sent to the Moravian school for boys, at Litiz ; afterwards to the Abbeville Academy, and subsequently to Bolmar's Institute, at West Chester, where he was prepared for college. In 1838 he entered Yale College, and after pursuing a full course of studies in that institution, graduated with high honors. He entered and read law in the office of Thomas E. Franklin, esq., and was admitted to the bar in 1845. Coming to the bar well fitted for the duties of the profession, and his family ties being amongst the most influential in Lancaster county, he speedily rose in the legal ranks. In 1848 he was appointed District Attorney for the county, by the Attorney General of the State. In 1852 he was elected to Congress by the Whig party, and though young, made his mark in that body, delivering a brilliant speech against the Kansas-Nebraska bill. Upon the organization of the Know Nothing party, Mr. Hiester chose not to. go with the majority of his party, and with a small wing of followers, united himself to the Democratic party. He was again nominated by this party for Congress in 1854, but was defeated. With the Democratic party he continued to act as long as he lived, but by no means sympathized fully with it. In 1856 he was again the candidate of the Democratic party for Congress, but his popularity was by no means sufficient to overcome the great opposition majority in Lancaster county. In 1868 he was elected a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, and was chosen to represent the State of Pennsylvania in the Democratic National Executive Committee. He died February 6th, 1871. On the question of the prosecution of the war for the suppression of the rebellion, Mr. Hiester seemed not materially to differ in sentiment with the other recognized leaders of the Democratic party ; but after the close of the war his opinions showed a restiveness in Democratic harness. His views by no means harmonized with those of his party, and. he was zealous and outspoken for a dissolution of the Democratic organization, a change of name and an entire remodeling of principles. By instinct he belonged, as it were, to the Republican party ; and although at times he must and did op- 310 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY pose them, yet it is very doubtful if he did not oft regret his abandonment of the old party in which he had been reared, and to which he was indebted for his most substantial honors. He believed that the attitude of the Democratic party, as regards the Southern rebellion, had ruined it, and he regarded, therefore, a defence of dead principles as useless. In other words, in his judgment, the Democratic party had been weighed in the scales of American public opinion and found wanting. As a lawyer Mr. Hiester was conceded talents of a high order. From the analytical character of his mind, he was able to grasp legal questions and unfold them before the court and jury in a very happy manner. He always had his cases well prepared, and in their trial was fully equal to any member of the Lancaster bar. He enjoyed a large and profitable practice. In all his relations with the members of the profession his conduct was exemplary, and his word when given, equalled his bond. He was purely a business man. Save political distinction, he had no other ambition than to shine in the ranks of the profession, and in this latter aspiration he was worthily gratified. With his immense wealth, his talents might have secured him eminence in other careers than business, but his mind never seems to have been aroused to anything except the career in which he spent his days. He appears to have had no taste for travel, science, or literature, any of which might have served to occupy his time quite as pleasantly as the legal profession. As a citizen he was kind and courteous to all. He possessed, however, a dignified reserve that gave no room for familiarity, and even in the midst of his most intimate friends this was not laid aside. HIESTER, WILLIAM, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, October 10th, 1790. He removed to Lancaster county when a young man, located at New Holland, and married Lucy E. Ellmaker, a daughter of Isaac Ellmaker of that place. He early became known as a politician, and first took a prominent political part in the movements in Lancaster county that gave shape to the Anti-Masonic party of the county in 1828. He acted as secretary of the great OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 311 Anti-Masonic meeting, held at New Holland in 1828, which passed resolutions refusing to support any man for office who was a member of the Masonic order. Mr. Hiester was nominated in the campaign of 1828 for Congress on the Anti-Jackson ticket against James Buchanan, but was defeated. he was again nominated in 1830 for Congress, and elected. He was twice reelected to Congress, and served as a member of that body from 1831 till 1837, and rendered general satisfaction to his constituents. He was, in 1836, elected a member of the Convention to revise the Constitution of Pennsylvania. In 1840 he was nominated and elected a member of the State Senate, and during the session of 1842 was chosen speaker of that body. Whilst a member of Congress, Mr. Hiester advocated and voted for a tariff that should ensure a sound national currency ; as a member of the Reform Convention he advocated an amendment to the Constitution, which, if adopted, would have prevented an excessive increase of the public debt ; and whilst a Senator, he was ever the rigid advocate of reform, and desired even to commence with the reduction of his own compensation. During all his public service, he was remarkable for his attention to the interests of his constituents, and for his regular attendance at his place of official duty. His career of official life secured for him the lasting confidence of his constituents, and many of them, against his earnest protests, still desired to crown him with yet higher honors. He was , president of the great Whig meeting, held at Lancaster, July 29th, 1843, which advocated the claims of Henry Clay for the Presidency in 1844. He was the unanimous choice of Lancaster county for Governor, in 1844 ; and although the delegates were instructed for him, he declined allowing his name to come before the convention. Physical infirmity, he felt, would not permit him to undertake a trust of such importance, especially as he had for some years been in declining health. He was the Whig Presidential Elector in 1844. Mr. Hiester was a German by birth, a farmer by occupation, and a gentleman well informed upon all the current topics of the day. He spoke the German as fluently as the English. In private life he was a man of unblemished 312 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY moral character and integrity, of winning manners and easy address. He was respected and esteemed wherever known. He died at New Holland, Oct. 13th, 1853, in the 63d year of his age. HIPPLE, FREDERICK, was elected a member of the Legislature in 1833 and 1834. He was also elected Commissioner in 1842. HOFF, JOHN, was appointed Clerk of Orphans' Court in 1817. *HOFFMAN, GEORGE, was born in Strasburg, March 9th, 1784. He must have been quite a student in his youth, and, without doubt, improved all his opportunities to their utmost extent. He obtained the first rudiments of education from an old German schoolmaster, named Buch, of whom but very little is known, but who, according to Mr. Hoffman's recollection, must have been a man of considerable knowledge and ability. Of Mr. Hoffman's parents but little is known. His father died when George was quite young, and his mother, whose maiden name was Drum, did not live to be old. Old people, who had any recollection concerning her, always said she was a woman of good sound sense, a fact which all who knew her son were free to confess. Such a man could not have been the son of any other than a woman of first-rate natural abilities. When George was about fifteen years old he was placed in the store of James Whitehill, then the most considerable of the Strasburg merchants. Here he remained till he was over twenty-one years old. For the next eight or ten years he was employed as clerk in other stores, all the while retaining his studious habits and love of knowledge. In 1809 he was married to Mrs. Barbara Maynard, of Safe Harbor, and went into the mercantile business on his own account. About five years afterwards he removed to Strasburg, where he continued to reside and keep store till the time of his death. In 1816 he was appointed by Governor Snyder a justice of the peace, an office which he held till the winter of 1827-8, when he ceased any longer to perform its duties, he having *Contributed by Alexander Hood, esq. OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 313 been, at a special election held in December, 1827, elected to the Legislature over the regular Jackson Democratic nominee being a supporter of Adams, in 1828, he could not be reelected. At this time Mr. Hoffman stood very high in the party which opposed Jackson in this county. True, it was but a small party in the State, but it contained all the wisdom and most of the political honesty of the time. The cry of corruption raised against Clay and Adams, swept everything before it. In the small vote which the State then polled, Jackson had more than fifty thousand majority. In Lancaster county, owing to the exertions of Mr. Hoffman and others, the disproportion was not so overwhelming. Buchanan's majority for Congress, in 1828, was 1,299, smaller by about 200 than that which William Hiester, as an Anti-Mason, received two years afterwards. As a magistrate Mr. Hoffman was one of the most useful and upright men who ever filled that office. His aim was never to make money for himself, but to do good to those around him. No civil case that could be amicably adjusted, did he ever push onward to a suit, for the sake of making costs for himself or the constables. In all cases of misdemeanor, where the law permitted an amicable arrangement, he never failed to exert his good offices towards that end. He was emphatically, a peace-maker ; and many had cause to bless him for his efforts in that direction. Nor did his good offices as an adviser end with his magisterial career; to the end of his life he was the friend and counsellor of all who applied for his advice, the great merit of which was, that he was almost invariably right in his views of what was most proper to be done in all cases of difficulty. He had, in an eminent degree, the rare faculty of making persons who were wrong and angry, perceive their error and the folly of their ill temper; and this he could do without giving them the least offence. He seemed to know, by intuition, how to treat every person with whom he came in contact, and this in all cases without the least departure from his habitual dignity. The writer of this knew him perfectly well, and now, twenty-seven years since his death, upon an impartial view of his - 23 - 314 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY character, comes to the conclusion that Mr. Hoffman was so nearly devoid of all prejudice, that his judgment was never in the least influenced thereby ; that, with the greatest kindness of heart, he had the clearest perceptive power of any man of whom he has ever had any personal knowledge. His friendship for the young was at all times remarkable. No man ever took a stronger interest than he did in young