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MARSHALL COLLEGE
Class of 1847 Obituaries
Robert Smith BROWNSON, M. D., was born at
Mercersburg, Pa., October 19, 1827. His father was John Brownson, and his mother Sarah (Smith) Brownson, daughter of
William Smith, the founder of Mercersburg. Having prepared for college in his native town, he entered the
Freshman class of Marshall College in 1843, and was graduated with his class. He was a member of the Diagnothian
Society. He began the study of medicine with Dr. R. P. Little (1839), and obtained his diploma from the University
of Pennsylvania in 1851.
He practiced his profession for a time, in 1852, in Beaver,
Pa., and then returned to his native town. He was mustered into the U. S. service as captain of Company C of the
126th Regiment Pa. Vols., August 11, 1862, promoted to the rank of major, March 19, 1863, and mustered out
with the regiment, May 20, 1863.
He married Miss Mary Coyle, of Mercersburg, June 9,
1868. In the same house in which he was born, he died, June 15, 1885.
[Bates, 4 : 130 ; Mrs. Mary C. Brownson.]
Rev. Joshua Horlocher DERR, A. M., son of David and
Mary Magdalene (Horlocher) Derr, was born in Lower Milford township, Lehigh county, Pa., December 9, 1822.
About the year 1836 his parents removed to the neighborhood of Washingtonville, Montour county. Here the later
years of his youth were spent with his parents on the farm.
He was baptized in his infancy and confirmed in his youth.
His primary education was received in the common schools of Lehigh and Montour counties. Later he taught school
at the Blue schoolhouse in Columbia county, and the Paradise schoolhouse in Northumberland county.
From his boyhood he was " a diligent and voracious
reader." In 1841 he entered the Preparatory Department of Marshall College, then in charge of Rev. Andrew S.
Young (1838). In 1843 he entered the Freshman class, and graduated with honor, September 8, 1847. The subject
of his graduation oration was " Vocation of Genius." The same year he entered the Theological Seminary, graduating
in 1850. He was a Diagnothian. He received the degree of A. M. in 1854 from Franklin and Marshall College.
On a call from Selin's Grove charge he was licensed and
ordained by Susquehanna Classis, March 27, 1850, at a special meeting held at Freeburg, Union (now Snyder)
county, Pa. He then entered upon the practical work of the ministry, ministering to the following eleven pastoral
charges, besides doing some educational work.
The Selin's Grove charge was composed of four or five
congregations, which he served acceptably from April 1, 1850, to April, 1853. During a part of this time, in
connection with his ministerial duties, he was also principal of a select school in Selin's Grove. From April 20, 1853, to
December 20, 1854, he was principal of the Preparatory Department of Franklin and Marshall College. During
this period he was also pastor of the Elizabethtown charge in Lancaster county.
From 1855 to 1857 he was pastor of the charge in the
vicinity of Sellersville, Bucks county, Pa. In 1857 he became assistant pastor to Rev. Joseph S. Dubbs, D. D., in
Zion's Reformed church of Allentown, Pa., and for several years the two pastors preached alternately as collegiate
pastors of the same congregation. About 1859 the congregation was divided, and the followers of Rev. Derr
organized as St. John's congregation. The two congregations, however, continued to worship in the same building, until
1863, when both pastors resigned and the St. John's congregation was reunited with that of Zion's.
Rev. Derr then removed to Wooster, Wayne county,
Ohio, and became pastor of Wooster charge, consisting of four congregations, and served it from April 1, 1864, to
July, 1869. His next charge was Louisville, Stark county, Ohio, which he served with acceptance from the spring of
1870 to November, 1872. He then accepted a call to the Bellevue charge, in Huron county, Ohio. He began his
labors there December 1, 1872, resigning the charge June 3, 1877. From Bellevue he removed to Henry, Marshall
county, Ill., and engaged in teaching in Henry Seminary from 1877 to 1879. At the same time he supplied Reformed
congregations in that region. He then served for one year two small congregations in Spring Bay, Woodford county,
Ill., after which he returned East, and in the early part of 1880 took charge of the Reformed church at Williamsport,
Lycoming county, Pa., and continued there until April 1, 1882. His next field of labor was the East Berlin charge in
Adams county, Pa., from 1882 to 1886. His last regular charge was St. John's Reformed church of Catawissa,
Columbia county, Pa., which he served from April, 1886, to December, 1890.
