Local History: Chapter XLIII - Part I: Biographical Sketches - SHAMOKIN 
Part I. Bell's History of Northumberland Co PA

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Transcribed from Bell's History of Northumberland County Pennsylvania

CHAPTER XLIII - PART I

                        BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

                               SHAMOKIN.


	WILLIAM AND REUBEN FAGELY belonged to that sturdy German race that 
settled eastern Pennsylvania, cleared its lands, and developed its 
wonderful resources.  They were born in Shamokin township, 
Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, January 5, 1806, and July 25, 1814, 
respectively, sons of Christian and Magdalena (Lehman) Fagely, natives 
of Berks county, who were among the first settlers of Shamokin township. 
The family consisted of thirteen children, twelve of whom reached 
maturity, but only one, Hannah, is now living. William and Reuben Fagely 
were reared upon the homestead farm, and obtained a very limited 
education at the rude log school house of the neighborhood.  But both 
possessed vigorous constitutions and plenty of strong common sense, 
which answered well their needs in the days that were to come.  On 
arriving at the age of manhood William engaged in keeping a small store 
at Snufftown, and in due time he and Reuben opened a store at Paxinos, 
which they conducted until their removal to Shamokin.  They were well 
known railroad contractors, and built a portion of the road-bed of the 
Philadelphia and Reading railroad; they also had a similar contract on 
the Northern Central railway at Ralston, Lycoming county, and between 
1853 and 1857 constructed four miles of the Northern Central south of 
Sunbury. All of these contracts they carried to a successful completion. 
In 1835 the Danville and Pottsville railroad was built from Sunbury to 
Paxinos with the intention of tapping the great coal fields around 
Shamokin, to which point it was completed in August, 1838.  After being 
in operation a few years the road was sold and bought in by the 
creditors, who leased it in 1842 to the Fagelys.  They at once converted 
it into a tramway operated by horses, using the same cars as before, and 
ran it until 1852.  During this 
	
	END OF PAGE 860 
	
period Reuben spent most of his time at Sunbury, while William remained 
at Shamokin.
	In the meantime they disposed of their business interests at 
Paxinos, and in April, 1838, located in Shamokin, and in 1839 opened one 
of the finest stores in that town.  For many years they carried on a 
general mercantile business in connection with their extensive coal 
interests, and were connected with merchandising more or less up to 
their decease.  They gave employment to a large force of men, and 
throughout the earlier years of Shamokin's history the Fagelys were the 
principal employers of its labor.  And during the occasional periods of 
financial and business depression they were looked upon as public 
benefactors, because no needy miner ever left their store empty-handed, 
and no case of suffering or distress ever sought their assistance in 
vain.  They commenced the coal business in 1841 at the Gap, now Cameron 
mines, and subsequently leased Green Ridge.  They afterwards opened 
Locust Gap mine, subsequently operated Luke Fidler, and also leased the 
Gap mines.  In later years Reuben was interested in operating the Big 
Mountain.  While engaged in these enterprises they established coal 
yards at Baltimore, Maryland, to which city they made very large 
shipments. Thoroughly familiar with the economic laws governing the coal 
and iron trade, they were seldom wrong in their calculations, and their 
success was largely the natural outgrowth of an experienced and sound 
knowledge of the business.  It must not be supposed, however, that all 
their ventures were successful.  They met with the usual reverses 
incident to a long business career, but, with characteristic energy, 
untiring industry, and undaunted perseverance, they overcame such 
obstacles to success, and accumulated through the passing years a very 
large and valuable estate.
	Though not politicians, in the common acceptation of that term, 
William and Reuben Fagely always took a very active interest in 
spreading the principles and upholding the measures of the Republican 
party.  They wielded great influence in its local councils, and made 
their impress on the political affairs of the county.  William was the 
first postmaster of Shamokin, serving from 1838 to January, 1841, and 
Reuben filled the office of burgess two terms.  Reuben was more reserved 
and dignified than his brother, who was very plain and unpretentious in 
his character; but both were eminently practical business men, imbued 
with a high sense of honor and a strong devotion to right and justice, 
and were among the best known and most respected pioneers of Shamokin. 
While ambitious to accumulate wealth, the Fagelys were nevertheless 
liberal givers, and always took an active interest in the social and 
material growth and development of this portion of Northumberland 
county.  They were by far the largest contributors towards the erection 
of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran church of Shamokin, which really owes 
its present financial prosperity to their liberality.  They also made 
liberal donations to St. Peter's Lutheran church of Ralpho township. 
	
	END OF PAGE 861 
	
Before their death both united with Trinity Evangelical Lutheran church, 
and died consistent members of that denomination.  Neither was ever 
married, and both died in Shamokin, William, February 17, 1874, and 
Reuben, February 21, 1880.  Their large estate was inherited by their 
immediate relatives and friends, who should honor and revere the memory 
of their munificent benefactors.

	KIMBER CLEAVER was the foremost figure of his time in the Western 
Middle anthracite coal fields within the bounds of his calling as civil 
and mining engineer and geologist, in which he attained extended fame, 
while his reputation as an inventor and patriot was scarcely second to 
his standing in his chosen profession.  His character was, therefore, 
impressed upon the history, not only of the fields of his more active 
operations, but upon that of his State.  He was born on the 17th of 
October, 1814, the youngest of five children born to Joseph and Sarah 
Cleaver, in a little log house hewn from the virgin forests by his 
father soon after his marriage, in Roaring Creek township, Columbia 
county, Pennsylvania.  Joseph Cleaver was a son of John and Rebecca 
Cleaver, and was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in October, 1764. 
His wife, Sarah, daughter of Joseph and Anna Brook, was born in Bucks 
county, January 5, 1774.  Both were members of the Society of Friends. 
Anna Brook had taught school, and her intellectual endowments were of a 
high order, so that while her children had not the advantages of schools 
such as now dot the land, their minds and hearts were not allowed to 
develop without that careful home training which no schooling can 
supersede.  Born near the close of America's second war with Great 
Britain, Kimber's mind became early imbued with that patriotic fervor 
which characterized his future career.  His boyhood days being spent 
amidst surroundings not calculated to stimulate mental acquirements and 
before the public school system was inaugurated, his opportunities for 
cultivating his mind were very meager and consisted of a few months' 
instruction during the winter at an ordinary country school.  In his 
conversations and writings he frequently referred to the struggles, 
hopes, and disappointments of his youth, pleasantly designating them his 
"sweet uses of adversity."  It is an allusion of this kind which we find 
in a communication from his pen to the American Banner, in 1855, when, 
in speaking of the scenes of his boyhood, he says: "Where a white-
haired, unshod, frolicsome young American in the springtime of life, ere 
the rude buffeting and jostling against the sharp corners of the world 
had produced a sober second thought, chased the butterflies abroad and 
the cows home."  It was on one of these boyish excursions that he 
stumbled and fell, a snag penetrating his knee.  The wound became a 
chronic sore, and, not being of a robust physique, he was for many 
months unfitted for the employments of the farm.
	But these days of exemption from physical labor were applied to 
study under the encouragement and assistance of his mother, whose facial 
and  
	