people who fell in his way. To them he was like a father ; and his advice was always given with so much good feeling that no one could ever take offence, even when the admonition took the form of reproof. It was this feeling which gave rise to the sentence uttered by him, which led to the first effort to found a system of public schools in Pennsylvania. In January, 1831, in consequence of a sentence uttered, by him, a discussion took place in his store, which . ended in the call of a meeting, of which George Diffenbach was the chairman, and James McPhail, esq., secretary. This meeting, which was held in the Jackson street school house, and which was attended by about forty persons, sent the first petition to the Legislature in favor of general education, resulting in the passage of the act of 1831, appropriating certain funds' towards the establishment of public schools at some future time. From this time till the school system was firmly established, in 1835, Mr. Hoffman, with other friends of education, never lost sight of the grand movement to which in our State they had given the first impetus. To the day of his death he was always one of its firmest supporters. It has already been said that Mr. Hoffman was strongly opposed to the election of Andrew Jackson. Being a very quiet member of the Masonic order, in 1829, when Anti-Masonry swept over this country like a deluge, he was forced back into the Democratic party, the ticket of which he voted till his death, except when Henry Clay was a candidate for the Presidency, for whom he always cast his vote and influence. He was at all times a firm believer in the protection of American industry, and an ardent supporter of the rights of man, without distinction of color or race. When Charles Burleigh delivered the first anti-slavery lecture in OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 315 Strasburg. Mr. Hoffman was one of the few who stood by him at all hazards. He always was a decided abolitionist, and hated slavery in all its forms. Had he lived till the great contest between liberty and slavery had developed itself, only so far as in its form of free soil against slavery extension, there is no doubt as to where he would have been found. His whole nature revolted against wrong and oppression in every shape; but he was not permitted to see the political salvation of a down-trodden race, nor to look upon the red, white and blue, untarnished by the blackness of slavery. In 1845 he was attacked by typhoid fever of the most malignant type. From this he never rallied, and on the 30th clay of June he breathed his last. No man within the circle of those who knew him, was ever more sincerely regretted. He left three children, Barbara, the widow of Jacob Erb, who resides in Conestoga township ; Ann, the wife of B. B. Gonder, esq.; and Jesse Hoffman, who resides in Strasburg. HOFFMAN, VALENTINE, was a superior manufacturer of edge tools and cutlery in Lancaster at an early day. He was a highly respected citizen. HOFFMEIER, J: L., was elected Clerk of the Quarter Sessions in 1839, being the first elected under the new Constitution. After serving this office he was engaged in various clerkships until 1858, when he was appointed clerk and salesman of the Lancaster County Prison, a position he retained up to April, 1863. He was reelected in March,. 1864, and held the office up to April, 1872, with the exception of a brief interval. MOLL, PETER, was a resident of Warwick township, owner of a mill on Litiz creek, and a man of influence in the community. He was elected Commissioner of Lancaster county on the Federal ticket in 1819. Shortly after the expiration of his term of office, he left Lancaster county and settled in Cumberland county, Pa. ROOD, ALEXANDER. In 1696 an Englishman, named Jain Hood, with his wife, settled within a few miles of where Norristown now stands. This man, it seems, when quite 316 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY young, had been concerned in some plot against the government and fled to Holland, afterwards going back to England as a soldier in the army of William III. A grandson of this man, Rev. Philip Hood, had a numerous family, among whom was a son named Gerhart, born in 1756, who married Mary, the daughter of Philip Wentz, of Skippach, at whose house General Washington had his headquarters before and after the battle of Germantown. About 1792 Gerhart and his brother John removed to Chester county, not far from Andrew's Bridge, the place being now known as Homeville. John remained there till his death, in 1832, but Gerhart removed to Lancaster in 1795, remaining there till 1802, when he removed to Philadelphia, and died there in 1814. Gerhart Hood had three sons : Frederick, born near Norristown, June 14th, 1779 ; George, born at the same place, about 1783; and Samuel, born at Lancaster in 1796. George moved from Philadelphia to Lancaster, Ohio, in 1816, and died there a few years afterwards. Samuel died in Philadelphia, unmarried, in 1822. Frederic Hood learned the trade of a hatter at Lancaster, and afterwards worked in various places, till he married Margaret, the daughter of John Higgins, of Chambersburg, Pa. After the war of 1812, in which he participated in several battles and was taken prisoner, he removed to Philadelphia, and in 1819 removed to Strasburg, where he followed his trade for several years. He died at Soudersburg, October 14th, 1865, in his 87th year. His two sons, Alexander H. and John Gerhart Hood, reside in Lancaster. Alexander H. Hood was born at Chambersburg, Pa., and when a small boy came to Strasburg with his parents, as above stated. When about sixteen years old he was apprenticed to a shoemaker, and worked at that business till he was over twenty years old. He then became a teacher of a public school, and in 1837 was appointed a clerk in th office of the Secretary of State, at Harrisburg, where he remained till the close of Ritner's administration. In April, 1839, he became the editor and proprietor of the Lancaster Union, which he conducted with marked ability till October, 1842, when he sold out to R. W. Middleton. In 1839 he OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 317 is elected Clerk of the Orphans' Court of Lancaster county, and before his term expired he was elected to the Legislature, in which) owing to a split in the party, he remained but one session. While serving in this capacity, John Mathiot, who for several years had been Mayor of Lancaster, died. Mr. Hood, on the petition of many Whigs and a few Democrats, introduced and had passed into a law, a bill making the Mayor elective, though it was covertly opposed by all the leading Democrats. After the defeat of Clay, in 1844, be took but little part in politics for some years. In 1844, having read law under the direction of the late Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, he was admitted to the bar, and soon became one of its most prominent members. In 1847 he identified himself with the free-soil movement, voting for Van Buren in opposition to Taylor. When the Republican party was formed, he was one of the very few who held the first meeting in Lancaster county. From that day to the present time he has always been prominent in the Republican ranks. At the outbreak of the war, all his energies were exerted in behalf of the Union cause. In 1861 he received the regular Republican nomination for President Judge of this district, but was defeated by a coalition of dissatisfied Republicans With the Democrats, who. put the old incumbent, then regarded as a Republican, in the field against him. The majority of the successful candidate was very small, and Mr. Hood could have been easily elected had he not refused to take any part in his own behalf. In August, 1862, he was appointed Collector. of Internal Revenue of this district, by President Lincoln, a position which he held till September, 1866, when he was removed by Andrew Johnson for refusing to contribute funds towards the formation of Johnson's new party. Since that time Mr. Hood has been steadily engaged in the practice of his profession. As to social science, Mr. Hood can scarcely be said to be either conservative or progressive, though his mind tends most strongly in the latter direction. He is the furthest possible remove from an old fogy, but he does not like to go ahead without being sure he is right. His opinions are 318 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY all formed after patient investigation, and when his mind it once made up on any question, he has full confidence in the result at which he has arrived. From his boyhood he was a decided abolitionist, and was never afraid to express his views, even when such expression was attended with considerable danger. He has at all times been the friend of the oppressed, without regard to race, color, or condition. As one of the few who at Strasburg put the ball in motion, which resulted in the school system of Pennsylvania, it was natural that when an attempt to destroy that system was made, he should oppose it with all his force, though the attempt was sanctioned by the most of the party to which he belonged. In truth, it may be said, that in all cases where the contest has been between the strong and the weak, the powerful and the oppressed, he has always been found on the side of justice and right. Mr. Hood's mind is eminently mathematical, and in this department of science he is said to be proficient. His arguments all indicate study in this direction, and it is this faculty of mind which prevents his impulses from getting control of his judgment; and it is this which imparts to him that full confidence he has in all his conclusions. As a speaker, he is logical and argumentative rather than flowery or fluent; yet in many of his speeches there are touches of pathos which go directly to the hearts of his hearers. His illustrations are always apt and forcible, but, like the drawings of. Michael Angelo, a few touches tell the whole story. On the stump he always takes the crowd along with him, and the effect of his speeches all tell upon the majorities where he speaks. HOOD, JOSEPH, was a member of the Legislature in 1860. HOLLINGER, ISAAC; was elected Recorder in 1866. HOPKINS, GEORGE WASHINGTON, son of James Hopkins, was one of the brilliant lights of the old Lancaster bar, whose great oratorical powers and splendid declamation have associated his name with John R. Montgomery and George W. Barton. These three names are ever associated together as the bright trio of intellectual stars of the first magnitude, that shone with such dazzling splendor on ola OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 319 Lancaster, the remembrance of which will never perish whilst memory endures. HOPKINS, JAMES, for many years was the most eminent lawyer of the Lancaster bar, and ranked amongst the most noted in the whole State. His business in the profession was immense, and he accumulated a vast fortune in the practice. With him studied many of the old able attornies of the country, and amongst these James Buchanan. He was employed in the trial of important causes in different counties of the State. On one occasion he was selected by the Legislature, with Ross, of Pittsburg, to try a case calling for great legal ability. He was purely a lawyer, mingling little in politics, but was elected a member of the Legislature in 1821. He died whilst engaged in the trial of a case in Lancaster. HOPKINS, JOHN, brother of James Hopkins, was a member of the Legislature in the years 1787, 1788, 1789, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1799 and 1800. He was also elected to the State Senate in 1814. HOPKINS, W. W., grandson of James Hopkins, and a member of the Lancaster bar, was elected to the Legislature in the year 1868. HOSTETTER, HENRY, a citizen of Ephrata. township, was elected to the Legislature, on the Democratic ticket,¹ in 1828. He was a farmer, and a minister in the denomination of the Seventh-day Baptists. HOUSEKEEPER, W., was a member of the Legislature in the years 1855 and 1856. HOUSTON, SAMUEL, one of the. early settlers in Lancaster county, emigrated from Scotland to America with five sons, prior to the Revolution. He purchased a large body of land in Pequea valley, a few miles northwest' of the Gap. He at once espoused the American cause and rendered impor- ¹ The Democratic success in Lancaster county in 1828, was its last victory in the county. Prior to that time it had been somewhat alternately successful in the elections, but with the coming into power of the Anti-Masonic party, the Democratic party sunk. Many Democrats became Anti-Masons, and the Democratic party has been in a miserable minority in the county ever since. 