BIO: Charles Francis HIMES, PH.D., LL.D., Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson OCRed by Judy Banja Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ _____________________________________________________________ >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 58-60 _____________________________________________________________ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/zeamer/ CHARLES FRANCIS HIMES, PH.D., LL.D., for more than thirty years professor in Dickinson College, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., in 1838. The Himes family is of Pennsylvania-German stock, the immigrant ancestor, William Heim, coming from the Palatinate to Philadelphia in 1730, on the same vessel with the celebrated Peter Miller, of Ephrata, and settled in Chester county, Pa. One of his sons, Francis, born in that county in 1737, settled in York county, at Hanover, where he engaged in keeping a tavern, farming, running an oil mill, etc. He died there in 1811. His youngest son, George, married a daughter of Daniel Barnitz, of Hanover, and for many years kept the "Oxford Tavern," at what is now New Oxford, Pa., one of the noted old time hostelries on the road from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. He subsequently engaged in various business enterprises, in many of these closely connected with Thaddeus Stevens, and he was also much interested in politics. He became a large holder of real estate, including iron works, in Adams and adjoining counties. William D. Himes, eldest son of George and the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in New Oxford, Pa., in 1812. He married Magdalen Lanius, of York, Pa., a daughter of Christian and Anna (Von Updegraff) Lanius. Her immigrant ancestor, Jacob Lanius, came from Meckenheim in the Palatinate in 1731. William D. Himes engaged in merchandising in Lancaster county, Pa., but, shortly after the birth of his eldest son, Charles F. Himes, called by the business interests of his father, Col. George Himes, he removed to New Oxford, Adams county, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1896. He was well known as a business man in the southern portion of the State, at one time largely engaged in iron manufacture. A younger son, William A. Himes, resides at the old homestead. Charles Francis Himes enjoyed unusual educational advantages for that time, at an academy conducted by Dr. M. D. G. Pfeiffer, a German physician, graduate of the University of Berlin, and well known as a very learned and public-spirited man. He entered the Sophomore class in Dickinson College, near the close of the college year, in 1853, and was graduated at the age of seventeen, in 1855, with excellent rank in his class. Immediately after his graduation he taught Mathematics and Natural Science in an academy in Wayne county, Pa., for a year; he then went to Missouri, where he taught in the public schools, and read law at the same time. During a visit to the East, in 1858, he resumed teaching, and after being connected with Baltimore Female College for a year he became tutor, and afterward professor of mathematics in Troy University, Troy, N. Y. From that position he went to the University at Giessen, Germany, in 1863, to prosecute scientific studies. In the fall of 1865 he returned to America to enter upon the professorship of Natural Science in Dickinson College. He at once proposed, and carried out successfully, elective laboratory courses in the Junior and Senior years, among the very first of the kind in the country, according to the report CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 59 of the National Commissioner of Education, and by pen and addresses advocated the New Education of that date. By his persistent advocacy of enlarged facilities for scientific instruction in the expended department, he contributed to the erection of the Tome Scientific building, and at its opening, in 1885, made the address, and assumed the Chair of Physics. Complete laboratory courses in Physics were at once added to the curriculum of the college. In 1896 he resigned the position, owing to the demands made upon his time by the purely routine work of the professorship. The Board of trustees of the college, "in recognition of his attainments and great services to the College," conferred the degree of LL. D. upon him, and the graduating class presented a portrait of him to the college. The consensus of opinion of the alumni, of the thirty-one years of his, professorship, seems to be that as a teacher his success was due to the personal rather than conventional methods employed, not confined by the text-books, and inspiring to thoughtful study, whilst as a disciplinarian he was eminently successful by reason of his friendly but dignified intercourse with his students. As senior professor in service he was acting president of the college for months at a time and aside from his duties as professor he was for many years treasurer of the corporation, and secretary of the board of trustees up to the time of his resignation. He revisited Europe, accompanied by his family, in 1872, 1883, and 1900, and as he had at an early day taken great interest in the science of Photography, and was always abreast of the most advanced methods, the camera was used to secure valuable notes of travel, including the glaciers of the Zermatt region, in Switzerland. He also gave Practice of Photography a place in the Physical Laboratory of the College, for its educational value, and as an aid in scientific investigation, and delivered an address before the Congress at the Columbian Exposition, in 1893, on "Photography as an Educational Means." He organized, in 1884, at Mt. Lake Park, Md., the first Summer School of Photography, which is still in successful operation. He has delivered numerous lectures and addresses on scientific and educational topics. Among those published, some fully illustrated, may be named: "Actinism, or the Scientific Basis of Photography," before 'the International Electrical Exhibition, at Philadelphia; "The Stereoscope and its Applications"; "Amateur Photography in its Educational Relations"; "Photo Record Work"; "Photographic Permanence," before the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia; and "The Making of Photography," at its seventy-fifth anniversary; "The Scientific Expert in Forensic Procedure," before the Franklin Institute, and the Dickinson School of Law; "Science in the Common Schools," before the Pennsylvania State Teachers' Association; "Scientific Theories and Creeds," before the American Institute of Christian Philosophy; address as retiring president before the Pennsylvania-German Society. Among numerous contributions to scientific and educational literature are "Phenomenon of the Horizontal Moon and Convergency of the Optic Axes in Binocular Vision," before the New York Academy of Sciences; "Methods and Results of Observations of the Total Eclipse of the Sun," and "Report of the Section of the U. S. Government Expedition stationed at Ottumwa, Iowa, to Observe and Photograph the Total Eclipse of 1869;" "Review of Professor Porter's American College and American Public"; "Methods of Teaching Chemistry"; "Investigation of 60 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. the Electric Spark by means of Stereoscopic Photography"; "Preparation of Photographic Plates by Daylight"; etc. From 1872 to 1879 Dr. Himes was associated with Prof. S. F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, in the preparation of the "Record of Science and Industry." He published "Will's Tables for Chemical Analysis," translated and enlarged three editions; "Bunsen's Flame Reactions"; "Leaf-Prints, a Hand Book of Photographic Printing"; "History of Dickinson College, more particularly of its Scientific Departments," illustrated; etc. Prof. Himes is an Honorary Member of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia; a Member and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; member of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia; of the New York Academy of Sciences; of the Maryland Academy of Sciences; of the Philadelphia Photographic Society; of the Pennsylvania German Society, of Philadelphia; and of the Hamilton Library Association of Carlisle, Pa., the official Historical Society of Cumberland County, in which he is actively interested, and of which he has been president for a number of years. Prof. Himes married, Jan. 2, 1868, Miss Mary E. Murray, a daughter of Rev. Joseph A. Murray, D.D., a prominent minister of the Presbyterian Church. Her death occurred Dec. 3, 1904. They had two daughters, Mary M. Himes, and Anna M., the wife of Rev. George V. Metzel.