BIO: William SHORTLIDGE, Centre County, Pennsylvania Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Wayne Barner Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/centre/ _______________________________________________ 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. _______________________________________________ COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 80 COL. WILLIAM SHORTLIDGE. The personal history of the men who lead in the development of any section always holds an unusual interest, not only for those who, as members of the community, share in the results of its progress, but for all students of human nature. The generalship, the faith, the determined will, which distinguish these pioneer workers in any line, illustrate some of the best phases of our manifold life, and these qualities are none the less deserving of honor when directed to the peaceful arts which feed and sustain our civilization rather than to deeds of daring on the field of battle. The lime industry at Bellefonte, of which Col. Shortlidge is the pioneer, so far as its modern aspects are concerned, has for many years been a constant source of wealth to that locality. It is probable that the men employed in it have, during the past twenty years, more steady work at better wages than any other industry in this section has supplied, and in periods of business depression they have had special reason to congratulate themselves upon the constant demand for their labor. In I 861, when Col. Shortlidge first entered this business, the production of lime in the vicinity of Bellefonte was estimated at thirty five bushels per day, and at the present writing it has increased to 3,500 bushels per day, owing mainly to the foresight and energy of Col. Shortlidge, who brought the superior quality of the product to wider notice. After the completion of the Bald Eagle Valley railroad, he shipped the first carload of lime ever sent from that locality to a point outside of Centre County. For manufacturing purposes the Bellefonte lime is considered better than others, and it finds a ready market in all parts of the Union. The limestone from which it is obtained contains as high as ninety-eight per cent of carbonate of lime, and the product is noted for its whiteness as well as for its purity. Under the improved methods of burning adopted by Col. Shortlidge the causticity and plasticity are retained, and the superiority of this lime is shown by the fact that one bushel of it makes as much mortar as one and two-thirds of other kinds, while the adhesive quality is greater. Of late years other manufacturers of lime have located at Bellefonte, but the strata of stone which they use extends over twenty miles east and west, and there is no fear that the supply may be exhausted. As there is a steadier market for the lime for manufacturing purposes than for any other, greater attention is paid to meeting that demand, but agricultural and building interests are also supplied, and the McCalmont & Co. Sunny Side Lime Kilns, established in 1861 by Col. Shortlidge and others, produce limes which under careful tests are declared to be eminently suited to these purposes. McCalmont & Company are also extensive dealers in coal, agricultural implements, seeds and fertilizers, and they control the agency for the celebrated Geisee saw mills, traction engines and separators, the American Road Machine Company's Champion Rock Crusher and Road Machine, and the Conklin wagons and carriages. They are large dealers in farm products, never losing an opportunity to buy grain, for which they pay the highest market price, their invariable rule in their transactions being to make the farmers' interests their own. Their business requires a correspondence which is second in volume to but one other as compared with all the other interests at Bellefonte. Col. Shortlidge and Robert McCalmont are the managers of the firm, and others connected with it are Isaac Underwood, John S. Walker, J. W. Barnhart, Robert W. McCalmont, John H. Woomer and Wentworth H. Shortlidge. The personal and ancestral history of Col. Shortlidge will be of general interest. The name was formerly Shortridge and is of English origin, COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 81 and the family has been identified with the Society of Friends from a very early period. Our subject's direct ancestors were pioneers of Chester County, Penn., and his grandfather Swithin Shortlidge was born in New Garden Township, and became a farmer in the same locality. He and two of his sons died within two weeks, during an epidemic of dysentery. His wife, Hannah Gawthrop, also a native of Chester County, and of Quaker origin, survived him many years. They had a large family of children, of whom five grew to adult age: (1) George, our subject's father; (2) Jane, who married Isaac Tussey, of Pocopson. Chester County, and died in March, 