BIO: ROBERT L. MYERS, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania 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 185-187 _____________________________________________________________ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/zeamer/ ROBERT L. MYERS, of Camphill, Cumberland county, was born Nov. 16, 1862, at Round Hill, Adams Co., Pa., where his great-great-grandfather, Philip Nicholas Myers, settled in 1736. His father was the late Adam Smyser Myers, and his mother was Margaret Berkheimer, daughter 186 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. of the late Samuel Berkheimer, of Mechanicsburg. Mr. Myers was educated in the public schools of Adams county, at Baugher's Academy, Hanover, Pa., and graduated from the Pennsylvania State Normal School at Shippensburg, in the class of 1885. He taught and supervised schools in Adams, Cumberland and Dauphin counties. He is the founder and manager of the National Educational Bureau and senior member of the firm of Myers, Fishel & Co., educational publishers, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In 1887 Mr. Myers married Miss Joanna Bowman, daughter of the late Dr. J. D. Bowman, of Camphill, niece of H. N. Bowman, Esq., of Camphill, of the late Ex-sheriff George B. Eyster, of Cumberland county, and of Mrs. J. E. Barnitz, of Carlisle. His family consists of his wife and five children -Helen, Alice, John, Robert and Joanna. The Democratic party claims Mr. Myers as a member, and he represented Cumberland county in the Legislature for three consecutive terms, 1899-1900, 1901-1902, and 1903-1904. His activity in behalf of his constituents, his untiring loyalty to the best interests of the Commonwealth, and his unyielding opposition to legislative crookedness secured for him the confidence of his constituents, and won praise from the best journals throughout the State. Although he gave due attention to every class of legislative work, yet he gave special attention to all educational legislation, and during his last two sessions every educational measure that he opposed was defeated, and every educational measure he championed was passed. To him the State owes the various measures, rendering the township high school law of 1895 effective-(1) By the passage of the law providing for the centralization of rural schools, the poor man's children as well as the rich man's children are afforded a means of reaching the central high school; the "little tots" as well as the big boys and girls are brought within the cherished influence of the more cultured teacher of the high school; the patrons have a common interest; and the whole community is drawn together. (2) The prolonged struggle for the passage of the Centralization Law won the support of the public press and resulted finally in securing a special appropriation of fifty thousand dollars for the encouragement of township high schools, which, during the session of 1903, was increased to one hundred thousand dollars. (3) By inserting into the general appropriation bill the proviso, "That participation in the amount hereby appropriated for the encouragement and Support of township high schools shall not be made dependent upon the teaching of any dead or foreign language," he checked the Department of Public Instruction in its tendency to hamper the growth of township high schools by its insistence upon an undue amount of Latin and German, which was required by the courses of study issued by the Department prior to 1901. In the course of his legislative career he delivered the following addresses, which were at the time notable: A eulogy on the death of his colleague, the Honorable Henry W. Manning, delivered in the Hall of the House of Representatives, session of 1899; "Needed School Legislation," delivered before the Cumberland county School Directors' Association at its Midwinter meeting in 1899, in Mechanicsburg,- of which five thousand copies were printed and circulated; "What Shall Our Public Schools Teach?" delivered before the Cumberland County School Directors' Association at its midwinter meeting in 1900 in the Shippensburg CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 187 State Normal School; "Does the Community Get the Worth of the Money It Expends on Its Schools ?" delivered before the seventh annual convention of the Pennsylvania State School Directors' Association, Feb. 13, 1902, in the Hall of the House of Representatives, Harrisburg, of which six thousand copies were printed and circulated; an address in opposition to the measure which aimed to deprive teachers of their right to sell school supplies during their vacations, session of 1903, which was extensively quoted and commented upon by the newspapers of the State, irrespective of party. In addition to these more formal addresses, he spoke to large educational meetings in nearly half of the counties of the State, including Washington, York, Clearfield and Clinton. Mr. Myers is serving his fourth term as a member of the Camphill School Board. He is a director in the Farmers' Trust Company, Carlisle, Pa., a director in the Hamilton Library Association, Carlisle, a member of the Board of Trade of the City of Harrisburg, a life member of the Pennsylvania State School Directors' Association, and chairman of the Legislative committee for the years 1901, 1902 and 1903.