BIO: Levi Kauffman, 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. 418 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES: LEVI KAUFFMAN, deceased (see portrait). Prominent among the honored dead of Cumberland County there is none more worthy of representation than the subject of this sketch. His family have, from a very early date, been closely 419 BOROUGH OF MECHANICSBURG. identified with the history of Pennsylvania. Christian Kauffman, his great-grandfather, immigrated to America from Germany about 1730, and settled in Manor Township, Lancaster Co., Penn., where he died March 1, 1799. He was married to Barbara Bear, whose death occurred January 12, 1801. They had six children, of whom Isaac, the second son and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Manor Township, Lancaster Co., Penn., in 1762, and died January 4, 1826. In the year 1786 he married Catharine Baughman, who died July 9, 1833. Their youngest son, the Hon. Andrew I. Kauffman, father of Levi Kauffman, was born August 24, 1802, at the old homestead in Manor Township, Lancaster County, and spent the greater part of his life in that township. He represented Lancaster County in the House of Representatives in the State Legislature, and was closely associated with Hon. Thaddeus Stevens and Hon. Thomas H. Burrows, in the establishment of our justly prized common school system. In 1850 he became a resident of Cumberland County, and in 1853 removed to Mechanicsburg, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and continued therein until his death, which occurred December 14, 1861. Andrew I. Kauffman was married, March 24, 1825, to Catharine Shuman, who was born July 16, 1806, and was the only daughter of Christian Shuman, of Manor Township, Lancaster Co., Penn. She died at Mechanicsburg May 18, 1875. Levi Kauffman, their fourth son, the subject of this sketch, was born at Little Washington, Lancaster Co., Penn., September 13, 1833. At the age of thirteen he left home and entered the drug store of Dr. George Ross, at Elizabethtown, as an apprentice. At the end of four years he received, from Dr. Ross, a strong testimonial of his ability as a druggist, for aptness, intelligence and integrity of character. Mr. Kauffman remained in the drug business in Elizabethtown until April, 1854, when he removed to Mechanicsburg, and opened a new drug store in that place. A year or two later, in connection with his father, Hon. Andrew I. Kauffman and Henry G. Rupp, he entered the hardware business, connecting the drug store therewith, and continued therein until 1859, when he accepted the position of cashier in the banking house of Merkel, Mumma & Co., subsequently chartered as the First National Bank, of Mechanicsburg, Penn. This position he resigned in 1862, when he was appointed by President Lincoln collector of internal revenue for the Fifteenth District of Pennsylvania, comprising the counties of Cumberland, York and Perry. He held that position until September, 1866, when he resigned rather than endorse the odious policy, known as "My Policy," of President Johnson. His letter of resignation, published in the Philadelphia Press of that date, gave clear evidence of his sterling patriotism. Early in 1864 Mr. Kauffman assisted in organizing and became cashier of the Second National Bank of Mechanicsburg, and held that position until he resigned in the latter part of 1869. The State Guard, a daily newspaper, started at the State capital during 1867, was a project of Mr. Kauffman, and one in which he invested a large sum of money; not proving a financial success he abandoned its publication in 1869. From 1870 until the time of his death, which occurred February 10, 1882, Mr. Kauffman was engaged in the fire insurance business, having the State central agency of several large companies, his principal office being at Harrisburg, Penn. Mr. Kauffman never hesitated to perform any duty imposed upon him by his fellow citizens, his church or society. As burgess, town councilman, school director, and member of the board of trustees of Irving Female College, he was always on hand to take his full share of work and responsibility. He was noted for his public spirit and local pride in the town of his adoption, and many of the public and private improvements erected in Mechanicsburg were due to his foresight and energy. He was liberal to a fault. For more than thirty years he was a member of the Church of God, and faithfully filled the offices of superintendent of the Sabbath-school, deacon and elder. He frequently represented his church in the annual eldership of east Pennsylvania, and on several occasions was a lay delegate to the triennial sessions of the general eldership of the church. Mr. Kauffman was a man of strong will, great energy, dauntless courage, inflexible in the right, and afraid of nothing but of being wrong. Fond of the sports of his children, as they were of playing and being with him. While abounding in anecdote, jovial at table, with pleasant voice, it was in harmony with the nature and power of Mr. Kauffman, who was a hero in action in every condition of life, and possessed of a will and energy that fitted him to be a leader in every party to which he belonged. Politically Mr. Kauffman, like the other members of his family, was a Republican, and assisted in the organization of that party in Pennsylvania. He took a keen interest and active part in the primary and general elections, frequently participating as a delegate in the party conventions. In 1864 he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention at Baltimore, and assisted in the nomination of Lincoln and Johnson. His eldest brother, Hon. C. S. Kauffman, of Columbia, Penn., represented Lancaster County in the State Senate from 1878 to 1882. Lieut. Isaac B. Kauffman, his second brother, served faithfully in the war of the Rebellion in the Ninth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, and died June 7, 1862, from disease contracted in the service. His brother, Andrew J. Kauffman, Esq., a member of the bar of Lancaster County, was appointed, by President Arthur in 1882, collector of internal revenue for the Ninth District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Kauffman was married, February 5, 1856, to A. Elizabeth Coover, daughter of the 420 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES: late John Coover, Esq., of Mechanicsburg. (See page 407.) Mr. and Mrs. Kauffman had five children, two of whom - Harvey and Willie - died in infancy. Their eldest son, Percival C., was born in Mechanicsburg August 13, 1857. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia; studied law in the office of Hon. Wayne MacVeagh; was admitted to the bar in June, 1879, and is now the junior member of the firm of Troutman & Kauffman, attorneys at law, at Hazleton, Luzerne Co., Penn., representing, as counsel, many of the largest individual coal operators and companies in the anthracite region. Their second son, Walter Lee, was born in Mechanicsburg August 9, 1860. He attended Dickinson College, Carlisle, Penn., for several sessions, and is now assistant to the superintendent of the American Tube & Iron Co., and has charge of the offices of the company at Youngstown, Ohio. Miss Edith B. Kauffman, their only daughter, resides with her mother, at their residence on West Main Street. This family ranks among the first families in the county.