	END OF PAGE 862 
	
mental characteristics he largely inherited.  Having access to but few 
books, the contents of which he made his own, his mind, though depressed 
by acute bodily pain, was ever active and found employment in his 
favorite study, mechanics, his knowledge of which he applied to a good 
purpose while a boy and confined to bed, in the construction of a clock 
which served his father's family for many years as a time piece, the 
work of a jack-knife alone.  He also about this time invented and made 
an apple-parer, which lightened the labor of his mother and that of 
others long after her hands ceased to toil.
	After a partial restoration to health he taught school for some 
time, but his natural aptitude for mathematics and mechanics led his 
mind toward civil engineering, and when the first improvement of the 
Middle coal fields, that of constructing the Danville and Pottsville 
railroad, was commenced, he entered the corps of engineers engaged in 
locating its route, as a peg-driver. He faithfully discharged his 
duties, and while others in the corps were passing their leisure time in 
idleness and folly, he was industriously engaged in acquiring the 
rudiments of an art and science that were afterwards to distinguish him 
as the great engineer and surveyor of the anthracite coal regions. He 
was promoted from one station to another until 1835, when he began his 
career as an engineer on that road.  He was a member of the firm of 
Fagely, Cleaver & Company until January, 1844, and was thus connected in 
a business as well as a professional capacity with the early development 
of the Shamokin coal fields.
	On the 1st of January, 1839, he married Elizabeth Montelius Taylor. 
She was the daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Taylor, and was born, 
September 19, 1819, while they resided at Mifflinburg, Union county, 
Pennsylvania. She was possessed of a bright mind, was ambitious, and 
took great interest in the plans of her husband, to whom she was a 
helpmate in the truest sense of the term.  Five sons and five daughters 
were born to this marriage, all of whom died in infancy and early 
childhood except Reynell Coates and Kate, the sixth and ninth born. The 
former was a little over ten years old when his father died, and the 
latter a few months over four years.  While attending school at 
Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, Reynell C. went bathing in the 
Susquehanna river, August 19, l865, and was drowned, the news reaching 
his grief-stricken mother only one hour before the remains of her boy. 
Kate grew to maturity and was married, December 13, 1876, to Elmer 
Heffelfinger, then editor of the Shamokin Herald, which he published 
until February 9, 1889, since which time he has been engaged in dealing 
in real estate.  Mrs. Cleaver died, March 3, 1886, and was laid to rest 
by the side of her distinguished husband.
	From 1836 to 1844 Mr. Cleaver's time was divided on labors in 
Northumberland and Schuylkill counties, one of his chief projects being 
the surveys, carried forward at great personal cost and labor, from 
which he constructed his splendid map of the Middle coal fields of 
Pennsylvania, which 
	
	END OF PAGE 863 
	
was of eminent service to the capitalists interested in these rich 
mineral deposits and rendered Mr. Cleaver one of the most useful and 
indispensable of men.  The coal formations so accurately represented in 
the townships of Mt. Carmel, Coal, and Zerbe on the map of 
Northumberland county, was the work of Mr. Cleaver and was properly 
accredited to him by the publisher. But there are other maps of the 
anthracite deposits of the State on which the surveys of Mr. Cleaver 
carefully appear, but where his name has been as carefully omitted.  The 
Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company is now in possession of 
the original map and all other important surveys made by Mr. Cleaver of 
the region, having purchased them from his widow and his lines are 
considered authority by the engineers of this great corporation.  During 
these years he located the route for a railroad from Shamokin to 
Danville, and also one from Shamokin to Pottsville by way of Ashland, 
avoiding all inclined planes. From 1844 to 1850 he resided in 
Pottsville, and devoted most of his time to professional labor in 
Schuylkill county.
	In 1850 he came to Shamokin, which he had laid out for John C. Boyd 
in the spring of 1835, and became associated with all the improvements 
of this locality.  In 1850 he laid out the town of Trevorton for Judge 
William L. Helfenstein, and was chief engineer in locating and building 
the railroad uniting Shamokin with the Susquehanna river.  When 
Trevorton emerged from the wilderness and when Shamokin had finally 
awakened from an incubus of years, he was appointed engineer in chief of 
the Philadelphia and Sunbury railroad, the collieries, and the numerous 
lateral roads that were constructed.  Thus he labored for years, and 
added many improvements which stand as proud monuments to his genius. In 
September, 1858, he was called to Schuylkill county to make surveys in 
the mines at the Glen Carbon and Thomaston collieries.  Being much 
exposed to dampness and sometimes in water of an icy temperature up to 
his knees, he contracted typhoid fever, and was confined to his bed at 
the residence of his brother-in-law, B. T. Taylor, where he was tenderly 
nursed by his faithful wife until the doctor thought he was in a fair 
way to recovery.  But the renewed hopes of those who loved him were 
vain.  He suddenly died on Tuesday, October 19, 1858.  His bereaved 
widow and two orphaned children returned to their desolate home in 
Shamokin, where his remains sleep in the beautiful cemetery his skill 
platted and a broken column stands to mark the devotion of a loyal wife 
to whom his memory was sacred until death claimed her.  The announcement 
of his death occasioned a pang of sorrow throughout the community; and 
his loss to the coal region was felt to be irreparable.  His decease was 
extensively noticed in the public press of the day, and the F. & A.M., 
the State camp of Pennsylvania, and other associations with which he was 
connected passed resolutions expressing their regret for the loss of 
more than an ordinary member.  Thus in the prime of vigor and 
usefulness, in the midst of professional labors and scientific 
inquiries, the angel of death executed his commission.
	
	END OF PAGE 864 
	Page 865 contains a portrait of Holden Chester.
	Page 866 is blank.
	
	But few inventors have realized the pecuniary profit from their 
labors; such was the case with Kimber Cleaver.  Some of his inventions 
should have repaid him well, but instead of that they kept him poor.  
They benefited the world, but to him were a loss of time and money.  The 
engineering profession is particularly indebted to Mr. Cleaver for the 
invention of that useful and indispensable instrument for drafting known 
as Cleaver's improved protractor.  Its use throughout the country has 
become general.  The United States government, appreciating the value of 
this invention, kept the eminent maker of mathematical instruments, W. 
J. Young, of Philadelphia, a long time employed in manufacturing them 
for governmental service.  Here we have an example where the profession 
is benefited and the maker rewarded, but the inventor profited merely by 
the bestowal of his name on the instrument.  Mr. Cleaver devoted much 
study to the subject of electricity, with a view of introducing it as an 
agent in the propagation of news.  He is entitled to the distinguished 
honor of having first conceived and suggested the idea of a submarine 
telegraph, and from his description of the apparatus we are justified in 
the opinion that he was not then aware of Morse's telegraph, which was 
invented in 1837 but not put in practical operation until 1844. The 
following article from the pen of Mr. Cleaver, over the signature of 
"Cosmopolite," and published in a Harrisburg paper in 1841, will show 
that much credit for this great American invention is due to him: - 

MR. EDITOR:-
	DEAR Sir.: I believe the time has now arrived when the postulatum 
will be admitted, that the more intelligent the people are and the 
better the facilities for conveying that intelligence from State to 
State and from nation to nation, the sooner will all distrust and 
jealousy subside and the human family be united in one harmonious whole. 
I admit "the age of steam" affords facilities for conveying intelligence 
very rapidly and the broad Atlantic is traversed as a mill pond and 
Europe is brought to be our next door neighbor, but if we can employ a 
messenger more expeditious and equally truthful, then it certainly is 
our duty as peacemakers to do so. I mean electricity, which, of all 
material agents that we are acquainted with, is the most fleet. Perhaps 
my readers will entertain some doubts as to the possibility of 
constructing an electric telegraph across the broad Atlantic, but only 
tell a Yankee boy that the project is impossible and he will be sure to 
try it. Neither do I view it as a thing impossible, and will therefore 
briefly describe the plan, as follows: Manufacture a number of copper 
wires equal in number to the letters in the alphabet and long enough to 
reach from the capitol at Washington to St. James Palace, each wire 
being separately covered with silk or some other non-conductor, then all 
collectively covered with a strong waterproof covering, which would form 
a string of perhaps five inches in diameter; then assemble a sufficient 
number of water-crafts and extend this string across the Atlantic, and 
at intervals, say every two or three miles, fasten a weight sufficient 
to sink the string, and at a given signal let it down, retaining one end 
on shore at Washington and one in England, and arrange the wires at both 
ends on a table, each wire pointing to a letter of the alphabet, 
somewhat after the fashion of the keys of a piano forte, and so 
constructed that when a current of electric fluid is communicated to 
either wire at one end of this string it will produce an effect 
perceptible to one of the senses (hear, see, taste, smell, or feel) at 
the other end. Then, if any boundary or com-
	
	END OF PAGE 867 
	
mercial treaties are to be negotiated, let the ministers of state of the 
respective countries be seated on a "glass stool"  at this alphabetical 
music table, and with an electrifying machine supply the negotiator with 
the fluid. Then when he "strikes the lyre," in truth "the nations would 
hear entranced." Or, if a speech delivered in Congress is to be 
reported, let the reporters in the same way send it thrilling across the 
waters.  It would be like uniting to the lightning's flash the thunder 
of the republican eloquence, and "earth's loneliest bounds and ocean's 
wildest shore" would then be made vocal with the shouts of liberty.
                                           Yours, etc.
Pottsville, Penna.                            COSMOPOLITE  