320 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY tant service. Four of his sons joined the army and served during the war. He was a valuable and influential member of the Associate Presbyterian church. HOUSTON, SAMUEL, son of the above, was horn in Scotland, and removed with his father to this country about the year 1769. He married Sarah, daughter of John and Mary Hopkins, in the year 1787.. He was for many years engaged in mercantile pursuits at the Gap, in Salisbury township, and was appointed a justice of the peace by Governor Mifflin, which office he held with satisfaction to the public for more than forty years,. He was, in 1829, elected a member of the State Senate of Pennsylvania, which position he held for three years. He was honored by the people with many other important trusts. Mr. Houston was a man of great usefulness in the community, and by his persevering industry and business activity, he acquired a handsome independence, among which were included several fine farms, Houston's mill, the hotel at the Gap, besides several store houses. He was a worthy and esteemed member of the Presbyterian church. He died in the year 1842, aged seventy-five years. His youngest son, Benjamin F. Houston, is among his surviving descendants; and the late John Houston, of Washington city, who held a situation in the Treasury department uninterruptedly for more than fifty years, was the eldest son of Samuel Houston, esq. HOWELL, CHARLES M., was born in Philadelphia, April 24th, 1814. He received his education in the schools of that city; and was a student of the Plainfield Academy, in Connecticut, for some time. At the early age of fourteen he was apprenticed to Gen. Peter Fritz, to learn the marble mason business, and served with him till he was twenty-one years of age. Upon the close of his apprenticeship be continued to work as a journeyman for several years. In the spring of 1838 he set up for himself in his business in Philadelphia, and carried on till September, 1841. Having married into a Lancaster family, he, in 1841, removed to and began business in Lancaster, in East King street, on property of John N. Lane, where he carried on with excellent success. A few years afterwards he purchased the old Gompf OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 321 property, on the west side of N orth Queen street, where he has since carried on his business. In 1863-4 he erected a handsome new building on the site of the old property purchased by him. Mr. Howell was elected County Treasurer, on the Democratic ticket, in the fall of 1856, which office he filled with entire satisfaction to the public. He was also elected City Treasurer by the City Councils, in 1865. he has frequently been a member of both branches of City Councils, and also for some time a member of the City School Board. Mr. Howell is emphatically a self-made man, and has from an humble grade in society arisen until he is a man of considerable wealth and influence. He became a member of the Masonic fraternity in Philadelphia, in 1835, and since 1853 has been District Deputy Grand Master of District No. 1 of Pennsylvania ; and he was also Grand Generalissimo of the Grand Commandery of the Order of Knights Templar of Pennsylvania. A new Masonic Lodge, founded in 1871, was named Howell Lodge, in honor of the subject of this notice. HOWER, J. W., elected a member of the Legislature in 1848. HUBER, JOHN, one of the early settlers in Warwick township, and the principal contestant in the dispute with Richard. Carter in reference to naming the township. He was a leading man and an iron-master. The following lines were upon his furnace : " Johan Huber, der erste Deutsche man Der das Eisenwerk vollfuren kaim." HUBLEY, ADAM, a brother of John Hubley, was, in December, 1776, appointed Major of the 10th Pennsylvania regiment in the Continental service. He was a member of the Legislature for the years 1783, 1785, 1786 and 1787. He was also chosen a member of the State Senate in 1790. HUBLEY, BERNARD, was born in Germany, October 18th, 1719. He emigrated to America when a boy of about sixteen years of age, and settled in Lancaster. He learned the tanning business with Valentine Krug, and afterwards carried on this business for many years. He purchased and Owned what was years ago known as the Brady farm. He 322 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY ranked in his day as one of the most influential and respected citizens of the community. He was a member of the Board of Assistant Burgesses of the borough of Lancaster for the years 1750, 1757, 1766 and 1767. He was for some years a commissioner of the county of Lancaster. He was a man who exerted considerable influence in political circles, and was a member of the Federal party. He was an active Whig in the Revolution, and was appointed barrack-master of Lancaster county in 1778. By his energy and perseverance he accumulated a considerable fortune, and left his children in easy circumstances. He was twice married, and had twenty-one children, the youngest of whom was Anna, the wife of the late Joseph Ehrenfried. He sustained heavy losses in the depreciation of the Continental currency. He died January 29th, 1803. He was for many years an elder of Trinity Lutheran church. HUBLEY, JOHN, son of Michael Hubley, was born at Lancaster, December 25th, 1747. He was married to Maria Magdalena, the daughter of Ludwig Lauman. He read law under the instruction of Edward Shippen, and was admitted to the bar in 1769. He was one of the delegates from Lancaster county to the convention which met in Philadelphia, July 15th, 1776, to adopt a State Constitution. August 5th, 1776, he took his seat as a member of the General Pennsylvania Council of Safety which had been established by the first Constitution. On January 11th, 1777, he was appointed commissary of Continental stores, and the stores of Pennsylvania at Lancaster, with the rank of Major, and with authority to appoint such deputies as he might judge necessary. A few days afterwards he was authorized to employ all the shoemakers among the Hessian prisoners at Lancaster, in making shoes for the State: He was for some time a Councillor of the Supreme Executive Council. He was appointed April 5th, 1777, by the Supreme Executive Council, Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas, Clerk of the Orphans' Court, Clerk of Quarter Sessions, and also Recorder of Deeds, part of which offices he held for upwards of twenty years. In January, 1777, he was commissioned also a justice of the peace. In 1787 he was a member of the State Con- OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 323 vention that ratified the Federal Constitution. He died January 21st, 1821. HUBLEY, MICHAEL, brother of Bernard Hubley, was born in Germany, February 28th, 1722. On the 2d of October, 1732, he came with his father to America, and landed at Philadelphia. In the spring of 1740 he came to Lancaster, where he continued to reside until his death. On the 6th of August, 1745, he married Rosina, a daughter of Dietrich Strumpf, who was also born in Germany, and who lived with him until her death, June 28th, 1803, at the age of 84 years. He was, in 1777, appointed by the supreme executive council a justice of the peace of Lancaster county, and for some time was the presiding justice of the several courts of the county. He was re-commissioned a justice of the peace in 1784. For some time during the Revolution he held the position of barrack-master of Lancaster county: He was an acting magistrate of the county for the period of twenty-seven years. During the last 43 years of his life he served the Trinity Lutheran congregation as warden, elder and trustee. He died May 17th, 1804. HUMES, DR. SAMUEL, an eminent physician of Lancaster. He was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He began the practice of his profession about 1812, and was busily engaged therein until his death in September, 1852. Dr. Henry Carpenter being a student of Dr. Humes, and his executor, succeeded him in his practice. Dr. Humes was Treasurer of Lancaster in 1806. HUNSECKER, C. L., was born in Manheim township, November 1st, 1814. He is a miller by occupation, and a leading, influential and intelligent citizen of the community. He was first elected to the Legislature from Lancaster county in 1850, then quite a young man, and served in the sessions of the Pennsylvania Legislature in the years 1851, 1852, 1854 and1856. He was reelected to the Legislature in the year 1871.¹ ¹ By the late apportionment made in 1871, Lancaster county is entitled to but one Senator and three members of the House of Representatives. The first members under the new apportionment for the session of 1872, were David K. Burkholder, Dr. J. C. Gatchell and C. L. Hunseeker. 