Franklin County Pennsylvania Biographies
| ROBERT McFARLAND BARD was
born near Mercersburg, Franklin Co., Penn., December 12, 1809, the son of
Capt. Thomas Bard, who commanded a volunteer company enlisted in that vicinity;
and marched them to the defense of Baltimore against the threatened attack
of the British, in 1814. During his early life his parents removed to Washington
Co., Md. He attended the academy at Hagerstown as late as 1829, and in 1830
began the study of law in Chambersburg, Franklin County, in the office of
Hon. George Chambers, and was admitted to practice January 14, 1834. He rose
rapidly as a lawyer and as a public man, acquiring, by his ability and integrity,
the confidence and admiration of the people. In 1842 he was associated in
the law with James X. McLanahan, which partnership was dissolved in 1844.
In 1850 he was nominated for Congress on the Whig ticket, but at that time
his health had failed, and he was no longer able to attend to the duties
of his profession. He had attained a commanding position at the bar of his
native county, and reputation throughout the State as a lawyer of great ability.
Had he lived, he might have reached the highest honors of the State and Nation.
His death occurred on the 28th of January, 1851, at the early age of forty-one.
His frank and generous nature, his open, kind, unassuming and affable manners,
had drawn around him a large circle of warm hearted and admiring friends,
and his death was the cause of grief and sadness in many a heart besides
those of his immediate family. Mr. Bard possessed fine literary tastes, and
in his leisure moments produced a number of poems that were received by the
public as rare gems. He anticipated the day when he could feel justified
in devoting his whole time to literary pursuits. An article in the Philadelphia
Press, entitled, "The Chambersburg Bar of Thirty Years Ago," says of him:
"Robert M. Bard was a peculiarly gifted man intellectually. He had a profound
knowledge of the law, was ardently devoted to his profession, managed every
case entrusted to him with masterly skill and force, and would, had not death
removed him in the meridian of his years, have been one of the country's
grandest jurists." Mr. Bard in early youth was studiously inclined, and devoted
much of his leisure time to the acquisition of useful knowledge, and formed
then the habits of study and reflection that were the foundation of his
subsequent usefulness and eminence. His views of the profession of the law
were exalted; he pursued it with varying devotion. He regarded the law as
a science in the truest and highest sense of the term, demanding, for the
attainment of distinction in its practice, a more varied and comprehensive
equipment than is required for the successful prosecution of any other
profession. He sought, by careful analysis and study of the leading cases
in the various departments of the law, to comprehend fully, and to make his
own, the underlying principles and reasons on which the decision of them
was founded. The knowledge of these principles furnished the weapons on which
he relied, and to which, vigorously and skillfully used, he was indebted
for many a victory in subsequent legal combats in which he was a contestant
in the arena of the bar. His mind was active, vigorous and logical; his addresses
to the court and jury were cogent, eloquent and free from all redundancy;
he saw clearly the strong points of his case, and pressed those points lucidly
and earnestly upon his auditors, and judiciously refrained from dwelling
at length upon points of minor importance. Although ever studious to be correct
in his opinions, he was a man of strong convictions; and when he gave a legal
opinion to a client on a difficult point of law, he gave it with confidence,
and it was received by his client with confidence, assured that it was the
result of a careful consideration of the matter by one fully competent to
determine it. As early as 1843 he had, by his natural and acquired endowments,
achieved an enviable eminence in his profession. Mr. Bard was conspicuous
as an influential and consistent advocate of the cause of temperance, at
a time when that cause had comparatively few friends, and when its advocacy
was regarded so differently from now, and rather as an evidence of fanaticism
than as a wise, philanthropic, statesmanlike concern for the happiness and
prosperity of the community.
History of Franklin Co., Pennsylvania, published by Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, IL, 1887, p. 618 - 619. - Transcribed and Donated by Carol Parrish |
| JOHN A. BENEDICT, clerk of the
courts of Franklin County, was born in Peters Township, Franklin County,
Penn., January 18, 1855, the youngest son of Jacob and Mary M. (Kiefer) Benedict.