	This letter shows that while Morse's telegraph depended on an 
electromagnetic force, the plan of Mr. Cleaver is entirely electrical. 
	Mr. Cleaver also invented a very ingenious car box, designed to 
economize oil in the lubricating of car axles; the spiral shute; the 
coal hammers, designed to supersede rollers in the preparation of coal; 
a cast-iron lock for canals, and a new mode of framing in place of 
mortise and tenon, which he carried out in the erection of two first- 
class model breakers at Locust Gap. A few months prior to his death, 
while engaged in sinking shafts and driving tunnels on the Luke Fidler 
property, Mr. Cleaver formed the design of preparing a work on the 
mining of coal, in which he proposed treating the subject in both a 
geological and practical manner.  Had he lived to publish the book it 
would doubtless have been of great advantage to the mining interests. 
The fruits of his mechanical genius entitle him to a prominent position 
in the list of great American inventors, and as long as the rugged 
mountains yield the sparkling anthracite to enliven and make comfortable 
the firesides of millions of homes, as long as they furnish the material 
for generating the motive power which propels the machinery of thousands 
of industrial works, his name will live and be held in grateful 
remembrance. 
	Mr. Cleaver did not possess the elements essential to political 
success in these latter days, but would have been admirably adapted to 
the Jeffersonian age, when honesty and capacity were the standard that 
measured a man's fitness for office.  He was honest, not because it was 
the best policy, but because it was right. He would rather suffer a 
hundred defeats than compromise a single principle.  He had no such word 
as expediency in his vocabulary, but in its place in shining letters was 
to be found that other word, principle. Had Mr. Cleaver lived in the 
early days of the Republic, his talents would have been better 
appreciated and rewarded, but during his career his honesty  was a bar 
to those in power, who always sought to defeat him.  He was no office 
seeker.  His ambition ran not in that direction.  He  preferred the 
quiet walks of life.  But, having identified himself with the Native 
American party at the time of its organization, he was soon regarded as 
one of its leaders,  and was frequently nominated for offices which he 
never sought and never would have accepted had he not been actuated by 
the laudable motive of promoting his  party's welfare.  He often in a 
laughing mood styled himself " the stereotyped candidate."  In 1852 his 
party nominated 
	
	END OF PAGE 868 
	
him for Governor; in 1853, for surveyor general; in 1854 he was the 
American candidate for Congress in the Eleventh district, and in 1855 he 
was nominated for canal commissioner.  For each of these offices, though 
defeated, he received a highly complimentary vote.  In 1856 his name was 
placed on the Fillmore electoral ticket of Pennsylvania. During this 
time he published his views on protection, which were well received, and 
his name fills a prominent place in the politics of his native State.  
He was the presiding officer of the State camp, United Sons of America, 
a leading member of the camp at Shamokin, and a devoted friend of the 
Junior Order of the same name.
	The following extract from the Mining Register of Pottsville will 
show how he was esteemed in his private relations. "In private life he 
was universally esteemed.  Possessed of strict integrity and habits of 
industry and attention to business, his life among us won for him the 
good opinion of all. But for his fondness for retirement and his native 
modesty, his fame, both public and private, must have been much more 
generally acknowledged. He was emphatically more than an ordinary man, 
and his departure will leave a void in the social and scientific circle 
of our country not easily filled."
	Kimber Cleaver's chief fault seems to have been his generosity.  Of 
him it can be truly said he was "generous to a fault."  He could not 
refuse the needy, and many who received assistance from him remember him 
kindly to this day.  He confided too implicitly in the honor and honesty 
of men, and was on several occasions defrauded by those who profited by 
his brain and skill.  While intent upon work which was the foundation of 
the prosperity of others he had no time to shape up his own financial 
affairs against disaster, and his death made necessary the sale of most 
valuable coal lands which have since yielded the owners great wealth.
	In appearance Mr. Cleaver was of medium stature, slender build, 
brown hair, and gray eyes.  He had the tastes of a student, and a most 
kindly face. He was an enthusiast in his profession, and his brain and 
hands were busy many hours while others slept.  He was a total abstainer 
from alcoholic beverages, and was known far and wide as an earnest 
advocate of temperance.

	STEPHEN BITTENBENDER, one of the earliest settlers and wealthy 
citizens of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, died in that borough, February 19, 
1885, in the seventieth year of his age.  He was born at Nescopec, 
Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, April 19, 1815, son of Jacob Bittenbender, 
a farmer of that county.  His vigorous constitution may be attributed to 
the plain living, early rising, and constant toil which characterized 
the German farmers of that period.  At thirteen years of age he left his 
father's home and went to live with his grandfather.  In 1833 he went to 
Tamaqua where be learned the trade of carpenter, and in 1838 we find him 
in business for himself, with over one hundred men in his employ, 
erecting houses which today remain to attest his ability and honesty as 
a contractor.  In 1838 Mr. Bit-
	
	END OF PAGE 869 
	
tenbender came to Shamokin, and with the exception of the years from 
1848 to 1850, when he resided in Schuylkill county, he made his home in 
this borough up to his death.  He was married, June 25, 1839, to 
Harriet, daughter of Philip and Salome (Young) Stambach, of 
Northumberland county.  Thirteen children were born to this union. six 
of whom grew to maturity: John S. and Cyrus G., both deceased: Alice S., 
wife of C. E. Hughes, of Shamokin; Martin L., of Wilmington. Delaware; 
Isadore M., wife of George M. Ditzler, and Laura M., wife of S. C. 
Wagenseller, merchant and postmaster of Shamokin.
	In youth his educational advantages were meager.  He never attended 
public school except three months at a German country school in his 
native county.  This, with one summers instruction on Sabbath morning 
after service by appointment with a neighbor, under an oak tree, 
completed his education.  But through the passing years he obtained that 
knowledge of men and events which can not be gained inside the walls of 
a school room. Mr. Bittenbender possessed qualifications which rated him 
high in the estimation of business circles.  In 1838, Patrick Reilly, 
master mechanic of the Little Schuylkill railroad, came to Shamokin to 
assume a like position with the Danville and Pottsville Railroad 
Company.  He induced Mr. Bittenbender to locate in this borough, where 
he found lucrative work in building cars, putting in machinery, turn-
tables, etc., for the railway. Mr. Reilly and Thomas Sharpe, the first 
superintendent of the Danville and Pottsville railroad, were the owners 
of a patent for a spiral car spring, and they employed Mr. Bittenbender 
to construct a car with these springs, which was the first ever run over 
the Reading railroad.  Among the public buildings which he erected was 
the old frame Catholic church in 1839, and the First Presbyterian church 
in 1847.  In 1851 he purchased the Shamokin foundry, and in 1855 the 
machine shop and car shop, carrying on the business for over sixteen 
years, employing a large number of men and turning out an immense amount 
of work.  He was prominent in the movement to establish the Shamokin 
Herald, in founding the old Shamokin Lyceum, and in the organization of 
the Shamokin Bank in 1857.  He always took an active part in the 
conventions for furthering and increasing the railroad facilities of the 
coal region.  In 1804 he opened up the Burnside colliery, which he 
operated until 1871, and thus amassed a fortune.  In 1805 he put down, 
at a cost of several thousand dollars, cast-iron water-pipes through a 
portion of the borough from a reservoir built by his own enterprise, and 
subsequently was one of the charter members of the Shamokin Water 
Company.  Mr. Bittenbender was a man of great energy and public spirit, 
and took an active interest in the progress and development of his 
adopted home.  In 1875 he presented to the Friendship Fire Company the 
ground on which their hose house stands,  Politically he was a Whig up 
to 1860, when he voted for Abraham Lincoln, and ever after was an 
unswerving Republican.
	
