BIO: Henry Clay CHISOLM, Huntingdon County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lana Clark Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ********************************************************** __________________________________________________________ Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley: Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry, Pennsylvania, Containing Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens and Many of the Early Settlers. Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, page 21-24 __________________________________________________________ HENRY CLAY CHISOLM, M.D., physician and surgeon, Huntingdon, Pa., was born in Kemper county, Miss., October 3, 1859. He is a son of Judge William W. and Emily S. (Mann) Chisolm. William Wallace Chisolm, the Doctor's father, was born in Morgan county, Ga., December 6, 1830. At the age of sixteen with his parents he removed to Kemper county, Miss. It was then, as it is now, infested by lawless men, whose bloody deeds are still fresh in the memory of many of Kemper's oldest citizens. So pronounced was the spirit of violence, and so light the regard for human life, that the growth and improvement of the community was very slow, and the same conditions have worked their ill effects upon the fortunes of that region even to the present time. The accession of sober, industrious and trustworthy families to a community like that of Kemper, in these days, was hailed with delight by all good people far and near, and the Chisolm family were not long in establishing their claim to such welcome, and in taking that right rank among the worthy residents of the county which they ever after maintained. Judge Chisolm's great-grandfather came from the vicinity of Inverness, Scotland, where the Chisolms have lived a large and wealthy clan for hundreds of years. In the final armed effort of Charles Stuart to wrest the crown of the allied kingdoms of Scotland and England from the House of Hanover, the Clann Siosal, or The Chisholms, espoused his cause. At the battle of Culloden the chief of the clan was slain. The wild charges of poorly armed and undisciplined highlanders could not overthrow the solid columns of the English and Hessian troops. Charles was compelled to fly the field to escape capture. His safety he had to trust to the honor and devotion of his followers. Three poor members of the Clan Chisholm concealed him in a cave, and supported him there until they were able to convey him to the coast of Aris-aig, resisting the temptation of a reward of 30,000 pounds offered by the English crown for his apprehension. One of these, Hugh Chisholm, on shaking hands with the Prince at parting, vowed he never would offer his right hand to another; a vow he religiously kept. Many members of this clan fought under Wallace and Bruce. A claymore used by one of them at Bannockburn is still preserved, a precious ancestral relic. After the battle of Culloden the great-grandfather of Judge Chisolm, at the age of twenty-three, with other Scotchmen who had been adherents of Charles, emigrated to America, landing at Charleston, South Carolina. The name in Scotland is spelled Chisholm, but the grandfather of Judge Chisolm hoping to correct its frequent mispronunciation, dropped the second h, an act regretted by all his descendants. Judge Chisolm's father was William J. M. Chisolm, whose wife was Dorothy L. Swanson, the daughter of a cultured family in Georgia. She was born in 1802, living until 1882, a woman of great force of character, and during the Rebellion outspoken in her loyal sentiments. In March, 1851, the head of the family died, leaving William, then a boy of nineteen, to be its guardian and protector. Three of the children were younger sisters, and on his deathbed the father enacted of the son a promise that he would not only discharge the obligations of the estate, which amounted to a large sum, but also educate his three sisters and provide for them comfortably. Young Chisolm at once set himself about the faithful performance of these duties. How well he carried out his pledge, the creditors or their heirs, and two of the sisters in good homes and surrounded by happy families, are still living to attest. On October 29, 1856, William Wallace Chisolm was married to Emily S. Mann, an accomplished young lady, a daughter of John W. Mann; he was a native of Amelia Island, Florida, a prominent lawyer, and a gentleman of high literary and social culture. The career of the Manns, during the period of the early settlement of Florida, was somewhat remarkable. The grandfather of Emily S. Mann, who owned a large tract of land under a Spanish grant, was the first settler and built the first house where the city of Fernandina now stands. In the dispute between the early American settlers in Florida and the Spanish authorities, in which the former endeavored to hold certain lands against the claims of Spain, the Manns took a leading part, by virtue of superior intelligence, skill and bravery. Many of the settlers were driven from their homes, while others were put to death or carried off and compelled to drag out a life of