In 1888 he visited Europe with the view of improving
his health, and in July of that year attended the Alliance of Reformed Churches holding the Presbyterial System, in
London. But neither travel nor medical skill brought relief. He was compelled to abandon the practical work of
the ministry in December, 189o. Soon after he removed to the home of a daughter, Mrs. W. H. Dimick, Bellevue,
Ohio, where he passed into his rest Sunday, June 21, 1891. He lies buried in the cemetery adjoining the church at
Bellevue.
On May 14, 1850, Rev. Derr was married to
Miss Jane Mary Bobst. They were blessed with six children. James Nevin, Monmouth, Ill.; Mrs. Mary M. Dimick, and Mrs.
Anna S. Smith, Bellevue, Ohio; Mrs. E. Jennie Spangler, and David Derr, Catawissa, Pa., these survive their father.
Rev. Derr was a man of strong character, a forceful
preacher, and able and active- in his ministry. He was a good parliamentarian, and understood the organic law of
the Church. Thoroughly Reformed, he was devoted to his Church, but not bigoted. He was much in demand at
church dedications because of his ability to raise money, and because he could speak equally well in German or
English. Though not without his faults and imperfections, he was honestly consecrated to the service of God. He had
excellent natural endowments, strong, heavy and of a commanding presence.
[Mrs. W. H. Dimick.]
James Franklin GOOD, son of Philip A. and Elizabeth
(Haak) Good, was born September 20, 1826, at Rehrersburg, Berks county, Pa. Rev. William Hendel baptized him
November 2, 1826. His youth was spent in Reading, Pa., and Hagerstown, Md., and finally at Mercersburg, Pa. He
entered the Freshman class in 1843, and was graduated from college with the class of 1847. He belonged to the
Goethean Society. After graduation he taught, as assistant to his brother, at Lancaster, Ohio, for at least six months.
He gave much promise of future usefulness. He died of typhoid fever a short time before the close of his theological
course at Mercersburg, April 23, 1850.
[Rev. Reuben Good, D. D.]
Benjamin Rush LITTLE, M. D., the youngest son of Dr.
P. W. and Mary Smith (Parker) Little, daughter of Col. Robert Parker, was born May 2, 1829. He was named for
Dr. Benjamin Rush of the University of Pennsylvania. He received his early schooling in Mercersburg, where he was
born. In 1843 he entered the Freshman class of Marshall College and was graduated with the class of 1847. He was
a member of the Goethean Society.
He began the study of medicine with his father and
brother, Dr. R. P. Little (1839). In the winter of 1848-49 he took a course of lectures at the Medical Department of
the University of Pennsylvania. He took a second course of lectures in Philadelphia in 1850-51, but at Jefferson
Medical College, where he graduated with honor in 1851.
After graduation he was engaged in professional practice
with his brother at Mercersburg, until 1853, when the latter removed to Columbus, Ohio. In the fall of 1856 Dr. B. R.
Little left Mercersburg, in search of health, for Keokuk, Iowa, where he was associated with Dr. J. H. Pottenger,
till he died the year following, December 7, 1857, of pulmonary consumption.
On April 23, 1856, by Rev. D. Zacharias, D. D., at
Frederick, Md., he was married to Miss Anna Maria Schley, sister of Mrs. Philip Schaff, and of Col. Wm. Louis Schley,
of Baltimore.
Dr. Little was of a genial and social disposition, an
enthusiast of the medical profession, and energetic beyond the measure of his physical strength.
[W. P. Little; Col. Wm. Louis Schley.]
Rev. Samuel PHILIPS, A. M., the son of Thomas
and Mary Ann (Eichelberger) Philips, was born near Hagerstown, Md., June 14, 1823. He prepared for college
at the Hagerstown Academy and entered the Sophomore class in 1844, graduating in 1847. He was a member of the
Diagnothian Literary Society, and helped build the Diagnothian Hall, by securing subscriptions from friends during
vacation. He graduated from the Theological Seminary at Mercersburg, and received the degree of A. M. in course in
1850.
