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MARSHALL COLLEGE
Class of 1848 Obituaries
Rev. Charles Harmony ALBERT, son of Jacob and
Esther (Harmony) Albert, was born in Allentown, Pa., August 25, 1824. In infancy he lost his mother, and soon
after his father moved to Perry county, near Landisburg. He fitted for college under Rev. Matthew B. Patterson at
the New Bloomfield Academy, in Perry county, Pa., and entered the Freshman class in 1844. He was a member of
the Goethean Society. He took his A. B. degree in 1848, and completed his studies in the Theological Seminary in
1850, when he was licensed by Lebanon Classis.
For a year, he taught a district school,, and on November
25, 1851, he married Miss Sarah Ellen Shirk, of Churchtown, Lancaster county, Pa., the ceremony being performed
in Philadelphia, by the Rev. Geo. Lewis Staley, D. D. Immediately after his marriage he accepted a call to the
presidency of Catawba College, Newton, N. C., and the pastorate of the Newton charge, where he was ordained to
the work of the ministry. In 1852 he resigned this presidency and pastorate and took charge of a Young Ladies'
Seminary at Lincolnton, N. C., at the same time preaching regularly to several congregations. The following year he
returned to Pennsylvania and took charge of the Mt. Pleasant Seminary, at Boyertown. The same year he
removed to Mauch Chunk, taught a private school and took deacon's orders in the Episcopal Church, of which he had
become a member. In 1854 he accepted a call to parishes in San Augustine, Nacogdoches, and Marshall, Texas. From
the latter place, in 1856, he went to New Orleans and took priest's orders under Bishop Leonidas Polk. For a short
time he lived in Batavia, Ill., returning to Texas, to Matagorda, in 1857. In 1860 he visited friends in Lancaster
county, Pa., and accepted a call to St. John's Episcopal church, Camden, N, J. The year following
he removed to Peru, 111,, and thence to Kankakee, where, during his
pastorate, St. Paul's church was built. In the spring of 1866 he was sent as a missionary to Batesville and
Jacksonport, Ark., where, after a few years of arduous labor and many hardships, his life came to a tragic end, the result of
injuries received in being thrown from his carriage in a runaway. He died July 17, 1868. His widow, a son,
Theophilus, and two daughters, Alberta and Theodora, survive him, all residing in Arkansas. He was buried in
Oak Lawn cemetery, Batesville.
During his student days Mr. Albert spent much of his
time writing poetry, and while at college he published a collection of his poems, " Youth's Phantasies and Cupid
Abroad." It was published at Mercersburg, in 1847, and contains 152 pages.
[The Fathers, 4: 499; Mrs. S. E. Albert; Frank Smith; Rev. Wm.
A. West.]
Rev. John BECK, D. D., the only son of George and
Eliza Beck, was born in York, Pa., April to, 183o. After attending the academic schools of York, he entered the
Preparatory Department of Marshall College, " where his application was intense and progress rapid." In 1844 he
entered the Freshman class, graduating with his class. He united with the Goethean Society, and held important
offices in that body.
Soon after graduation he entered the Theological
Seminary at Mercersburg, pursuing a full course and graduating with high honors in the fall of 185o. In October of this
year he was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Synod which met at Martinsburg, W. Va. He was ordained by
the Maryland Classis in 1853, and soon after accepted the Funkstown charge in Maryland, consisting of three
congregations: Funkstown, Clearspring, and St. Paul's, where he labored with great zeal and encouraging success. In
September, 1854, he accepted a call to the Third Street Reformed church, the oldest church in Easton, Pa. In
this charge he labored with untiring energy, conducting for a long time both German and English services. During
his ministerial labors, three new congregations, St. Mark's in the West Ward (1875-76), Grace Reformed church on
College Hill, and one earlier still, in South Easton, were organized. In June, 1873, the degree of D. D. was
conferred upon him by Franklin and Marshall College.