1892, at the age of ninety-two years; (3) Phoebe, who married Jacob Shortlidge (a cousin), and died in early womanhood; (4) Joel, who married Sarah Ann Boyer, and died in Chester County, and (5) Evan, who married Sarah Holand, the former dying in Chester County at an advanced age. Hannah G. Darlington and Catharine T. Michener, daughters of Isaac and Jane Tussey, are highly esteemed relatives, as well as Phoebe S. Hobson and Isabel G. Shortlidge. Hannah Gawthrop Shortlidge had three sisters and four brothers, viz.: Elizabeth, Jane, Isabella, Thomas, James, George and William. All but William settled in Chester County, and he made his home in Baltimore. Md. One of his grandsons, William G. Huey, is at the head of the firm of William G. Huey Pr Co., bankers of Philadelphia. Elizabeth married Nicholas Taylor, an extraordinary businessman of Baltimore, Md.; Jane married Daniel Thompson, and reared a family; Isabella did not marry; all the brothers married, and left descendants. George Shortlidge, the father of our subject, was born in New Garden township, Chester County, in 1800, and passed his life there as a farmer, his death occurring in 1875. Like all of the family in religion, he was a Quaker. In politics he was at first a Democrat, but he took a decided stand against slavery, and in 1856 he voted the Republican ticket and from that time he adhered to that party. He married Martha Hutton, who was born in the same locality in I 802, and died in 1887. Her father, Hiatt Hutton, a native of Chester County, was of Irish descent, and her mother, Sarah Pugh, was a member of an old Chester County family. The Hutton's and the Pugh's were all of Quaker faith. Our subject was the eldest of six children: (2) Joseph, a successful teacher, conducts an academy at Concordville, Del.; (3) Anna P. married W. H. Walker, of Hockessin, Del.; (4) Lydia H., widow of Augustus A. Norris, resides at Woodstown, N. J; (5) Swithin C., a well-known educator, is at present in London, Eng., for his health; (6) Evan G., a prominent physician of Wilmington, Del., where he located in 1870, is a man of marked ability and influence, and has been mayor of that city. During the Civil war he served in the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry for some time, and after he completed his medical studies he was appointed, at the instance of the Friends, a surgeon to an Indian agency. Col. Shortlidge was born February 20, 1831, and his childhood was spent at the old homestead in New Garden township, Chester County. After attending the local schools for a time, he was sent to the Greenwoodell Academy, Marshalltown, Chester Co., Penn., of which Jonathan Gans was then principal. Two years were spent there in diligent study, and then our subject began teaching, following that occupation in his native county and in the State of Delaware. In the fall of 1853 he entered the office of the Howard Iron Works, in Centre County as an apprentice to learn the business, and was employed there as bookkeeper and manager until the business was suspended in 1857, when he resumed the work of teaching. On May 25, 1857, he married Miss Rosanna G. McCalmont, a native of Marion township, Centre Co., Penn., born March 16, 1833, and this happy event .did much to shape his future course. For a time he continued teaching, and August 25, 1858, he took charge of a school in. Bellefonte. In the following spring he made an engagement with Valentines & Co., proprietors of the Bellefonte Furnace and Forge, to manage their office for two weeks during the absence of the members of the firm. At the end of that time he was requested to remain longer, and in the course of a few months the firm decided that they could not dispense with his services, for which a liberal salary was offered and accepted, and Col. Shortlidge spent the next six years in their employ. As has been stated, he, in 1861, engaged in the lime business, with which he had become somewhat familiar during boyhood in Chester County. His extensive business interests have never prevented him from taking an active part in the general progress of the community. He is a firm supporter of the principles of the Republican party. He is a member of the F. & A. M.; also of the borough council, now in the tenth year of service in that body. He is president of the Board of Trade, and a trustee of the Presbyterian Church. Col. and Mrs. Shortlidge have a most pleasant home, and of their six children two are living: Martha Elizabeth married John S. Walker, and has one son, Robert. Anna W. is at home. Jennie McCalmont, a daughter, and a young lady COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 82 of much intelligence, who assisted her father as stenographer and typewriter, died February 16, 1890, at the age of twenty-two, from "la grippe." George and William died in infancy, and James McCalmont, their eldest son, lived to the age of only six months.