324 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY HURFORD, LEWIS, a member of the Legislature in 1849. HUSS, JOHN, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, November 6th, 1790. He learned the printing business in Lancaster, in the office of William Hamilton, and afterwards worked as a journeyman printer with Hugh Maxwell. It was he who began the publication of the first newspaper in Marietta, and which he called the Pilot, but afterwards changed its name to the Pioneer. He started this paper about the close of the war of 1812-14, and in 1827 sold out his interest therein to Charles Nagle. The vignette of his paper was a steamboat, engraved by J. J. Libhart. The motto of his paper was the following: "This world is a bubble, all things show it; Once I thought so, now I know it." He was elected a member of the Legislature for the year 1822 and reelected for 1823. He died July 19th, 1841. HIGH, GEORGE J., was elected Recorder of Deeds in 1870. - J - JACKS, JAMES, a member of the Legislature in the years 1780, 1781 and 1782. He was appointed Recorder of Deeds in 1783. *JACKSON, JOEL, was born at West Grove, Chester county, in the year 1776, being a descendant of one of the oldest families in that region. At an early age he went to Wilmington, Delaware, and entered into the mercantile business, for which it would seem he was singularly unfitted. Remaining in Wilmington but a short time, he returned to Chester county, purchased, improved, and disposed of a farm situated in London, Britain township. In his 37th year he determined to leave his native county, and with this end in. view came to Lancaster and purchased from a family by the name of Coppock's, a large farm, located in the southern part of Little Britain. This land being very poor, Joel Jackson, with untiring industry set to work to improve it, by burning lime and feeding cattle. The place was soon *Contributed by Charles H. Stubbs, M. D. OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 325 rendered quite productive, and the new proprietor well known as a successful and intelligent farmer. As an instance of the general poverty of the soil of the southern part of the township at this period, 1813-14, it might be mentioned that on several occasions, in the first year of his occupancy, he had to haul corn for his stock from the richer central parts of the county. It is not of him as a successful farmer we would speak, but rather of those marked traits of character before alluded to, and as possessing abilities of the very highest order for the acquisition of science, which, if cultivated, would have placed him in rank with the Cuviers, Farradays. or Davys of Europe. Though, doubtless, he was conscious that by nature he was fitted for something higher than the life of toil that laid before him, and as necessary for the welfare of his family. Perhaps no more hard-working, industrious man, one more self-reliant, and one who would permit no person to do for him anything that he thought could possibly be done by himself, and one more strictly honest in his dealings, never lived. His strict integrity and keen sense of the justice due all men, was manifested all his life in the care he would take not to ask too much for anything he had to. sell, or above the market price of the article. Though somewhat hasty in temper, he was very kind and courteous in manner. But if he should detect a man in any duplicity or dishonesty, he took no pains to conceal his dislike. This-same strict sense of justice led him to forbid his day-laborers to work after sundown ; always having their meals ready for them that they could return home; himself, even when a very old man, doing up the usual chores before coming to the house. If the poet was right, that " an honest man is the noblest work of God," Joel Jackson was emphatically one of Nature's noblemen. In his habits he was very domestic, rarely leaving home unless absolutely necessary ; never going to public meetings of any kind, and only to elections when he thought some question of interest was at stake. His love of science and of nature always remained with him ; and the reading of all works accessible on these subjects, in hours snatched occasionally. from labor, and from the time 326 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY others devoted to slumber, was his greatest delight. This seemed to have rendered his life more endurable, and towards the close cheered its decline. His greatest recreation, in his more advanced years, was the study of botany, the general principles and the more minute details of which it was no trouble for him to master. This was also true of geology, his greatest delight being to receive all the new publications on the subject. When he found himself unable to conduct his business on the upper farm where he then resided, being about seventy-four years of age, he made such distribution of his property as he thought just, and then retired to a small house near the Rock Springs, in a remote corner of the place, to wait for death as a friend to lead him to rest. Here, in the silence of the solitary hours, cheered, however, by frequent visits from his children and his grandchildren, who kept him well supplied with books and papers, and finding employment in the cultivation of about an acre of land, he awaited with composure the last great change, knowing that death is not only inevitable, but in the great scheme of creation, that it is just as necessary as life. As he felt its near approach by his increasing infirmities, he gave directions that he should be buried in a plain manner, and no notice given, except to some of the nearest of his friends, as he had always disapproved of great expense and large collections of people on such occasions. He desired that no stone be placed over him, but that one should be placed over his wife, who had preceded him to the better land. After a short illness he passed away peaceably from earth, in September, 1857, aged nearly eighty-one years. And there, in a family graveyard, containing some of his children and grandchildren, rests the remains of Joel Jackson. The ground is surrounded on three sides by old forest trees, and there, in the quiet of that nature he loved so, well, a quiet unbroken, save by the song of the wood-bird, and with a few wild flowers planted over him by loving hands, life's fitful fever over, he sleeps the sleep of death. JACKSON, LEAVIN H., was elected a member of the Legislature in the years 1832, 1833 and 1834. OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 327 JACOBS, THOMAS B., was a member of the Legislature in the years 1845 and 1847. JENKINS, CATHARINE M., a daughter of the celebrated divine, Rev. John Carmichael, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, July 23d, 1774. Her mother 'died when she was but thirteen days old, and her father before she had reached the age of twelve. Not long after her father's death she became the inmate of the family of the Rev. Robert Smith, a relative by marriage. In his house she found a congenial and happy home, and in the learned and devoted pastor of Pequea a friend and father. In the fall of 17.92 she became a member of the Presbyterian church of Pequea. Shortly before the death of Rev. Robert Smith, which occurred on the 15th of April, 1793, she accepted an invitation to make her home in the house of Rev. Nathaniel W. Sample, of Strasburg, and after some time accepted an invitation to the like effect from Daniel Buckley, an iron-master of courteous and hospitable manners. In a letter to her half-sister, Phoebe, dated Pequea, June 7th, 1799, she says : " I am no longer an inhabitant of Strasburg. I bade adieu to that place the last week of March, and am now a member of Mr. Daniel Buckley's family, whose forge and farm, you. may recollect, we passed in going from Strasburg to Brandywine. It is a charming situation in the summer ; and if I am to judge of the time to come by what is past, I have every reason to expect much happiness. Mr. and Mrs. Buckley treat me with all the attention and kindness I could expect from relations, and express the greatest pleasure in seeing and entertaining my friends and acquaintances." In September, 1799, the subject of this notice was married to Robert Jenkins, and became the mistress of Windsor Place. The first impulse that inspired her after her marriage with Mr. Jenkins, was to render her home the hospitable mansion and favorite retreat for the pious and learned. As soon. as she would contract an acquaintance with a clergyman, she never failed to extend to him a cordial invitation to visit the "Preachers' Hotel." In consequence of her great amiability and kindness thus manifested, her house was the constant resort of ministers of every denomination who 328 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY passed that way. Catharine Jenkins was very fond of reading, and her centre table presented always a collection of the best religious and periodical literature of the day. Scholars and literary men were her especial favorites, and she ever aimed to render them easy in her presence and feel at home in her hospitable mansion. She loved to entertain them in a style becoming their education and attainments. Mrs. Jenkins was a lady of great spirit and resolution, and exerted these qualities of her character for the promotion of truth and the elevation of mankind. She was an implacable foe to the wine cup and the gaming-table, and the following may be cited as illustrative of her resolution and stern purpose. In her husband's employ were a large number of workmen who were greatly addicted to the rum bottle, and as a consequence entailed misery upon themselves and their families. The hands would frequently come to the table at their boarding house in a state of intoxication, and this condition of affairs Mrs. Jenkins endeavored to reform by moral suasion, and by endeavoring to depict the great sin they were committing. She now determined to employ more decisive means. By the aid of one of her servants, she obtained the bottles in which the men kept their rum. At dinner time the hands were surprised and mortified to see their bottles in a row standing upon the table, and their contents visible through the glass. Mrs. Jenkins soon after entered the room, and in her amiable manner remarked, that she had in her possession a number of bottles belonging to them which she desired to return to their respective owners, and asked of them each to come forward and claim his property. As none had the hardihood to do this under the circumstances, she next remarked: " They are now in my possession, and as you will not take them, of course they are at my disposal." After that she took them to an open window, and striking them one by one against the wall, they fell in shivers to the ground. The bottles and their contents being destroyed, she addressed the men and said, in a mild but decisive manner, " if they be replaced by others, they shall share the same fate." She used all her influence to oppose vice and immorality, not only among her dependents, OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 329 but also amongst those who moved in the higher walks of life. Every sphere in which this pious lady moved, felt her influence. Immorality never escaped her disapprobation, no difference what were the circumstances under which it presented itself. More than once were the cards and wine-cup, with great reluctance, removed from the social circle when the approach of Mrs. Jenkins was announced. As one whose life had been devoted to the service of Christ, her life was truly an exemplary one. She, on all occasions, labored for the cause of her Redeemer, and liberally gave of her means for the promotion and building up of His church. Upon an occasion when attending a Presidential levee, and the Scripture was sneered at in such a manner as to indicate that the party were largely tainted with skeptical views, she firmly defended and challenged respect for the sacred book, which was not further gainsaid by any present. She died September 23d, 1856. JENKINS, DAVID, the original ancestor of the numerous descendants of this name, was a native of Wales, who emigrated to America and landed at Philadelphia in the year 1700. His son, John Jenkins, penetrated into the forests, and selected a site on which the Windsor forges ¹ were afterwards erected. He erected a temporary residence near where now stands the Windsor Mansion, and entered into a contract with John, Thomas, and Richard Penn for the purchase of 400 acres of land, January 10th, 1733. The land was surveyed, but a patent therefore was not taken oat by Mr. Jenkins, and he sold it after some years to William Branson & Co., of Philadelphia, who took out a patent for the tract December 28th, 1742, and erected the Windsor forges and Mansion House. JENKINS, DAVID, son of John, the first settler at Windsor, was born July 2d, 1731. He purchased from William