On November 8, 1855, he was married to Elizabeth,
daughter of George and Martha B. Shafer, of Springdale, Washington county, Md. Of five children only one, Martha
Bond, survived her father.
From records we have gathered the following: He
preached about 5,000 sermons, lectures and discourses; officiated at 966 baptisms; received by confirmation 429
persons; solemnized 475 marriages; and conducted 481 funerals.
He was made by the German Reformed Church: a
director for life of the American Tract Society, in 1855; a director for life of the American and Foreign Christian
Union, in 1865; a life member of the American Seamen's Friend Society, in 1869; and, in 1863, he was appointed a
delegate of the U. S. Christian Commission to minister to the sick and dying on the Gettysburg battlefield, in the
Hagerstown hospitals, etc. From 1863 he was a member of the General Synod, and at the time of his death he was
president of the Synod. He was also a member of the Board of Visitors of the Theological Seminary. He was
an " honored and prominent" member of the " Ministerial Association," in which he held " various positions of trust
and responsibility." Dr. Beck died very suddenly of paralysis of the brain, April 19, 1877.
We see from the resolutions adopted by the Sunday
School, that it, too, sustained in his death a great loss: "An able and willing guide, a learned and efficient expounder
of, and instructor in, divine truths for nearly twenty-three years." A marble In Memoriam tablet was erected near
the altar by the school; a very beautiful and appropriate memorial window in the church, and a handsome
monument in the Easton cemetery, both by the congregation, in memory of one who had so faithfully served them for
nearly a quarter of a century.
[The Fathers, 5: 278; Private sources.]
Rev. Aaron CHRISTMAN, A. M., son of John and
Christianna (Ellick) Christman, was born in Northampton county, Pa., June 4, 1826. After studying for a time at
Easton, Pa., he spent two years in the Preparatory Department, and then entered the Freshman class of Marshall
College in 1844, graduating with his class. He was a Diagnothian. He received the degree of A. M. from Franklin and
Marshall College, in 1853. After leaving college he studied theology under Rev. Richard A. Fisher of Sunbury, Pa.,
and in the spring of 185o was licensed to preach by the Susquehanna Classis. He was ordained by the
Mercersburg Classis, October 23, 1850, and served as pastor of the Huntingdon (Pa.) charge about six months. About 1853
Rev. Christman left the Reformed Church to unite with the Episcopal Church. Serving as pastor of an Episcopal
church in Philadelphia for several years, he then went to California for his health. While he was pastor of Calvary
church, Philadelphia, Rev. Christman published in pamphlet form, in 1856, Christianity,—a lecture delivered before
several literary societies. He returned from California in about six months, and, within a week of his return to
Philadelphia, died, March 29, 186o, of consumption. He lies buried on God's acre at Christ Church, Lower
Saucon, Northampton county, Pa.
[The Fathers, 4: 497; Rev. D. F. Brendle, D. D.; Rev. Wm. M.
Deatrick, D. D.; Rev. A. B. Koplin, D. D.]
Rev. Joseph CLARK, A. M., was born near Carlisle, Pa.,
October II, 1825. He was a lineal descendant of Joseph and Margaret (Smiley) Clark, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians,
who came to this country in 1739 and settled in the vicinity of Carlisle. He was the son of Robert Clark, grandson of
the above Joseph Clark. He received his preparatory education in New Bloomfield, Perry county, Pa., and entered
the Sophomore class of Marshall College in 1845, graduating in three years with the highest honors of his class,
delivering the Marshall oration. He was a member of the Goethean Society.
From Mercersburg he went to Allegheny, and graduated
from the Western Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church in the spring of 1851. On June 11 of the
same year, he was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Carlisle. Soon after he was ordained and
installed as pastor of the Falling Spring Presbyterian church, Chambersburg, Pa. He discharged his duties as
pastor of this church with great acceptance until October 7, 1857, when he was released by the Presbytery, in
consequence of a disease of the throat, which rendered it difficult for him to continue longer in the practice of public
speaking. After that he engaged in business with the hope of regaining his health; but he met with a painful accident
on June 5, 1865, and on June 9 died from the effects of the injury he had received.