He was educated in the public schools of Peters Township, and was a pupil
in the normal school at Shippensburg for two terms. He then taught school
for nine winter terms, during which time he also engaged in farming on the
home place in the summers. In the fall of 1884 Mr. Benedict was elected clerk
of the courts of Franklin County for a term of three years. He married, in
March, 1876, Sarah E., daughter of M. H. Keyser, a former resident of St.
Thomas Township, this county. The parents are members of the Church. In politics
Mr. Benedict is a member of the Republican party.
History of Franklin Co., Pennsylvania, published by Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, IL, 1887, p. 619. Transcribed and Donated by Carol Parrish |
| GEORGE BIETSCH, manufacturer of cigars
and dealer in cigars, tobaccos, etc., Chambersburg, was born at Hesse Darmstadt,
Germany, August 30, 1843, the youngest child of Frederick and Elizabeth
(Eckstein) Bietsch. He received a plain education in the schools of his native
town. In 1861 he, in company with his parents, came to America and direct
to Chambersburg. In the same year George commenced an apprenticeship with
George Bruner at the trade of cigar making, and was next in the employ, as
clerk and journeyman, of Moses Greenawald, and continued with those gentlemen,
respectively, until 1863. In that year he taught a German public school at
Chambersburg one session. Following the destruction of Chambersburg, he filled
a similar position at Pittsburgh for some four years. In the fall of 1868
he returned to Chambersburg, and commenced the manufacture of cigars and
the tobacco trade, in his present location at No. 79 South Main Street, where
he is doing a fair business, usually employing from six to eight hands. In
1865 Mr. Bietsch married Elizabeth Pressler, and to them have been born eleven
children, nine of whom are living, five daughters - Eva, Katie, Lottie, Gertie
and Alice - and four sons - Emil, George, Charles and Thomas. Mr. Bietsch
is organist of the Episcopal Church, a position he has held for the past
ten years. His family attend the same church. Mr. Bietsch has been a member
of the Masonic fraternity since 1870, and master of George Washington Lodge,
No. 143, for the past two years.
History of Franklin Co., Pennsylvania, published by Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, IL, 1887, p. 619 - 620. Transcribed and Donated by Carol Parrish |
| JAMES L. BLACK, merchant and borough
treasurer, Chambersburg, was born in Adams County, Penn., December 8, 1808,
eldest son of James and Jane (Lindsay) Black. He grew up on a farm and in
about 1820 went to live with his uncle in Guilford Township, this county.
At the age of sixteen he began serving an apprenticeship of five years at
the trade of tanner and currier. After finishing his apprenticeship he worked
as a journeyman in Manchester, Va., one year; then returned to Chambersburg
and began clerking in the store of George S. Eyster. About the year 1830,
he, in company with his cousin, John V. Lindsay, purchased the business from
Mr. Eyster, and carried it on for some years, when Mr. Black purchased the
interest of his partner, and has since conducted the concern. During the
fire in 1864, he suffered greatly, losing his building and much of his stock.
His books were saved, he having buried them in the garden. He rebuilt on
the same site in 1865-66. In 1836 Mr. Black was married to Mary B., daughter
of George K. Harper, one of the early editors and newspaper men of Chambersburg.
To this marriage were born eight children, six of whom are living - three
daughters and three sons - and are residents of Chambersburg, except one,
Rev. J. Harper Black, now pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Clearfield,
Penn. Mrs. Black died April 6, 1885. Our subject served as an associate judge
of this county for a period of five years, having been elected at the same
time as Judge Kimmell. He has been a member of the town council one term,
and for six years has served as borough treasurer. Mr. Black has been identified
with the Methodist Episcopal Church for nearly half a century. As a citizen
he is highly esteemed and respected, and is one of the pioneer business men
of the county.