His first charge was at Burkittsville, Md., where he was
ordained in 1848. From there he went to Dayton, Ohio, thence to Jefferson, Md., Chambersburg, Carlisle and
Allentown, Pa., and to the Aisquith Street church, Baltimore, Md.In 1871 he left the Reformed Church for the Presbyterian
Church. In the church of his adoption he served the following charges: Upper Roxborough, 1871-78; Leverington
Ave., Roxborough, Philadelphia, 1878-8o; supplied Dauphin
Street mission, Philadelphia, 1881. He then removed to Doe Run, Chester county, Pa., where he was stricken with
paralysis in the summer of 1885.
While a minister in the Reformed Church he contributed
to the Reformed Church Messenger, and wrote the following books: Gethsemane and the Cross, 1851; The Christian
Home, 1859; The Voice of Blood, 1864. He gave private classical instructions in almost every town in which he had
a charge.
He was a volunteer in the late Civil War, having formed
a company almost entirely composed of men in his own church at Carlisle. He entered the service as sergeant
major of Company G, 160th Reg. Pa. Vols., October 3, 1862; was made 1st lieutenant, July 22, 1864, and mustered
out with his company, June 21, 1865.
He was married, October 12, 1848, to Miss Rebecca Kay,
of Bedford, Pa. They had ten children, four of whom are living: Mrs. Charles L. Hamilton; Mrs. E. E. Hamilton;
Rev. James Kay Philips, who graduated from Auburn Theological Seminary in 1887, and is now literary editor of
Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia; and Melville Philips, literary editor of The Press, Philadelphia.
Rev. Samuel Philips died in Germantown, Philadelphia,
September 1, 1892.
[Allibone, v. 2, 1882 ; Bates, 4: 931; Rev. James Kay Phillips ; John
Philips.]
Peter Madison SHEIBLEY, A. M., son of Bernhart
and Mary (Holman) Sheibley, was born in Landisburg, Perry county, Pa., April 13, 1824. He attended a subscription
school prior to the creation of the public school system, and then studied surveying under Alexander Roddy for several
terms. About 1838 he clerked in the store of Mr. Geiger at Halifax, Dauphin county, Pa., and a few years later for the
same gentleman in Harrisburg, Pa. The spring of 1843 found him a student at Mercersburg. Entering the
Freshman class the same year, he graduated in 1847. He was a member of the Diagnothian Society.
After graduating he returned to his home at Landisburg
and taught school for a term at Green Park, an adjoining village. In 1848 he was principal of a flourishing academy
at Madison Court House, Va. In 1852 he sought a location further south, and started an academy at Decatur, Ga., then
an important town, a few miles northwest of the present city of Atlanta. Leaving Decatur in 1853 he went to Rome in
the same State, where he established an academy. He was noted as an excellent teacher and as a fine conversationalist.
At the outbreak of the Civil War he abandoned teaching
and later on his school building was partly demolished by the Union troops who encamped on and fortified a hill nearby.
He refused to enter the Confederate army and for that reason his life was endangered on different occasions, but
finally he escaped to the Union lines. His family " refugeed " in southern Georgia during the latter part of the
war.
At the close of the Civil War he turned his attention to
real estate and the care of his farming interests. In 1867-68 he was secretary of the Constitutional Convention of
Georgia, convening at Atlanta. He was postmaster at Rome from 1869 to 1873. He served as school director for
a number of years until failing health obliged him to retire. The schools of Rome owe much of their success to the
system he inaugurated.
In 1855 he married Miss Judith E. Borton, daughter of a
prominent family living near Orange Court House, Va. he died in Rome, August 2, 1894, leaving a widow, a son, and
two daughters to survive him.
[John H. Sheibley.]
Rev. Martin Albert SMITH, A. M., son of Benjamin and
Elizabeth (Albert) Smith, was born near New Bloomfield, Perry county, Pa., November 22, 1822. He was baptized in
infancy by Rev. F. Wm. Heim, a Lutheran minister.