He was married October 19, 1852, to Annie M. Fetter,
daughter of Jacob Fetter of Carlisle. Three sons and a daughter survive their father: Robert Williams, David
Elliott, Joseph McClure, and Maria Fetter, now Mrs. Buchaum, of Chambersburg.
Rev. Joseph Clark was a very excellent pastor and
preacher. He was, besides this, a good writer, and contributed a number of scholarly articles to current
scientific and theological publications. In the Princeton Review two articles attracted much attention: one entitled "The
History and Theory of Revolutions, as applied to the Present Southern Rebellion " (April, 1862, 34 : 244), and
the other " The Scepticism of Science " (January, 1863, 35:43). To the Mercersburg Review he contributed:
Bailey's Festus, Eureka, Persecution of Philosophy, Some of our Popular Amusements, Francis Jeffrey, The Strong
Character, Two Funerals, Conybeare's Life of St. Paul, Historical Pretensions of Free Masonry, Chief Justice
Gibson, Hugh Miller, Hugh Miller as a Geologist, and Conybeare's Epistles of St. Paul. These thirteen articles are all
excellent. On August 28, 1852, at the anniversary of the Goethean Literary Society, he delivered an address on
Young Americanism, which was published at Chambersburg the same year. It is a pamphlet of 24 pages.
[Rev. W. C. Cremer; Prof. Jos. H. Dubbs.]
Charles Augustus GEIGER, A. M., M. D., eldest son of
Rev. Jacob and Anna Catharine (Seltzer) Geiger, was born at Manchester, Md., June 1, 1827.
After completing his preparatory education in the academy of his native town, he entered the Freshman class of
Marshall College in 1844, graduating in 1848. He was a member of the Goethean Society. The degree of A. M.
was conferred on him by Alma Mater, in 1854.
After long deliberation with his father, who earnestly
desired that he should enter the ministry, it was finally arranged that he should pursue the medical profession.
Entering the University of Virginia in 1849, he pursued his studies so assiduously that the degree of M. U. was
conferred upon him at the close of the scholastic year, in June, 1850.
His father became interested in the system of
Hahnemann, during frequent visits to his native county of Lehigh, Pa., where an academy, for the training of students in that
system of practice, had been founded in 1833, and the son, influenced by the favor with which it had been
received in the community, resolved to supplement his medical knowledge by a course at the Homoeopathic Medical
College in Philadelphia, from which he graduated in March, 1851. Establishing himself in his native place, he was the
means of popularizing the new system of medical practice, the foundation having already been laid by his father. He
maintained an extensive practice until 1855, when he decided to remove to the South, leaving a younger brother to
succeed him.
He located first in Atlanta, Ga., but was induced by a
classmate to remove to Montgomery, Ala. Roswell, Ga., the seat of extensive cotton factories, presenting a more
promising field, he finally settled there in 1856. In 1857 he married Miss Sarah Atwood, daughter of a planter and
cotton manufacturer of middle Georgia. She died in 1858, leaving a daughter.
The progress of the war hampered the manufacturing
interests of the South through the difficulty in maintaining the necessary machinery. In 1863 he ran the blockade at
Wilmington, N. C., proceeded to England, made needful purchases, and returned, via Bermuda, to the port from
which he had sailed. Three-fifths of his purchases were shortly afterward brought in, the remainder having been
captured.
Stirring events in Georgia during 1864 led him into the
service, and he was engaged as surgeon in the hospital at Macon until hostilities ceased.
At the close of the war he married Miss Helen Barnwell
of South Carolina, and returned to Manchester, Md., in 1866, where he remained, engaged in the practice of
medicine, until 1874; when he removed to Baltimore. In 1879, deprived for the second time of his helpmate, his
old longing for the South returned and, in 1883, he removed once more to Roswell, where he was bereaved of his
eldest daughter in the following year.
