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MARSHALL COLLEGE
Class of 1850-51 Obituaries
Thurston ARMSTRONG, son of Alexander and Susan
(Hammond) Armstrong, was born at Hagerstown, Md., November 26, 1832. He prepared for college in his native
town and entered the Junior class of Marshall College in 1848. While at college he was a member of the Goethean
Society. Soon after his graduation, in 1850, he was taken ill and finally was removed to a hospital near Baltimore,
where he died, July 25, 1855.
[Rev. J. S. Kieffer, D. D.]
Henry Swoyer ECKERT, son of Isaac and Judith
(Hahan) Eckert, was born in Reading, Pa., July 5, 1829, and died there January to, 1894. His father, a graduate
of the University of Pennsylvania, gave him a careful preparatory education, and he entered the Sophomore class of
Marshall College in 1847. He was a member of the Goethean Society.
After his graduation, in 1850, he entered into the iron
business with his father, and shortly after became the active manager of the works. He continued to serve in this
capacity until July 1, 1873, a few months before his father's death, when he and his brother, George B. Eckert, formed
a copartnership, under the name of Eckert & Bro., for the purpose of carrying forward the same business. Shortly
before that time, he became interested in a rolling mill, and a firm, under the name of McHose, Eckert & Co., was
organized. His business interests were numerous and varied. He succeeded his father to the presidency of the
Farmers' National Bank of Reading, in 1873, and held this office until his death. He was also a trustee of the Union
Trust Company, and of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Philadelphia; president of the Eastern
PigIron Association (from its organization in 1883); president of the Topton Furnace Company of Topton; and of the
Pennsylvania Bolt and Nut Works, at Lebanon.
He was vice-president, for a number of years, of the
Board of Trade of Reading. He was elected a member of the Select Council of the same city, in 1872, and served a
term of three years, being president two years. During the war he enlisted as one of the " emergency men " against
Lee's invasion. In 1866 he was nominated for Congress by the Republican party, but only to be defeated in a district
always strongly Democratic.
The cause of education received a large amount of Mr.
Eckert's attention. He was elected to the Reading school-board, and was chosen president by the controllers, a
position which he held from 1879 to 1891.
He was a member of the Manufacturers' Club of
Philadelphia, and of the Wyomissing Club of Reading, of which he was the first president. He was also a member of
Lodge 62, F. and A.M.
In 1857 Mr. Eckert was married to Miss Carrie Hunter.
They had four children: Helena, Katie, Hunter and Isaac. The last two graduated from Lafayette College.
[W. K. Eckert.]
James Siegfried LEE, A. M., was born September 28,
1822, in Maxatawny township, Berks county, Pa., at Siegfried's mill. Mr. Lee's father was from Chester county, Pa.,
and a Quaker. He taught school in this section of Berks county, when he met Katharine Siegfried, and this son is
the result of their meeting.
The lad was educated by his mother. At about the age
of fifteen he attended Franklin Academy at Kutztown and prepared for teaching. He taught in the country schools
at an early age, and later taught in Hamburg, Berks county.
He entered the Freshman class of Marshall College in 1843
and remained two years. About 1846 he married Miss Katharine Zieber, of Reading, Pa. He moved to Allentown,
Pa., and taught there; but his house having been accidentally destroyed by fire he decided to leave and to return to college.
In 1848 he returned to the Junior class and graduated in
1850. He was a member of the Diagnothian Literary Society. Alma Mater conferred the degree of A. M. upon
him in 1853.
After graduation he went to Reading and taught in the
public schools till 1854, when he organized the Reading Academy, on South Fifth Street, where the Roman Catholic
Sisters now have the academy of the Immaculate Heart. He was principal of this academy till his death, which
occurred March 27, 1858. He was a member of the Second Reformed church, and for some time superintendent of the
Sunday-school. He had no children. He is buried in Charles Evans cemetery, Reading.
Mr. Lee was a thorough scholar and a competent teacher.
His pupils, many of the best teachers of that day, speak of him in the most flattering terms. He became lame in
boyhood, having cut himself cutting wood, and died of hip disease as a result of his early misfortune.[Prof. Samuel A. Baer.]
John Henry SHUMAKER, A. M., Ph.D., was of Prussian
ancestry, the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Hartman) Shumaker, and was born at, or near, Green Park, Perry county,
Pa., September 7, 1828, and died in Chambersburg, Pa., February 7, 1894. His early years were spent upon a farm
with his parents, and in due course of time he was matriculated at Tuscarora Academy, located at Academia, Pa.,
where, under Mr. David Wilson, who was then principal of the- academy, he was prepared for college.
In the spring of 1848 he entered the Sophomore class of
Marshall College, where he at once took high rank as a student, as a speaker, and as a writer. Shortly after
entering college, he became a member of the Diagnothian Literary Society, and during his Senior year was elected
anniversarian for the Society's anniversary in 1850. He received the degree of A. M. in course in 1853.