	END OF PAGE 870 
	
	SAMUEL JOHN, one of the pioneers of Shamokin, was born in Shamokin 
township (now Ralpho), Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, February 27, 
1807.  He was the seventh son of Abia and Martha John, who settled in 
this county in 1795.  His early youth was passed on the homestead farm, 
and at the age of twenty-six he married Angelina, second daughter of 
Abraham and Mary John, of Catawissa township, Columbia county, who, 
although of the same name, was not a blood relative. Mr. John resided on 
the old homestead in Shamokin township, passing his time in farming, 
surveying, conveyancing, etc., and also operated the old forge below 
Shamokin.  In April, 1839, he moved to Shamokin, and engaged in 
merchandising, and operated what was the known as Buck Ridge colliery. 
He was also engaged in conducting the Shamokin foundry, manufacturing 
stoves, plows, hollow ware, etc., which at that early date was looked 
upon as quite an enterprise.  In 1844 he was appointed by President Polk 
postmaster of the borough, and served two years.  He also assisted 
Kimber Cleaver in locating what was then known as the Eastern railroad, 
and was an active agent in procuring the southern outlet to Baltimore by 
which the products of the Shamokin coal field could reach the South by 
rail.  He was a director in the Shamokin Town Lot Association, which had 
for its object the promotion of manufacturing industries.  In the year 
1863 he leased Green Ridge colliery, which was named by him Green 
Mountain colliery, and seeing that the western market for coal would be 
the best and most desirable outlet, he assisted in procuring a charter 
for the Enterprise railroad.  In 1867 he was one of those who procured a 
charter for a railroad leading from Shamokin to Trevorton.  Both these 
roads are now owned and operated by the Philadelphia and Reading 
Railroad Company.  He took an active interest in the development of the 
Shamokin coal field, and in the introduction of railroads into this 
vicinity, and as far back as 1882 the legislature of Pennsylvania 
appointed him one of the commissioners of the Danville and Pottsville 
railroad.  Mr. John was cashier of the Shamokin Bank at one time, and 
for years a director of the Shamokin Banking Company, the only bank in 
Shamokin which withstood the financial panic of 1877.  He  was the 
founder, editor, and proprietor of the Shamokin Register, the second 
newspaper published in the borough.  Merchandising seems to have been 
specially adapted to his liking, as at one time he operated stores at 
Mt. Comfort and Mt. Carmel, and for years had a general store in 
Shamokin, and followed this branch of business for a period of twenty- 
five years.  He took a prominent part in establishing an almshouse in 
Coal township, served many years as a school director in Shamokin 
township, and always manifested a deep interest in the growth and 
progress of the public school system.  He  was a member of the Shamokin 
Lyceum and took part in its discussions.  In politics he was a Whig and 
afterwards a Republican, but throughout his long business career he 
avoided office seeking.  The positions of justice of the 
	
	END OF PAGE 871 
	
peace and postmaster were given him by appointment, unsolicited, and 
after filling them in a creditable manner he resigned both offices.  At 
one time he was a candidate for congress in this district, but the 
nomination was given to a candidate from Schuylkill county.
	Mr. John was a man of abstemious and temperate habits, and often 
spoke of this as one of the characteristics to which he owed his 
activity and good health.  Upon the anniversary of his seventieth 
birthday, in the presence of his family and a few chosen friends who had 
responded to an invitation to celebrate the event, he spoke as follows: 
"I have no recollection of ever spending an evening at a dance, a 
frolic, or any other place of dissipation or foolery.  I never used 
strong drink, ale, or porter as a beverage, because I knew it was 
dangerous.  I never used tobacco in any way, as I knew it was a filthy 
practice and detrimental to health.  I never played a game of cards or 
chance or hazard, as I felt it was demoralizing."  Mr. John was a member 
of the Masonic order, and an attendant of the Methodist Episcopal 
church.  While close and exacting in his business relations, he was a 
man who always kept his contracts and fulfilled his obligations to the 
letter.
	To Samuel and Angelina John were born five sons and five daughters: 
Laertes P., deceased: U. F., a lawyer of Shamokin: Kersey T., a merchant 
of Mt. Carmel; J. M., deceased; Samuel L., deceased: Vienna A.; Clara 
E., wife of William Bird, of Shamokin; Angelina R., wife of William H. 
Shipe, of Minnesota, Mary A., widow of William F. Raver, and Sarah L. 
Mr. John died, July 23, 1877, in the seventy-first year of his age.  His 
widow is living at the age of eighty years, and although feeble with the 
infirmities of a ripe old age is in the full possession of all her 
mental faculties.

	JONAS L. GILGER, retired, was born in Ralpho township, 
Northumberland county, May 6, 1818, son of Adam and Elizabeth (Repley) 
Gilger.  The former was a son of John Adam Gilger, a native of Germany 
and a pioneer of Ralpho township, where he settled midway between 
Elysburg and Bear Gap.  Jonas L. was brought up in his native township, 
and learned the carpenter trade.  He came to Shamokin on the 20th of 
March, 1838, and has since resided there.  During the first three years 
of his residence he was employed as a journeyman by George Martz.  He 
then engaged in business individually, and was for some years a builder 
and contractor on an extensive scale.  In 1840 he married Susanna, 
daughter of John and Margaret (Colquet) Boughner, who bore him six 
children, all of whom are now living: Darius S.; Rebecca J., wife of 
Isaac Raup: William  F.; John A.; David M., and Elizabeth, wife of H. H. 
Keiser.  She died in 1853 and in 1857 he married her sister, Charity 
Boughner, by whom he had two children: Charles, and Emma, wife of Albert 
Chillson.  Mr. Gilger is a member of the Methodist church and a 
Republican in politics.  He was the second burgess of Shamokin and 
served as a member of the school board fourteen years.
	
	END OF PAGE 872 
	
	JOSEPH SNYDER, the pioneer hotel keeper of Shamokin, was born in 
New Jersey, October 10, 1796, and grew to manhood in his native place. 
He received a fair English education.  He married Annie Heller, also a 
native of New Jersey, born September 18, 1794, who bore him the 
following children: Amelia, who was twice married, first to Joseph 
Enoch, and after his death to Jonathan Farnsworth; Harmon, deceased; 
Rachel, deceased wife of Alem Sechler; Eleanor; David, deceased, and 
John B.  In 1818 Mr. Snyder came to Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, 
and settled in Rush township, where he engaged in farming.  He 
afterwards opened a hotel at Snufftown, and in 1835 located in Shamokin 
with the intention of keeping a hotel.  He, however, remained only a 
brief time, as there was nothing for him to do in that line, and no 
apparent prospect of the hotel business becoming any better.  He 
returned to Snufftown, but in January, 1836, again came to Shamokin and 
took possession of the same building, now a part of the Hotel 
Vanderbilt, which he conducted several years.  He then accepted the 
office of resident land agent, which position he held for many years. 
Towards the close of his life he purchased the farm now owned by his son 
John B., lived upon it two years, and then returned to Shamokin, where 
he resided until his death, February 1, 1867, in the seventy-first year 
of his age.  His widow survived him until August 6, 1881, dying in her 
eighty-seventh year.  She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, and a very worthy woman.  Politically Mr. Snyder was a stanch 
Democrat, and filled several minor local offices.  He was one of the 
organizers of the First Presbyterian church of Shamokin, and was largely 
instrumental in the erection of the first church built by that 
denomination in 1847. He was a good citizen, a man of plain, 
unpretentious character, and straightforward in all his dealings with 
his fellow-men.

	JOHN BOYD SNYDER, farmer and plasterer, was born in Shamokin, 
Pennsylvania, April 3, 1836, on the site of the Hotel Vanderbilt.  He is 
a son of Joseph and Annie Snyder, and was the first white child born 
within the limits of the borough.  He is therefore the oldest native 
resident of the town. John C. Boyd, the proprietor of the town, had 
agreed to deed a lot to the first white child born on its site, and soon 
after the birth of our subject Boyd requested his father to select the 
lot.  Mr. Snyder chose a corner lot in the northeast part of the 
village, and, true to his promise, Boyd made out the deed to John Boyd 
Snyder.  That gentleman has ever since owned it, and still resides in 
the house which he erected thereon many years ago.  He grew up in 
Shamokin, and received such education as the schools of that period 
afforded.  He learned the trade of plasterer, which business he followed 
until the death of his father, when he inherited the homestead farm and 
has since been engaged in farming and working at his trade.  In 1861 he 
enlisted in Company A, Eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served until 
honorably discharged.  Mr. Snyder was married, January 1, 1857, to Mary, 
	
	END OF PAGE 873 
	
daughter of Daniel Maury, of Shamokin.  They are the parents of eight 
children: Annie, deceased wife of Matthias Neely; George McClellan; John 
H.; Edward A., deceased; Bessie; Rebecca; Emma, and Joseph M.  Mr. 
Snyder is a member of Shamokin Lodge, No. 255, F. & A.M., and 
politically he is a "dyed in the wool" Democrat.