Failing health gradually impaired his activity. He died
August 23, 1887. A son, Dr. Charles A., and daughter, Carrie H., now living in Roswell, survive him.
[George T. Shower, M.D.]
Rev. Thomas JOHNSTON, son of Col. James Houston
and Nancy (Rankin) Johnston, was born in the Big Cove, six miles south of McConnellsburg, Fulton county, Pa.,
February 23, 1826. He received his preparatory training in the public schools of his county, and in the Preparatory
Department of Marshall College, from which he entered College, graduating with his class in 1848. He was a
member of the Goethean Literary Society.
After graduation he studied theology under the
presbyterial direction of the Revs. Finlay W. McNaughton and Chauncey Webster, of the Associate Church, and was
ordained in Philadelphia, early in 1852. There he conducted a select school, and was pastor of a congregation until the
summer of 1858.
September 4, 1855, he was united in marriage to Sarah
Getty McNaughton, daughter of Rev. Finlay W. McNaughton. In the fall of 1858 he moved to Allegheny
county,. Pa., near Allegheny City. Prior to this he withdrew from the Associate Church, and entered the Reformed
Presbyterian Church. He was elected pastor of a charge composed of two congregations, Pine Creek and Bethel.
About 1868, when the psalmody controversy waxed hot in
that church, he, with nearly all, if not all, the members of his Presbytery, left that denomination and entered the
Presbyterian Church, in which he remained until his death. His Pine Creek congregation clung to him, except three or
four persons. These few filed a bill in equity to recover possession of the church property, which was finally
awarded them by the Supreme Court. He and his devoted followers then built a new church, in 1875, now known as
the Hampton Presbyterian Church, about six miles north of Allegheny City. About 187o he was elected pastor of Bull
Creek Presbyterian congregation, which is about 15 miles from the Hampton Church. These two pulpits he filled
each Lord's Day, till March, 1886. He was a man of great will power and energy. Once, during an epidemic among
the horses of the community, after preaching to his Pine Creek congregation, he walked to Bull Creek church, a
distance of 12 miles, and preached his second sermon on time, a few hours later. On another occasion, having been
taken sick on the way, his physician advised him to dismiss the assembled congregation; but instead, he delivered his
sermon seated on a chair, and then sought a bed.
In 1875 he opened a school known as Hampton
Academy. Here, with a corps of teachers, he not only prepared his own sons for college, but many of the boys and girls
of the community. He also edited a bi-monthly paper, called the Hampton Press, which gave the news and working
of the school, and contained one of his sermons each issue.
He was a member of the Board of Trustees of
Washington and Jefferson College for several years. He was frequently called upon for educational and other addresses.
His first wife having died in August, 1865, he was again
married, October 31, 1876, to Christiana Hill McFern, daughter of David McFern, treasurer of Allegheny City.
In March, 1886, having resigned both his congregations, he took a trip to Florida, with a view of locating in a less
rigorous climate. While there he took sick, hastened home, took his bed with what proved to be inflammation of the
brain. He died May 19, 1886. His widow, residing at Allegheny City, and three sons of the first wife, survive him:
Finlay McNaughton Johnston, Esq. (University of Chicago, 188o), McConnellsburg, Pa.; James Houston
Johnston, Esq. (Washington and Jefferson, 1883), Pittsburg, Pa.; Walter Johnston, M. D. (Washington and Jefferson, 1883),
Seattle, Wash.
[F. McN. Johnston, Esq.]
Stephen Barnett KIEFFER, A. M., M. D., was born
September 6, 1824, in Franklin county, Pa., at Rockdale, now Kieffer's Station on the South Penn branch of the
Cumberland Valley Railroad. His parents, Stephen and Mary Kieffer, were distant counsins, descended from Abram
Kieffer, who emigrated from Strasburg and who was of a Huguenot family named Michel, which had fled from
persecution into Alsace, where the family name was changed to Kieffer. Stephen Kieffer was a prosperous farmer, deeply
interested in the church and her institutions. Stephen B. labored on his father's farm, attending the country school of
his district until eighteen years of age, when he entered the grammar school at Mercersburg, Pa. In 1844 he entered
the Freshman class of Marshall College, and graduated with honor, in 1848. He took his master degree in course. He
was a member of the Goethean Society.