History of Franklin Co., Pennsylvania, published by Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, IL, 1887, p. 620. Transcribed and Donated by Carol Parrish |
| EMANUEL JAMES BONBRAKE, attorney
at law, Chambersburg. - The generic name is an old one in Franklin County.
Its origin is uncertain and its original form is not positively ascertained.
Whether German, Dutch, Swiss or French is not known, even by those who bear
it. The name is dissyllabic, and each syllable has taken a most unwarrantable
license in a wild canter over the gamut of change both in sound and in letter.
The first syllable is found in documents and papers as Bon, Bohn, Boin, Bine
and Bound, while the second, not to be outdone, has disported in various
shapes as Bright, Brecht, Brake, Break, Breck and Brick, one paper of the
year 1789 having the name as Boundbrick. It is a good example of the eccentricity
and variation of a name in America. The most prevalent belief holds that
the name is Swiss-German or Franco-German, but there is a singular plausibility
and force in a less prevalent opinion that the name is Dutch; that it originated
in Holland or the Low Countries as Brecht, with the common prefix Van or
Von making Vonbrecht, from which the transition to Bonbrecht would be easy
and natural. But if the origin is uncertain, its long existence in this county
is certain. The first ancestor came between 1745 and 1765. Lands were taken
up at the Grindstone Hill nearly midway between Chambersburg and Waynesboro,
some of which were laid out on warrant to Daniel Binebreck in 1762, and remained
in the family until 1868, a period of more than a century. There is a dim
tradition that his ancestor left his native land under a cloud, because of
resetting, or giving food and shelter to some one under ban of the law. He
is reputed to have tarried a while in Philadelphia County, but soon located
in this county, then a part of Cumberland. From the Grindstone Hill the
descendants spread to Scotland, Waynesboro and other parts of the county;
to Somerset, Westmoreland and other counties in the State; and later to the
States of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado and
California. The race was prolific in number and tall in stature. Many of
the families had each a dozen or more members; one is said to have furnished
seven sons to the American Army in the war of 1812, and now, in one family
in Ohio, all the sons average over six feet in height. Some of the earlier
ones were stone-cutters, of which there remains evidence in the tombstones
of the well filled old graveyard at Grindstone Hill Church. But farming has
been the general occupation of the race, though some have reached the highest
rank as merchants, a few became lawyers, a dozen or more are now ministers
of the Gospel or professors in colleges, a larger number are physicians and
surgeons, one family having four or five in the latter profession. Very few
have seen fit to tread the path of politics, and, although active and decided
in political opinion and feeling, it is claimed for them that in this, their
native county, for almost a century and a half, not one of the name has announced
himself as a candidate for office, or become a tax upon the public.
The special subject of this sketch was born in 1832 on the banks of Antietam Creek, two miles east of Waynesboro, and he never had legal residence out of the county. His father was John, a teacher, surveyor and farmer, born in 1796 and died in 1866. His grandfather, Conrad (born in 1768, died in 1844), about the beginning of this century bought lands along the Antietam Creek, which still belong to his descendants. His mother was Susanna Weyant (born in 1796, died in 1836) a daughter of John Weyant. Conrad, the grandfather, left seven children, viz.: Jacob, John, Henry, Daniel, Nancy, Susan and Catharine. John left five children, viz.: Nicholas, John W., Emanuel J. Juliann, wife of James H. Gordon, and Maria, wife of David B. Russell, all residents of the county, except John W., who has lived near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, since 1865. The early education of our subject was gained in the free or public schools, the system of which was inaugurated in Pennsylvania in his boyhood. In 1849 he was examined by the school board of his native township (Washington) and assigned as teacher of the Mt. Vernon School. In the spring of 1850, with the funds obtained from the winter's teaching, he began the higher course of study and entered the preparatory department of Marshall College at Mercersburg, then under the presidency of the celebrated Rev. Dr. John W. Nevin. For several years thereafter he oscillated between teaching in winter and attending college in summer, always keeping in the same class notwithstanding those absences. He went with the college to Lancaster, Penn., in 1853, when it was consolidated there with Franklin College, and in 1855 he graduated with