Branson & Co., the whole of the Windsor property. He ¹ The Windsor Iron Works were amongst the first established in the United States, if not the first in Pennsylvania. They were put in operation by a company upon the lands originally purchased by John Jenkins 1.!,1 1731. The company sold out their interest about the time of the Revolution, to David Jenkins, who managed the works with skill and economy. - 24 - 330 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1784. ne died in 1797. JENKINS, ROBERT, son of David Jenkins last named, was born July 10th, 1767, at Windsor Place. He inherited from his father the Windsor estate upon the death of his parent, and managed the same with success until the spring of 1848, a period of about fifty years. When a young man, he was a member of a troop of horse that was sent by the government to the northern part of the State to repress Fries' insurrection. He was married in 1799 to Catharine, daughter of the eminent divine, John Carmichael, of Brandy wine Forks, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Legislature in the years 1804 and 1805. Ile represented Lancaster county in Congress from 1807 until 1811, during the stormy period that preceded the war of 1812 with Great Britain. He died April 18th, 1848, and lies buried in the Caernarvon Presbyterian churchyard. JENKINS, WILLIAM, brother of Robert Jenkins, was born at Windsor Place, on the 7th of July, 1779. He graduated at Princeton College, New Jersey, in 1797. He read law in the office of James Hopkins, esq., and was. admitted to the bar on the 10th of August, 1801. In the winter of 1817-18, he was appointed by Governor Findley Prosecuting Attorney for the county of Lancaster, an office he filled with marked ability and fidelity for the period of twenty-three years. In 1845 he was appointed by Governor Shunk Recorder of the Mayor's Court, the duties of which office he discharged until the abolition of the said court in 1849. From that period he appeared but little in public; declining years and infirmity forbidding it. He died at his residence on Duke street, May 24th, 1853. As a lawyer, Mr. Jenkins stood in the first rank of that list of eminent men who, in the old history of the Lancaster bar, rendered it so celebrated throughout the commonwealth. He was an able jurist, and a well-read lawyer ; a safe counsellor and an eloquent advocate, winning his way to the hearts of the jury with a resistless power, and presenting to the court the strong legal points of his case with a tact and energy that seldom failed of its effect. Always courteous to his opponents, he never OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 331 for a moment, however, forgot the interests of his client, but seemed to become, as it were, identified with his cause. To young men entering upon the profession, his kindness was great, and he was ever ready to instruct or assist them. His mind was eminently a legal one, and a superior knowledge of law may be said to have been his distinguishing characteristic. Never an active politician, he was nevertheless firm and decided in his opinions, yielding to all the privilege of entertaining and expressing their convictions, and never permitting political to interfere with his personal feelings. In the domestic circle Mr. Jenkins was an ornament. As a husband and father he had no superior; and as a hospitable gentleman, his home was proverbial. His hand and heart were open to his friends, as was his purse to the afflicted and needy. JOHNS, JOHN, elected Register in 1857. *JONES, JOHN, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1756, and died in Little Britain township, February 2d, 1800. In early manhood he removed to the vicinity of Peach Bottom, Lancaster county, where he purchased land and erected thereon a mill and fine mansion—the latter in the old English style of architecture. This building was nicknamed "Jones's Folly," now known as the " Red House." He was the first to have slate taken from the hills on the eastern shore of the Susquehanna. Entering into the manufacture of iron, he built a forge on the Octoraro, called "Octoraro Forge." These buildings, as well as his mansion near Peach Bottom, were covered with roofing slate. John Jones, in addition to being a man of business, possessed a fine literary taste. In early life he was subjected to much bodily affliction as well as severe, trials, partly arising from the course of military operations, at that time progressing. These, however, operating on a remarkably susceptible and intelligent mind, were embraced as profitable incitements to seek for a more intimate internal acquaintance with God, the great source of true consolation. Hereby his views of the divine sufficiency became enlarged to the production of an Operative faith—his tribulations, agreeably with the abos- *Contributed by Charles H. Stubbs, M. D. 332 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY toluic testimony, working " patience, and patience experience, and experience hope." Continuing his religious progress, he in time became an approved Minister of the Gospel in the Society of Friends ; and as his experience in the spirituality of, the Christian dispensation advanced, he was sometimes drawn in the power of divine love to unfold to large congregations to whom he ministered in a very remarkable and impressive manner the deep and solemn mysteries of the Gospel of Christ. His natural disposition was remarkably cheerful, his manners engaging, and his social conversation pleasingly instructive ; his rational faculties were strong and lively, and his judgment in natural things prompt and discriminative. John Jones, towards the latter part of his life, wrote a religious work entitled, Analysis of Revelation. This volume was published after his death by his friend and admirer, Joseph Churchman. - K - KAUFFMAN, ABRAHAM, son of David Kauffman, was born in Rapho township, Lancaster county, March 30th, 1799. His. father moved to a farm in what was then the southwestern part of Warwick (now Penn) township, where Abraham has lived up to this time. His father died January 15th, 1846, aged 75 years, 1 month and 8 days. His mother died March 11th, 1867, aged 87 years, 2 months and 26 days. He was brought up to agricultural pursuits. He lived chiefly in private life; save his being entrusted with several minor positions, until 1835, when he was elected to the House of Representatives. It was during this session that the first appropriation was made toward commencing the Gettysburg railroad, and here he differed from all his colleagues from the county in taking a stand against it, while they supported it, and continued to do so during the second session he was in the House. After giving his last vote against it in 1838, he put his reasons for so doing on the journal, April 16th, 1838. Page 1156, House Journal. OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 333 It may be stated that after the State had expended nearly $1,000,000 on the doubtful project, it was abandoned. He was again elected to the House of Representatives in 1836. it was during this session that the surplus revenue of the United States, by resolution of Congress, (session of 1835-6,) distributing said surplus among the several States, fell into the hands of the Legislature, Pennsylvania's share being nearly $4,000,000, and wishing to secure a portion of it to the people direct, offered a joint resolution, February 20th, 1837, (House Journal, Vol. I, p. 563,) authorizing the State Treasurer to redeem $2,000,000 of the State indebtedness. February 23d, (page 593,) on motion, the said resolution was considered in committee of the whole, when, after considerable discussion, the opposition succeeded in having it postponed to March 13th, when it could not be reached again. At this time there was a strong improvement feeling, and log-rolling the order of the day. The said surplus was all scattered to various projects, excepting $500,000, which was distributed amongst the several school districts of the State. He was again elected to the House of Representatives in 1837, and again under the new constitution, in 1843, and served during the session of 1844. In 1850 he was elected a director of the poor for Lancaster county. He was reelected in 1853, of which board he was president during the last five years. February 11th, 1865, he assisted in organizing the Manheim National Bank, of which institution he has been president up to this time. In the year 1869 he made a donation to the borough of Manheim, of three acres of woodland containing a spring of water, near said town, to be used as a public grove. This the town council properly named after the donor. KAUFFMAN, ANDREW I., a member of the Legislature KAUFFMAN, BENJAMIN, a member of the Legislature in 1801. KAUFFMAN, BENJAMIN, a member of the Legislature in 1836. KAUFFMAN. BENJAMIN, a member of the Legislature in 1839. He was also elected Clerk of Orphans' Court in 1845. KAUFFMAN, C. L., elected a member of the Legislature 14 1856. 334 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY KAUFFMAN, DR. MICHAEL, one of the-five brothers, named Christian, John, Michael, David, and Isaac, sons of John Kauffman, was born March 5th, 1767, near what is now Landisville, in East Hempfield township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. His younger years were spent on the farm, when he learned the millwright trade. About 1790 he bought a mill in Rapho township, which business he fol. lowed for some years, when he moved to Manheim, where, with his brother John, he went into the hardware business for a few years, when he commenced studying medicine with Dr. Bard, and commenced practicing about 1803 and followed it up to the time of his death. In 1831 he was elected to the House of Representatives and reelected in 1832; during these several sessions he attended industriously to his duties as a representative. This long usefulness in the vicinity in which he lived, can perhaps not be .better described than they are given in the following obituary notice : "Dr. Michael Kauffman died at his residence in the borough of Manheim, on Sunday morning, July 7th, 1839 aged 72 years, 4 months and 6 days. His earthly remains were interred on the following day at two o'clock, p. m., attended by an unusually large concourse of relatives and friends. Impressive addresses were delivered on the occasion by Revs. Messrs. Jacob Hochstetter and Daniel Fritz, on verse 22d, 16th chapter, Book of Job : When a few years are come then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.' It is seldom that one is called from amongst us whose loss will be more extensively felt and more deeply deplored than that of the individual whose name heads this obituary notice. He has been a resident and an extensive practitioner of medicine upwards of forty years ; he was liberal and ever ready to render assistance to the distressed. Of him it may be truly said, the poor have lost a friend. After his death many, very many, called to get a last sight of him for whom they had at one time or another, during life, sent in the hour of suffering." KAUFFMAN, MICHAEL, and family, emigrated from the vicinity of Greenstad, Hesse, on the upper Rhine, and came to this county between the years 1710 and 1719, and settled somewhere not now known. Michael died a few years: after their arrival. The widow next died, leaving a son John and a daughter Elizabeth. The guardian of these children bought of William Penn's