In 1851 he graduated in medicine at the University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and began his professional life in Carlisle, Pa., " as useful as it was signally famous."
On April 5, 1851, he was married to Miss Catherine E. Keller, daughter of George Keller, of Carlisle. His widow
still survives him and is living in Carlisle.
Dr. Kieffer's ability attracted attention at home and
abroad, and he was soon recognized as a leader in his profession. With others he founded the Cumberland County
Medical Society, of which he continued a member until his death. He was president of the Pennsylvania State
Medical Society in 1873 and 1877, and delivered the annual address, on obstetrics, before the Society, at Easton, Pa., in
1874. He was a member of the American Medical Association, and was a prominent member of the International
Medical Congress held in Philadelphia in 1876. He assisted in inaugurating the national movement which resulted in the
establishment of the American Academy of Medicine. He contributed frequently to medical journals, both in the
interest of medicine and surgery, and delivered many addresses before various associations. His address before the Alumni
of Franklin and Marshall College, in 1875, on The Relation of Science and Faith, attracted attention among the learned
men of all professions.
Dr. Kieffer was a sympathetic, large-hearted gentleman,
possessed of abundant wit. His imitations and reproductions of the speeches and manners of others were
remarkable for their faithfulness and humor. The late Rev. Dr. Philip Schaff heartily enjoyed Dr. Kieffer's rendition of his
own earlier sermons and addresses, delivered when he was struggling with the mysteries of pronunciation peculiar to
the English language.
On October 27, 1887, Dr. Kieffer died in Carlisle from
pneumonia. He was a member of the Reformed church of Carlisle, and for twenty-five years, superintendent of the
Sunday-school.
[College Student, 8 : 39 ; Rev. Ellis N. Kremer, D. D.]
Rev. Edwin McKean LONG, A. M., D. D., son of Samuel
and Elizabeth (Worman) Long, was born January 28, 1827, in Allentown, Pa. He began his college career in 1843 at
Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., and then entered the Junior class of Marshall College in 1847, graduating in 1848. He
was a member of the Diagnothian Society. He also graduated from the Theological Seminary at Mercersburg. He
received the degree of A. M. in 1851, from his Alma Mater.
He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, but
changed to the Reformed Church, because he thought he could do better work preaching in the German language.
He afterwards returned to the Presbyterian Church. He served the Reformed churches of Milton and
McEwensville, Pa., from 185o to 1852. He was the agent for the American Tract Society from 1852 to 1858. Subsequently
he supplied a Lutheran church in Tremont, Pa., and a Presbyterian church in Philadelphia. In the latter city he
was the superintendent of the Union Tabernacle in 1858.
He resigned his charge to engage in mission work in
northern Pennsylvania, and used the portable pulpit. He was the originator of the movable tent, and of the plan of
preaching illustrated sermons with pulpit paintings. He began the plan of duplicating the paintings for the use of
other pastors, and established the Pulpit Painting House of Philadelphia.
He was the author of various publications: Union
Tabernable, or, Movable Tent-Church, 1859; Precious Hymns of Jesus; Talks to Children; Good News Magazine, 1862;
Illustrated Sermon Monthly, 1881 +; Gospel in the Pentateuch; Old Testament Biography; Life of Christ;
Parables; Pilgrim's Progress and Holy War; Emblems and Temperance; Great Questions of the Bible; Lives of the
Apostles; Typical Characters; Sermons for Children; Gospel in Anatomy, 2 v.; Sacred Sites; Gospel in Nature;
Illustrated History of Hymns and their Authors, 1875.
He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from a
Western college.