When Martin was about six years old his father bought
a farm near Landisburg, to which he moved in the spring of 1829. Here he lived until he was about eighteen years
old, working on the farm in summer and going to school in winter. In the winter of 1840-41, he taught school at
Merkle's schoolhouse, near his birth-place. During the summer of 1841 he attended the Bloomfield Academy, and
in the winter taught school in Cumberland county, near Newville. The following summer he again attended school
at Bloomfield; the next winter he taught in Hogestown, Cumberland county, and in this way prepared
himself for college. During the spring and summer of 1843 he attended catechetical instruction under Rev. Chas. H.
Leinbach, and was confirmed at the Lebanon church, Loysville, July 1, 1843.
He entered the Freshman class of Marshall College in
1843. During his college course he taught school, in 1844-45, near St. Thomas, Franklin county, and in 1845-46, at
Bloomfield. He graduated in 1847. While at college he was a member of the Goethean Literary Society.
In the fall of 1847 he entered the Theological Seminary at
Mercersburg. In his Senior year in college he had taken some of the seminary studies, and so completed his seminary
course in the spring of 1849. On May 14, 1849, he was licensed to preach the Gospel by Zion's Classis, which was
in session at Sulphur Springs, near Carlisle, Pa. That summer he supplied the Nittany Valley charge, during the absence of the pastor, Rev. Wm. R. Yearick. In the fall of
the same year he accepted a position as teacher in the York Institute, York, Pa. He held this position until May, 1850,
at the same time preaching at Heindel's schoolhouse, on the Northern Central R. R., and at times supplying the
pulpits of churches in York. It was during this year that lie received the degree of A. M. from Marshall College.
On October 16, 1850, he was ordained and installed as
pastor of the Salem missionary charge by Westmoreland Classis. Soon after he was taken sick, and was confined to
his room from November, 1850, to April, 1851. He was slow to regain his health and had to resign his charge in
August: In March, 1852, he accepted a call to the Aaronsburg charge, which was composed of five congregations,
covering a large territory. Here he labored successfully for four years and nine months. He also preached four years
in the Presbyterian church at Spring Mills, Pa. During this pastorate two new churches were built, St. Paul's and St.
John's. On March 21, 1854, he married Miss Mary J. Meyer, daughter of George Meyer, of Centre county, Pa.
During the summer of 1856 he received a call from the
Hummelstown charge, Dauphin county, Pa., and in December of the same year removed with his family to
Dauphin county. This charge consisted of five congregations. One of them was numerically weak, and the
Hummelstown congregation was burdened with debt. He succeeded in liquidating the debt just before the outbreak of
the Civil War.
During the fall of 1866 he received a call from the
Dryland charge, Northampton county, Pa. This charge consisted of Dryland and Bath, to which the Nazareth congregation was afterwards added. For ten years he labored
acceptably in this charge, until a new church was erected for the Christ congregation at Bath, which had been a
union church. Then his labors were increased, for he preached at this place once each Lord's day. Finally it
began to tell on his health and, in the summer of 1885, he suffered from nervous prostration. In November lie
resigned Christ Church at Bath, which became a charge by itself, and he continued his labors at Dryland and Nazareth.
These two congregations he continued to serve until 1890, when, in December, he resigned, owing to ill health.
He gradually grew worse, and died March 13, 1891. He lies buried at Nazareth.
His wife preceded him to the eternal world. He had
nine children, three of whom died while young. The surviving are: three daughters, Bertha A., Mary E. and
Blanche; and three sons, Calvin Meyer (1882); George A., Palatinate College (1884), and College of Pharmacy, Philadelphia (1892); and Rev. Charles Martin (1891), and of the
Theological Seminary, class of 1894.
Martin A. Smith was repeatedly elected a delegate to the
district Synod; twice a delegate to the General Synod, in 1863 at Pittsburg, and in 189o, at Lebanon. In 1872 he
was president of the Mother Synod, then known as the Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States, and
now as the Eastern Synod. This was before the formation of the Synod of the Potomac. The Synod met that year
in Martinsburg, W. Va. Mr. Smith always had the confidence, esteem and love of his brethren in the ministry.
[Miss Blanche Smith.]