refined torture as captives in Moro Castle, Cuba. Whether the theory be correct or not, it is natural to believe that the strong characteristics which distinguish the conduct of individuals do mould, at least to a degree, the minds and fortunes of their posterity. If this be true, perhaps the bold and venturesome spirit so constantly displayed by this family in the days when the iron rule of Spain bore so heavily upon the pioneer settlers, had its influence in shaping the remarkable character and life of Emily Mann Chisolm. The grandfather of Emily S. Mann, Thomas Mann, a soldier of the Revolution, born in Virginia, was the third generation from the first settler of that name, who was a Scotchman and merchant from Edinburgh, and who owned the ships transporting his goods. Thomas Mann volunteered early in the struggle for liberty and served till the close of the war pronounced liberty gained. Mr. Mann was shot through the knee at the battle of the Cowpens in South Carolina, and was again wounded, by a party of Tories, and left for dead, the ball entering the left side of the chest and passing through into the shoulder, where it remained until his death at the age of eighty-four years. Mr. Mann was in the battle of Brandywine, and was for some time a captive on a British prison ship. Mrs. Chisolm's mother was also one of a family of whom many were patriot soldiers of the Revolution. She was a daughter of Wheeler Gresham, a Methodist minister, who was ordained by Bishops Asbury and Coke, Wesley's first two bishops. The education acquired by young Chisolm, up to the date of his marriage, was only such as could be gained at odd times in the common schools of the country, then very poor; but with the assistance of a fond and faithful wife, his intellectual acquisitions soon began to be more nearly commensurate with his enterprising and nobly emulative spirit. From that happy marriage dates the beginning of an eventful and prosperous life. Full of manly vigor, young Chisolm first entered upon the business of farming, almost the only legitimate pursuit then open to the young men of that country, most of whom preferred a life of idleness and debauch to one of persevering toil. On the 30th of January, 1858, at a special election for magistrate, W. W Chisolm was chosen to fill that important and honorable position in the township in which he lived. During his term as magistrate he read law and was admitted to the Bar. It was on the 11th of February, 1858, that Cornelia Josephine, the first child of William Wallace Chisolm and Emily S. Mann, was born. The sublime character of this pure girl, who nineteen years after fell a victim of savage outlawry, and died while defending her father against the assault of a bloodthirsty mob, is worthy the emulation of America's most exalted womanhood. Her young life, yielded up on the altar of filial love and devotion to those principles of justice and right which ever inspired the hearts alike of the parent and of the child, cannot have been sacrificed in vain. The lesson taught by her example will live on after the generation and spirit that prompted those inhuman acts shall have been forgotten, or numbered with the things of the past. In the historic record of the proud names of our country's noble women that of Cornelia Chisolm will be written in golden letters on the brightest page. TO THE MEMORY OF CORNELIA J. CHISOLM, BY STEPHEN S. HARDING Written on the First Anniversary of her Death Brave, murdered, martyred maid; I've listened long in silence-listened long To hear some matchless poet's song, Great soul to thee and thine, Thou matchless heroine, To soothe thy wandering shade, But all in vain. Why sleeps the silent lyre, With its wild, sobbing strain? Why hushed the poet's words of fire, That rouse brave hearts with manly ire, 'Gainst lawless deeds of blood, And wrongs of helpless womanhood, In cowardice so mean, in infamy so vast, That hell gives in and devils stand aghast. Oh, peerless heroine, what tho' thy name May lack in euphony and rythm; What boots the name When deeds of thine shall burn a deathless flame In hearts of valiant men; And thy pure soul, from mortal dross refined, Shall glow with magic light, as when A dewdrop is enshrined In bosom of trihedral prism? Cornelia Chisolm! Hadst thou but died in classic Rome, Where thy great namesake died, Thou wouldst have lived in Parian stone, Supreme in excellence alone; Through the long ages dim. Thy very name the poet's synonym For filial love and courage deified. Why should Columbia's daughters weep For Jeptha's virgin daughter? Victim to vow-dread vow to keep- For Ammonitish slaughter. Why wander forth in fancy's dreams, Along the mountain paths and streams, With misty eyes, where Mizpah's maiden trod, Doomed sacrifice to Judea's God, And have no tears, brave Kemper girl, for thee, Thou more than virgin maid of Gallilee. From this slight digression we return to the narrations of events in the order of their occurrence. In October, 1858, at a general election, young Chisolm was again chosen magistrate by the voters of his district. He served his term of two years with honor to himself, and to the entire