He was married to Mrs. Emeline B. (Wack) Worman
January 28, 1850. Nine children were born to them: Garrett Brainard; Elizabeth C.; Edwin W. (Lafayette, 1877);
Madison M.; Laura M.; Minnie H.; Mrs. Clara P. Hackman; Mrs. Kate I. Everhart; Frank D.
Dr. Long died October 2, 1894, in Philadelphia.
[Allibone, Supplement, v. 2; Edwin W.
Long.]
Rev. Robert Lewis McCUNE, son of Jacob Brewer and
Catherine (Divelbiss) McCune, was born at Mercersburg, Pa., September 26, 1826. After having attended the
Preparatory Department, he entered the Freshman class of Marshall College in 1844, and was graduated with his class.
Turning his attention to teaching, he conducted the
Berrysburg (Pa.) Classical Institute in 1849; in 1850-51 the Birchgrove Academy; the Willow Grove Academy,
Gerrardstown, W. Va., in 1852; and the Mercer (Pa.) Academy, in 1853.
He graduated from the Western Theological Seminary
of the Presbyterian Church, Allegheny, Pa., in 1855, and was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Carlisle
the same year. He attended lectures at the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1856, and then went as a
missionary colporteur to Alabama. He was ordained in 1857 as an evangelist by the Presbytery of East Alabama.
Afterwards he preached in the Valley of Virginia, at the Lebanon
Presbyterian church, and at Front Royal, until the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1861 he moved to Western
Pennsylvania, and preached as supply for the church at Montours, near Pittsburg. He attended an extra course of
lectures at the Western Theological Seminary, and then went as a home missionary to Illinois, where he remained
until the close of the war, when he returned to Pennsylvania to preach at Shade Gap and Upper Tuscarora churches.
Subsequently he was installed pastor of Bethel church at
Cottage, Pa. He was pastor of the Heuvelton Presbyterian church, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., for three years. From
there he went to Hamburg, Iowa, and Missouri Valley and Logan church, one year and three months. Returning to
Pennsylvania, he took charge of the St. Thomas and Rocky Springs churches, in Franklin county, and also Fayetteville
church. After 1877 he had no regular charge, but preached as occasion offered. In 1891 he went to Brasher Iron
Works, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., where he owned property. In September, 1894, he was stricken with paralysis,
but rallied from this attack and returned to Pennsylvania.
He died at Fredonia, Mercer county, Pa., April 3, 1895,
at the residence of his niece, Mrs. F. G. Byles, with whom he had made his home a year prior to his decease. He was
married April 4, 1877, to Elizabeth H. Wallace of Philadelphia.
[F. G. Byles, M. D.; W. Brewer McCune.]
Frisby Snively NEWCOMER, M. D., son of Martin and
Mary (Snively) Newcomer, was born at Hagerstown, Md., December lo, 1828; and died at Lake Bluff, Ill., September
13, 1889.
He prepared for college at the Hagerstown Academy,
and at St. James College, near Hagerstown, and went thence to Marshall College, in 1844, entering the Freshman class,
and graduating in 1848. He was a member of the Diagnothian Society.
He studied medicine in the office of Dr. Wm. M. Grubb,
of Greencastle, Pa., taking the full course of lectures in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania,
from which he was honorably graduated in 1851.
In September of that year he located permanently in
Indianapolis, Ind., and becoming associated with Dr. Geo. W. Mears, he at once entered upon a career of activity,
usefulness and influence which ended only with his life. He married, November 9, 1852, Sallie E. Irwin, of
Franklin county, Pa., who survives him. To them have been born three children—Mary, wife of Benj. D. Walcott, of
Indianapolis; George Mears, now residing in New York City; and Nancy Irwin, unmarried. Both daughters were
educated in private schools in Philadelphia; the son in Indianapolis.
In his personal relations to life, he was a man of rare
sweetness and force of character, beloved by all who came into any measure of intimate contact with him, and to all
was the wise and tender physician to both body and soul. He was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church, and
a Scottish Rite Mason.
