BIO: William Eckels, Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ ______________________________________________________________________ History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania. Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc. Illustrated. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm ______________________________________________________________________ PART II. HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA. CHAPTER XXXIX. BOROUGH OF MECHANICSBURG. 409 BOROUGH OF MECHANICSBURG. WILLIAM ECKELS, retired postmaster, Mechanicsburg. The Eckels family is one of the earliest of those sturdy pioneer Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who, driven by religious persecution from the North of Ireland, were among the first to seek new homes and freedom for religious worship in this valley. Francis Eckels, Sr., came at a very early date to this country, and settled in western Pennsylvania. Francis Eckels, Jr., his son, was born it is said, at sea, during the passage over. He married Mabel Flemming, of Cumberland County, and died in August, 1814, at the age of sixty-five. Samuel Eckels, his son, and father of our subject, settled in Allen Township, about three miles south of Mechanicsburg. He was twice married: first to Agnes Monasmith, by whom four children were born: Mary and Martha (twins), James and William. By his second wife, nee Mary Cooper, there were Robert, William, Nancy, Elizabeth, Samuel and Margareta. William Eckels, the subject of this sketch, was born on his father's farm, in what is now Upper Allen Township, January 15, 1817. He learned the trade of cooper, and at twenty-five 410 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES: located at Cedar Springs, now Milltown, where he took charge of the cooper shops of George Heck, distiller and miller. In the spring of 1846 he came to Mechanicsburg. In 1853 he was appointed postmaster by President Pierce, which position he held for a period of five years. He afterward erected a number of houses in Mechanicsburg, where he is now living in retirement and comfort. December 24, 1846, he married Miss Sarah A. Proctor, born in Carlisle, this county, November 4, 1820, daughter of John and Mary H. (Officer) Proctor. Mr. and Mrs. Eckels had six children; three of whom are living: John P., married to Miss Anna Hurst, now in the hardware business in Decatur, Ill.; George Morris, physician, engaged with his brother, Walter L. (the youngest son) in the drug business in Mechanicsburg. George Morris Eckels, M. D., was born in Mechanicsburg, Penn., April 29, 1857. He graduated at the College of Pharmacy, in Philadelphia, in March, 1879; then returned to Mechanicsburg, where, in connection with his brother, Walter L., he purchased the drug store of his old employer, Mr. Bridgeford, and established the present firm of the Eckels Bros. In January, 1883, Dr. Eckels was elected transcribing clerk of the House of Representatives at Harrisburg, which position he held during the session. In September of that year he entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, from which he graduated May 1, 1885, and afterward commenced the practice of his profession at Mechanicsburg.