commissioner a considerable tract of land, in the vicinity now known as Landisville, Lancaster county, Pa., where the said John Kauffman settled. All that OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 335 is known of Elizabeth is, that she was married to Christian Stoneman, December 12th, 1734. The said John Kauffman had three sons, Christian, Michael and John. John Kauffman lived on the farm now owned by Samuel Nissley, about one mile from Landisville, where he died March 24th, 1776, aged 48 years, 6 months and 12 days. His widow died December 22d, 1806. They had nine children grown up and married, viz : Maria, Anna, Christian, Barbara, John, Michael, Elizabeth, David and Isaac, besides two, Anna and Susanna, who died minors. This family has now all passed away. KEENAN, REV. BERNARD, was born in the county of Tyrone, Ireland, and was early designed by his parents for the clerical profession. He began the study of the classics in the seminaries of his neighborhood, and as soon as he was qualified, entered the college of Dungannon, where he remained as a student for four years. He was then engaged as a teacher in that institution, and thus occupied for the next seven years, having been the first Catholic who had been known to be employed as a teacher in the Protestant college of Dungannon. Having made up his mind to leave his native home, he proposed going to France; but as the Right Reverend Bishop Conwell was then on his way to London to be consecrated Bishop of Philadelphia, he accompanied him to Liverpool, where he remained until the Bishop returned, and thence sailed with him to the United States. They landed at Baltimore on the 21st of November, 1820, and from thence they proceeded to Philadelphia, where the subject of this notice was ordained priest, having been the first priest ever ordained in the Philadelphia conference. Shortly after his ordination he went to Mount St. Mary's College, near Emmettsburg, Maryland, where he remained until the death of the Rev. J. J. Holland, of St. Mary's church, Lancaster, in the fall of 1823. During the period he spent at Emmettsburg he assisted in giving instruction to young men pursuing their studies, for which his superior linguistic attainments amply fitted him. Before craving Ireland he had taught for a time in a gentleman's family. He was appointed by the Bishop of the diocese to fill, the 336 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY vacancy existing in St. Mary's Church, a position he has held uninterruptedly up to the present time. While in Philadelphia, and prior to his appointment to the Lancaster charge, he was believed to be in the last stages of consumption, his physicians pronouncing the left lobe of his lungs as entirely gone with that disease. The duties pertaining to the pastorship of St. Mary's church at the period of his first appointment, were very arduous, and the labors devolving upon him onerous ; Catholic clergymen in America were at that time few in number, and not one-half that were actually needed; it there. fore devolved upon him, in connection with his duties at Lancaster, to attend at alternate periods the missions of Harrisburg, Lebanon, Colebrook, Elizabethtown and Columbia. This district now occupies the services of twelve pastors. Catholic clergymen are required to attend in cases of sickness to the calls of any member of their congregations ; the Catholic, as is well known, in his last illness in all cases requires the ministrations of his spiritual pastor in order to have the last sacraments of the church administered to him; and this branch of ministerial work devolved upon Father Keenan an immense amount of labor, that we of the present generation can scarcely realize. This was particularly the case during the time that the public works were in progress, and oft was it necessary for him to cross the Susquehanna in a frail canoe, and spend day after day among the poor of his flock, in supplying spiritual food for their souls. For nearly half a century has this devoted servant of Christ labored in our midst in the discharge of his pastoral duties. It would be difficult to cite a similar example, that of a pastor officiating above forty-eight years for one congregation, a circumstance that in itself speaks volumes in his ,favor. The old stone church in which he commenced his labors still stands, though built more than a century since, (in 1762.) In front of it, however, has been erected one of the finest churches in the State, a lasting monument of the zeal manifested by himself and his congregation. During the absence of Bishop Shannahan at the Ecumenical Council at Rome, in 1870, Father Keenan was designated in lieu of OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 337 him, the administrator of the Diocese of Harrisburg. He is a fine classical scholar, being master of the Greek, Latin and Hebrew languages, and has also a ready acquaintance with the French. One trait in the character of the subject of this notice which deserves special mention, and that which o has endeared him to all classes, both Catholics and Protestants, and which displays itself in all his actions and language, is his " charity," which lies at the basis of all true religion. Bigotry with him never found any countenance. In his discourses, the doctrines of his dissenting brethren were never maligned or impugned. Each individual who at any time has heard any of his sermons, must have felt at its close that although differing in modes of faith, yet that as fellow Christians we should practice the golden maxim, " to love one another." KEENE, GEORGE W., was elected Clerk of the Orphans' Court in 1869. KELLER, SAMUEL, a nephew of Peter Holl, was elected County Commissioner in 1825. He was a citizen of Warwick township, and for many years the owner of the well-known Litiz mill. He was an excellent and upright citizen. His sons have emigrated to Virginia, and are now engaged in the iron business. KEMPER, DAVID, was elected County Commissioner in 1862. KENDIG, FRANCIS, was a member of the, Legislature in 1822. KENEAGY, SAMUEL, son of Henry Keneagy, was born June 20th, 1820. Having received an education, finishing the same in the Strasburg academy, he began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. F. S. Burrowes, in 1812. He attended the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and graduated in the spring of 1844. He began the practice of medicine in Strasburg with fair success. He ever took a warm interest in politics, and in 1858 he was nominated and elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature, and reelected the following year. During the rebellion he was for a short time surgeon in the 50th Pennsylvania regiment, under 338 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY Franklin. In 1868 he accepted, for one. year, a professorship of anatomy, physiology and hygiene in the State Agricultural College, in Centre county, Pennsylvania. After the expiration of his term, he. removed to Lancaster city, and resumed the practice of medicine. KENEAGY, ULRICH, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, and emigrated therefrom in 1795, and settled near Kinzer station, in Lancaster county. His ancestors were of the Omish persuasion, and came from Switzerland about the middle of the 17th century. The name was originally spelled Gnege, afterwards Knege, and now Keneagy. Ulrich, in 1805 moved to near Paradise, then Strasburg township, and followed farming. He had three sons, viz : John, Henry and David. The latter died about 1807. John had one son and a daughter. Henry married Sarah, the eldest daughter of Christian Shertz, in 1809, and had seven sons and two daughters. Ile died in 1845, aged 63 years. KENNEDY, MAXWELL, a Lancaster county Legislator, was born in Warren county, New Jersey, May 1st, 1782. He emigrated with his father and his family to Salisbury township, Lancaster county. In the war of 1812 he volunteered as aid to General Watson, and marched to York, Pa., and from there to Baltimore, arriving the day after the battle, in time to assist in burying the dead. His division was sent from there to Elkton, Maryland, and he was appointed Major of one of the divisions. On account of his powerful voice and military knowledge, he was at one time drill officer of the division. The following incident may be mentioned while he was in the army at Elkton : A rumor was put in circulation that the British had landed on the opposite side of the bay, and were marching up towards the town. That night General Watson received orders to take twelve of his most trusty men, cross the bridge, and go down and reconnoitre the enemy. Mr. Kennedy was one of the chosen twelve. They crossed the bridge, expecting every moment to come in contact with the enemy. After marching some distance, the sentinel fired off his gun. All was ordered ready, when the sentinel cried quarters. The General asked where the enemy was, and was told there was no enemy there. When OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 339 asked why he had done so, he replied that he was so ordered by his superiors. The party returned back to town, and the matter was investigated. There were two reasons assigned for this transaction : One was, that the commander wished to try the bravery of General Watson; and the other was, that the citizens of Elkton, who they were defending, were not supplying them with suitable provisions, and they wanted an excuse to leave. In the morning the place was deserted; the inhabitants, fearing danger, had quit the place; and the soldiers were only retained by fair promises of better accommodations and which were fully realized until the time of their departure, when affairs at New Orleans rendered their stay no longer necessary, and they were discharged to their homes and families. Maxwell Kennedy was elected a member of the Legislature in 1835 without any solicitation, and declined being a. candidate the next year on account of failing health. Having led a very active life, close confinement did not agree with him. He died from cancer of the stomach, after a lingering illness, August 30th, 1845. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and an influential man in the community. KERFOOT, DR. GEORGE B.,¹ was born in the city of Dublin, June 27th, 1808. He emigrated to America when about 11 years of age, and when aged 15 he entered the employ of Dr. Samuel Humes, of Lancaster, as a shop boy, and the doctor perceiving in him a peculiar brightness, induced him to study medicine. After having studied medicine he took up the study of Latin and Greek, and ¹ December 20th, 1838, Henry Cobler Mussulman, who was under sentence of death for the murder of Lazarus Zellerbach, gild his body for five dollars to Dr. Kerfoot, in order that it might be dissected after he was hung. The assignment of sale is yet preserved, and is in the handwriting of George Ford, esq., and is witnessed by the writer of it and Capt. John Wise. In this connection the other executions. in Lancaster county may be enumerated. Prior to 1770 no record of any such is preserved. From the year 1770 till 1780 several executions took place. During this decade at least five persons were hung in Lancaster county for various offences ; other crimes than murder being then punished with death. A man named " Jockey Jones," was hung for horse stealing ; Catharine Fisher for infanticide ; Capt. Taylor for highway robbery ; a colored man for 340 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY unaided he made considerable proficiency therein. He also studied the German, and was able to read it with great ease and fluency. He attended the medical lectures of. Jefferson College, in Philadelphia, and graduated March, 1830. Re immediately began in Lancaster the practice of the profession, and soon succeeded in acquiring a lucrative practice. In a few years he rose to great distinction, and ranked amongst the ablest in the profession. He was one of the main instruments in establishing the Lancaster County Medical Society. He established an anatomical ball, and was in the habit of giving lectures during the winter to numbers of students. At one time the number of his students reached sixty. Dr. John McCalla was numbered amongst his students. The Rev. Mr. Bahnson and many other intellectual men frequented his lectures during the winter season. Ile was for several years a leading member of the. Lancaster school board, and also of the city councils. Dr. Kerfoot died in 1851, leaving a large and lucrative practice, aged 43 years, 3 months and 16 days. Dr. Kerfoot was an ardent and active Democrat, and was a frequent contributor to the Lancaster papers, especially to the Intelligencer. He was possessed of a poetic genius, and wrote some poems of great merit. he was frequently summoned as a witness to testify in medical cases before the courts in Baltimore, Harrisburg, and elsewhere, especially where critical questions were to be decided. He, on several occasions, delivered public lectures on the eyes and brain, those parts of the human system to which he had given the most study. On the Haggerty trial rape, committed upon a white woman ; and Samuel Brandt for killing his own father and setting the dwelling house on fire. From 1780 until 1822 no person was hung in Lancaster county. On the 25th of October, 1822, John Lechler was executed for the murder of his wife, Mary Lechler. Daniel Sheaffer was hung April 13th, 1832, for the murder of a widow, named Bowers, living in Marietta. Sheaffer was convicted upon his own confession, alleging that the reproaches of his conscience no longer permitted him to conceal his crime. He voluntarily surrendered himself, and was committed, tried and executed. Henry Smith (colored) was hung May 11th, 1838, for the murder of Benjamin Peart, of Columbia. This execution took place in the jail yard, and was the first which was carried into execution after the passage of the law abolishing public executions. John Haggerty was, in 1847, executed for the murder of Melchoir Fordney and a woman named Catharine OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 341 be was the principal witness. Dr. Kerfoot was a leading member of the Masonic fraternity, being at the time of his death District Deputy Grand Master. He was proverbial for his charity, and but for this trait in his character he might have accumulated a vast fortune from his medical practice. KEYS, RICHARD, was a member of the Legislature in the years 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1799 and 1800. KIEFFER, CHRISTIAN, was elected a member of the Legislature in the year 1840, and reelected in 1841. He was three times elected Mayor of the city of Lancaster in the years 1852, 1853 and 1854. KIMMEL, JACOB, a member of the .Legislature in 1803,. 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808 and 1809. KING, ROBERT, one of the early settlers of Little Britain township, emigrated from Ireland, and came to Lancaster county about 1717. He took up a tract of 150 acres of land. and followed agricultural pursuits. His son, John, was a clergyman, and became pastor of the congregation, of which the father of James Buchanan¹ was a member. Robert King, one of the descendants of the first settler of this name, was born January 2d, 1789. He marched in 1814 as lieutenant of a company, under Dr. James McCulloch as captain; and when the latter was promoted to be surgeon of the regiment, Mr. King succeeded to the captaincy of the company. For many years he served as colonel of the Lancaster militia. Tripple, as also one of her children. Alexander Anderson and Henry Richards (both colored) were executed in April, 1858, for the murders of Mrs. Garber and Mrs. Ream, of Manheim township. Before the period of the abolition of public executions the executioners wore masks, and the condemned criminals were taken from their place of confinement, placed upon their own coffin in a cart, and driven through the streets, directly under the gallows, often amid the hoots and jeers of the excited populace. The public parade thus made of the prisoner, and the consequent spectacle of the execution, were supposed to be calculated to intimidate offenders from the perpetration of like offences. It came, however, to be believed that the object aimed at was not attained, and public sensibility at length revolting at the idea of public executions, they were discontinued. ¹ Rev. John King was the first to perceive the remarkable ability of James Buchanan, when a boy, and it was he who first suggested to his 342 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY *KING, VINCENT, son of Vincent and Mary King, was born in Little Britain township, (in that part now included in Fulton), Lancaster county, in the year 1786. His mother's maiden name was Brown; she was a daughter of Joshua Brown, a distinguished minister among the Friends. Her ancestors have been traced back long prior to the days of William Penn, many of them having come over from Eng. land soon after Penn's settlements on the Delaware. His paternal grandfather was James King, an early settler in this neighborhood. The father of the subject of this sketch had six children, as follows : Joshua, James, Vincent, Jeremiah, Mary and Hannah. Vincent, the third son, in early youth was known as a remarkably active boy, of a kind disposition, and possessed of a lively imagination. His parents being strict Friends, he was sent to Westtown school, an institution under the fostering care of that Society, to receive a thorough English education. He remained at this school several terms, and while there the following incident took place, which may have had a tendency to lead him to pursue the study of medicine and adopt the practice of it as an avocation in after-life. One of the students was attacked with what was then termed typhus fever, and to use a common phrase, was "given up to die" by the attending physician. Vincent King—a brother student—became much interested in the case, and asked permission of the superintendent to nurse and attend upon the pupil, who had now ceased to receive much aid from the physician in charge of the institution. Permission was granted, and young King assumed charge of the patient, watching him night and day, prescribing and caring for his school-mate. Finally, the sick student recovered, and, we are informed, is yet living at an advanced age. This success with his first patient led Vincent parents the propriety of affording him an education. It has been told us, by an aged citizen, that upon one occasion when James Buchanan was dismissed from Dickinson College, for some student delinquency, his parents applied to Rev. King to have him re-instated. This the Rev. King accomplished, he being at the time one of the trustees of the institution, and for this act of kindness Mr. Buchanan ever bore his early pastor a lasting good-will. *Contributed by Charles H. Stubbs, M. D. Of LANCASTER COUNTY - 343 King to inquire further into the mysteries of the healing art, and while he remained at this school he was called doctor, by pupils and teachers. Leaving Westtown, he at once chose the profession of medicine, and with this end in view, repaired in company with his brother, Jeremiah, to Philadelphia—the; as it is now, the seat of medical science in this country. Here he entered the office of Dr. Houston, an eminent practitioner of that city, and after preparing himself, entered and attended a regular course of lectures in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated in the class of 1807. The same year in which he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine, he was united in marriage to Phoebe Trimble, daughter of William Trimble, of Uwchland township, Chester county. Immediately after marriage he settled in Philadelphia, and practiced his profession in that city for about two years; he then removed to Goshen, Chester county, and while there obtained an extensive practice. Being of an unsettled state of mind, he remained in this location but a short time, and thence migrated to Baltimore, Md., and finally to Columbia, Pa. At the last named place he met with great affliction in the loss of his wife, who was removed from earth after a short illness. Her decease took place in the year 1816, in the 28th year of her age. Dr. King remained a widower five years, and married Patience Wright, in the year 1821. From the time of the decease of his first wife until his marriage with the second, he remained and practiced medicine at Columbia. After the second marriage he removed to Little Britain, near the place of his birth, and resided with his mother and brother. Here he at once entered into a large practice; which continued to increase every year. Being called to see a patient at Webb's forge, he was suddenly taken ill, and so violently held that he could not be removed to his residence. After lingering a few days, surrounded by friends anxious that he should recover, he departed this life on the 2d of December, 1825, aged 39 years. In his last illness he was fully sensible of his precarious condition, and in answer to some friend who was solicitous of 344 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY his welfare, he replied, that he " must die as well as others and that they must be willing to give him up." He was the father of five children, viz : Mary Ann, Lydia T., Jane p., William T., and Jeremiah. All the sons died in infancy—the eldest daughter dying in her thirteenth year ; only two survive, Lydia T., and Jane P., now Mrs. Edge. Dr. King was a man of talent and was well posted in his profession, being on intimate terms with some of the most distinguished medical men of his day. In person, he possessed a fine and commanding appearance ; and in his movements was quick and vivacious. Gifted with rare conversational powers, he was well calculated to succeed and become eminent in his profession. While he practiced in different localities, several students, in order to avail themselves of the advantages to be derived from the counsels of so able and worthy a practitioner, studied medicine under his direction. Among the number were Dr. Glatz, of Marietta, and Dr. Jeremiah B. Stubbs, of Fulton. Dr. King was not only learned in his profession, but was familiar with the old English poets, and, to some extent, cultivated an innate taste for the muses. Even when engaged in a laborions practice, he would devote occasional hours to reading and writing verse. On the deaths of his aged mother and his little sons, he wrote several stanzas, filled with sorrowful reflections that pervaded his mind at the time of these afflictions. These we have failed to secure. In concluding this sketch, we insert two of his poetical productions, one an extempore piece, the other "A MONODY ON THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE. Alas ! Maria is no more ; dread death, With vengeful ire has hurled his missive dart, And left me here to languish out my days, To weep