In the early history of the Indiana Medical College, he
was recommended as "a proper person to fill the chair of Materia Medica and Therapeutics," but he declined the
honor, preferring to devote his attention and efforts solely to his private practice, already large and exacting.
At the beginning of the late war, he promptly offered his
services, and was at once assigned by Gov. Morton to duty on his staff as examining surgeon and medical director,
in which service he continued to the close of the war. From that time to his death, he was surgeon to the force at the
U. S. Arsenal, at his home, and until 1885, was one of the local examining board for the U. S. Pension Bureau. He
was also, for many years, physician to the Deaf and Dumb Institute of the State.
At the time of his death he was a member of the Board
of School Commissioners of Marion county; of the Board of Trade of Indianapolis; and of the Indianapolis Literary
Club.
He was always an active and indefatigable member of
the County, State and National Medical Societies, and of the American Microscopical Association. Of the latter he
was first vice-president in 1886. In recognition of his work in microscopy, he was elected an honorary member of the
Royal Microscopical Society of London. In addition to his histologic work, he was an authority on recent and fossil
diatomaceae and rhizopods, his collections of which now form a part of those of the Colorado State collection.
The estimate in which he was held by his professional
associates is appropriately indicated by the fact that, at a meeting of the Marion County Medical Society—of which
he was for a time the president, and for many years chairman of the Committee on Ethics of the State Society—twenty of his associates rose and spoke, from tender hearts,
their loving tributes, one of them concluding thus: " Dr. Newcomer's life seemed to have made a full circle, and
there is scarcely a practitioner here but who has run tangent to it in some radius of aid, or love, or counsel, or
professional courtesy."
[Albert Small.]
David Elliott REYNOLDS, M. D., son of Thomas
Brown and Mary (Speer) Reynolds, was born November 21, 1826, in Franklin county, Pa., near Chambersburg.
When yet an infant his parents purchased a farm in the southern part of the same county, near Mercersburg. From
here David, at a very early age, was placed in a select school at Greencastle, Pa., conducted by James McDowell. He
entered the Preparatory Department of Marshall College in 1842, the Freshman class in 1844, and graduated with
his class. He was a member of the Diagnothian Literary Society.
Soon after graduation he entered the office of Dr. R. P.
Little (1839), preparing himself to enter the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he
graduated in 185o. He practiced medicine one year in the Pennsylvania Hospital, receiving a diploma from that
institution.
In the winter of 1851 he went to New Orleans, La., and
began the practice of medicine. When the epidemic of yellow fever appeared in New Orleans, he was strongly
urged to withdraw from the city, since he had not yet become acclimated; but he considered it his duty, both from
motives of humanity and the desire to study the dread disease, to stay at his post. In a letter to his home shortly
before his death he remarked, that of five of the young physicians, his intimate associates and all recently from the
North, he followed the corpse of the last to the grave the day before. He was taken sick September 3, 1853, and
died September 9.
[Mrs. Susan R. Smith.]
George W. RUBY, A. M., Ph. D., son of Henry and
Catharine (Rathfon) Ruby, was born in Lower Windsor township, York county, Pa., July 4, 1824. He was of
German descent, and the family has been in York county for more than a century.
Dr. Ruby first attended school at Lititz, Pa., under the
tutorship of John Beck, after which he entered Marshall College as a Freshman, in 1844, graduating with honors in
1848. He was a member of the Goethean Literary Society.
After graduation he taught school at Middletown, Md.
In 185o he came to York, and was elected principal of the York County Academy, founded in 1786. This position he
filled for thirty consecutive years.
The degree of Doctor of Philosophy was conferred upon
him by Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pa., and by Franklin and Marshall College in 1875.
Dr. Ruby was married December 14, 1848, to Miss H.