Edward Christian SOHN, M. D., was a son of E. C. and
Ann (Ransom) Sohn. He was born in Greencastle, Pa., August 15, 1824. He prepared for college in the Preparatory Department of Marshall College, and graduated from
the College in 1847. He was a Diagnothian. He also graduated from the Medical Department of the University
of Maryland with honorable mention, in 1854, when subject of his thesis was Puerperal Fever, and from the Marine
Hospital, Baltimore.
He practiced medicine at Tiffin, Ohio, from 1854 to 1856,
and dentistry at Galesburg, Ill., from 1856 until his death.
He was married in Frederick, Md., February 27, 1856, to
Miss Katharine Ann Rusama Barrick. There were two children born, a daughter and son. The daughter
preceded the father to the eternal world. Dr. Sohn died, after a lingering sickness, November 23, 1887, leaving his wife
and a son, who bears his name.
[Mrs. Katharine Sohn.]
Rev. George WOLFF, D. D.,
son of Henry and Sarah (Wolfe) Wolff, was born January
11, 1822, near
Harrisburg, Pa. He was baptized in infancy, and when a mere boy his parents removed to Adams county,
Pa. His early education was received in the common schools at New Oxford, Pa., and Pfeiffer's Academy. In
the fall of 1841 he entered the Preparatory Department of Marshall College, and two years later, the Freshman class.
He was a member of the Goethean Literary Society, and took an active interest in all college affairs. Graduating in
1847, he completed the course in the Seminary the following year.
On September 26, 1848, he was licensed to preach by
the Westmoreland Classis, and in October of the same year he accepted a call to a charge in Clarion county, Pa.,
consisting of two congregations. Here he performed a vast deal of missionary labor, and during the first eighteen
months of his pastorate, he organized six new congregations. At this time he was married to Hannah Dorotha,
daughter of Philip Bittenbender, Esq. At the end of five years he was compelled, on account of his health, to seek
a less laborious charge.
In the fall of 1853 he accepted a call to the Paradise
charge in Northumberland county, Pa. Here he labored with great acceptance for more than seven years. In January, 1861, he removed to Myerstown, Pa., and entered upon
the pastorate of the Myerstown charge. He also served the Womelsdorf and Mt. Etna congregations for eighteen
years, and when Host's congregation became vacant, he served it until it was united with another charge. In 1876
he began to serve the church at Rehrersburg. This congregation, with the others, he served until 1879, when he
felt the Myerstown congregation needed his whole time.
At his request Womelsdorf, Rehrersburg and Mt. Etna
were constituted a new charge, and from that time until the day of his death, he served the Myerstown congregation.
He spent twenty-eight years in this field.
As a preacher, Dr. Wolff was distinguished for his grace
of style and manner, for simplicity and directness of thought and speech. As a pastor, he is said to have been
unsurpassed. His home life was beautiful. In public life he shared the confidence of all who knew him. He was
frequently chosen a delegate to Synod.
Zealously interested in the cause of education, it was
largely through his influence that Palatinate College was founded at Myerstown. For a number of years he was a
prominent member of the Board of Directors. He was also interested in the establishment of Ursinus College.
This institution conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of
Divinity upon him in 1873. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Ursinus College, and a member of
the Board of Missions of the Reformed Church. For a time he was intimately connected with the church papers.
Through his influence and aid nine young men out of his charge entered the Christian ministry.
Dr. Wolff had to contend with bodily infirmities from the
beginning of his ministry. He, however, defied disease and toiled on, until the second attack of apoplexy weakened
his condition to such an extent that he deemed it expedient to retire from the active duties of the ministry. He
tendered his resignation, but the consistory unanimously refused to accept it, and he continued to minister unto his
people until September 23, 1888, when he was smitten with apoplexy in the pulpit. After hovering for months between
recovery and relapse, his strength gradually declined, and early in the morning of February 19, 1889, surrounded by
his family, he passed into rest. His widow and daughter, S. Emma, and son, Rev. D. U. Wolff (Ursinus College,
1875), of Blue Bell, Pa., survived him.
[College Student, 9: 115; Rev. D. U. Wolff.]
Source: Franklin and Marshall College
Obituary Record, Edited for the Alumni Association, Vol. 1, No.1, Lancaster,
Pa. Published by the Alumni Association of Franklin and Marshall
College, June 1897.
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