satisfaction of his constituency, so, at least, we may infer from the fact that in November, 1860, he was made probate judge of the county, a place which he held almost uninterruptedly until 1867, when he resigned in favor of John McRea, the appointee of the provisional governor of the State. During his long tenure of this office, Judge Chisolm was elected three times in succession against Judge Gill, an older man, said to have been, next to Judge Chisolm, the most popular official ever elected in the county. In all these years, while enjoying to so high a degree the confidence of his countrymen, Judge Chisolm was a pronounced Union man, of Whig proclivities, and an uncompromising enemy of the party which had precipitated the Rebellion, with all its terrible consequences. There being no Lincoln ticket in Mississippi, he voted for Bell and Everett, nominated by Southern Unionists in opposition to the seceding Democratic ticket, Bell being a Whig and a Tennessee Unionist. As a civil officer and citizen, he was steadily opposed to the parricidal contest, unalterably refusing to lend to it any personal aid. He never bore arms except in the thirty days' militia, and then under protest; meanwhile the popular voice of the country was for the vigorous prosecution of the war, even unto the "last ditch." Yet, Whig and Unionist as he was, from term to term Judge Chisolm was continued in office. Young and inexperienced in politics as he was, some qualities inherent to his character must have won him the hearts of his fellows and insured for him this phenomenal success. At the close of the great struggle, he was among the few Southern men needing no "reconstruction," in whom the pure flame of enthusiastic patriotism burned with pure and steady light. Such were the leading characteristics of Judge Chisolm in early manhood, which, gathering strength as time advanced, marked his whole public and private career. Besides Cornelia J., already mentioned, Judge Chisolm had five younger children Dr. Henry Clay; Julia Augusta, born October 13, 1861, died November 21, 1861; John Mann, born October 5, 1862, shared the fate of his father and eldest sister; Ida May, born October 16, 1865, died January 11, 1866; and William Wallace, born October 19, 1866, is a member of the Huntingdon county bar. After resigning his judicial position, Judge Chisolm filled other offices in Kemper county until 1875. In 1876 he was elected to Congress on the Republican ticket. The news of his atrocious murder by the notorious "Ku Klux Klan," with those of his two children, Cornelia and John Mann, a brave boy of fourteen, sent a thrill of horror to all right-minded people North and South. It took place April 29, 1877, and was one of the last of those outbursts in the lawless neighborhoods of the South which showed the fire of secession to be still smouldering among the ashes of the "lost cause." It was one of those deeds in which the perpetrators overshoot their mark; even those in political sympathy with them could not but repudiate such brutality. The boyhood of Dr. H. C. Chisolm was passed in DeKalb, Miss. His primary education was carried on by private tutors and in common schools, he subsequently entered Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., but was compelled to leave that institution on account of the death of his father. From March, 1878, to September 8 of the same year, he held a position in the office of the Surgeon General, Washington, D.C. Resigning this place, he became a student at the Williamsport, Pa., Commercial College, and was graduated in 1879. From that date until January, 1883, he was in Harrisburg, a clerk in the office of Governor Hoyt throughout the Governor's administration. In 1883 he went West, spending a few months in Idaho; in the sane year, and during part of the year 1884, was a student at Columbia College, Washington, D.C. In 1885 he returned to Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa., in order to finish a course in medicine which he had begun earlier. His first year of practice, 1888-89, was spent in Harrisburg, Pa.; in 1889 Dr. Chisolm removed to Huntingdon, where he now ranks among the well established practitioners. Dr. Chisolm is a member of the Homoeopathic State Medical Society, and of the Alumni Association of Hahnemann Medical College. He is a Mason and Knight Templar, and is affiliated with a number of other organizations. Henry Clay Chisolm was married in Harrisburg, April, 28, 1883, to Lillian, daughter of John and Katherine Gross. They have four children: Cornelia, born February 13, 1886, died February 8, 1887; Anna, born in Harrisburg, December 31, 1887; Emilie, in Huntingdon, February 28, 1892; and William Wallace, May 8, 1894. Dr. Chisolm has always taken the liveliest interest in matters political. He is a Republican of the strictest sect. In 1896 he was nominated by his party for State Senator in the Thirty-third (Huntingdon-Franklin) District, and elected by a majority larger than that ever before given a candidate in that district. He is a member of a number of important Senate committees, and has taken an active part in legislative matters since he entered the Senate.