Mary Hassler. Four children were born to them: Henry J., Philadelphia, Pa.; William H., John C., and Samuel
Ruby, York, Pa., who, together with the widow, survive the death of the father and husband, which occurred
November 16, 1880. Prof. Ruby's life was one of much usefulness.
[College Student, 1: II; John C. Ruby.]
David SNIVELY, a son of Joseph and Nancy
Snively, was born January 21, 1828, near Greencastle, Franklin county, Pa. He received his preliminary education in the
public schools and the Preparatory Department of Dickinson College, where he remained for a short time, when he
came to Marshall College, entering the Freshman class.
He graduated, with honor, in 1848. He was an active
member of the Diagnothian Literary Society. While in college he became a member of the Reformed Church at
Mercersburg.
After graduation he entered the Theological Seminary,
where he remained for two years. He was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Synod in session at Martinsburg,
W. Va., in the fall of 185o. He had charge of the academy at Mercersburg during the year 1851-52.
Early in 1853 he entered the Roman Catholic Church, at
Baltimore. He then went to St. John's College, Fordham, N, Y., and on May 22, 1853, sailed for France, where he
studied at St. Achiel, preparatory to taking vows. He returned to the United States in December, 1858, going again
to St. John's College, at Fordham. In 186o and 1861 he was at a college in Boston, Mass.; in 1862, he was at St.
Vincent, Pa. Ile was stationed at Eric, Pa., in 1863. In 1865 he was in Oil City, Pa. Ile died in August, 1868,
at Erie, and is buried there. David Snively belonged to the order of Jesuits.
[Rev. Joseph W. Santee, D. D.]
Christian Beecher WOLFF, A. M., son of Dr. Bernard
C. and Charlotte (Wolff) Wolff, and brother of George Dering (1840), was born in Martinsburg, W. Va.,
September 15, 1829. He received his preparatory training in Easton, Pa., under Dr. John Vanderveer, and entered the
Sophomore class of Marshall College in 1845. He was a member of the Diagnothian Literary Society. After having
graduated with his class, he finished his course in the Theological Seminary in
1850. In 1854 he received the degree of A. M. from Franklin and Marshall College.
In some doubt whether he had received a call to labor
in the ministry, he went to Baltimore, and entered the store of a druggist to perfect himself in that profession; but that
turned out to be unsatisfactory to his taste. In 1854 he went to Mercersburg with his father, and there pursued
miscellaneous studies. Subsequently he was licensed to preach the Gospel, but was never ordained. He finally
believed that teaching was his proper calling and, accordingly, established a select school at Greencastle, Pa. There
he remained until after the war.
April 21, 1864, he married Miss Susan Z. Hartman, of
Greencastle. In 1866 he became professor of languages in Washington College, at Chestertown, Md. He remained
there three years, when, suffering from ill health, he removed to Baltimore, and remained there seven years,
spending most of the time in teaching, until 1875. In 1871 he went over with his brother to the Roman Catholic Church.
From 1875 to 1877 he taught a parochial school at Cumber-land, Md.
From 1877 to 1889 he was a professor in the Broad
Street Academy in Philadelphia. Here he taught various branches, and among the rest, the French language, which,
however, he first had to master for himself. After the school closed he became assistant cashier in the
Philadelphia postoffice for one year.
He then removed to Lancaster, Pa., where he had a home
of his own. There he spent most of his time in improving his pleasant grounds, or in writing editorials for the Catholic
Standard, to relieve his brother George, whose strength began to fail. An irrepressible catarrh, however, set in,
and his strength also began to fail. He died August 25, 1894.
Never before, perhaps, was a younger brother more
identified with the life and activity of an older one than in this instance. Here the death of the one most likely hastened
the death of the other. They both died in the same year, the one in the winter, the other in the summer. It was
the dying request of the latter, that if his wife should ever sell his fine property on James Street, adjoining the
Seminary grounds, the Theological Seminary should have the first chance to buy it; and the Seminary now possesses it
in fee simple.
[Rev. Theodore Appel, D. D.]
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.
Obituaries
Document
Index
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