	BIRD FAMILY.- James Bird, a native of Warren county, New Jersey, 
was an early settler of Rush township. Northumberland county, and a 
farmer by occupation.  He married in New Jersey, and had a family of 
nine children: John; Rachel, who married Jacob Shipman; Sarah, who 
became Mrs. Scott; Susanna, who married William Kimball; Ziba; James; 
Joseph; William, and Sylvanus.  Their father died in Rush township on 
the farm which he first settled.
	SYLVANUS BIRD, youngest son of James Bird, was born in 1796 and 
reared in Rush township, where his early life was spent on the farm.  He 
learned the trade of carpenter, and was employed by his brother Ziba, 
who was superintendent for John C. Boyd, the founder of Shamokin.  Our 
subject located at Shamokin in 1838, and built many of the early houses 
of that borough.  In 1852 he was appointed postmaster, which office he 
filled until his death in March, 1850, excepting from January to 
December, 1855; he held the office of Justice of the peace twenty years. 
In 1816 he married Lena, daughter of Robert Tietsworth; she left the 
following children: Pemberton; Eliza, deceased; John W., deceased; 
William W. and Joseph F., deceased; Angelina, widow of George W. Raver; 
Matilda, deceased wife of Peter Heim; Robert T., deceased; Josiah F., of 
Shamokin, and Sarah J., deceased.

	PEMBERTON BIRD, eldest son of Sylvanus Bird, was born in Shamokin 
township in 1817.  There he acquired the rudiments of an English 
education, and learned the trade of carpenter.  He was clerk for Boyd & 
Rosser eight years, for Joseph Bird ten years, and for the Bird Coal and 
Iron Company.  In 1842 he was ordained a local preacher, and in 1846 he 
was appointed to the Elysburg circuit by the Baltimore Conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, continuing in the active ministry eleven 
years at various points.  For a period of six years he was president of 
the Bird Coal and Iron Company, with which he still retains official 
connection as vice-president.  In 1838 he married Mary, daughter of 
Jacob Arnold, of Snydertown. Five children were born to them: William 
B.; Annie, widow of C. W. Young; Sylvanus, deceased; Joseph F., of 
Missouri, and Charles, of Harrisburg. His second wife was Sarah E., 
daughter of Michael F. Deiterly, who is the mother of three children: 
Henry D.; Wellington H., and Della B.  Our subject has been a member of 
the borough council, borough clerk, and for a number of years school 
director.  He is one of the original members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church at Shamokin, and politically he is a Republican. Mr. Bird is one 
of the oldest living representatives of one of the pioneer families of 
the county.
	
	END OF PAGE 874 
	
	JOSIAH F. BIRD, insurance agent, was born, March 1833, son of 
Sylvanus and Lena Tietsworth Bird.  He received his education at the 
public schools of Shamokin borough, and subsequently engaged in 
teaching. After a brief experience in mercantile pursuits he was 
superintendent for a number of years at the Big Mountain colliery, and 
afterwards at the Henry Clay colliery.  He established his present 
business in 1868, and is general agent for many of the large fire, life, 
and accident insurance companies.  In 1857 he married Hannah, daughter 
of Jacob Scholl.  He is a member of the United Brethren church, in which 
he has served as Sunday school superintendent twenty years.  He is a 
Republican in politics, and has held the offices of overseer of the poor 
and deputy postmaster of Shamokin.

	JOSEPH BIRD, deceased, was born in Franklin township, Columbia 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1814, son of Ziba and Hannah (Metze) Bird.  He 
was reared to manhood on his father's farm and obtained a limited 
education at the local schools.  He began his active career as a farmer 
on a tract of land owned by his father in Mayberry township, Montour 
county.  After leaving the farm he went to Shamokin and acted as clerk 
and general assistant to his father, who had charge of the various 
interests of John C. Boyd at that place.  He first entered the coal 
trade at Ashland on a small scale, but returned to Shamokin a year or 
two later and became associated with Dr. J. J. John in the drug 
business, also operating what was known as the flat vein near the corner 
of Spurzheim and Pearl streets, selling the product to local consumers 
entirely.  In 1856 he entered into partnership with Dr. J. J. John and 
John B. Douty, under the firm name of Bird, Douty & John; they operated 
Big Mountain colliery, one of the most valuable properties in the 
Shamokin coal field, of which, by the retirement of his partners, Mr. 
Bird ultimately became sole lessee.  After operating individually eight 
years he disposed of his lease to the Bird Coal and Iron Company in 
which he was largely interested.  He also acquired valuable real estate 
at Shamokin, Northumberland, and elsewhere, and was regarded as one of 
the most successful coal operators of the Shamokin region.  About the 
time his mining interests became vested in the Bird Coal and Iron 
Company he removed to Northumberland, where he resided the remainder of 
his life, serving as president of the Northumberland County Agricultural 
Society several terms.  Mr. Bird was three times married.  His first 
wife was Rebecca, daughter of Jacob Kram, a pioneer hotel keeper of 
Shamokin, by whom he had three children, one of whom is now living, 
Elizabeth, wife of Patrick Gillespie, of Shamokin. After her death he 
married Catherine, daughter of George Hill, of Shamokin township, who 
died without issue. As his third wife he married Christiana C. Kram, who 
survives him.  His death occurred on the 18th of June, 1882.

	FRANKLIN A. CLARK, deceased, was born in Springfield, 
Massachusetts, in 1813.  He left home at an early age and learned the 
trade of machinist. About the year 1837 he located at Sunbury, and in 
1839 removed to Shamo-
	
	END OF PAGE 875 
	
kin, and was engaged in hotel keeping seven years, and in connection 
with that business was engaged in hauling coal from the mines.  He then 
purchased land and was occupied in farming four years, after which he 
accepted a position with the owner of the Lancaster colliery to put in 
the machinery, where he remained four years.  He was then engaged in the 
clothing business a number of years, when he embarked in a general 
store.  In 1865 he engaged in the drug and hardware business, which he 
continued until his death in 1872.  He married in 1837, Louisa Eisely, 
and they were the parents of eleven children: John W.; Frank A.; 
Angelina, deceased; Emma, deceased, who married J. Trible; Ellen P., 
deceased, who married G. F. Holshue; Henry S., who died in the regular 
army; Valentine; Alice, wife of R. G. Eisenhart; George S.; Flora, 
deceased, who married William Buchanan, and Katie, deceased.  
Politically Mr. Clark was a Republican, and served as coroner, and as a 
member of the borough council.  He was a consistent member of the 
Methodist church.  His wife survives him, and resides in Shamokin.

	THE WEAVER FAMILY of Shamokin township is descended from Michael 
Weaver, a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, who immigrated to America about 
the year 1769.  He first settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania, and in 
1770 removed to Northumberland county and located near Liberty Pole, 
Rush township, upon the land now in possession of the heirs of Peter 
Hughawaut, where he died in 1834 and was buried upon the farm.  He 
joined the American army, and served under Washington seven years.  He 
married before immigrating to this country, and was the father of 
thirteen children.

	MARTIN WEAVER, the fourth son of Michael Weaver, was born in Rush 
township in 1770.  He was a farmer by occupation, and was also engaged 
in the hotel business, and was for many years the landlord of one of the 
olden time taverns, which was situated in Shamokin township, eight miles 
east of Sunbury.  He died in 1844.  His first wife was a Miss Hirsh of 
Rush township, by whom he had two daughters and one son: Joseph, who 
died in Shamokin; Catharine, widow of Enoch Howell, and Elizabeth, wife 
of Jonathan Yarned, both deceased.  By his second wife he had five 
children: Mary, deceased wife of Daniel Evert; Rebecca, deceased wife of 
Daniel Rote; William M.; Rosetta, deceased, and Solomon, who resides at 
Sunbury.

