BIO: Edwin J. DESHLER, Centre County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by JRB

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/centre/
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/centre/1picts/commbios/comm-bios.htm
_____________________________________________________________________ 

Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including 
the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing 
Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. 
Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898.
_____________________________________________________________________ 

  E. J. DESHLER, M.D. (deceased). On September 27, 1890, there passed 
away at his home in Aaronsburg, a well-beloved physician, whose many 
years of faithful toil in his profession made his name a household word 
in that community.  Nor had his influence and his efforts been confined 
to professional lines only, for in all the varied activities of our 
common life he had taken a helpful part as a loyal citizen, devoting 
his abilities to the cause of progress.
  Dr. Deshler was born at Weaversville, Northampton county, Penn., 
April 7, 1826, the son of Jacob Deshler, and the grandson of Peter 
Deshler.  Jacob Deshler was a native of eastern Pennsylvania, as was 
his father before him, and several years of his early life were spent 
in Philadelphia.  His educational advantages were better than those of 
the average youth of his time, and he became prominent as a civil 
engineer.  For years he held the office of justice of the peace, which 
in that day was filled by appointment and carried much honor with it.  
In his later years he moved from Northampton county, where he had an 
elegant home, and settled upon a fine farm near Milton, Penn., to spend 
the remainder of his life.  Of his four children, our subject was the 
youngest; Mary M. married Dr. Edward Martin, and died at Weaversville, 
Northampton county; Joseph died in Northumberland county, Penn.; 
Elizabeth married George Stahl, and died in Northumberland county.  
Jacob Deshler and his wife were members of and active workers in the 
Reformed Church.
  Dr. Deshler's early education was obtained in the schools of his 
native county, and he was a young man at the time of the removal to 
Milton.  He attended Marshall College before its consolidation with 
Franklin College, at Lancaster, Penn., and at one time thought of 
studying for the ministry, but concluded to enter the medical 
profession.  His brother-in-law, Dr. Martin, was his first preceptor, 
and he also studied in the office of Dr. Charles Dougal, of Milton, 
before beginning his course in the Pennsylvania Medical College at 
Philadelphia, where he graduated in 1853.  For a few months he located 
at Buffalo Cross Roads, Penn., and then moved to Turbutville, Penn., 
where he continued to practice until 1858, when he settled permanently 
in Aaronsburg.
  As a practitioner he was very successful, keeping well abreast of the 
advance of modern science by his extensive reading.  Unassuming in 
manner, he never indulged in self-praise, but his innate worth and 
thorough intellectual training were readily recognized among the best 
people.  He possessed a knowledge of surveying, and at

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.  281

one time was elected without any effort on his part to the office of 
county surveyor.  For five years he served as justice of the peace, 
having been chosen to that position without his solicitation.  He was a 
stanch Democrat, an active member of the Masonic order, and at the time 
of his death was trustee about twenty years, of the Reformed Church, in 
which he had for years been a leading member.  He joined the Church 
when a young man, and was among its foremost workers, donating toward 
it liberally both of time and money.  He was a leader in the Sabbath-
school up to within some fourteen years prior to his death, when owing 
to impaired health he was obliged to give way to younger people, 
although he never missed attending divine service, even to the last 
Sabbath before his death, he dying suddenly of heart disease.
  On September 22, 1853, the Doctor was married at Tusseyville, Centre 
county, to Miss Maria Jordan, a native of Spring Mills, Penn., born 
March 4, 1829.  Four children blessed this union: Elizabeth died in 
infancy; J. Jordan is a physician at Glidden, Iowa; M. Emma, who died 
at the age of twenty-two, was a highly accomplished young lady and a 
graduate of Bethlehem Moravian Female Seminary; and Ellanora died at 
the age of twelve years.
  Mrs. Deshler still occupies the comfortable home which her lamented 
husband left her, and her fine social gifts and well-stored mind make 
her a favorite in the most cultured circles of Aaronsburg society.  She 
is a member of the Reformed Church, as were also her parents and 
grandparents.  Her parents, Joseph and Elizabeth (Bair) Jordan, were 
highly esteemed residents of Centre county, and she was the eldest of a 
family of six children, of whom five - two sons and three daughters - 
lived to adult age.  She attended the country schools of her time in 
her girlhood, and later pursued her studies in the seminary at 
Jacksonville, Penn., while a continued course of reading, guided by a 
fine literary taste, has given her an unusually wide range of 
information upon current topics, making her a most interesting 
conversationalist.  She has spent much of her time in travel, and has 
visited various cities in both the East and the West.

1870 Haines Township, Centre County census -
Edwin Deshler, 44  
Maria Deshler, 41  
Jordon Deshler, 14  
Emma Deshler, 11  
Elanora Deshler, 5