unseen in deepest solitude, And mourn amidst the giddy scenes of men. My comfort and my love of life is fled— In one dread hour was severed from my soul ; Deep consternation, awful reveries flowed Throughout each day and melancholy night— Oh I had I met my lasting, final fate, Ere manhood raised for me her spotted crown. And fired me with ambition's wild career I OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 345 Then had I slept in undisturbed repose, Unconscious of the sweeping scythe of time. Dear Maria's image dwells with me, And may her virtues long vibrate my heart ; Her soothing voice amid afflictions sore, Buoyed up my soul and checked the rising tear; When death his double mission had performed And paralyzed, as with electric flash, Two blooming boys, just raised to interest dear, To show their pressing wants and smile assent, And joyous chatter all the livelong day ; Bereft of these, in deep affliction bathed, She sighed and with a pious soul resigned, Proclaimed that God who gave had a right to take, To call away in youth or hoary age. EXTEMPORE. Great Architect of worlds above, below, Who formed the soul and taught its fires to glow ; Whose mighty fiat rules and reigns above, Thou Being of all beings, God of love, Oh teach us to be wise and prize Thee more Than earthly wealth and all its chequered store. Without Thee all creation is but dust, Delivered o'er to death and warring lust, Confusion dread would overwhelm the whole, And darkness and despair appall the soul, But with Thee we are rich without alloy, All beauty, order and consummate joy. KINZER, DR. E., elected to the State Senate in 1851. KIRK, JACOB, elected a member of the Legislature in 1823 and 1825. KITTERA, JOHN W., son of Thomas Kittera, was born in East Earl township, Lancaster county. He graduated at Princeton College, New Jersey, in 1776, and afterwards practiced law at Lancaster. He represented Lancaster county in Congress from 1791 until 1801, a period of ten years. He was then appointed United States District Attorney for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, and removed to Philadelphia. He was a man of fine personal appearance, and exceedingly gentlemanly and polite in his intercourse with his fellow-citizens' KONIGMACHER, JOSEPH, was a native of Lancaster County, and a man of high standing and influence in the 25 346 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY community in which he lived. He was the proprietor of the popular summer resort at Ephrata—the Mountain Springs hotel. In 1837-38 he was a member of the Reform Convention, called for the amendment of the State Constitution, and although at the time young and inexperienced in legislation, he discharged his duties with great credit to himself and his constituents. He strongly opposed the law that compelled the people of any school district to accept the Free School System of education contrary to their wishes, and he favored a system by which the Germans could have their children taught German if they choose. In 1838 he was nominated and elected a member of the Legislature, and was reelected in 1839. As a legislator, he took an active part in all questions of general and local policy, and distinguished himself by the production of one of the .ablest documents that ever emanated from our legislative halls—The Report on an Asylum for the Insane Poor. Mr. Konigmacher was, in 1846, recommended by the Whig convention of Lancaster county as a candidate for Canal Commissioner, and he served during that same year as one of the members of the Whig State Central Committee. In 1848 he was nominated and elected to the State Senate of Pennsylvania, the duties of which office he discharged with entire satisfaction. He died at Michael's hotel, in the city of Lancaster, April 4th, 1861. In politics he was a strong and enthusiastic Whig, and always exerted himself—whether in public or private life—to promote the success of the principles of his party. While in office, it was his aim to endeavor to introduce the principles in which he believed, into the administration of the State government. In his youth he had been a mechanic, and in feeling was strongly identified, and always deservedly popular with the laboring classes. In his disposition he was kind, genial, and open-hearted, and was possessed of a singular sweetness in his deportment and great amiability of manners. *KRAMPH, FREDERIC JOHN, was born near the village of Schleiesbach, in the valley of Auc, about three miles from the city of Heidelberg, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, on the *Contributed by S. S. Rathvon. OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 347 11th of March, 1811. The paternal residence was an humble cottage, about half a mile from the banks of the Necker, and his ancestors were plain, honest fishermen, and members of the German Reformed church, highly esteemed by the community in which they resided. At about six years of age he was placed in an excellent school for children, in Heidelberg, his mother having removed to that place—having lost his father before he was born—where he remained until after the death of his mother, in 1819, when he was just eight years old. He was then placed in the Orphans' Asylum of Heidelberg, where he remained until he had attained his fourteenth year, and where he patiently endured all the deprivations and hardships incidental to such institutions at that period, in a monarchical government. The curriculum of the Asylum included among other things, the preparation of its inmates for "confirmation" in the German Reformed church, and after that event was consummated with our subject, he was bound apprentice to Herr. Schulemyer, until he was twenty years of age, and taught the art and mystery of the tailoring trade. He was always active, obedient, and intelligent; and in every position he occupied throughout his life, he always shared largely of the popular esteem. Of course, situated as he was, his educational means were very limited, but he was always fond of reading, and availed himself of every. opportunity to gratify his love of books. He was religiously predisposed, and in his reading did not forget to include the Bible, and at a very early age possessed himself of a copy. Before he was twenty-one, he had read nearly all of Cooper's novels that had then been translated into German, and the reading of these works gave birth to the desire to ultimately emigrate to, and make his home in America. Having neither father nor mother, sister nor brother, nor any more remote relative that manifested any special interest in him, there were, therefore, no special ties of consanguinity to bind him to his fatherland. He spent about eighteen months in traveling through his own country and adjoining German States, after the end of his apprenticeship, working at his trade at intervals to obtain the necessary means; but as the traveling of journeymen 348 - BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY mechanics, at that period, was always performed on foot, wants were easily supplied. Indeed, there were facilities afforded to pedestrians, in many of the German States at that period, that America has perhaps never known. At the convents, monasteries, and the houses of the rich and the noble along the public roads, a special mug of beer or wine, with a slice of brown bread, was reserved for the way. passer, and which he could claim, and was accorded to him as a privilege. Returning to Heidelberg in the early spring, after some preparation he proceeded in company with others to the city of Manheim, where he bid a final adieu to his native land in the blooming month of June, and sailed for America, landing at the city of Baltimore in August, 1832. When he landed at Baltimore he had but a single Heller ¹ in his purse; all had been exhausted during the long passage. After working about a week in Baltimore, and finding business dull, full of hope and trust in the leadings of Providence —a trust that never forsook him during his entire life—he struck out for the interior of our vast country on foot, and in due time reached the borough of York, Pennsylvania, where he obtained employment. Learning, however, that his employer was bad pay, he left his service and demanded the wages that were due him. This being withheld or refused, he was advised to sue him, which he accordingly did, and brought him before a justice "forthwith". on a capias,. and obtained his money. Being at this time without a Bible, with these wages he immediately purchased a copy, and was again alone in the world with only a few shillings in his purse, and out of employment. Retiring to a wood near the town, he there knelt down under the shade of a friendly tree, and poured forth his fervent thanks to the Almighty for the blessings he enjoyed in a land of liberty, for in his own country justice could not have been thus obtained so speedily. Returning to the town again, he met Mr. John Bell, of Marietta, in search of a journeyman tailor, and immediately went into his service, and accompaanied him to that place, where he remained until January, 1833. We record these ¹ Five Fellers are equivalent to one United States cent. OF LANCASTER COUNTY - 349 peculiar events here, because our subject made it a rule of life always to do his whole duty so far as he had an opportunity and ability to do it, and then to "wait patiently on the Lord," feeling assured that " He would bring it to pass," so far as was best for his temporal and spiritual welfare. At Marietta he contracted friendships that continued throughout his entire life, and there he also made progress in acquiring a knowledge of the English language, and in acquainting himself with English literature, and learning the. modes and manners of his adopted country. He left Marietta on foot, in mid-winter, and visited Lancaster, Reading, Lebanon, and Hummelstown, in search of employment, but was not successful until he reached the last named place, and his pecuniary means, through a liberality which was a leading characteristic in him, were again nearly exhausted. Here he made himself so useful and was so highly esteemed by his employer, that he offered extra inducements for him to remain and take a partnership in his business, but as those inducements contemplated a contingency not within the category of his immediate future intention, he therefore left this town, at the opening of early spring, and wended his way to Harrisburg, the capital of the State. Here he made application for employment at every tailoring establishment in the place without success. Much exhausted, but still hopeful, he entered a German " Gast-House," near the terminus of the only bridge that then spanned the Susquehanna at that place, and called for a " shepley bier," and the ever accompanying "pretzel," to recuperate his tired energies. Finding the host a native of his own " fatherland," he soon entered into a cheerful and interesting conversation with him, which was only interrupted by the entrance of another visitor. This visitor was a Mr. Backstresser, from New Cumberland, a village in the southeastern angle of Cumberland County, where the Yellow-breeches creek empties into the Susquehanna river, and he was in search of a tailor to take charge of business in a room next to his store in that place. The host immediately referred him to Mr. Kramph, who still sat at the table sipping his beer, as a person he thought would suit him, and an engagement was soon made with him