	WILLIAM M. WEAVER was born in Shamokin township, August 30,1816, 
son of Martin and Catharine (Lodsleger) Weaver.  He was reared upon the 
homestead farm, and his early life was occupied in farming.  In 1837, in 
connection with his brother-in-law, he engaged in the mercantile 
business at Snydertown, Pennsylvania, at which he was engaged until 
1841, when he returned to the homestead, again engaged in farming, and 
remained there until 1844.  In 1845 he removed to what was then the 
village of Shamokin and leased the Shamokin Hotel, now known as the 
Hotel Vanderbilt, which he conducted five years.  He then purchased what 
is now known as Weaver's 
	
	END OF PAGE 876 
	
National Hotel, and was its proprietor from 1851 until 1863,  when he 
was elected sheriff and served three years. In the spring of 1867 he 
resumed the hotel business, but in 1878 he was again elected sheriff.  
After the expiration of his term of office he again took charge of his 
hotel, which he conducted until 1886, since which time he has not been 
actively engaged in business.  Mr. Weaver is one of Shamokin's  oldest 
residents, and has always taken an active interest in the development 
and prosperity of the city.  In 1858,  in connection with C. P. 
Helfenstein and William H. Marshall, he assumed a large amount of unpaid 
mortgages that were upon nearly all of the homes in different ports of 
the city, and prevented then being sold from the owners, obviating great 
loss and distress.  He was one of the organizers of the Northumberland 
County Bank, was also identified in the purchase and laying out of the 
Shamokin cemetery, and assisted in many other enterprises.  In politics 
he has been a life-long Democrat, and is a member of Lodge No. 255 F. & 
A.M.  He was married, August 26, 1843, to Lydia, daughter of John Smith, 
of Snydertown, Pennsylvania, and by this marriage they have had six 
children: Mary E.; Martin, deceased; Catharine E., wife of David E. 
Shuster, of Shamokin; John A., late chief burgess of Shamokin; Clara J., 
and Rosetta, deceased.

	JOHN A. WEAVER was born in Shamokin, October 15, 1847, son of 
William M. and Lydia (Smith) Weaver.  His education was obtained in the 
public schools of his native city, and until 1879 he was connected with 
his father in the management of his hotel.  He then entered the employ 
of the Mineral Railroad and Mining Company as their representative on 
the coal and iron police, which position he filled until September, 
1885, when he resigned to accept the position of superintendent for H. 
A. Weldy, manufacturer of explosives and powders, which position he now 
fills.  In 1875, Mr. Weaver was elected a member of the council, and in 
1881 was elected chief burgess, and again elected in 1889.  He was 
married in June, 1872, to Clara A., daughter of A. N. Hanley, of 
Shamokin, and by this union they have had two children: Charles R., and 
Katie M., deceased.  Politically he is an ardent Democrat.  He is a 
member of Shamokin Lodge, No. 255, F. & A.M. Under Mr. Weaver's 
administration many improvements took place in the management of the 
city affairs.  The first uniformed police force was established, and 
many other changes were made that meet with the approval of the 
citizens.  He is one of Shamokin's progressive citizens, and commands 
the respect and esteem of the people of the city.

	JUDGE WILLIAM LEONARD HELFENSTEIN was born in the town of 
Lancaster, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1801, a son of John P. and 
Elizabeth Helfenstein.  His paternal grandfather, Rev. Conrad 
Helfenstein, came to this country from Germany as a missionary of the 
German Reformed church. When quite a small boy William L. removed with 
his parents to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he resided until manhood.  
He graduated at Dickinson 
	
	END OF PAGE 877 
	
College in 1823, and subsequently studied theology at Princeton with the 
intention of entering the ministry, but his health failing he abandoned 
his studies, and thus the whole after current of his life was changed. 
Shortly afterwards his parents moved to Dayton, Ohio, to which place he 
accompanied them.  He there entered the law office of Judge Crane, one 
of the eminent jurists of the Miami valley, and after a proper course of 
study he was admitted to the bar and practiced his profession in Dayton 
for several years quite successfully.  He became prominent in the local 
councils of the Democratic party, which nominated him for Congress 
against his old preceptor, Judge Crane, and, though the district had a 
Whig majority of over two thousand, his great personal popularity cut 
down the majority to within thirty votes of election.  After this 
favorable expression of public opinion he was, in 1835, elected by the 
legislature judge of the court of common pleas of the Dayton district, 
which position he filled in a satisfactory manner for the full 
constitutional term of seven years.  He then removed with his parents to 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but finally settled in Chicago, Illinois, where he 
opened a law office and practiced his profession for a few years.
	His attention then being directed to the undeveloped anthracite 
coal fields of Pennsylvania, and urged by some of his friends to 
undertake their development, he came east in 1849 and commenced the 
great work with which his name is so indelibly connected.  He organized 
from time to time a number of coal companies, among them the Zerbe Run, 
Mahanoy Improvement, Carbon Run, Big Mountain, Green Ridge, Locust Gap, 
Locust Summit, and others, and displayed wonderful energy and enterprise 
in the development of the coal fields between Trevorton and Mt. Carmel. 
He organized and partly built the railroad from Trevorton to the 
Susquehanna river, and laid out the town of Trevorton; he was a leading 
member of the company that purchased the Danville and Pottsville 
railroad at sheriff's sale, changed the name to the Philadelphia and 
Sunbury railroad, and organized the company that rebuilt the road and 
laid it with T rails; he was the leading spirit and president of the 
company that built the extension from Shamokin to Mt. Carmel and the 
branch to Locust Gap; he was a member of the company that laid out Mt. 
Carmel, and was proprietor of the towns of West Shamokin, Helfenstein, 
and Gowen City.  Judge Helfenstein was largely interested in nearly all 
the best coal lands from Mt. Carmel to Trevorton, and these were the 
basis of the several coal companies organized by him.  While president 
of the Philadelphia and Sunbury railroad, and eager to carry the road 
through successfully, he risked a large part of his personal estate in 
the enterprise. Being far ahead of the times in which he lived his hopes 
were not realized, and his coal estate and railroad interests were 
consequently sacrificed.  He then united with his brother, Charles P., 
in the Helfenstein coal lands, and during their development laid out the 
towns of Helfenstein, Gowen City, and West Shamokin; from these 
enterprises he realized a handsome fortune.  
	
	END OF PAGE 878 
	
	He resided in Shamokin and Trevorton up to 1860 and then removed to 
Pottsville. In 1872 he removed from Pottsville to New York City and 
purchased a residence at Mott Haven, in the neighborhood of the 
metropolis. Judge Helfenstein subsequently became interested in silver 
and iron ore mines in the Republic of Mexico, and spent the remaining 
years of his life between New York and Mexico. He died of Mexican fever 
at Durango, Mexico, in March, 1884, in the eighty-third year of his age, 
and his remains were interred in that distant land.  He was originally a 
Democrat, but in 1861 united with the Republican party and was ever 
afterwards an ardent Republican.  He was a member and vestryman of 
Trinity Episcopal church of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and superintendent 
of their mission Sunday school at Fishback, Schuylkill county, during 
his residence in Pottsville.  Judge Helfenstein was never married, but 
wherever he made his home he left a wide circle of the warmest admirers 
and friends, and his death was deeply mourned by all who knew him.  The 
early impressions made upon his mind while studying for the ministry at 
Princeton influenced his whole after life, and his character was deeply 
imbued with the most sincere religious sentiments. He was a truly 
charitable man, and was a spontaneous and frequent contributor towards 
the support of religious and charitable objects.  He was a fluent and 
logical speaker, and was well versed in the current literature of the 
day.  His lecture on Mexico, its mineral resources, and its people and 
their habits and customs, delivered in Shamokin, Pottsville, and other 
places, was an able historical paper, was highly spoken of by the local 
press, and is still favorably remembered by his many friends throughout 
the coal region.

	CHARLES P. HELFENSTEIN, brother of Judge William L. Helfenstein, 
and brother-in-law of Judge Benjamin Patton, formerly of Trevorton, was 
born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and spent most of his boyhood in that 
town. His family moved from there to Dayton, Ohio, from which place he 
attended Yale College, graduating from there in 1841.  He subsequently 
read law for two years in the office of his brother-in-law, Judge 
Patton, in Pittsburg. In the meantime his family removed to Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin, and he went to that place and entered his brother Albert's 
land office. About 1850 he came to Northumberland county to assist his 
brother, William L., in his Trevorton operations and in the development 
of his coal lands.  While in Trevorton he had charge of the lumber 
interests of the companies which his brother had organized, and made the 
acquaintance of Jeremiah Perkins, who was in charge of the lumber 
interests of another of Judge Helfenstein's coal companies. Mr. Perkins 
was one of the pioneers of Northumberland county, was a native of New 
Hampshire, and resided for a number of years in Sunbury.  In 1855 our 
subject married Caroline H., oldest daughter of Jeremiah Perkins, and 
settled in Shamokin, where he built himself a home in the belt of woods 
between the eastern and western portions of the village as it then 
	