It seems that, at an early date, Dr. Shumaker had fixed
upon teaching as his profession. He inherited a love of imparting knowledge to others, for his great-grandfather
had been tutor to the King of Prussia. Immediately after graduation, in 1850, he engaged in teaching at
Saegerstown for one year, and in 1851 was elected vice-principal of
Tuscarora Academy. In 1854 he was chosen, by the trustees of this institution, as its principal, and continued there
in this capacity until 1868, when he removed to Chambersburg, and became principal of the Chambersburg Academy.
Here he remained until 1883, when he resigned to take charge of the academy at Blairstown, N. J., resigning in
1892, by reason of impaired health, to return to Chambers-burg to spend his remaining days among the friends and
scenes he loved so well.
His school work was purely academical. He became a
successful teacher before the period of State normal schools, and his academy, by reason of the thoroughness of
the instruction there imparted, became the favorite place for young men to fit themselves for college and for the
profession of teaching. As a teacher, he kept abreast of the times and in close touch with the most advanced ideas
and methods of instruction. He was peculiarly well fitted for preparing young men for college, and though in demand
as an instructor by county, State and national conventions, before which he frequently lectured, the field most
delightful to him was the teaching of those higher branches of learning not taught in the public schools. In recognition
of his attainments, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy was, in 1872, conferred upon him by Lafayette College.
But it was not only in the realm of pedagogics that Dr.
Shumaker occupied a high place. Shortly after his coming to Chambersburg he was elected a ruling elder in the
Falling Spring congregation of the Presbyterian Church. Always of a devout, religious mind, he became much
interested in his church and all that pertained to it and its doctrines. About this time he undertook a course of
theological reading, mapped out and arranged by himself, and pursued it with such diligence and success that before his
departure from Chambersburg to Blairstown the Presbytery, to which he was subject, did him the honor of offering him
ordination to the holy ministry without requiring of him any formal course of preparation.
In July, 1876, he undertook the study of law, under the
Hon. J. McDowell Sharpe, at Chambersburg, and on December 10, 1878, he was admitted to the bar of Franklin
county, Pa. He never engaged actively in the practice of the law, but seems to have entered upon its study simply
in pursuance of his thirst for knowledge and a desire to know everything that goes to furnish out a well-rounded
scholar or that would conduce to his own mental enjoyment.
During the war of the Rebellion the subject of our sketch
was a most active member of the U. S. Christian Commission, and immediately after the battle of Gettysburg, was for
a while, on the field of battle as its representative. He was an active member of the Pennsylvania Historical Society,
and frequently took part in its deliberations.
On October 12, 1852, Dr. Shumaker married Miss
Henrietta Mytinger Cresswell, of Huntingdon, Pa., who yet survives him. To them were born the following children:
John C., Samuel R., Frederick H., Elizabeth, Marilla B., and Theodosia Shumaker, all of whom yet survive their
father, except Marilla B., who died when quite young. Of these John C. graduated from Lafayette College in 1877,
and afterwards studied law and became Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
[W. J. Zacharias, Esq.]
William Heyser WOLFF, A. M., a son of Bernard and
Judith Ann (Heyser) Wolff, was born in Chambersburg, Pa., August 15, 1830. His boyhood was passed in his native
town, where he prepared for college at the Chambersburg Academy. He entered the Freshman class of Marshall
College in 1846, and graduated in 1850. While at college he was a member of the Goethean Literary Society. He
received the degree of A. M. in course from his Alma Mater. After graduation he took a two-years' course at the
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, graduating as Ph. G. in 1853. In 1855 he engaged in the drug and prescription business
in St. Paul, Minn., under the firm name of Wolff & Steever.
He continued in this business until 1861, when his health
having greatly failed, he returned to Philadelphia, where he lived until his death, August 23, 1866.
He was married September 19, 1855, to Miss Mary
Bunting, daughter of Joshua Bunting, of Philadelphia. They had three children, two of whom died at an early age; the
third is Bernard Herbert Bunting Wolff of Philadelphia.
[Rev. Ambrose M. Schmidt; B. H. B. Wolff.]
1851
Samuel GEHR, Esq., the son of Isaac and Elizabeth
(Funk) Gehr, was born at Smithburg, Md., October 7, 1829. He prepared for college at Smithburg under George
Pearson, Sr., entered the Freshman class in 1847, and graduated in 1851. He was a member of the Diagnothian Literary
Society.
After graduation he studied law with Judge Weisel of
Hagerstown, Md. He located in Chicago, Ill., where he was admitted to the bar in 1853. He did not follow his
profession for any length of time, but engaged in the real estate business, first with the firm of Reese & Kerfoot, and after-
wards, in 1862, in his own name.
He was married to Miss Phebe Bostock of Chicago, June
17, 1857. Their union was blessed with six sons and one daughter, of these Samuel Whipple, Arthur Lee, Herbert
Bostock, Francis Lycett, and Miss Fannie Gehr, are still living. Mr. Gehr remained in Chicago until his death,
which occurred July 9, 1886.
[Rev. Joseph W. Santee, 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
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