honor, taking the valedictory oration, which in this college, unlike most other institutions, is awarded not to the student who has scored the highest average in recitation but to the best writer and speaker, if of respectable grade in recitations. In all public performances at college he had been signally successful and popular, some of his orations being remembered and spoken of to this day after a lapse of over thirty years; but in his valedictory he reproached, perhaps improperly, the trustees and authorities of the college for certain matters, and in doing so furnished an unfortunate example, which afterward was still more unfortunately and improperly followed. There was no doubt of his honesty and courage in making this arraignment, and just as little as to there being cause for it, but is propriety under the circumstances was quite another thing. The like had never been known in the history of the college, and its suddenness, point and novelty gave great offense. Taken in connection with some later episode in his career, this shows such an indifference to public opinion and careless disregard of consequences that can not be reconciled with his usual prudence and judgment, and may have interfered with usefulness and promotion, and impaired the estimate of a character so earnest and otherwise estimable. He received no further or higher degrees or honors from the college. After graduating he taught an academy for boys and young men in Camden, in the State of Delaware, until 1856, when he was called to take charge of the academy in Mercersburg, the same that once had been the preparatory department of Marshall College. Relinquishing finally the role of teacher in 1857, he finished the reading of law in the offices of Cessna & Shannon, in Bedford, Penn., where, in May, 1858, he was admitted as an attorney at law. A trip of nearly a year through the Western country followed, then he located in Chambersburg in 1859, and soon after formed a partnership with Capt. George Eyster, who afterward, for seventeen years, held the office of United States treasurer in Philadelphia. From the beginning he was more than ordinarily successful, but a rigid application to business and study and close confinement to office for the purpose, as he states it, of laying a broad and sure foundation for the future, brought on in about two years such a serious breaking down of health that left him little hope of recovery. Consequently ambition was laid aside and thenceforth his business as a lawyer was mainly confined to the less public, yet more weighty and important line of a practitioner in the orphans' court, and as a general office counselor. In these departments his success and standing are deservedly high. Advice, professional or otherwise, from him has led to few mistakes and disappointments, and his sagacity and practical wisdom, in ordinary business or in new enterprises, are so generally acknowledged that the community looks with much confidence upon any project that enlists his support. Able and candid in negotiation, yet there is always left an impression of force in reverse. In devotion to friends and in public spirit he has few equals. To him, perhaps, more than to any other one man is Chambersburg indebted for the last and only successful agricultural fair company, for the Wolf & Hamaker Mill Works and for the Taylor Manufacturing Company. All projects favoring the improvement of town or county, whether in building, agriculture, horticulture, new or superior stock, have received his hearty good wishes and active aid. At this time he is likely the only man in the county who has thoroughbred Guernsey cattle, and perhaps the only one who owns a specimen of imported neat [meat?] cattle. In politics having come from old Whig stock he is a steadfast Republican, but without noise or demonstration, rather avoiding office than seeking it. He has never held elective office, except such as burgess or school director, in which he considered it his duty as a citizen to serve. Having struggled for his own education, he, of course, is a decided advocate of it, and seems more especially interested in the higher education as found in some of the less pretentious colleges, the ruling idea of which is to thoroughly develop, strengthen and train the intellectual faculties rather than to load the memory; to be well on in building the vessel before putting in the cargo. For years he has been the treasurer and one of the most active and earnest members of the board of regents of Mercersburg College. His denominational connections are those of his forefathers, he is a member of the Reformed Church. In 1861 he was married Eliza Belle Oakes, of his native town, and they have three children living: Jessie, Lillian and Norman Leroy. History of Franklin Co., Pennsylvania, published by Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, IL, 1887, p. 621-623. Transcribed and Donated by Carol Parrish |