	END OF PAGE 879 
	
was. Having in the meantime purchased the interests of his brother and 
David McKnight in the town of Shamokin and surrounding country, he 
engaged for several years in the real estate business, and was for 
several more years in the lumber business.  He also turned his attention 
to the development of the Helfenstein coal lands, and, in connection 
with his brother, Judge Helfenstein, laid out the towns of Helfenstein 
and West Shamokin.  After disposing of most of his coal lands in 1872 he 
retired from active business, and is now residing in the home which he 
erected in 1855.
	Mr. Helfenstein has two sons, and two daughters: John P., attorney 
at law, of Shamokin; William L.; Elizabeth, wife of T. Pershing, and 
Carrie A. He has been interested in many of the institutions of his 
adopted home. He was director in the Northumberland County Bank, vice-
president of the Shamokin Banking Company, a stockholder in the Shamokin 
Water Company, and one of the corporators and president of the Shamokin 
Gas Light Company.
	He was also one of the corporators of the Shamokin Cemetery 
Company, and the first president of that institution.  Although a member 
of the Reformed Episcopal church, Mr. Helfenstein was one of the leading 
spirits in the erection of the First Presbyterian Church of Shamokin and 
a liberal contributor towards that object.  He has been a Republican 
since the war, but has never held any political office except that of 
chief burgess of Shamokin for two terms.  He is one of the two surviving 
members of the Committee of creditors of the Jay Cooke estate, and has 
been a well-known citizen of the County during the past forty years.

	WILLIAM H. MARSHALL was one of the most prominent and enterprising 
Citizens of Shamokin during his residence therein of more than a quarter 
of a century.  He was born in New Castle County, Delaware, in 1797, a 
son of Joseph and Agnes Marshall, members of the Quaker faith.  He was 
reared in his native county and subsequently removed to Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, where he carried on a wholesale grocery house until 1840, 
when he sold out his business and left that city.  In 1841 he located at 
Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and operated the pioneer iron furnace of that 
place.  And it is claimed on good authority that he was one of the first 
men to demonstrate that iron could be manufactured with anthracite coal. 
Meeting with the same financial reverses that overtook nearly all of the 
pioneer iron manufacturers, he, in 1851, came to Shamokin as the land 
agent of the late Judge William L. Helfenstein.  During the succeeding 
twenty-five years he was one of the most prominent and active business 
men of the coal region.  He represented the Big Mountain Improvement 
Company, Locust Mountain Summit Improvement Company, Carbon Run 
Improvement Company, Burd Patterson's coal interests, the New York and 
Middle Coal Field Company, and numerous other interests, from time to 
time, during this period.  When the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and 
Iron Company purchased the lands of the Locust Gap Improvement Company 
Mr. Marshall was appointed their agent, 
	
	END OF PAGE 880 
	
and held that position until the infirmities of old age compelled him to 
retire from the more exacting duties of business.  In partnership with 
A. S. Wolf, of Philadelphia, he opened and successfully operated the A. 
S. Wolf colliery for several years.  It is now the property of the 
Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company.
	Though not a scientific geologist, Mr. Marshall was one of the most 
practical and best informed men of his time regarding the geological 
strata and mineral character of this portion of the State.  When making 
his geological survey, Professor Rogers freely consulted him, and placed 
great reliance on his opinions.  He possessed very correct and practical 
ideas about the coal deposits, and had carefully prospected the country 
from Centralia, Columbia county, to Trevorton, Northumberland county.
	He was prominently identified with, and the leading spirit in many 
of the local enterprises of the borough, one of the earliest being the 
Shamokin Town Lot Association, which had for its object the 
establishment of a large rolling mill. The building was erected in 1858, 
south of the Reading round-house, and partially equipped, but the 
stringency of the times, brought on by the panic of 1857, resulted in 
many of the subscribers to the stock being unable to meet their 
obligations.  Work was consequently stopped and the project finally 
abandoned.  Mr. Marshall also gave one half the land embraced in the 
Shamokin cemetery, and was treasurer of the cemetery company from its 
organization up to his death.  He was largely instrumental in having the 
channel of Shamokin creek so changed and improved that considerable land 
thus redeemed now furnishes many of the most valuable building sites in 
the city.  He was the founder of the Shamokin Water Company, and its 
largest stockholder, and treasurer of the same up to his death.  He was 
also one of the organizers and original directors of the Shamokin 
Banking Company.  In fact, to the energy and enterprise of William H. 
Marshall is due, in a great measure, the Shamokin of today.
	Though reared in the Quaker faith, both Mr. Marshall and wife 
attended the Presbyterian church, and gave liberally of their means 
towards the support of religion.  He was a charter member of Shamokin 
Lodge, No. 255, F. & A.M.  In politics he was a Republican, and while he 
never sought official distinction he always took a patriotic interest in 
political affairs.  The only public office he ever held was that of 
chief burgess of Shamokin.
	Mr. Marshall married, in early life, Miss Ann Farr, of his native 
county, who survived him about two years and a half, and died childless. 
His death occurred in January, 1878, in the eighty-first year of his 
age.  He was not an educated man, as his advantages for obtaining an 
education in youth were very meager.  But he possessed fine natural 
abilities, keen observation, and a wide knowledge of men and affairs. 
Positive in his views and opinions, he usually impressed men as gruff 
and harsh in his manner.  Nevertheless he was kind-hearted and 
sympathetic, and always charitable to the needy.  
	
	END OF PAGE 881 
	
Though exacting in business affairs, he was recognized as an upright and 
strictly honest man, and believed in paying what was due even to the 
last farthing.  He was honored and respected for his strength of 
character, commendable enterprise, and unimpeachable integrity.

	JOHN BLUNDIN DOUTY was for many years one of the most prominent and 
successful citizens of the coal regions, and he is still kindly 
remembered by a large circle of his old friends.  He was born near 
Lambertville. New Jersey, May 30, 1812, and was a son of William and 
Mary (Blundin) Douty, who settled in Rush township, Northumberland 
county, Pennsylvania. when John B. was about ten years old.  In 1826 the 
family removed to Pottsville, where the father at once became the owner 
of a line of five boats on the Schuylkill canal, and our subject was 
placed in charge of one of them. John B. thus became one of the pioneer 
boatmen of the Schuylkill, and he followed the business until 1842, and 
then entered the coal trade at the East Delaware mines.  He operated 
here for a few years and then went to the West Delaware mines, where he 
remained until the failure of the company, in 1851, through which he 
lost the slow accumulations of years of toil and unflagging industry. 
Coming to Shamokin in 1852, comparatively penniless, be again commenced 
mining in a small way at the Gap, now the Cameron colliery, as a member 
of the firm of Kase, Douty & Reed.  This lasted a few years, and as very 
little was accomplished Mr. Douty made only a bare living out of the 
enterprise.  In October, 1856, at the solicitation of Dr. J. J. John, he 
joined that gentleman and Joseph Bird, under the firm name of Bird, 
Douty & John.  They leased the Big Mountain colliery. and after many 
vicissitudes the enterprise finally proved successful. In 1857 Doctor 
John retired from the firm, and in 1859 Mr. Douty withdrew and took 
charge of the Henry Clay colliery; which, under his experienced and 
careful management, became one of the best paying mining properties in 
the county.  Good fortune smiled upon all his efforts, and he 
accumulated a handsome fortune.  Mr. Douty subsequently opened the Brady 
colliery, and operated it several years.  In March, 1873, Douty & 
Baumgardner began working the Ben Franklin colliery, in which he was 
interested up to his death, November 15, 1874.  A few years prior to 
that event he united with the First Presbyterian church, and died a 
consistent member of that faith.
	Throughout a residence in Shamokin of twenty-one years, Mr. Douty 
was largely interested in the growth and development of the coal trade, 
and did much towards building up the diversified interests of his 
adopted home. He possessed great enterprise and public spirit, and made 
good use of his wealth in erecting substantial buildings and 
contributing liberally towards charitable and religious objects.  He was 
a man of strong likes and dislikes, and positive in his views and 
opinions, but possessed a kind heart, and always extended an encouraging 
word and a helping hand to the needy and afflicted.  Mr. Douty was 
married, May 22, 1836, to Lavinia Jones, a native 
	
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	Page 883 contains a portrait of John B. Douty.
	Page 884 is blank.
	
of Reading, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of William and Catharine Jones, 
then residents of that city.  One son William H., a merchant of 
Shamokin, was the fruit of this union.  Mrs. Douty is living in the home 
on Sunbury street, Shamokin, in which her husband passed the latter 
years of his life.

	DR. J. J. JOHN, general insurance agent, was born in Catawissa, 
Columbia county, Pennsylvania, October 13, 1829, only son of Jesse Jones 
and Eliza V. (Hicks) John, mention of whom will be found among the 
pioneers of Ralpho township.  His father died before the birth of our 
subject, and he grew up under the fostering care of a kind and watchful 
mother.  He attended the common schools up to the age of fifteen, and 
then entered an academy at Coatesville, Chester county, Pennsylvania, 
and afterwards at McEwensville, Northumberland county, spending in both 
institutions two years and a half.  At the age of eighteen he commenced 
teaching and taught three years in Northumberland and Columbia counties. 
In 1850 he began reading medicine with Dr. Joseph C. Robins, of 
Elysburg, Northumberland county, and graduated from the Pennsylvania 
Medical College, Philadelphia, in March, 1852.  During his last term at 
college he served as assistant demonstrator of anatomy.  In the spring 
of 1853 Doctor John came to Shamokin, and here became connected with the 
engineer corps under Kimber Clearer, with whom he remained until the 
Shamokin Valley railroad was finished to Mt. Carmel.
	On the 12th of March, 1854, Doctor John was married to Elizabeth, 
daughter of George and Anna Krick, of Shamokin township.  Five children 
have been born of this union:  Annie E.: Walter S., deceased; Mary A.. 
wife of A. M. Shuman, of Shamokin; Laura V., wife of George B. Schadt, 
of Shamokin, and George W.  Soon after his marriage he associated 
himself with Dr. Galen S. Robins in the practice of medicine, and as 
they were the only physicians in this part of the county their practice 
extended from Mt. Carmel to Trevorton, and embraced the whole 
surrounding country for miles in every direction.  The practice of 
medicine not being congenial to Doctor John he retired from the 
profession in 1855, and in partnership with Joseph Bird purchased the 
drug store of Bruner & Weiser.  The firm of Bird & John soon after 
bought the drug store of W. J. Haas, and thus became the only druggists 
in Shamokin.  Late in 1857 they sold out the business for the purpose of 
giving their whole attention to the Big Mountain colliery, which, in 
partnership with John B. Douty, under the firm name of Bird, Douty & 
John, they had leased in 1856.  They operated the Big Mountain until 
August, 1857, when Doctor John sold his interest to his partners.  He 
then formed a partnership with Kimber Cleaver, as engineers and 
surveyors. which continued until the death of Mr. Clearer, October 19, 
1858, when Doctor John resumed his old profession of teaching.  He 
taught in Shamokin until the spring of 1863, and rose to the position of 
principal of the high school. He loved his profession, and was therefore 
one of the most successful teachers 
	
	END OF PAGE 885 
	
of his day. Resigning the principalship he accepted the position of 
book-keeper at Shamokin furnace, which he filled in a satisfactory 
manner until April, 1865. He then became book-keeper for May, Patterson 
& Brother, operators of Buck Ridge colliery, with whom he remained about 
eleven years.  In the meantime, in 1873, he had opened an insurance 
office and established a wholesale and retail coal business in Shamokin.  
He continued the coal business successfully for several years, and has 
since given his sole attention to the insurance business which he has 
made a gratifying success.
	In the development of Shamokin's material interests Doctor John has 
taken an active part. He was secretary and one of the largest 
stockholders of the Shamokin Town Lot Association, has been one of the 
managers and secretary of the Shamokin Cemetery Company since 1867, was 
an original stockholder and is at present a director of the Shamokin Gas 
Light Company, is a director and secretary of the Home Building and Loan 
Association, and a director and secretary of the Shamokin Street Railway 
Company.  He was one of the editors of the Shamokin Herald during the 
first year of its existence.  In 1868 he became coal editor of that 
paper and contributed to its columns weekly up to 1875.  His 
contributions to the newspapers on educational, historical, and other 
subjects have been quite extensive and various, and to him is largely 
due the preservation of much local history that otherwise would have 
been lost in the fading twilight of tradition.  And to the present 
volume he has contributed two of its most important and valuable 
chapters, beside furnishing data embraced in several others.
	Politically an old line Whig he became a Republican in 1856, but 
has always been conservative in his political views.  He enlisted in 
Company K, Thirty-sixth Volunteer Militia, during Lee's invasion, and 
acted as hospital steward.  He has served in the borough council, also 
as overseer of the poor, one year each.  In 1874 he was elected to the 
legislature and served two years in what is known as the "Centennial 
legislature."  He served on the committees of education, mining, and 
contested elections, and was the originator of John's compulsory 
educational bill.  This bill was fought bitter]y in committee, which 
delayed its presentation to the House until late in the session, and it 
thus failed to become a law.  For the last ten years he has been one of 
the visitors for the Board of Public Charities, and in 1877 he preferred 
and partially sustained charges against the superintendent and surgeon 
of the Miners' hospital near Ashland for cruelty and neglect and 
discharge of a suffering patient, which created quite an excitement 
throughout the mining regions and won him many warm friends among the 
miners.
	Up to within the last few years Doctor John took the deepest and 
most active interest in educational matters and in the growth and 
progress of the public schools.  He was one of the original members of 
the Shamokin Lyceum, a literary institution that flourished between 1855 
and 1863, and embraced the leading citizens of the town.  He served as 
school director 
	
	END OF PAGE 886 
	
thirteen years, ten years as secretary of the board, and six years as 
district superintendent, and gave liberally of his time towards this 
worthy object. In February, 1877, he was chairman of the committee that 
selected a series of text books for the schools of the county, and he 
personally introduced them into nearly every district. Though coming of 
Quaker lineage Doctor John has never been connected with that or any 
other religious body, but has always been liberal and charitable towards 
the opinions and beliefs of every denomination.

	J. H. ZIMMERMAN, livery-man, was born, January 5, 1820, in Augusta 
township, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania son of George and Mary 
(Hall) Zimmerman.  The paternal grandfather was John Zimmerman, a native 
of Berks county, Pennsylvania, who came to Northumberland county and 
purchased a tract of two hundred acres in Augusta township, where he 
died.  He married in Berks county a Miss Mahrberger, and they were the 
parents of five sons and two daughters.  George, the father of our 
subject, was a blacksmith by trade and conducted business for many years 
in Sunbury.  His family consisted of six children: Jeremiah; Rachel, 
deceased, who married Isaac Seiler; Lucy, deceased; Mary, who married 
Solomon Stroh; Elizabeth, who married Jesse McClow of Shamokin, and 
Emily, deceased, who married Thomas M. Pursel.  The subject of this 
sketch learned the blacksmith trade and was engaged in the business a 
number of years with his father, in Sunbury.  In 1851 he was elected 
justice of the peace for Sunbury, which office he filled two years.  He 
received the appointment of collector for the Pennsylvania canal, which 
position he filled until 1856. In 1855 he engaged in the coal business 
with J. P. Pursel in mining and shipping at Shamokin.  In 1856 he was 
elected to the State legislature, serving in the sessions of 1856-57, 
and subsequently entered the employ of Stroh & Elliott as superintendent 
for their coal business.  He afterwards filled positions of trust with 
Haas & Fagley and John Dewees & Brother. In 1869 he established the 
business now conducted by his son, J. B. Zimmerman, the manufacturing of 
wagons and carriages and dealing in harness. In 1877 he established the 
livery business, which he has since carried on. Mr. Zimmerman, in 1870, 
was elected chief burgess; in 1875, elected a member of the council; in 
1876, elected chief burgess, and again elected, l884-86 inclusive.  At 
the time of Lee's raid into Pennsylvania he joined Captain Bruner's 
company at Sunbury.  Politically Mr. Zimmerman has been a lifelong 
Democrat, and has always taken great interest in the affairs of his 
party. He is a member of Sunbury Lodge, F. & A.M., and Northumberland 
Chapter.  In 1843 he was married to Harriet M., daughter of Jacob 
Bright, and by this marriage they have had nine children, seven of whom 
grew to maturity: Lucy Ella, deceased, who married J. B. Phillips; John 
B.; Harriet, wife of W. P. Roth; George; Rosetta, wife of Samuel Haas; 
William E., attorney, of Shamokin, and William C., of Philadelphia.  
	
	END OF PAGE 887